The Newsroom s3

Lost Virtue

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Thoughts on the first episode last night?
Thought it was a great season premiere. They are definitely throwing more sub-plots in which I like. Last season was pretty linear for the most part. Let's just hope they continue on with these sub-plots and not finish them in 3 episodes.

I like how Will is going somewhat crazy. The studio news head guy still makes me Fucking spit out my drink everytime he's on screen in laughter and smiles , he just makes the show much more humorous.
 

Jimbolini

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eh....

He rushed the romance last season (Probably assuming he would stop at season 3...) and now many of the interaction feels forced.

But the multiple plot lines added some interest.

I guess i will see..but more and more it makes me wish Sports Night would have developed longer.
 

Alex

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I didn't even know this was back. Last season was disappointing after the first season.
 

Slaythe

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It's too bad this show isn't very good. The cast makes it pretty entertaining though and if the concept wasn't so absurd and the writing a little less in your face, Jeff Daniels could totally anchor a series like this. I hope the guy playing Don catches on to some main role after this show ends. For a dude I didn't really know much about, I really enjoy him in this.

I seriously can't think of a more pretentious idea for a tv show though. Hey, watch our completely moral and just news crew report on real life events the way you would if you had complete magical hindsight, bosses that don't care about ratings and a self righteous political compass. I enjoyed the Genoa plot from last season a lot just because it was a departure from that.
 

khalid

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I seriously can't think of a more pretentious idea for a tv show though. Hey, watch our completely moral and just news crew report on real life events the way you would if you had complete magical hindsight, bosses that don't care about ratings and a self righteous political compass.
Yeah, that just drove me away from it. The "Newshour with Captain Hindsight" concept is just absurd.
 

Szlia

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I would understand that criticism if they never screwed up and if the show did not emphasize own difficult it is to do things right. For me, using real events is not a way to have a magical newsroom that benefits from the hindsight of the writers to stick it to the real news channels. What it does is allowing the viewers to remember how they experienced these news at the time and confront that with this fictionalized look behind the scene. If they did the same show with fake events it would be dramatically less interesting.

Brilliant TV.
 

khalid

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You could do the same show, but without being Newshour with Captain Hindsight. Simply have them be another cable channel, alongside fox and CNN, covering the same stories. Except don't give them Captain Hindsight powers, show why some of the dumb shit that shows up in the news happens that way.

THAT would be brilliant tv. Not a pretentious exercise in patting yourself on the back for being liberal. God, I agree with the slant of 95% of this show, but the relentless hindsight bullshit makes my eyes roll out of their sockets.
 

Mist

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This show continues to have more words per minute than any other drama on TV.
 

meStevo

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Not sure I understand the criticism... they fuck up, they're utterly human and falling over retarded stuff like some of their catastrophic relationships, they get the news out typically slower in an effort to 'do it right' only to be number 4 in the market now and with the company in trouble. The show is pretty awesome love triangles aside (look to be a 2nd season plague since there shouldn't be time for it this season?). Disappointed we're 5 episodes from it going away.

Even in this episode, the newsroom was cheering because CNN had to retract misinformation... and they got knocked back down to earth when they were reminded they were in that situation last year with Genoa. They aren't perfect.

I watch this show in awe that Jeff Daniels can go from this character to Dumb and Dumber To.
 

Slaythe

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What real life story did they not report perfectly and with a giant liberal bias outside of the Boston bombing which tied into the whole gun shy because of Genoa thing? That's a new development. Gabby Giffords. Egypt. Scott Walker. Koch. Presidential Debates. Bin Laden (I love the scene where Don tells the pilots though). Debt ceiling. NSA. Benghazi. Aiken. Not airing Petraeus. Midterm Elections.

All of those things happen in this show in a world not based in reality. There's so much deus ex machina for how the staff ends up plucking stories and they always report them the 'right' way, which is really easy to do when the writers know the outcomes. It's cheap, in my mind.

I agree with khalid up above. I'm as liberal as they come so it's not like I'm shaking my fist at the tone of the series. It's just shoved down our throats.
 

Agraza

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Should check Studio 60 sometime to see Sorkin over-do it hardcore.

I didn't know this was back. Gotta check that out.
 

Lusiphur

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Should check Studio 60 sometime to see Sorkin over-do it hardcore.

I didn't know this was back. Gotta check that out.
I dunno, I have a soft spot for Studio 60 but it was always only going to go the one season. The subject matter just seemed too self indulgent.
 

Jimbolini

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Better episode tonight.

Not much "Newsroom" actions, but plot moved along at a good pace.
 

Mist

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Yeah I hope they stay away from actual news and just make the last 4 episodes a movie plot about journalists and the security state.
 

faille

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"...you're giving a monologue."
"Everyone does where I work."

Mostly I really enjoyed the episode, but it also felt like Sorkin might be running out of juice for tv work. There were a few little things that gave me this impression, but the one that stood out for me was the tweet subplot about the
the republicans rejoicing about the bombing.
. It's pretty much a copy from a sub plot they did in West Wing, though handled a lot better and more realistically.
 

meStevo

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I haven't watched this episode, but saw an interview or something where he was doubting that he even had it in him to continue this season and is one of the reasons that was in doubt for a while. He really didn't like the feel of the second season though and wanted to go out better than that.
 

TJT

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I like that they're covering the Manning issue... sortof. Interesting topic.
 

Mist

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Well, the sweep of the hard drives is a lot like what happened to Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian (except in that case, they destroyed the originals afterwards.) They're combining a lot of things.