5/1 [HD]

It felt like being back at CNN
Much has already been said about the show's quality as a TV drama, the great acting and inspired writing. I want to focus on something else.

Having spent more than two decades at CNN Center in Atlanta, until two years ago, as a writer and producer, the show is a brilliant success in conveying what it feels like to be in a newsroom like that, especially when there is breaking news.

In particular, the episode with the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was absolutely true to life. Another reviewer criticized the dilema the team felt as other networks were reporting that she was dead and they were under pressure from network executives not to fall behind on the story. At the climactic moment, the anchor Will McAvoy makes the call on air and offers only the information about the shooting: "Here's what we know so far..." Which, of course, we know to have been the right call.

The factual context is right. NPR did report that Gifford had been killed;...

One of the Most Intelligent and Informed Series Ever on Television
Brilliant, Briskly Intelligent Writing was the title for this review when this enormously successful series premiered in June 2012. For some reason Amazon did not make this available either on Video On Demand or in a place where reviews could be written. Now the first season is complete - having finished last night with one of the finest shows of the season. And with the soon to be released DVD set of the first year, we can finally discuss it. To start with, the following response was to the first opening show:

A new series launched on HBO with a star-spangled episode `We just decided to'. As conceived and written by Aaron Sorkin it is a timely, incredibly intelligently written show populated with some of our best seasoned actors as well as some very fine actors on the way up. This is the kind of television that reminds us that at one time the news programs informed us about current events and ran a continuing commentary on the development of events in this country and...

Does he have to be right?
I've been an Aaron Sorkin fan for a long time. His dialogue is brain candy for me: regardless of whether I agree with what he's saying, the eloquence and the rhythm are thrilling and addictive. I don't think you need to believe he's right in order to enjoy the show. That said, I usually do agree with him, and The Newsroom is no exception.

It's rare to turn on the news and get anything more than the cheap thrill of watching someone from the left fight it out with someone on the right. The anchors themselves take a passive role, and yet if they wanted to, they really could challenge the speakers, couldn't they? Force them to defend their statements with verifiable facts? And in so doing, help the viewers to evaluate the merits of the argument on each side?

The Newsroom is a pleasurable fantasy about what that might look like. And I can't help but think that the hostility the show has drawn (Google it; you'll find a lot) is mainly from people who find it easier to...

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