[HP_Wuvcraft]

That was great. Surprisingly, such an un-HBO show. I also loved Sorkin off the leash of network TV. Hearing Sam Waterson swear in such amazing dialogues was great.

See, here's the problem. What about the pilot was "ultra liberal"?

It said something, anything, derogatory towards conservatives no matter the context.

[Zulithe]

It feels like a show that should be airing on one of the networks, only people can actually talk like real adults. Well, okay, real adults but smarter. Great start. Thankful there's something good on HBO Sundays now that GoT and Girls are over for the season. It's also much more my style than Luck was.

[ThisWreckage]

That was great. Surprisingly, such an un-HBO show. I also loved Sorkin off the leash of network TV. Hearing Sam Waterson swear in such amazing dialogues was great. It said something, anything, derogatory towards conservatives no matter the context.

It said something negative about conservatives with the added benefit of retrospect. It's completely transparent.

[HP_Wuvcraft]

It said something negative about conservatives with the added benefit of retrospect. It's completely transparent.

A show about news people having extreme opinions about other people?

Shocking.

Next you're going to tell me that the people at Fox News don't actually believe the crap they say.

[Amir0x]

What a fucking embarrassingly self-indulgent show. When Emily Mortimer's character started going on about how soon the nation would have a conversation about whether government was good for anything and that they had a shot at centering the debate, I nearly vomited in my mouth.

Definitely will not be watching another episode.

[SpeedingUptoStop]

A show about news people having extreme opinions about other people? Shocking. Next you're going to tell me that the people at Fox News don't actually believe the crap they say.

That's the thing though, wasn't the whole first scene supposed to be shocking? Wasn't the rest of the episode supposed to come off as bold? Felt like the show said it did a lot of things without actually acting like it, which was a major problem on Studio 60 too.

[FollowSmoke]

It's amazing to me that as soon as you introduce politics how it polarizes everyone. Nobody is willing to listen to an opposing viewpoint without waving their flag about -- and yammering to anyone willing to listen -- what their beliefs are. It's that showing of fanaticism that makes 90% of people hard-headed and stubborn, no matter which side of the aisle you're on.

As for the witty dialogue, I don't understand how you can't enjoy it. I don't want characters to be filling the air with "uhm" and "like" in every sentence no more than I want an action hero to want to talk over his differences with his enemy rather than hitting him with a rocket launcher. Dialogue and conversation are amazing tools in any story, why would someone want the bar set low for something like that?

Also, this is a performance. It's meant for entertainment. Whether it entertains you or not is your opinion. But don't ask for fairness or complain about agendas. Save the political regurgitation for call-in talk shows because it means jack shit when it comes to art and literature. Social commentary has been in the arts for a very long time. To ask for it to be removed on account of balance and fairness is simply sad.

[Scullibundo]

Loved it. On board for the rest of the season.

[StuBurns]

I've been looking forward to this for months, and it really delivered, fantastic opener. I have high hopes for the show going forward.

[Salvor.Hardin]

That was fun. Still kind of worried given the reviews of the episodes to follow. If I recall correctly, the pilot was widely praised, but apparently the show drops in quality drastically over the next three episodes. Fingers crossed.

[ChiTownBuffalo]

What a fucking embarrassingly self-indulgent show. When Emily Mortimer's character started going on about how soon the nation would have a conversation about whether government was good for anything and that they had a shot at centering the debate, I nearly vomited in my mouth. Definitely will not be watching another episode.

And this is why you can't be a mod.

[Timedog]

It was alright. At first I hated it's dialogue and vibe and the world everything existed in, but by the end it had enough good qualities for me to overlook that. I think my 2nd wife liked it more than my 3rd. I could imagine it being one of those serious faux-biopic dramas with comedic little sprinkles thrown in all over the place in a way that's supposed to appear idiosyncratic, but then maybe at the end of Season 2 they surprise reveal magic sorcery, and illuminati plots, and ancient beings and spells. Somehow I doubt anything like that will happen because people that have a fuckload of money (tv producers) just aren't that much fun. I'm high what did I just type?

[Scullibundo]

It was alright. At first I hated it's dialogue and vibe and the world everything existed in, but by the end it had enough good qualities for me to overlook that. I think my 2nd wife liked it more than my 3rd. I could imagine it being one of those serious faux-biopic dramas with comedic little sprinkles thrown in all over the place in a way that's supposed to appear idiosyncratic, but then maybe at the end of Season 2 they surprise reveal magic sorcery, and illuminati plots, and ancient beings and spells. Somehow I doubt anything like that will happen because people that have a fuckload of money (tv producers) just aren't that much fun. I'm high what did I just type?

