Television Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom on HBO

[Zen]

The best modern day writer unleashed on HBO. Prob be greatest show ever. Time for yet another Sports Night/West Wing marathon me thinks.

 

[Mockney]

It seems he's riffing on the same "Network" vibe he did on Studio 60 (criminally underrated)

Will certainly watch.

 

[Zen]

He did the network thing first with Sports Night, which he finished to do The West Wing, between the two he wrote like 35 episodes in 99/00, which is ridiculous considering no other writer in America really writes more than 5 on their own in a year. At least it got to tell a story though, Studio 60 while easily his weakest stuff, should of been given longer considering how he gave NBC prior to that, endless emmys, huge ratings, two critical darling shows, I get the idea they wanted to "get him back" for leaving the West Wing at it's peak.

Hopefully, HBO is a great partner for him.

 

[Snow]

Studio 60 was alright. It's was more dialogue than anything. Wasn't that entertaining because it lacked better stories and characters.

I give every HBO program a go somewhere down the line. Jeff Daniels could be this show's Bryan Cranston. He's got a lot of respect as an actor in this biz.
Will Sam Waterstern play the network's lawyer?

 

[Mockney]

The "fighting the good fight" thing recurs through almost all his work really doesn't it. It should be a perfect fit (with HBO) as they wont censor him and he'll just get to stream of consciousness himself to his hearts content, but it could be over-indulgent, and he's known to indulge. Still, I'd rather have an over indulged Sorkin than 90% of writers.

I got the opinion he wrote so much of the West Wing so obsessively because he was on crack.

 

[crappycraperson]

Studio 60 started off superbly but soon turned to cack when Sorkin used it as a vehicle to preach and settle some scores (read about it). Sorkin's good though, hope this is good as well

 

[Mockney]

I loved his cameo in 30 Rock too btw.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/video-aaron-sorkin-30-rock

 

[duffer]

Excellent. Love his work.

He was even funny in 30 Rock.

 

[Team Brian GB]

He did the network thing first with Sports Night, which he finished to do The West Wing, between the two he wrote like 35 episodes in 99/00, which is ridiculous considering no other writer in America really writes more than 5 on their own in a year. At least it got to tell a story though, Studio 60 while easily his weakest stuff, should of been given longer considering how he gave NBC prior to that, endless emmys, huge ratings, two critical darling shows, I get the idea they wanted to "get him back" for leaving the West Wing at it's peak.

Hopefully, HBO is a great partner for him.

Since when NBC has struggled very badly with scripted programmes.

 

[Zen]

You are going to have to be more specific as to what you are replying too there since nothing in that post says they do......though they do now anyway, especially for 40 minute shows, they haven't had a drama emmy in years. Some other channel thankfully bailed FNL out and saved NBC's blushes, so I guess you could count that too, though they wanted to cancel it pretty swiftly.

They are very lucky to have the SNL alumni to pretty much keep them alive as a channel.

 

[Team Brian GB]

You are going to have to be more specific as to what you are replying too there since nothing in that post says they do......though they do now anyway, especially for 40 minute shows, they haven't had a drama emmy in years. Some other channel thankfully bailed FNL out and saved NBC's blushes, so I guess you could count that too, though they wanted to cancel it pretty swiftly.

They are very lucky to have the SNL alumni to pretty much keep them alive as a channel.

I meant their programmes have flopped since they cancelled Studio 60, apart from the first year of Heroes which was around that time they haven't had a highly acclaimed ratings winner and it seems that their pick-ups each year flop.

 

[Zen]

Seemed like you asking a question tbh.....But aye, I agree.

At the end of the day, they've always been stupid, I mean they fecking cancelled Freaks and Geeks, what type of idiot does that? Judd Apatow was a proven Emmy guy back then thanks to his stuff on Larry Sanders. They just fluke into the odd good thing and have an how array of comedy writers to help them out thanks to SNL.

 

[Rado_N]

It seems he's riffing on the same "Network" vibe he did on Studio 60 (criminally underrated)

Will certainly watch.

