The Newsroom, Season 2

[Cail]

just read on twitter that The Newsroom has been renewed for a 2nd season

[BWYuko]

And imdb led me to this EW article that says they've picked up Terry Crews for a recurring guest arc:

...The actor best known for his Old Spice commercials and for playing the papa Julius on the old UPN comedy Everybody Hates Chris will be introduced in episode 6 on July 29. He plays a bodyguard — and unofficial life coach — for Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels). He’ll appear in five episodes.

[GRT]

Did Sorkin's AP get cheated on by the AW while she's under the bed too? That episode was as big a train wreck as the immigration segment.

[Stef]

First off, I'm a fan of Sorkin's writing - I loved both the West Wing and Studio 60 - but frankly I was very disappointed by the Newsroom.

I will give the show a chance, but for now I’m going to voice the dissenting opinion. My impressions so far include:


- Not a single likeable character: There aren't any "good guys" and I can't identify any characters that are meant to be intelligent. Emily Mortimers' character is portrayed as stultifyingly incompetent and loutish most of the time. I think Jeff Daniels’ character is supposed to be perceived as having a modicum of intelligence, but I can’t tell since he’s too busy being obnoxiously detestable. I understand they want to make this show about salvaging the integrity of the news program and the staff, but they haven’t uncovered any redeemable qualities to make it seem worth salvaging.

- Few likeable actors: I can't look at some of them while they speak because of the things they do with their mouths. And I thought Bradley Whitford was bad. Waterston is good, but his performance is stymied by the intractable quality of the character he plays.

- The dialogue is unremittingly juvenile and needlessly adversarial most of the time

- The story focuses more on the personal lives of the characters rather than any compelling procedural or issue-related themes (two things that I always thought of as stock-in-trade for Sorkin)

- Contemporary news isn’t the most interesting basis for a show like this – especially not American news. The topics available for them to touch upon while keeping the show true to the reality of the chosen format are threadbare when it comes to any real ideological content. This show will most likely not hold much international appeal for this reason – I can’t see most viewers being willing to follow a show centered around debating parochial issues such as whether or not to put up a fence to keep immigrants out of their country.

Fingers crossed some of these things change in the coming episodes.

[Andalusian girls]

i remember my first thesaurus

[Stef]

Haha I guess I deserved that.

[Andalusian girls]

[Ohemgee]

Did anyone find the second episode to be a bit more...chatty?

I know it was done that way to develop the supporting characters but the lack of attention on whatshisface was too noticeable.

Also, a lot of melodrama in such a nice studio.

[Rhinox]

Great episode tonight. Lol@ Jesus and moses joke

[Andalusian girls]

best episode yet easily

[tyven]

nice. looking forward to watching it tomorra

[Tyrath]

Just picked this up. Pretty good show. Glad HBO has something for me on sundays while I wait for GoT season 3 lol

[Plow]

Yeah nice recovery from last week's lower-end-of-mediocrity. I'm at least interested to see what's going to happen now. Is that Jane Fonda btw? lol

[Rhinox]

Yes

[Rhinox]

She's channelling her inner Ted Turner

[Timwakefield]

First off, I'm a fan of Sorkin's writing - I loved both the West Wing and Studio 60 - but frankly I was very disappointed by the Newsroom.

I will give the show a chance, but for now I’m going to voice the dissenting opinion. My impressions so far include:


- Not a single likeable character: There aren't any "good guys" and I can't identify any characters that are meant to be intelligent. Emily Mortimers' character is portrayed as stultifyingly incompetent and loutish most of the time. I think Jeff Daniels’ character is supposed to be perceived as having a modicum of intelligence, but I can’t tell since he’s too busy being obnoxiously detestable. I understand they want to make this show about salvaging the integrity of the news program and the staff, but they haven’t uncovered any redeemable qualities to make it seem worth salvaging.

- Few likeable actors: I can't look at some of them while they speak because of the things they do with their mouths. And I thought Bradley Whitford was bad. Waterston is good, but his performance is stymied by the intractable quality of the character he plays.

- The dialogue is unremittingly juvenile and needlessly adversarial most of the time

- The story focuses more on the personal lives of the characters rather than any compelling procedural or issue-related themes (two things that I always thought of as stock-in-trade for Sorkin)

- Contemporary news isn’t the most interesting basis for a show like this – especially not American news. The topics available for them to touch upon while keeping the show true to the reality of the chosen format are threadbare when it comes to any real ideological content. This show will most likely not hold much international appeal for this reason – I can’t see most viewers being willing to follow a show centered around debating parochial issues such as whether or not to put up a fence to keep immigrants out of their country.

Fingers crossed some of these things change in the coming episodes.

[Fievel]

best episode yet easily

Yup, agreed. I love this show so far.

[Kurokikaze]

best episode yet easily

^ this for sure. Things are really starting to unravel now that corporate is getting annoyed with the news show. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Also, gotta love Sam Waterston in a role where hes not censored. Probably one of the best characters on the show. lol

[Bregor]

Also, gotta love Sam Waterston in a role where hes not censored. Probably one of the best characters on the show. lol

Absolutely, there's just something very awesome and very wrong about hearing Jack McCoy curse.

Like others have said, I thought the latest episode was the best yet. The structure of the 40th floor meeting providing the driving force of the episode was really well done. Still a bit preachy on the actual news discussion though, and the the Maggie/Don thing is a fucking nightmare. The reason I liked The West Wing so much was they kept personal relationships on the back burner, only introducing them for one-off episodes or towards the end of the series.

[Rhyis.]

This show is enjoyable, I just really hate the relationship shit. It's just fucking brutal, and they forced it on us before we even knew all the characters involved.