The Newsroom S2

Sorkin's big about gun control, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of that with how the year went.

I really hope they do a lot on Libya/Syria. I don't have high hopes. I expect that will wait for another season.


I didn't mind the love triangle bit, but they overplayed it hard. It, and some other elements, should have been sub-themes that flavored more important stuff. Reverse the emphasis on the love triangle and the office politics that could cost Will McAvoy his job, and it would have been a lot better.

I actually thought Olivia Munn did well. The role didn't ask a whole lot, but she delivered on it and I liked her character. Her being BFFs with the producer overnight was implausible, but that's just shit writing.

You might try some episodes ofThe Hourto tide you over until this returns. It's similar, but british and set in the 50s rather than yesterday. If you want to see some more Sorkin try the abortedStudio 60which had similar failings to The Newsroom.

If you miss the Newsroom and haven't watched the West Wing, do it while you wait. All 7 seasons are now streaming on Amazon Instant (free if you have Prime).

When did the last season end relative to current events? I don't think Sorkin wants to get too close to the current news cycle otherwise he'll have to create more manufactured storylines which then makes the Newsroom just like any other drama on television.

There, he learns that an elderly Tennessee resident will not be able to vote because of recently passed voter ID laws in 33 states; this is then the main story when he returns to News Night

Sloan tries to raise Congress' intransigence on the debt ceiling to a more prominent position in the news

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yanked from wiki

Ah yes.

I think Season 2 will cover the primaries and the 2012 Election.

Season 3 will start with Newtown.

SUNDAY NIGHT.

CAN'T. FUCKING. WAIT.

Eyashusa_sl said:

If you miss the Newsroom and haven't watched the West Wing, do it while you wait. All 7 seasons are now streaming on Amazon Instant (free if you have Prime).

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Also available on Netflix US (great show even if Rob Lowe and Sorkin walked out during the show).

Watch West Wing, at least until s4 for sure. Not sure if I'll watch this, though--the last 4 episodes were really fucking painful, like bad, bad rom-com shit.

i can't really pinpoint it, but something about this show rubs me the wrong way. a lot of it comes off as "cutesy" and most of the characters' reactions are unrealistic.

The romcom parts are fucking awful, and the rest is pretty good.

The problem is not that the rom-com elements are bad (in fact Alison Pill and Emily Mortimer playing manic/clumsy is very amusing), the problem is that there is a pretty broad offer for rom-com on TV and a very narrow one for media/politics fiction, so, in The Newsroom, every minute spent on rom-com feels like we are getting saw dust instead of gold dust.

supertouch_sl said:

i can't really pinpoint it, but something about this show rubs me the wrong way. a lot of it comes off as "cutesy" and most of the characters' reactions are unrealistic.

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Beginning of S1 is sketchy as fuck because Bartlett (Martin Sheen) was never meant to be a recurring character, the show was initially about West Wing's staff, and John Spencer's character (Leo) was initally meant to be THE lead. But as any Aaron Sorkin's shows goes (aka fuck production, praise writing), characters go beyond their premises : the President got lead, and the show went more focused about presidency legislature than "White House employees' life" as pitched.

Some US critics called it "The Left Wing" because it often depicts an idealistic government where President legislature is democrat while congress is republican (with some "nice" bipartisan stuff hehe). In my opinion (I'm from Europe) The West Wing should be viewed as a political drama rather than some general democrat agenda biopic. As a guy who has to wikipedia like a mad cunt when watching House of Cards, TTW is a great show because it shows you (with a bias) how US politics work, drama wise. Most of the time it's pleasant, sometimes it's bad (republicans depicted as villains) but overall it's a solid tv show. Though you have to know Rob Lowe (Sam Seaborn in the show, one of the best characters) left the show on s4 (mostly because his character wasn't going anywhere, as well as his salary), as well as Sorkin, the show's creator, because he basically wanted to kill the show while the producers wanted to keep it alive (these are rumours, it's most likely making a primetime tv show with huge production didn't fit everyone's agenda at some point).

