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

The Usual Suspects: A Continuation

File this one under random thoughts in the shower, but how embarrassed must have U.S. Customs Agent Dave Kujan felt after the credits rolled in The Usual Suspects when he rolled back into the precinct, head hanging low, knowing that he had to tell everyone else that he just got played by mythical criminal Keyser Soze and then let him walk? I'm going to say pretty embarrassed. I mean, to start, he already broke a coffee glass, spilled coffee everywhere, and wasn't fast enough to a fake cripple (fakripple?). First of all, what the hell was a U.S. Customs Agent doing interviewing the sole witness capable of talking about this vast conspiracy, multiple murders, and shoot out at the docks. Does he even have the training for that? Who let him have at it like that? I'm guessing Sgt. Rabin got some shit for this debacle as well. Some other off the top of my head questions I'm sure he faced from Special Agent Baer and others post-credit rolling:

• Didn't someone tell you that a fax with Soze's likeness would be coming through? Why wasn't someone on that immediately?
• Oh, my bad, I forgot that you are an mother#(%^Q)@ U.S. Customs Agent so of course not.
• Sidenote, who the hell let you in there anyway?
• Oh, you let him go because you were satisfied that Keaton faked his death again? So that's what makes sense? Good police work, dickbag.
• Nobody looked into this Kobayashi character? Maybe checked out some known associates? Really, nobody? Wow.
• What kind of name is Verbal Kint anyway? Anyone look into that one? No? Fantastic. 
• Again, and I don't mean to make too fine of a point out of this, but he was the only go@%)&@#n survivor of a massacre and only witness the state has and no one thought to look after him? Maybe follow him a little bit or have a uniform take him home?
• Ugh, you are the worst. Get the hell outta here and go back to chasing down counterfeit CDs and Nikes or whatever the hell it is you actually do regularly. But, seriously, how the hell were you the one doing this interview? F&%* me in the goat ass....

Poorly Played Home Box Office...

HBO recently decided to renew their new show Enlightened, while canceling Bored to Death, Hung, and How to Make it in America. I am fairly certain that top HBO brass have deemed this "How to Kick America in the Balls: an enlightened method to bore the watching public to death until they death by hanging" (Disclaimer: this is probably not true). I like Laura Dern and all, and admittedly I never really gave that show much of a chance, but how could you re-up that while canceling Bored to Death, one of the better shows, with one of the best casts, on TV (in my humble opinion). Hung and How to Make it... were not nearly as innovative but seemed like they would appeal to a better target demographic than a middle aged female office drone who flips out in the office after an affair with a co-worker and then gets all zen.

I hope the next group of shows they have lined up strike a chord with viewers, because it seems to me that HBO has been steadily slipping as of late as Showtime and AMC continue to pickup faithful viewers (a.k.a., market share). Considering HBO's track record (or even just The Sopranos and The Wire), however, it's hard to doubt them (he said at the end of a post that is composed almost entirely with HBO doubts). Just do us all a favor and get Zach Galifianakis back on TV HBO. You owe us that much...