The cancellation of that show still angers me.

Will definitely be watching this.

 

[cinc]

It started, the premiere has been great.

 

[Zen]

Don't think it should of been 80 minutes really, middle part was pretty weak. Start and end good though, but on the whole, I expect my expectations were too high, but I still enjoyed it enough.

 

[cinc]

Don't think it should of been 80 minutes really, middle part was pretty weak. Start and end good though, but on the whole, I expect my expectations were too high, but I still enjoyed it enough.

It was a pilot, pilots tend to be worse than the series itself, because of the necessary extended exposition.

 

[Lynk]

Watch as this gets cancelled after 10 episodes.

 

[Mockney]

It was a pilot, pilots tend to be worse than the series itself, because of the necessary extended exposition.

For comedies this is always true, but for drama it can work well in its favour. Not always though.

 

[Grinner]

Were there any tits in it? It's HBO after all...Hooters Be Out.

 

[cinc]

Were there any tits in it? It's HBO after all...Hooters Be Out.

no, and not much swearing either. Luckily.

 

[Zen]

To be honest, I very rarely find pilots to be worst that the shows themselves(of the shows I like), especially on HBO, they are usually some of my favourite episodes of the series. Same for all 3 of Sorkins prior shows, this one could of done with a bit more editing in the middle though, Sorkin/HBO don't usually go for such heavily extended pilots.

Also, Jesse Eisenbergs GOAT voice cameo, just fecking hit me who that was.

 

[cinc]

I agree, it isnt a rule, but a tendency. What I've found a bit weird that it felt so much like a very close spin off of the West Wing, I half expected CJ to turn up.

 

[Mockney]

Comedies do suffer a big dip in pilots generally. Because the exposition is as important as the gags, so you'll inevitably lose a shit load of potential gags because who the character is and why they'd be saying/doing this thing needs to be set up first.

Dramas can benefit. Especially mystery thrillers and such, where you can just raise a lot of intriguing questions and then flap about for ages before you attempt to answer them (cough cough LOST cough)

This doesn't really fall into either though, but Sorkin loves waffling, so I can't imagine he'd have a problem with needing a bit more waffling.

 

[cinc]

I hated the Lost pilot so much that I didnt watch it any more, no matter how much praise it got from friends.

 

[LARulz]

I had/have a lot of hope for this show, mainly cos its Sorkin and liked the West Wing. I enjoyed the speech at the beginning when he put that girl in her place along with a lot of idiots. Almost feel the Republican leaning journo's will have hated the show instantly (though they probably hated Sorkin anyway). It did feel like it was slightly dragging to fill time but it had its moments. There was one review I read where it said by episode 4 things start to settle down and it 'improves' but also said by then people may have stopped caring.

HBO will give this 2 seasons at least I'm sure.

 

[IrishLegend]

Loved the first ep. Felt like watching West Wing again for the first time.

Sorkin's dialog is always top notch.

 

[Brophs]

Halfway through the first episode and it's not been great so far. Emily Mortimer is preachy and irritating.

 

[cinc]

Every Sorkin show is a bit preachy, that's some of the charm of them.

 

[Brophs]

Every Sorkin show is a bit preachy, that's some of the charm of them.

Yeah, but she's whiny and not even remotely believable.

 

[cinc]

I didnt mind her, the only character I had some issues with was Bridges' boss for Law and Order or CSI. He was a bit of a caricature.

 

[Mockney]

It did seem a bit like Sorkin overdrive. Daniels was great and some of the shouting matches were fun but it did drag a bit after the initial Network rant, which never actually impacted anything anyway. It basically started exactly like Studio 60, but not quite as well and then drifted off into a sort of dull smug fest for an hour before becoming a bit overly sentimental at the end.