The rom-com element is The Walking Dead-level of terrible. I'll watch this season. Some of the dialogue and writing is quite good, but I really dislike the know-it-all hindsight analysis. That's said despite the show's political leanings being similar to my own. I can only imagine how someone markedly conservative might feel.

The show might be good once Sorkin leaves it. Like West Wing.

Good premise, great potential, but way too much Sorkin. Somebody needs to script approval his ass. He writes great lines and comes up with some good scene ideas, but the rest of it -- I don't think he's really interested in. And I think that's why his ideology is so bald and unexamined. It's all an excuse to get 2 archetypes in a room and throw clever quips at each other.

Bondurant_sl said:

Beginning of S1 is sketchy as fuck because Bartlett (Martin Sheen) was never meant to be a recurring character, the show was initially about West Wing's staff, and John Spencer's character (Leo) was initally meant to be THE lead.

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Well, the first part is right anyway, Lowe was meant to be the character things revolved around. He was the star name of the then regular cast (as you said Sheen was meant to be a bit part) and the majority of the meaningful storylines would have him involved.

As everyone knows the test audience apparently pretty much stood up and dropped their pants for a wank when Sheen appeared and did his "Fuck you religious fools!" speech so bam, instant show retool. Sorkin "left" on the point of being fired as he was nose deep into his cocaine habit at that point and had completely lost any coherence. Lowe left in season 4 as from the point Sheen was made the main man they also started giving Josh's character more of the stories Lowe was expecting. The rest of the cast were also pissed that allegedly Lowe was making way more than them but it turned out years later they had already passed him after their first salary hike never mind the second.

It was amusing to see that it wasn't until Sorkin left that the Republicans got anyone that wasn't a cartoon villain. The show finishing when it did was always the best time to go out (despite the Fringe alternate universe making it to at least season eleven) with Sheen leaving office.

Comparing the end of the show to the start is amusing in a different way, by the end point it appears the West Wing is being run by CJ and Will with everyone else having left and none of their characters ever being replaced during Season 6 & 7. Their job role simply disappears when they do!

As for the Newsroom, I'll watch it but mostly because I'll be rooting for the Sasquatch news item to finally get shown!

I loved the armchair critics shouting about how fucking stupid the show was in depicting a newsroom early in season one, how wrong they were, it would never happen blah blah blah until Dan Rather was interviewed and said it was almost exactly right

Nobody wanted to see El Presidente Spico Grande. Nobody wanted to see that.

I would have watched a less grandiose spin-off with Spencer (the old man, I seem to remember that was his name. It's been a while) though. It's too bad about that.

And about the Dan Rather thing -- there's where Sorkin did his research to begin with. So that's amazingly circular. Maybe that echo-chamber bullshit is part of why Rather decided to embark into non-satirical "Truthiness".

I don't watch this show, but I hope this season provides more content for these sorkinism videos.

Binkles_sl said:

I really dislike the know-it-all hindsight analysis. That's said despite the show's political leanings being similar to my own.

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This is exactly my problem with the show. The know-it-all hindsight analysis is ridiculous. So much could be done with a show on the news, but this show always takes the "100% hindsight" route and its just silly and bad.

Take out the know-it-all hindsight though, and you are left with only the bad rom-com elements and how every woman on the show is a blithering idiot (even though we are constantly TOLD and not SHOWN that they are smart). So I really don't see how anyone can possibly stomach this show.

khalid_sl said:

This is exactly my problem with the show. The know-it-all hindsight analysis is ridiculous. So much could be done with a show on the news, but this show always takes the "100% hindsight" route and its just silly and bad.

Take out the know-it-all hindsight though, and you are left with only the bad rom-com elements and how every woman on the show is a blithering idiot (even though we are constantly TOLD and not SHOWN that they are smart). So I really don't see how anyone can possibly stomach this show.

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I love that every woman on the show is a blithering idiot. I've been watching TV that makes us men look like incompetent morons for the last ten years and it's refreshing as fuck to watch guys not only thrive, but make mistakes and come back from them like normal human being do. Not what we're painted as in mainstream media nowadays.