At first I thought the "recent past" decision was lame because I found West Wing's alternate timeline to be really interesting.
Then I thought it was lame because it gave Sorkin and the show a chance to show off how great the news could have been with two years of hindsight.
But now they're using the Giffords shooting to show what great news reporters they are, and it just feels unbearably callous to me.
"He's got a dick, why won't he talk about it?"
-Jimmy Pardo
In 2014, I want to create a TV show set in the recent past about the making of "The Newsroom". On the episode about the Giffords shooting, I'd still have them be the last holdout on reporting Giffords' death. When the network suit arrived to demand they report that she's dead, they'd explain to him all the journalistic reasons they shouldn't do that. But, eventually the pressure would get too great, and they'd join the club passing on the single-sourced news story. Then, they'd learn she's alive and they'd feel like crap for caving in.
And THAT'S how you monday morning quarterback the news without being overly self-congratulatory.
This is factually incorrect and I can prove it.Originally Posted by Hated Milk Machine
Hot tub foot?
I keep reading this but I think it's a bit of an overblown complaint. Everyone on this show is terrible, not just the women. Neil spent half an hour talking about Big Foot, Don is apparently Lex Luthor, and at one point Will literally said, without any hint of sarcasm or self-awareness, "Then it's a good thing you met me."
I like the recent past thing they just need to get past the phase where they're building News Night up to mythical status. There were good ways to handle the Giffords story on this show, none of which were to make a fictional organization look like heroes for being so humane while calling out actual news organizations as dickheads. But I did like the "stories we missed" bit.
The bizarre thing is that this all reminds me of the Sorkin-less final season of The West Wing. I don't mind the cheesy emotional drama (the dialogue needs to get a whole lot less literal) I just wish they could ground this all in reality a little more. And it would be great if they could call a Democrat out on something. They made mistakes in the past two years as well.
Last edited by jkwall; July 16, 2012 at 12:09 PM.
These people all need to stop dating people they work with.
Mysterious Exhortations | @monty_ashley on Twitter
Yes everyone is terrible but I relate to the women more. I would love for Maggie not to be so bloody obvious about her total infatuation with Jim Halpert, I mean Jim something else with an H. I think Will's OK. Maybe I'm an asshole dude in a girl costume. I dunno. Between this and Louie, I don't know if I am a human person at all.
This show is hokey and ridiculous but Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston are great and I think it's entertaining and often very funny.
Lisa: "He's going to think I'm dumb."
Maggie: "No he's not. Oh, your skirt is on backwards."
Lisa: "I work in fashion!"
Game. Set. Match.
"That dancer and I became really close friends. And back then he wasn't known as K-Fed or Federline. Back then his name was Chad Farthouse." -Zach Galifianakis
Adult Swim's Welcome Pages
"I'm a registered Republican but I seem Liberal because I think hurricanes are caused by low barometric pressure and not gay marriage."
This show takes place two years ago just to trick us into thinking they casted various tertiary Must See TV actresses before NBC did.
What I lack in size I make up for in obnoxiousness!
What was the significance of Alison Pill hitting Jim Halpert with the door twice?
How do civilians get up into that newsroom and past security (Lisa) and why does every private relationship conversation take place in that room?
I liked the Amen story. More that less stupid chick drama. Also I read that AS dumped his whole writing staff for next season. He doesn't write it all by himself?
SB - he dumped the whole writing staff EXCEPT for his ex-girlfriend. Not even a joke. That is for real.
I don't know why I didn't realize until last night that "Mackenzie McHale" is literally the WORST conceivable name for a character.
Also, the second they started the Rudy talk I knew there would be a big sappy show by the end. Sure enough... this show is sappy as hell and I hate and love it in equal measure.
This show is frustrating. This was close to being the best episode yet. The whole Olivia Munn storyline, especially her scene interrogating the Fukishima guy in Japanese with Sadowski freaking out in the control room and subsequent Sam Waterson beatdown, was really great, I thought. And the Will storyline was good and compelling, except for the fact that the entire climax that the whole thing hinged on was completely ridiculous on its face. There is absolutely, 100% NO way that Rick Santorum would have a openly gay campaign adviser, especially one who would go on a prime-time news show on the very night that he announced his run for President and label Santorum "wrong" on the issue of homosexuality. If this were 'The West Wing'-iverse where we could create stand-ins for characters (such as how Governor Richie, Bartlet's opponent when running for reelection, was an obvious stand-in for President Bush), this would have been a really well done scene. And the central point of how Liberals try to paint and pigeonhole people based on characteristics about them (black, gay), is a really fair one and it was great to watch Sorkin wrestle with this, as well as some of his own preachiness, in this scene. And also, the actor playing the Santorum adviser was really good. It's just too bad the entire thing, because it's based on real people who we know all too well, falls apart under even the tiniest bit of scrutiny.
I thought it hard to believe too, until I saw that it was probably inspired by this segment on Chris Matthew's show, where he talks to a real life gay and black aide to Santorum http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1188992.html
“We’ve built a bridge of friendship and carried our goats across. Lay them in the grass with me, Jeff! One’s named Petey and one’s named Sweetie!”—Pete Holmes to Jeff Garlin, Doug Loves Movies
Yeah, this episode was actually good! I mean, good within the boundaries of the universe they've created, which is still kind of ridiculous and insane. But they've finally gotten past the yelling exposition at us phase, so if you accept the mountain of horseshit the show is built upon, you can enjoy it for what it does well. Which is, to quote Sam Waterston on the topic of what Sandra Bernhart does: "Whatever the hell." (Best line of the series so far.)
PS: +10 pts for Krumholtz usage.
Rick Santorum did have an openly gay, black advisor. And he and Chris Matthews yelled.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1188992.html
Even though this episode rips off the structure of the Josh Lyman PTSD episode of WW and I knew it the whole time, I still liked this episode anyway because that episode of WW is so goddamn good.
If the show stays the way it was this week, I can get behind it. The characters made mistakes! Big ones, that rveal character flaws! They aren't always right!
Edit: Pagebreak'd is right! Preserving this post so Umlaut's post makes sense.
Last edited by Kentock; July 31, 2012 at 11:46 AM.
"He's got a dick, why won't he talk about it?"
-Jimmy Pardo
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