Everyone in it was smug, like ridiculously smug, and then got really, really angry at the drop of a hat...and then dropped back into smug again. The only person who wasn't smug was the one who looked like Ellen Page with a severe allergic inflammation of some kind, who was just playing "flustered intern/PA 101" from 1000 million other things, only this time played by Ellen Page with a severe allergic inflammation of some kind.

Also the ending. What? So, she sat there, with these cards, and then what? ducked down under the seat every now and then? What? Bit unneeded I thought.

Other than that, obviously, large bits of it were written brilliantly. Even if Sorkin is the TV equivalent of Tarantino and writes almost all of his characters like different versions of himself, I'd still watch it.

 

[Raulduke]

I think the problem with pilots in general is that they have to spend so much time on shoe-horning character introductions into the story and often these can come across as so contrived, character A is introduced to character B by character C. So it's a sort of necessary inconvenience for pilot episodes. Still I thought Sorkin achieved this better than most, the introductions came across pretty natural given the whole context of the newsroom staffing issues and changes. Really enjoyed the first episode so have high hopes for the series now.

 

[kps88]

I refuse to watch this until HBO orders a second season.

 

[crappycraperson]

It did seem a bit like Sorkin overdrive. Bridges was great and some of the shouting matches were fun but it did drag a bit after the initial Network rant, which never actually impacted anything anyway. It basically started exactly like Studio 60, but not quite as well and then drifted off into a sort of dull smug fest for an hour before becoming a bit overly sentimental at the end.

Everyone in it was smug, like ridiculously smug, and then got really, really angry at the drop of a hat...and then dropped back into smug again. The only person who wasn't smug was the one who looked like Ellen Page with a severe allergic inflammation of some kind, who was just playing "flustered intern/PA 101" from 1000 million other things, only this time played by Ellen Page with a severe allergic inflammation of some kind.

Also the ending. What? So, she sat there, with these cards, and then what? ducked down under the seat every now and then? What? Bit unneeded I thought.

Other than that, obviously, large bits of it were written brilliantly. Even if Sorkin is the TV equivalent of Tarantino and writes almost all of his characters like different versions of himself, I'd still watch it.

Good summary.

I also have A problem with using past events to make some characters look good. Very disingenuous to do so. 'I have a sister and room mate working in respective companies..'..

 

[FCBarca]

Good summary.

I also have A problem with using past events to make some characters look good. Very disingenuous to do so. 'I have a sister and room mate working in respective companies..'..

True but all the same, I'm happy to see this sort of series get a run...particularly in this sort of current political/social climate...Takes cajones

 

[crappycraperson]

True but all the same, I'm happy to see this sort of series get a run...particularly in this sort of current political/social climate...Takes cajones

Not sure it does. The show is exclusively for liberals in US. Conservatives are not going to tune to see fund made out of them. Besides it is on cable, if it was on any national broadcast network then yeah would have been brave.

 

[MJLD]

 

[Mockney]

The only brave thing Sorkin could do right now would be to write something with a really right wing bent, and see how that affects his status as the king of liberal hollywood. He seems to be sort of coasting in biopic mode film wise, and this (whilst clearly going to be above most things) is a bit of a retread of his other TV stuff. I'd like to see him do something a bit different...Like the dialogue in a Kaufman or Tarantino-esque story.

 

[crappycraperson]

The only brave thing Sorkin could do right now would be to write something with a really right wing bent, and see how that affects his status as the king of liberal hollywood. He seems to be sort of coasting in biopic mode film wise, and this (whilst clearly going to be above most things) is a bit of a retread of his other TV stuff. I'd like to see him do something a bit different...Like the dialogue in a Kaufman or Tarantino-esque story.

Yeah, I would have liked him to base this show on an Bill O Reilly type character. Maybe have a liberal anchor being forced to cater to right win audience. Would have been more interesting IMO.

 

[Lastwolf]

Not sure it does. The show is exclusively for liberals in US. Conservatives are not going to tune to see fund made out of them. Besides it is on cable, if it was on any national broadcast network then yeah would have been brave.

A lot them of seem to watch Stephen Colbert and he does nothing else.