HBO's new breakneck-paced series The Newsroom is the must-see TV series of the summer. Starring Jeff Daniels as Will MacAvoy, the affable (at least as far as his viewers see) "Jay Leno" of cable new anchors.
The series starts with a brilliant opening. Caught in the crossfire between two other, more opinionated anchors on a panel before a live college audience, Will sits in between, trying to tune out the acrimonious debate until the moderator insists he give an answer to a co-ed's question: "What makes America the greatest nation in the world?"
Taking his cue from a woman in the audience holding up handwritten cards reading, "It's not" and "But it can be," Will finally lets loose with a blistering attack on liberals, conservatives and why the U.S. is no longer the greatest nation: what has made us great, perhaps what can make us great again.
His rant goes against everything that has made him a success, and when he returns to his newsroom at the fictional ACN news network, Will's world turns on its head. His show, Newsnight will never again be the same.
Beneath that bland, blond news anchor, breaths a brainy, incisive journalist, and hard-drinking News Director Charlie Skinner (the always watchable Sam Waterston) brings in Will's old executive producer Makenzie MacHale (Emily Mortimer, Hugo) to lure it to the surface. The problem is that the EP has an intimate personal history with Will, with a presumably bad breakup, and he is incensed that his boss would hire her without his approval.
Will is a jerk, he's abusive to his staff (when he doesn't treat them dismissively entirely), comfortable with the status quo as long as his ratings remain in the stratosphere. But I get the impression that his mood has much to do with an internal dissatisfaction at what he has actually come to represent within the spectrum of TV journalism.
Set in 2010, the first episode revolves around the breaking story of the catastrophic BP oil spill, which barely registered as a blip on the news radar as it began to unfold. Good fortune (and good sources) provide Newsnight enough insider insight to scoop the other networks, and as with other intense, truly breaking news, the evolving story makes all involved rise to the occasion. For Will, it's a cathartic experience.
Article comments
1 - 60 plus
Barbara,
After West Wing ended, little excited me on TV until House came along. Since then, House and the magic of Hugh Laurie were the only things that really captivated me. Anticipating the ending of House this spring, I tried to find other options for my limited TV viewing. I tried everything others raved about...from Once Upon a Time (sorry Barbara!) to Mad Men to Breaking Bad and many others.
Nothing excited me until tonight. I certainly don't expect Will to replace House--I doubt that any other character ever will for me--but I have hope that the show will live up to the promise of tonight's premiere.
2 - Colin Graves
I have always been a big Sorkin fan! I loved The West Wing and was sad to see it go (but loved the conclusion), I was sad when I seemed to be only one of the few to embrace Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. But now I have The Newsroom to enjoy. Sorkin writes a banter I always enjoy, and with this show being on HBO it allows him to take the gloves of more as he stands on his soapbox and screams about where the world (and more so, the U-S) is going. Loved the first episode...only hope it gets better as everyone gets into the swing of it!
3 - Laurie
I was a super fan of "Sports Night" and of the first few seasons of "The West Wing". I really enjoyed last night program because it feels like the two other series and, of course, because of the writing and the acting. I hope you get hooked on it as well, so that I can enjoy reading your reviews as I did with House.
4 - barbara barnett
Thanks guys. I do plan on writing a regular column as The Newsroom unfolds. I've actually got a partially completed opinion piece on the questions the first episode raises. This will be a series I can really dig into, I think.