You need to give Sorkin a sniff.

[strafer]

I guess he will never top what he did with 'The West Wing'.

[Timedog]

I don't know who Sorkin is, I didn't read the OP. I never read the OP's in threads about a movie, or show, or album. I guess he made the West Wing (never seen) and The Social Network? It's no Jaws and E.T. and Amistad and Schindler's List, but good credentials.

[LegendofJoe]

What a fucking embarrassingly self-indulgent show. When Emily Mortimer's character started going on about how soon the nation would have a conversation about whether government was good for anything and that they had a shot at centering the debate, I nearly vomited in my mouth. Definitely will not be watching another episode.

Too much jaded cynicism is bad for your health Amirox.

[&Divius]

I thought this was great. Will definitely be watching more.

[Discotheque]

I'll check out the pilot but I don't have high hopes for this. I think Few Good Men and Social Network are the only projects of this guy's I have enjoyed and they seem to be the least Sorkin-like apparently.

[StuBurns]

A Few Good Men is the most Sorkinie thing ever made. TSN is something of an outlier though.

[Scullibundo]

Do they still hang people from yardarms?

[StuBurns]

Not for smoking a dime bag of oregano, certainly.

[Scullibundo]

My man.

[cubicle47b]

I liked it a lot. Sorkin's dialogue and the momentum of the Deepwater Horizon story/broadcast were both great.

[AwesomeSauce]

That was an excellent pilot. Did its job and had my attention throughout.

Reading some impressions, it's a good thing that I don't follow politics much. What I liked the most about this show was the energy during the breaking news buildup and the behind the scenes aspect of how they run their news show.

[madkiller]

Excellent pilot all around. Will watch the rest of the season.

[Sqorgar]

Okay. So. I liked it. BUT, I think that it's a bit unfair that the entire premise of the show is "this is how the news should have been reported." Hindsight is 20/20 and I'm uncomfortable with how many soap boxes Sorkin will find himself standing on.

Have you ever watched a Sorkin show before? The soapbox is where he shines. Does those lovely monologues where he sets up the pins and then, at the best possible moment, hits that wham line and knocks them all down. Even if you aren't in the choir he's preaching to, you can't help but admire the way he builds a persuasive argument.

It was way too nostalgic for a "better time" (which may be true with the news, but I think that open source news not coming out of one person's mouth is the best thing that we've accomplished through social media).

On this, I don't think we could disagree more. I believe the point of The Newsroom is that news needs to be filtered by intelligent, responsible people. There's a lot of misinformation out there, and it's people like Edward R. Murrow who were able to give perspective and wisdom to it.

I also didn't like his quip at "the sorority girl" - that girl represents everything that Sorkin feels is wrong about my generation, and I don't think that the blame lies solely on us. It's selfish of Sorkin to believe so...

Do you feel that your generation isn't the worst-period-generation-period-ever-period? And if so, why? Are you being defensive because you think Sorkin is wrong or because you are afraid that he isn't?

I'm just messing with you. Everybody knows that baby boomers are the worst generation ever.

[Cornballer]

A few more reviews of the pilot:

- memles
- Poniewozik
- Ken Tucker

[gdt]

Excellent pilot, but yeah, got a little queasy at the speeches, like twice. Emily's especially.

Will watch, for now.

[Hawkian]

Been thinking about it this morning and I can't wait to watch this again.

What stood out:
1. Unregulated, profanity-laden Sorkin dialogue is a goddamned joy to witness. While I can understand the monologues getting a bit indulgent for some, you have to love the little character moments and rapid-fire exchanges when there's no degree of PC to consider. Loved when Sam Waterston jumped down the throat of the younger producer guy, Don. It's sad to me that this show had to be on HBO after the impassioned explanation of why it's better to be on network TV found in Studio 60; but I'm glad to see he's taking full advantage of it.
2. The token, main "tough love best friendship" being between Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston is a fucking gold mine.
3. Alison Pill has some serious chops. I hope her character is as prominent as I feel the pilot points to. Didn't expect her to stand out so much (only know her from Scott Pilgrim). Sorkin's always been very solid at scripting natural chemistry, too "Bam - cupid!" ;)

4. I thought Olivia Munn was supposed to be in this. Can't say I minded that she didn't show up :-/

I really dug the little "what did everyone else cover?" beat during the denouement. Jeff Daniels looks like he's gonna have a lot of fun with this.

