The Newsroom- A Critique of the Critics

Everyone has seen the complaints. Yes, the show is preachy as hell. Even the fucking song in the show's open credits seem preachy  in it's attempt to reach back to the simpler, more morally correct, broadcast news time of yesteryear; an attempt to copy Mad Men but to a much poorer effect. But everyone knows that Sorkin is preachy. Who cares?. And, sure, Sorkin always seems to come off as a world class doucher. But where is the surprise here as well? No one who's heard him speak denies that. It almost seems like the casual backlash always given to the popular for no reason a la Dave Matthews fandom in the 1990s. The fact of the matter is, in my humble opinion, its a fairly enjoyable show. It is hard to go too wrong when you are throwing Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer and Sam Waterston out there (I particularly like Waterston as the seemingly perennially drunk Charlie Skinner). Then you have the supporting cast of Dev Patel, Alison Pill and the somewhat surprisingly good Olivia Munn. 


I can certainly see how preachy could get annoying, but maybe what we need is some preaching. In the latest episode, Will McAvoy, although nominally a republican, comes out swinging hard against the Tea Party. But who is to say that that is so wrong. I found it particularly enjoyable and certainly wished that some of the questions he asked HAD been asked in 2010. We are now in the media world where objective news reporting and phrases like fair and balanced are now a punch line. Literally. By Jon Stewart nearly every night because of the unadulterated horseshit coming from certain sectors of the news media and the pussies in the rest of the news media  who treat all stories as if they were created equal. And this point was actually made, almost verbatim, through the show as I felt myself unconsciously nodding in agreement. Furthermore, I found the business argument presented by Jane Fonda's character extremely interesting and something that I don't think many people ever think about when consuming their news content. News media seems to get a pass these days and I think it is great that there is a show pointing out these flaws, albeit in a sometimes annoyingly quirky Sorkinian patois.


Anyway, in my view, this seems like much ado about nothing and very similar to the insanely nit picky questions raised about Girls, a phenomenal show, right off the bat. And, yes, maybe the critics who got to screen the episodes in advance are correct and the show falls off the map in next week's episode 4. I, however, plan on riding this one out for a bit and seeing where it goes. I think after the fawning critical love of many of Sorkin's previous shows, he deserves that much.


IMAGE: Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy via hbo.com