The Newsroom

I'd rather spend time with an edgy show that aims high and sometimes falls short, than one that doesn't.... Welcome back, Mr. Sorkin. It's a pleasure to have you.

With the end in sight, this is a faster paced, more focused, less annoying Newsroom than in the first two seasons.

A still pointed but more controlled take on the crossroads of media and culture, The Newsroom is now much closer to the show that many hoped it would be.

The Newsroom boldly wants to smother you in both ethical debate and its own self-reflected glory. [29 Jun 2012, p.58]

The Newsroom feels largely the same as it did last year, despite Sorkin’s claim that this season would make up for the flaws of the last two. That is to say it’s both really good and remarkably aggravating—sometimes in the same line of dialogue.

If you get your news from anywhere other than The Newsroom, to watch the show is to be harangued by opinions you have heard many, many times over, just polished with Sorkin’s trademark linguistic flourishes and passed off as shiny and new.

Monstrously misconceived and incompetently executed, powered by a high-octane blend of arrogance and contempt, The Newsroom is an epochal failure, a program destined for television's all-time What Were They Thinking? list. Not since NASA's first Vanguard rocket blew up on its launch pad in 1957 will Americans have seen anything crash and burn on television with such hellish spectacularity.

This is a pickup bar that doubles as a place to work. If you can get through all of the soap opera junk, you might enjoy this.