First Impressions: The Newsroom

Tonight I went to see a free screening of THE NEWSROOM. Disclaimer: I have never watched The West Wing and my experience with Aaron Sorkin's repertoire is limited to Moneyball (2011) and The Social Network (2010).

And that unfamiliarity with his work and dialogue seemed to put my thoughts about the show at a disadvantage. The long-winded speeches about how the news shapes the government and America had me rolling my eyes and waiting for the next scene. What really threw me off was the coverage of real events. Not to give too much away, but the first episode covers BP oil disaster in April 2010. I had thought that The Newsroom would invent news for its storylines because there seemed to be much more you could do with that. Or it could be vaguely based on "ripped from the headlines" type stories that Law & Order: SVU along  with other criminal and legal procedurals do. I thought it was too much to reuse news events from recent history.

That being said, I did get swept up in the final half hour of the episode when everyone was rushing around behind the scenes to collect all the information and on-air interviews. It was thrilling to watch and actually endeared me to Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) more than the rest of the episode. You could tell why his viewers thought he was affable. 

The cast was absolutely brilliant. The reason why I wanted to watch this show besides it being on HBO is that I recognized nearly all of the regular cast from other tv shows or movies. Jeff Daniels - Speed; Dumb and Dumber! Emily "I have hollow bones" Mortimer - 30 Rock! Alison Pill - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World! Dev Patel - Skins; Slumdog Millionaire! Olivia Munn - Attack of the Show! Sam Waterston - Law and Order! It's a fun little game. And all my love for them on these shows or movies inspires a sort of loyalty to them. They all had their moments of comedy in the premiere.

It's difficult for me to form opinions on this show after seeing the episode only once. I fear that the exhilaration of watching it in a free screening along with 99 other people might influence my thoughts and feelings.

Random notes:

• Jim Harper (John Gallagher Jr.) looks like a younger Lord Petyr Baelish/Tom Carcetti (actor Aiden Gillen) and that's all I could focus on. 
• Despite billing her as a series regular, we only saw the back of Olivia Munn's head for 2 seconds. Dev Patel was equally shuffled to the background for 3 lines and mostly reaction shots. 

Update: I watched the Sunday premiere to solidify some of my thoughts. (And because I had nothing better to do at 10pm on a Sunday night). The Will-MacKenzie scenes were some of my least favorite. I cannot see the chemistry between the two of them. They seem to provoke each other into long-winded speeches about patriotism and what's good for the country. And I could not care about it. I sat there waiting for the scene change.

And since its premiere, everyone is taking to the internet to critique the show. From what I've read, some of it is valid. Others mention how the show declines very quickly and by the 4th episode it is a train wreck. I mostly resigned myself to watching maybe one more episode, but with all the hype of how bad it gets I want to stick around and revel in the awfulness. America loves watching things crash and burn. 

It turns out that what bothers me most about The Newsroom are apparently what makes Aaron Sorkin's shows into "Aaron Sorkin shows". Which does not bode well for liking the show as a whole. Perhaps, I didn't watch The West Wing, Sports Night, and Studio 60 on Sunset Strip  not because I did not catch the bandwagon; but because ultimately I wasn't made for Aaron Sorkin shows. Or the other way around.