[TV] Newsroom

[melodramocracy]

Has this show improved? I watched the pilot with very high hopes, and was met with an hour of over-the-top posturing and tiresome speech making.

[Arlee]

Has this show improved? I watched the pilot with very high hopes, and was met with an hour of over-the-top posturing and tiresome speech making.

If you didn't like the pilot I doubt anything in the episodes that have come out would change your mind. Only way to know for sure though is to watch other episodes. The pilot does lay the groundwork for everything this far though.

[Korgoth]

Has this show improved? I watched the pilot with very high hopes, and was met with an hour of over-the-top posturing and tiresome speech making.

After the pilot it's just a soap with a story of the week added on top of it. I figure if you are watching it you either like Sorkin's writing style and romantic entanglement setup, or you like his anti right viewpoint, or both.

Though I think I watch because every now and then Jeff Daniels breaks out the Dumb and Dumber voice and its awesome.

[Halicia]

Most of last night's wast standard boilerplate for what the show's established, but OMG.
Punching the !@#$ out of Limbaugh was awesome. Words cannot express how much I wanted to see that computer monitor shattered into tiny pieces.

I feel they're starting to be a little heavyhanded with the corporate overlord bit, but maybe its well deserved seeing how they're binding it into the Tea Party story.

The Jenga analogy for Investment Banking was great too.

And thank god they managed to call Clinton out on that too.

[Ohwuhsthat]

Yah, watching the past 5 eps seem to be just pure republican bashing (not that they don't deserve it).

I really like Jeff Daniels as the lead in this show. Can't believe he was in Dumb and Dumber!

[Arlee]

The Jenga analogy for Investment Banking was great too.

As someone who works in investment banking, every time she was talking about investment banking vs commercial banking I was wishing people would understand how correct she was in those statements. Also the I agree that the Jenga reference was incredibly appropriate.

[Derpules]

The season closer was strong I tell you. Like, Smaug strong. STRONG...STRONG...STRONG!!!!!

[Deleted]

I like how each episode has been based around a real world new story from the past two years. Its nice to have a bit of background and a reference point for what peoples emotions are likely to have been at the time. Some of the story lines need to be expanded on and a a few of the chars seem a little weak and passed over but overall i have really enjoyed the series.

[Putmalk]

This show is great! I just finished watching the first season and cannot wait for the new one!

[zshikara]

Its a tv fiction show, people shouldn't be taking it seriously anyway, even if it does deal with politics based on ideas from the real world. I say sit back, relax, and enjoy. Don't try to relate anything to real life, because its pure fiction.

[Deleted]

I kinda enjoyed this - it wasn't great but not awful

Its like the office crossed with a day time soap -

this sums it up

[eschatological]

I didn't want to start a new thread on this, and we have a rule about having one thread per show, so I'm bumping this pretty drastically.

Every time I see this show (there's been two episodes this season), I think to myself, "How is this being cancelled, and the third season is its last?"

The only thing I can think of is that it's too smart and/or too real (as it covers real news stories) for the average audience. This is Sorkin's best show, possibly. Its only competition may be the first four seasons of the West Wing, but I think that blend of things that actually happened might push it over the top.

Jeff Daniels is brilliant, Sam Waterston is brilliant, everyone in this show is brilliant, down to the not-often-seen head of the corporate media company Jane Fonda.

Why is this show not more seen?!? 6 episodes for a third and final season is a travesty. They even brought back Equitorial Kundu, the fictional troubled African nation the West Wing always used for their international crises!

Ugh, so depressed this show is going away.

[Endus]

I didn't want to start a new thread on this, and we have a rule about having one thread per show, so I'm bumping this pretty drastically.

Every time I see this show (there's been two episodes this season), I think to myself, "How is this being cancelled, and the third season is its last?"

The only thing I can think of is that it's too smart and/or too real (as it covers real news stories) for the average audience. This is Sorkin's best show, possibly. Its only competition may be the first four seasons of the West Wing, but I think that blend of things that actually happened might push it over the top.

Jeff Daniels is brilliant, Sam Waterston is brilliant, everyone in this show is brilliant, down to the not-often-seen head of the corporate media company Jane Fonda.

Why is this show not more seen?!? 6 episodes for a third and final season is a travesty. They even brought back Equitorial Kundu, the fictional troubled African nation the West Wing always used for their international crises!

Ugh, so depressed this show is going away.

I'm a big fan, too. If I had to say why I think it's suffering, it's probably the not-quite-current-events stand they're taking. Each season is exploring events that happened a few years ago, close enough that we're still largely tired of the news coverage, but far enough that they can write about them with proper hindsight. I understand why they're doing it that way, but I can also see why audiences might just find it tiring; this season looks to be primarily focusing on the Boston Marathon bombing (obviously) and Edward Snowden (at least, I assume that's what they're hitting at with the espionage storyline, which is somewhat fictionalized). Some people are probably just tired of those stories, and not enough time has passed for that to be over.

[Dasffion]

I completely agree. It's somewhat depressing watching this season because, while there have only been 2 episodes they've knocked it out of the park in both of them. It's sad to think that not only do we have a short season but it's also the final one. At least they're going to go out on top, unless they do a sienfeld ending with everyone in jail, which isn't ruled out at this point.

[eschatological]

So, this show finally ended last night. The finale was a bit off, it seemed rushed, like they weren't expecting to only get 6 episodes in the last season instead of the normal 10, and it mixed a lot of flashbacks to kind of pay tribute to the character who died in episode 5 and show how integral (s)he was to the lives of the remaining cast...

...but man, those first five episodes. Probably the best 5 episodes Sorkin has ever written.

Best lines from the season (a paraphrase, don't remember the exact wording):
"You East Coast elites..."
"I'm from Nebraska!"
"...you just love looking down on the fatheads like us."
"Some people's position in life is down."

Maybe it's because I was a Boston educated NYC lawyer, but I loved this show.