Just started on HBO. Great pilot episode. Great writing and story premise. It definitely looks to have some long term potential.
This looks like a liberal's wet dream remake of Network. Still, it was funny to see Sorkin try to write Paddy Chayefsky/Sidney Lumet level dialogue. Sorry, dude. You might be pretty good by modern standards, but you can't carry the jockstrap of two of the greatest ever.
Heres what I said about in The Wall thread: It sucks and its not worth even sitting through the pilot.
I love the West Wing so I figured I'd give this a shot, it fucking sucked. Over the top pontificating, and of course Sorkin's liberal slant on everything. I also think he limited what the show could have been by choosing a real life event to focus the first show on, why do that? I made it through the pilot but won't be watching the rest.
And apparently it goes downhill...from the first episode. HBO released the first 4 episodes to writers, and it got destroyed.
Can I just ask why saying that the country is broken and we need to do something to fix it has to be a liberal idea? I thought it was entertaining, but extremely over the top. As fiction, I can buy it. As realistic fiction, I don't buy it at all.
The dialogue is just too dense and heavy. People don't talk like that. The scene between Jeff Daniels and the british woman in his office literally gave me a headache, it was just too much. People were falling all over it, but like Parker said, critics hate it. Also, call me superficial, but they could have picked someone cuter than Alison Pill to be the "hot intern/assistant/whatever" that is seemingly going to start a competition between the two producers.
Everything about ^ that post is bang on. The dialogue reminded me of The Gilmore Girls*...just exhausting to listen to and so unrealistic. It must have been a nightmare for the actors to learn it and spit it out. It feels like they have some good acting talent, but the writing is just fucking it up. No thanks. *A close relative LOVES the Gilmore Girls, so I've had to watch more of that fucking show than I'd ever care to admit. Jesus it's painful to watch.
Who said it was? I don't consider Network particularly "liberal" and it features the same idea. It's also one of my absolute favorite films ever. (Seriously everyone, watch it. Then laugh at how many ideas were copy and pasted from there into "The Newsroom")
I got through maybe five minutes of this new episode, and had to mute the television. Who can listen to that shrill, unending dialogue? Another thing that bugs me is the level of hysteria. The executive producer having a screaming fit in the newsroom, being dragged into the boss's office, and continuing the tirade? I work in an office. If someone behaved that way, they'd last perhaps fifteen minutes. This show does nothing for me.
Watched the pilot yesterday and have not seen the new episode, but while there were some interesting ideas in the show, it just felt like it was trying too hard. And it's funny that Dcc mentioned Gilmore Girls, because that is what I compared it to as well (though I enjoyed Gilmore Girls, because I always thought it was supposed to be somewhat farcical) in this show it is just distracting. Way too much speech making and pontificating instead of letting it build up to what it's really about (like The Wire did). It's really a shame, because it was going to attack something that I have bitched about for years in the whole news as entertainment movement, but just way too preachy so far.
[/quote] I don't think she's supposed to be the hot one, she's supposed to be the 'adorable yet capable woman coming into her own that everyone feels compelled to save.' That requires her slightly cherubic face and crazy eyes. I think it's a pretty solid casting. I will be honest, I didn't watch all of last night's episode, but I caught the last fifteen minutes. In that fifteen minutes, I swear to god the entire thing was one speech after another. I can't listen to Emily Mortimer hit that octave anymore.
I actually like this show quite a bit. I like the dialogue, and though the subject matter is definitely reminiscent of 'Network' the feel of it is all 'Sports Night' - Sorkin's first major show. I think the characters will take a bit to get used to, and I'm willing to give it some time. I thought the exchange between Daniels and the 'Three Experts' on the immigration bill from Arizona was absolutely hysterical. But yes, it definitely has the Sorkin 'liberal slant' to it, which I don't mind so much because everything on tv generally has some slant one way or the other. Newsroom's is just more out there in the open. Greatest show? Not even close. Great show? Not even close. Good show? Could be, I'll give it at least 4 episodes (which is my commitment to any new show).
I haven't seen this show but it's fucking nuts how much life imitates art in the case of Network. The editorialization of TV news has produced some eerily similar results to what that movie predicted. Seriously Glenn Becks show was only a few shades off of Howard Beale's overly passionate ramblings. Normally I despise shows/movies that are overtly political unless I know upfront that is the purpose of the show/film. So Ill be open to the show knowing Sorkin seems to be writing hollywood lib masturbation fodder, and judge it more on over all delivery.
Never put TOO much stock into a pilot. The pilot has to toss a ton of shit in to get the network to bite on it, so it always feels fast paced and scrambled. Especially when you toss on another 10-15 minutes of actual TV like HBO can in their pilots. Olivia Munn is supposed to be in the show, which I'm excited to see. You need at least one hot girl on the show. She wasn't in the pilot which made me sad, because it pains me to look at the intern/assistant. I like the cute look and she is not speaking to the penis. Her dark, beady little eyes make me uncomfortable.
I've stuck with this show, and I have to say it has gotten stronger with each episode. It's wild to see Jeff Daniels in a role like this, especially after you've seen Dumb and Dumber. I think the character development has come along nicely, and there are some decent plot lines. There are some cliche ones too, but the show has definitely hooked me.
The show is just an hour each week of Aaron Sorkin ranting about the media. And given the current state of the media, I'm totally ok with that. Is the show realistic? No. But it's the Sorkinverse, and I don't mind spending some time each week in the Sorkinverse. But seriously, fuck the modern media.
If the characters would just talk more slowly instead of flying from conversation to conversation like a hummingbird on meth it would be a better show. Let the plot take a breath, don't show how many big words and complex topics you can fit into an hour