I wa just really bewildered with how incoherent the universe of the show is. It all brings up so many questions, chiefly, what kind of man was Will before his tirade? I don't mean talk about it, I want to actually see it so the show can even justifiably say its part of his character because, holy shit, this guy is in no way some soft ball Jay Leno type. He was angry in every scene except for the end. Everyone seemed to feel like this was normal as well. And why were they cool with it? if his tirade was supposed to be so out of character for his public personal how are so few people even about damage control?

As to the bold: you will, undoubtedly, in well-crafted flashbacks. Count on it.

As to the rest, it seemed clear to me that his staff wasn't surprised by his attitude in that he had always been kind of an asshole to them, despite his public persona being the likable Leno-archetype. You didn't get to see a single softball-interview that his "old" style supposedly relied on. As to them being cool with it, all but 5 or so staff members were totally jumping ship...

Basically my biggest problems with the show boil down to the world building having the coherency of a fucking dream. Everything exists in a vacuum, or even a vacuum of a vacuum when you look at how his first show back didn't address his tirade at all. There are just so many holes and things skipped over for the sake of just getting the show to the place where Sorkin can do a revisionist shtick where he can yell at people he's angry at that the whole thing feels like a first draft. There were things I enjoyed, some rapid fire dialogue moments, but they almost all existed outside of the vacuum that is What This Show is About, you know? I'll keep watching to see how much more this world comes apart but right now this ship has got a lot of holes it needs to plug before it goes anywhere but the bottom of the ocean.

I'm not surprised that he didn't address his tirade on-air as:
1) The rant did not happen on his show, it was a public forum
2) As a hard-news anchor he isn't expected to comment on his personal life during broadcasts
3) There was legitimate breaking news to cover for the length of the show

About the "vacuum": If it's anything like the West Wing, the show exists in an alternate timeline where events from real life still transpire but the chronology is skewed, and fictional events take place as well that can be stand-ins for real news stories but transpire differently. The rules and conventions of the world will become clearer over time (i.e. the Election Cycle schedule in the West Wing universe).

Man, I really hope this finds an audience. Even if this thread is filled with complaints from beginning to end, just having something this legitimately high-caliber on TV again to talk about is worthwhile.

[Stephen Colbert]

Amazing episode.

I love Sorkin's work and this is Sorkin at his most distilled and uninhibited.

I loved every second of it. I hope this show is as long running as The West Wing

[Blader5489]

I mostly liked it, agreed with others about the cheesiness and self-indulgence of some of the speeches though. Especially the "rousing part" of McAvoy's speech in the beginning, where he's waxing poetically about how great America used to be...just seemed like a weirdly naive and childish view of things.

[Lactose_Intolerant]

My only problem with the pilot was how many times Mortimer was about to leave the office then turns around for one more speech.

And the old EP guy was too big of a douche it was comically. I know they want him to be one, but the writing was way overboard.

[ChiTownBuffalo]

I did like Sam Watterson's "I'm a Marine and I'll beat the shit out of you!!" outburst.

[bengraven]

Trailer had me SO pumped then Olivia Munn's name came up.

So weird that you have this critically beloved cast and creator, then her.

[Hawkian]

Amazing episode. I love Sorkin's work and this is Sorkin at his most distilled and uninhibited. I loved every second of it. I hope this show is as long running as The West Wing

Colbert Approved. Nice.

I mostly liked it, agreed with others about the cheesiness and self-indulgence of some of the speeches though. Especially the "rousing part" of McAvoy's speech in the beginning, where he's waxing poetically about how great America used to be...just seemed like a weirdly naive and childish view of things.

*shrug*

We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one — America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. Enough?

You say naive, I say quixotic :P

[Ninja Scooter]

I liked it, but then I'm a fan of Sorkin and the stuff that turn some people off about him (Loved Studio 60 and SportsNite). The best part by far was when they were in a rush trying got break the oil spill story. That whole process was really interesting and entertaining.

4. I thought Olivia Munn was supposed to be in this. Can't say I minded that she didn't show up :-/

She was in it briefly as the anchor who was filming a news story. I think you only see her back for a few seconds but from the voice it was her.

