“Red Team III” was the first episode of The Newsroom that was truly great. Not just Sorkin-is-a-better-writer-than-most-people good or even wow-that-was-entertaining-and-impressive good like some of the best episodes in this greatly improved second season of the unfairly dismissed HBO drama. It was stop-playing-tetris/put-down-the-diet-coke/slow-clap-at-the-end great. It was great like season two of The West Wing was […]
People really like to call Aaron Sorkin sexist. Now, I’ve shared on many occasions my firm belief that his often weakly drawn female characters have entirely more to do with his inability to understand women than any honest belief that we are inferior (man’s got no game, I feel pretty strongly that his writing shows […]
The third episode of The Newsroom‘s second season mostly moved along developing plots: the Genoa tip is gaining in credibility, Maggie is preparing for her (doomed) trip to Africa, Jim is making waves on the Romney press bus, and Neal is pulling for more Occupy coverage. We also revisited Hope Davis’ gossip columnist from last […]
The second season of HBO’s loved and loathed Aaron Sorkin drama The Newsroom begins with a toned-down, piano-heavy version of last year’s rousing theme song. Instead of the reverent images of broadcast icons that accompanied last year’s intro, this year we have a slightly more abstract portrait of modern life in the trenches of Atlantis […]
I can finally exhale. The Newsroom season finale is everything I wanted it to be. Or at least it’s almost everything I wanted it to be and knowing as I do that Aaron Sorkin is but a human being I will take “almost everything” any day. The episode wraps up stories that needed to be […]
Ah for the sweet relief of the back half of a two-parter *sigh*. For every awkward “Surprise”, there is the legendary greatness of “Innocence” and the same is certainly true (but more stark) with “Tragedy Porn” and “Mock Debate”, the two episodes that make up “The Blackout”, The Newsroom‘s season one penultimate outing.* As much […]
“The Blackout, Part 1: Tragedy Porn” was one of the weakest Newsroom offerings in quite some time. Not because it was lazy (like one infamous subplot from “News Night 2.0“), overly sentimental (like parts of “5/1“), or mildly offensive (like various things, depending on your sensitivities, from Charlie calling Sloan “girl” to Will’s condescension towards […]
I’ve heard this episode maligned a little bit but I really think The Newsroom has very clearly found its footing. After the triumph that was “Bullies” last week, “5/1” found a way to hold on to that honesty while bringing back the funny Sorkin was trying too hard to incorporate early in the series. The […]