Aaron Sorkin returns to TV after a screenwriting stint with academy award nominated/winning films The Social Network, Charlie Wilson's War and Moneyball. And Sorkin's witty fast paced dialogue returns in full force alongside his strongly opinionated view on the world. The Newsroom may very well end up being the perfect Sorkin show, by centering around an affable failing news anchor Sorkin or more appropriately his characters can voice their opinions and tear down all forms of politics, business, education, and society in general. This show is trying to say something and its being as loud as possible, hoping to enlighten viewers on the social political climate. I don't have any aspirations for hard news reporting but I have always had strong opinions on the various goings on in the world and journalism always seemed like this fantastic avenue to inform people. Unfortunately modern news is FULL OF SHIT. It is the worst non-informed slanted garbage ever exposed to the public. Modern news journalist should be ashamed of the shit they throw at the screen its repulsive and does nothing but obfuscate real and hard news. Journalism should be about showing and explaining to viewers whats happening around them, holding people accountable and exposing the shit covered lies governments, business and even the media throws up. The Newsroom is my kind of show it refuses to accept any one truth, constantly questioning and poking and prodding refusing to simply accept any one answer without a hundred follow up questions.
Jeff Daniels in the role of his career plays Will McAvoy a struggling news anchor who after a college assembly meltdown in which he gives a rousing if sanctimonious speech on why America is not the greatest country in the world returns to an empty newsroom and few employees. After this the president of the fictitious ACN played by the always reliable Sam Waterston takes this opportunity to create a news program that reports on the news the way it ought to be reported. The show is pretty full of itself making long winded diatribes that come of as very self-indulgent, people argue whilst passionately against nothing because Sorkin always makes the arguments one sided. Hopefully the pilot is simply trying to make the biggest impression, I would really like to see Sorkin challenge his own point of view and then have real intelligent conversations amid those arguments. What is left is a fine sophisticated show that has a lot of promise. The show is set in 2010 giving itself room to take real world events to shape its stories, for example the very first episode focuses on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Everything is in place for this show to be both highly entertaining and eye opening, I just hope it gets less self aggrandizing.
The opening interview steals the show, Will McAvoy berating the United States of America while also making a plea for its improvement is fantastic. It sets a tone that I hope the show will get to explore deeper and more intellectually in future episodes. There is a great cast with memorable supporting characters and as usual they all shine the brighter thanks to Sorkin's rhythmic witty banter. Sorkin has the chance to really say something here about the media and its modern behavior, a call to arms if you will, but the show needs to stop taking time to boast about its superiority. Everything the show has to say is right and I could not agree more which is why I have such high hopes, it just needs to challenge itself with differing opinions to justify its postion.
(4 out of 5)
No comments:
Post a Comment