Thread: HBO: Newsroom

So far so good; crackling dialogue, great cast, action was a little muted since we already know all the details about the breaking news, but I enjoyed it - favorite part: Jeff Daniels losing it in response to the cleaved Bimbo's inane question. Hope the love interest crap doesn't dominate .....

I'm reminded why I despised West Wing.

People don't talk like that.

Close enough for me; Deadwood didn't exactly have normal conversational english either ..... I do fear, however, that given the pedigree (Sorkin) things will deteriorate as they did in West Wing, but it helps not to have the leader of the free world smirking all the time.

Sports Night in the newsroom. I liked it. Shame my free HBO ends this week.

Yep, classic Sorkin. Not a bad thing, but not nearly reality. I like their depiction of Jeff Daniels' character as sort of a douche.

Episode 2 was on last night. Yup, Sports Night in the newsroom. Same characters with slight variations. It will be good and well written but pretty predictable.

i like sorkin but this show blows

Originally Posted by grapedrink

i like sorkin but this show blows

It was already picked up for a second season, just after 2 episodes.

Great show so far. Love the first 2 episodes. Just because YOU or your friends don't talk like that (ie. intelligently) doesn't mean there aren't people who do.

While certainly intelligent at times, that is far from a complete description; sharp, fast, colorful, torturous, witty, sophomoric, silly, etc. all come into play. Oh, and the verbose-o-meter also drifts dangerously into the red zone.

Originally Posted by Flexon Phil

It was already picked up for a second season, just after 2 episodes.

and the apprentice is on its 12th season, whats your point? i strained to get through both episodes.. the dialogue is sharp but over the top even by sorkin standards. unlike the west wing most of the characters just come off as annoying twits.. even jack mccoy is a putz. and the preachiness factor is at an all time high. this won't last any longer than studio 60, the inner workings of a network newsroom just aren't that interesting, i predict that within 6 episodes it's nothing more than a glorified soap opera..

Originally Posted by Flexon Phil

It was already picked up for a second season, just after 2 episodes.

So was Luck.

Originally Posted by lrn2swim

Great show so far. Love the first 2 episodes. Just because YOU or your friends don't talk like that (ie. intelligently) doesn't mean there aren't people who do.

I know nobody who talks like that, friends or enemies or any others I meet. Maybe I'm just a dumbass rube, though, professor.

Sorkin dialogue is written with each character knowing what the other is about to say and having a response already ready. It also trends towards constantly pedantic diatribes mixed with high school drama level crushes and relationships.

Succinct and pithy - I like that.

Of course the same might be said for Shakespeare, among others .........

I like this show. It makes me feel all smart.

I'm on the fence with this one. I like it, but the Sorkin dialogue flow definitely bugs me and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get past it. I know some really, really smart people and they don't talk like that. No one talks like that.

I just keep thinking that they've all been drinking Monster Energy all day or something.

Originally Posted by schuss

...high school drama level crushes and relationships.

This is quickly becoming the most annoying part of the show for me.

Originally Posted by thrav

This is quickly becoming the most annoying part of the show for me.

My fears are being fulfilled. As long as Daniels is involved, and to a lesser extent Waterston, it's all good; and the economist is hawt. They mis-cast badly on Fonda, though.

I kinda like the way they structured that last show - it kept getting better each time I saw it.

NPR had a bit leading up to the premiere, and gushed something along the lines of "no one writes dialogue like Aaron Sorkin." Leading me to yell at the radio, "ummm, David Mamet, maybe?"

Sorkin = Mamet lite.

Originally Posted by PB

My fears are being fulfilled. As long as Daniels is involved, and to a lesser extent Waterston, it's all good; and the economist is hawt. They mis-cast badly on Fonda, though.

The economist is Olivia Munn, briefly of the Daily Show, where she just didn't have the timing to make it work. She's cast better here, though.

I actually love the Fonda casting, if only for the Ted Turner backstory.

Originally Posted by The Dad

The economist is Olivia Munn, briefly of the Daily Show, where she just didn't have the timing to make it work. She's cast better here, though.

I thought some of her segments on The Daily Show were pretty good, actually. In particular when the whole Arizona immigrant law came up...

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/Blog4Play/89759

Originally Posted by The Dad

.....The economist is Olivia Munn, briefly of the Daily Show, where she just didn't have the timing to make it work. She's cast better here, though.

I actually love the Fonda casting, if only for the Ted Turner backstory.

Yeah - I predict Olivia won't get too many serious soliloquies, but who cares ....

You're right about the Ted Turner connection but crikey, Jane's Bo-Tox got a little carried away - like into her brain.

I liked Charlie Wilson's War and The Social Network a lot, but when I watched the first episode of Newsroom: Meh.