The Newsroom

The Newsroom

Tube! HBO

The Newsroom is the latest brainchild of Aaron Sorkin who brought us A Few Good Men, An American President, and the giant The West Wing. He uses real life news stories and the backdrop of an network news show to create fascinating situations and interesting characters all with their own baggage and situations.

The cast is headed up by Jeff Daniels as Will MacAvoy, a news anchor who can sometimes be a maverick. But he is somewhat encouraged to be by the head of the News Division. That person, Charlie, is played perfectly by Sam Waterson. But ultimately they all answer to the owner of the network, Leona Lansing, played ironically by Jane Fonda, ironic since she was once married to CNN owner Ted Turner. But she brings real life to Leona. And her son is the President of ACN, her network. The pain in the butt Reese Lansing is played deftly by Chris Messina.

The pilot kicks off with a doozy. Most of these characters are introduced behind the backdrop of the Gulf Oil explosion and spill. That's just the pilot. Later we get to touch on the Gabby Gifford shooting, the Boston marathon bombing and more. Including Osama Bin Laden.

These all become real people and we grow to love them all even with their own personal quirks and issues and unrequited loves.

Will is a bit of a jerk, calling out to "Punjab" when wanting the Indian guy. This is by the way the one who runs his blog, played amusingly by Dev Patel who is now becoming a big Hollywood deal. He also calls his assistant Maggie, Ellen, because he has not kept up with the fact Ellen left and Maggie replaced. But soon Maggie is promoted to associate producer by the major thorn in Will's side, Executive Producer McKenzie, played by Emily Mortimer. She and Will once had a relationship and it ended bitterly. And on and on it goes.

I have always touted Breaking Bad as the greatest thing I've ever seen on TV. Sticking with that, this is a very, very, very thinly sliced number two. This is fantastic stuff.

We also get a brief look at reporters following candidates on the campaign trail, and reporters in harm's way in remote places.

I streamed this all the way through. A few weeks later I missed these characters and watched it all again. And now I am actually thinking about doing it again. On top of all that, I own it all on DVD. I'm gonna watch this as long as I like. It's only two and a half seasons after all.

Grade: A