"The Newsroom" new HBO series from Sorkin

[Gunnyman]

I started a spoiler's ok thread http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=489079

[aindik]

I haven't watched it yet, so I'm bumping this thread instead of the episode thread.

The full pilot is available for free as an episode of HBO's "Newsroom" Podcast on iTunes, in case you'd like to watch it while on the go, or if you don't have HBO. Not sure how long it'll be up.

[SNJpage1]

The first 10 minutes or so I wasnt sure about the show. However, as it got into the actual reporting and showing how they work in the background it started to catch on. Half way thru the show my wife made it a season pass. I think it will do great on HBO. The way the show is so fast paced stopping for commercials would ruin it.

[murgatroyd]

There's a 'watch now' thing on my TiVo and I tried to watch, but the PQ was horrible (TiVo HD and crappy old SD TV). I guess I don't have enough bandwidth to work, or the HD is too old and creaky to downconvert and stream at the same time, or both.

[Turtleboy]

Jake Tapper (from ABC News)'s review in The New Republic:

McAvoy sanctimoniously laments the deterioration of public discourse and the news media’s complicity in it. But if that is the problem, his subsequent actions reveal a commitment to a uniformly partisan solution. McAvoy—and, by extension, Sorkin—preach political selflessness, but they practice pure partisanship; they extol the Fourth Estate’s democratic duty, but they believe that responsibility consists mostly of criticizing Republicans. This is done through the oldest trick in the book for a Hollywood liberal: by having McAvoy be a “sane Republican” who looks at his party with sadness and anger.

Tapper gives quite a few examples, but they contain spoilers for the next 3-4 episodes.

[Turtleboy]

Do a search for "emily mortimer lovely and amazing assessment dailymotion".

[netringer]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

Jake Tapper (from ABC News)'s review in The New Republic:

Tapper gives quite a few examples, but they contain spoilers for the next 3-4 episodes.

Methinks the non-lamestream media doth protest too much.

After episode 2 - there's been almost no Sorkin preaching and about 85% very entertaining character fleshing out.

I think it's a keeper. These potshotters may be eating words by season end.

[Turtleboy]

Have you seen subsequent episodes?

[Hoffer]

The show has a season 2 coming.

http://tvline.com/2012/07/02/hbo-ren...room-season-2/

Also a season 6 of True Blood.

[netringer]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

Have you seen subsequent episodes?

I'm not supposed to reveal the GoBack time machine.

[busyba]

This is done through the oldest trick in the book for a Hollywood liberal: by having McAvoy be a “sane Republican” who looks at his party with sadness and anger.

But is the problem really that it's a tired trope, or that in today's world it's simply an unbelievable one?

[DeDondeEs]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

Do a search for "emily mortimer lovely and amazing assessment dailymotion".

Nice. But she needs to do a search for "bikini wax"

[markz]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

Do a search for "emily mortimer lovely and amazing assessment dailymotion".

Every one I clicked on said there was a problem with the video.

[busyba]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

Do a search for "emily mortimer lovely and amazing assessment dailymotion".

I was expecting him to say, "your knees... they're too sharp"

btw... in the related videos on that one there's one of Allison Pill.

[TheMerk]

Will the season finale be titled What Kind of Day Has It Been?

"What Kind of Day Has It Been" is the 22nd episode of The West Wing, the season finale of the show's first season.
...
"What Kind of Day Has It Been" is also the name of the first season finales of both the series Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which were both created by Aaron Sorkin

[TAsunder]

I finally saw the pilot last night. My wife and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm already annoyed by the music, though.

Maybe this is addressed in later episodes but it didn't seem obvious to me that he's a Republican at all, so I'm not sure where Jake Tapper is coming from there...?

[Turtleboy]

Originally Posted by TAsunder

I finally saw the pilot last night. My wife and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm already annoyed by the music, though.

Maybe this is addressed in later episodes but it didn't seem obvious to me that he's a Republican at all, so I'm not sure where Jake Tapper is coming from there...?

He calls himself a Republican once or twice. But he doesn't at any time (through the first 3 eps) act or say anything Conservative or Republican at all. So what Tapper is saying is that Sorkin calls the character a Republican and then makes him as liberal as everyone else.

[TAsunder]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

He calls himself a Republican once or twice. But he doesn't at any time (through the first 3 eps) act or say anything Conservative or Republican at all. So what Tapper is saying is that Sorkin calls the character a Republican and then makes him as liberal as everyone else.

I don't recall this in episode 1. Will keep an eye on it.

[Shaunnick]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

He calls himself a Republican once or twice. But he doesn't at any time (through the first 3 eps) act or say anything Conservative or Republican at all. So what Tapper is saying is that Sorkin calls the character a Republican and then makes him as liberal as everyone else.