[Ohwiseone]

I watched the opening monologue again last night on the rerun they Played right after the premiere.

That speech is award nominaton worthy for Jeff Daniels and aaron Sorkin.

When the show gets going, whenever they are about to break the story about the oil spill. That's the best part of it. That was so interesting.

That argument that happens 90 seconds before daniels goes live, with the whole "vertigo medician" screen is hilarious.

[Sloane]

First 30 minutes were godawful, after that it got better. Still felt a bit weird, the dialogue sounded surprisingly little like Sorkin, the timing especially of Jeff Daniels was weirdly off, and it reminded me too much of Studio 60. I'll give it a few more episodes though.

[ChiTownBuffalo]

Trailer had me SO pumped then Olivia Munn's name came up. So weird that you have this critically beloved cast and creator, then her.

You know, she speaks really fast, that might be good for Sorking dailogue. And it depends how her character is cast. I think Sorkin's writing can make bad actors look good.

[ThisWreckage]

A show about news people having extreme opinions about other people? Shocking. Next you're going to tell me that the people at Fox News don't actually believe the crap they say.

You missed my point entirely. Having a passionate opinion isn't a huge problem, but Sorkin continually finds a way to make it one.

[Hawkian]

You know, she speaks really fast, that might be good for Sorking dailogue. And it depends how her character is cast. I think Sorkin's writing can make bad actors look good.

This is actually true. I'll reserve my judgment (seriously, she is not in the pilot at ALL, right?)

She was in it briefly as the anchor who was filming a news story. I think you only see her back for a few seconds but from the voice it was her.

An anchor... filming a story? Hmmm I'll have to watch closely.

That argument that happens 90 seconds before daniels goes live, with the whole "vertigo medician" screen is hilarious.

That scene is STRAIGHT Dana/Casey gold from Sports Night, check it out if you haven't seen it.

[Garryk]

I really liked the show. I was a little put off by Mac's plea to keep her and her staff on because it didn't feel like the way someone would talk in real life... if that makes any sense. Really liked the character dynamics and pace of the show. I have a feeling that the high that they achieved in the first episode (Will hitting on all cylinders) will regress over the next couple of episodes causing lots of tension and threats of end-of-week firings.

Also, I don't know if it was because the SP's name was Jim, but I couldn't shake the "Jim & Pam" feeling from Jim and Maggie.

[wenis]

Loved it. On board for the rest of the season.

I hate that we enjoy similar things sometimes....



;)

[Ohwiseone]

Also, I don't know if it was because the SP's name was Jim, but I couldn't shake the "Jim & Pam" feeling from Jim and Maggie.

Oh no, I agree with you, but with Sorkin I know he will treat there relationship better than the writers in "the office" did.

[meijiko]

Also, I don't know if it was because the SP's name was Jim, but I couldn't shake the "Jim & Pam" feeling from Jim and Maggie.

I was getting that vibe even from the previews for the show. When they said his name was Jim Harper (vs. The Office's Jim Halpert), I almost couldn't believe it. I mean, it's really close, and he kinda looks like Krasinski. It can't merely be coincidental, right?

[firehawk12]

That's the thing though, wasn't the whole first scene supposed to be shocking? Wasn't the rest of the episode supposed to come off as bold? Felt like the show said it did a lot of things without actually acting like it, which was a major problem on Studio 60 too.

I'm honestly afraid that's going to happen as the show progresses. Although if this is set in the past, it makes it easier for them to be perfect and make the right call in every case.

I'm almost hoping they get to an episode where they somehow predict the assassination of bin Laden days before it happens.

[Agnostic]

HBO put up the pilot on Youtube.

Maybe some lurker without HBO might want to watch it.


Edit: Wow Cornballer. Same time. lol

[Cornballer]

Videos from HBO's youtube channel:

- Full Pilot at 720p
- Inside the Pilot (Sorkin discusses the premiere)
- Episode #2 preview (please spoiler tag any discussion)

[Hawkian]

Videos from HBO's youtube channel: - Full Pilot at 720p

Wow. Go HBO.

[LegendofJoe]

I mostly liked it, agreed with others about the cheesiness and self-indulgence of some of the speeches though. Especially the "rousing part" of McAvoy's speech in the beginning, where he's waxing poetically about how great America used to be...just seemed like a weirdly naive and childish view of things.

What was weirdly naive and childish about it?