Spoiler:

He has not really done or said anything liberal. He has not done or said anything conservative either. What he has done is do very little to show what his opinion on anything is other than America is not great and no one reports real news anymore.

He went after the tea party, but what we saw him go after is something that is very much known, and that is that the Tea Party is not as grass roots as many want to make it out to be. Why should that be just a liberal viewpoint?

To be honest, the only thing they have consistently shown is that he is an ass to people and that he is in the beginning stages of curmudgeonry.

[Idearat]

Originally Posted by Shaunnick

He went after the tea party, but what we saw him go after is something that is very much known, and that is that the Tea Party is not as grass roots as many want to make it out to be. Why should that be just a liberal viewpoint?

I think this is the non-spoiler thread and the individual episode threads are where this should be. But, since this already started, I'll chime in.

I agree with the comment about the tea party people. I didn't see it as a Republican attack, but more a search for the truth behind the supposed grass-roots movement. The two spokespeople who claimed to know nothing about the Koch brothers were either clueless or liars. That would seem to be good reporting, regardless of which party benefited the most from the revelation.

[Idearat]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

Do a search for "emily mortimer lovely and amazing assessment dailymotion".

Ok, I had to look. Performing nude in a movie takes a certain amount of nerve, but to stand up and get that assessment really had to be hard.

Other than thinking she could stand to eat a sandwich or two, I thought she looked fine.

[Shaunnick]

Originally Posted by Idearat

I think this is the non-spoiler thread and the individual episode threads are where this should be. But, since this already started, I'll chime in.

I agree with the comment about the tea party people. I didn't see it as a Republican attack, but more a search for the truth behind the supposed grass-roots movement. The two spokespeople who claimed to know nothing about the Koch brothers were either clueless or liars. That would seem to be good reporting, regardless of which party benefited the most from the revelation.

Doh!

I am sorry. I am going back to spoiler my post. I thought I was in the episode three thread. Sorry all!

[busyba]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

He calls himself a Republican once or twice. But he doesn't at any time (through the first 3 eps) act or say anything Conservative or Republican at all. So what Tapper is saying is that Sorkin calls the character a Republican and then makes him as liberal as everyone else.

Spoiler:

When the subject of illegal immigrants came up, he repeatedly referred to "the guy who's job got taken."

"DEY TERK DER JERBS" is a common GOP/conservative refrain.

What has he said/done through the first 3 eps that makes him a liberal?

[Jesda]

Well, he says he's a Republican, but I don't think he says he's conservative.

[Robin]

There's a comment about him being a RINO.

[Rob Helmerichs]

He sounds kind of like my Dad...a life-long moderate Republican who has been left behind as the party has swerved severely to the right. He is as appalled by the Tea Party take-over as McAvoy is, and is disgusted that the Republicans effectively forced him to vote for Obama, who actually represents classic, Reagan-era Republican values better than the current crowd (not well, but better than them).

[TAsunder]

OK, he's clearly a republican based on the three episodes, but I still don't think the critic was accurate. I think Rob's assessment is spot on thus far. My wife actually thought that the network was supposed to be fox news-like! I didn't get that at all. Not sure if she still thinks that after 3 episodes.

[Steveknj]

Originally Posted by TAsunder

OK, he's clearly a republican based on the three episodes, but I still don't think the critic was accurate. I think Rob's assessment is spot on thus far. My wife actually thought that the network was supposed to be fox news-like! I didn't get that at all. Not sure if she still thinks that after 3 episodes.

Even from the reviews I never got that it was supposed to be Fox-News like. In fact, I thought, what they were going to try and do was bring the network back to more serious news in the mold of Conkrite and Murrow and away from the sensationalism that's taken over. I thought that was the point that Sorkin was trying to make.

[TAsunder]

Originally Posted by Steveknj

Even from the reviews I never got that it was supposed to be Fox-News like. In fact, I thought, what they were going to try and do was bring the network back to more serious news in the mold of Conkrite and Murrow and away from the sensationalism that's taken over. I thought that was the point that Sorkin was trying to make.

I think that's the "new" approach. I can see why my wife thought that the "old" approach was to be similar to fox news, especially given some of the events in episode 3.

[marksman]

Originally Posted by Turtleboy

He calls himself a Republican once or twice. But he doesn't at any time (through the first 3 eps) act or say anything Conservative or Republican at all. So what Tapper is saying is that Sorkin calls the character a Republican and then makes him as liberal as everyone else.

To be fair nothing makes one a republican or democrat other then they claiming themselves so. There is no test or certification. People can decide what they want to be.