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The Newsroom |OT| Season 2 - Sundays on HBO

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S

Steelyuhas

Member
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About the show:
From the mind of Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing and screenwriter of The Social Network and Moneyball, comes The Newsroom, a behind-the-scenes look at the people who make a nightly cable-news program. Focusing on a network anchor (played by Jeff Daniels), his executive producer (Emily Mortimer), the newsroom staff (John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Olivia Munn, Dev Patel) and their boss (Sam Waterston), the series tracks their quixotic mission to do the news well in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles-not to mention their own personal entanglements. Season 2 will consist of 9 episodes airing Sunday nights at 10PM starting July 14th.
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Cast:
  • Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy
  • Emily Mortimer as Mackenzie MacHale
  • Sam Waterston as Charlie Skinner
  • John Gallagher Jr. as Jim Harper
  • Alison Pill as Maggie Jordan
  • Thomas Sadoski as Don Keefer
  • Dev Patel as Neal Sampat
  • Olivia Munn as Sloan Sabbath

Trailers & Promos:

Episodes:
  • 201: First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers (Story by Ian Reichbach & Aaron Sorkin, Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Alan Poul)
  • 202: The Genoa Tip (Story by Dana Ledoux Miller, Adam R. Perlman, & Aaron Sorkin, Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Jeremy Podeswa)
  • 203: Willie Pete (Story by Michael Gunn, Elizabeth Peterson, & Aaron Sorkin, Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter)
  • 204: Unintended Consequences (Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Carl Franklin)
  • 205: News Night with Will McAvoy (Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Alan Poul)
  • 206: One Step Too Many (Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Julian Farino)
  • 207: Red Team III (Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Anthony Hemingway)
  • 208: Election Night, Part I (Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Jason Ensler)
  • 209: Election Night, Part II (Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Alan Poul)

Reviews:
  • Variety Review
    Ultimately, one needn’t be a purveyor of snark to view “The Newsroom” as a disappointment — too smart to be dismissed, but so abrasive as to feel like Media Lectures for Dummies. In that respect, it’s well suited to cable news, just not in the way intended.
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  • Tim Goodman (Hollywood Reporter) Review
    It’s clear from the revamped opening credits and music that The Newsroom is going for change – perhaps taking to heart some of the most vocal criticisms. But the show you got last season is essentially the show you’ll get this season. Sorkin gives you the very good and the not very good. If that’s disappointing then perhaps accepting its limitations will be a less maddening way to watch.
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  • Sepinwall (Hitflix) Review
    "The Newsroom" has a lot of smart, pointed things to say about the decrepit condition of TV news, and about the general lack of civility, communication and cooperation in our national politics, regardless of which party you prefer. But the message is frequently undercut by the messengers.
    Click to expand...

Other Media:

Promo Images:
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E

ezekial45

Banned
Looking forward to it. I still enjoyed the last season, despite all of its faults.

I hope they can pull it together this season.
 
S

Steelyuhas

Member
Heart Attack said:
Only 9 episodes? is the series ending?
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No, and it's a bit of an odd story.

The order was originally 10 episodes like the first season, but after filming the first two episodes of this season, Sorkin wasn't happy with the direction and wanted to change some things. He decided to rewrite the 3rd episode and repurposed/rearranged some stuff from the first two episodes. Naturally that took some time, so the episodes were cut from 10 to nine in order to finish the season on time.
 
S

Salvor.Hardin

Banned
Steelyuhas said:
No, and it's a bit of an odd story.

The order was originally 10 episodes like the first season, but after filming the first two episodes of this season, Sorkin wasn't happy with the direction and wanted to change some things. He decided to rewrite the 3rd episode and repurposed/rearranged some stuff from the first two episodes. Naturally that took some time, so the episodes were cut from 10 to nine in order to finish the season on time.
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Sounds like we're in store for another terrible season, but with less plot cohesion. Fair enough. I admit that I love watching this show just to hate it.
 
S

Steelyuhas

Member
Salvor.Hardin said:
Sounds like we're in store for another terrible season, but with less plot cohesion. Fair enough. I admit that I love watching this show just to hate it.
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I thought that as well when I read that, but Alan and Dan talk about the first three episodes in their podcast (linked in the OP) and they both considered the episodes a significant improvement on season 1, addressing some complaints/issues with season 1 and both agreeing that the narrative setup in the first three episodes is pretty solid. (They were both pretty clear they strongly disliked season 1)
 
J

j0hnny_385

Member
Best series last year. Really enjoyed it and looking forward to Season 2. I'm in a media blackout, haven't seen anything expect that "desert teaser trailer". o_O
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Sweet. There are things about this show that bug the hell out of me, but somehow I was pretty caught up in it all the way through the finale. Will probably be watching this on a weekly basis.
 
D

Divius

Member
I really liked certain aspects of the first season and am down for S2, but I do hope they listened to the criticisms and fixed some things.
 
A

Aiii

So not worth it
This show got way more hate than it deserved. Yes, by no stretch of the imagination was it the best show on TV, but I enjoyed it and I'm sure I'll enjoy this season as well.

Subbed so I can shrug and laugh at the unreasonable amounts of hate every episode will get.
 
S

spindoctor

Member
I hope the characters (especially the female ones) are better written than last time.

Thread should be entertaining even if the show is not. Last year so many people were raging over this show :D
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Thanks for putting the thread together, Steely. Not sure how much of this I'm going to watch, but I'll check in for a few episodes to see if there's any improvement.
 
F

Fireblend

Banned
I love this show. I really do. And I'm absolutely clueless about the hate it gets. It's funny, it's serious, it has some really memorable moments and it's entertaining. Haters be damned, I can't wait for S2.
 
F

Frustrated_me

Member
Fireblend said:
I love this show. I really do. And I'm absolutely clueless about the hate it gets. It's funny, it's serious, it has some really memorable moments and it's entertaining. Haters be damned, I can't wait for S2.
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This is exactly how I feel. This show is fucking awesome, it's so much fun. Last time I had this much fun watching a show was Entourage.. It seems like the haters have some past hate with the director or writer or something, fuck that noise I couldn't give a flying fuck.
 
B

big ander

Member
Frustrated_me said:
This is exactly how I feel. This show is fucking awesome, it's so much fun. Last time I had this much fun watching a show was Entourage.. It seems like the haters have some past hate with the director or writer or something, fuck that noise I couldn't give a flying fuck.
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Nah, had only seen The Social Network when I started watching this (and I liked TSN). So it's probably not personal vendettas causing people to dislike this show, that's ridiculous to assume. It's most likely that it really is a melodramatic and self-important show with weird structural choices
 
B

BroDudeGuy

Member
I like the news segments of the show, everything else is pretty hit or miss. Will watch for Sorkin's writing and Daniels performance.
 
D

dead souls

Member
Less than one week to the hate-watching.

I can't believe Sorkin actually convinced HBO to throw out a couple of season 2 episodes and let him restart the season. They must have been pretty damn bad if they weren't up to the low standard this show set in its disastrous first season.
 
A

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
I enjoyed the first season and will watch the second. Haters gonna etc.
 
V

VeryGooster

Banned
I didn't think much of the first season, but I'm too intrigued by season two not to watch. I kept getting Six Feet Under vibes from the desert-laden promos for this season. heh
 
M

Morts

Member
I can see from the fact that the whole cast other than Daniels, Waterson, and Munn hasn't been replaced by West Wing vets that Sorkin hasn't been getting my letters. Will watch anyway.
 
F

FLEABttn

Banned
My girlfriend is looking forward to trying to find the misogyny that she can't find but people tell her is ever present.
 
S

smokeandmirrors

Banned
I really enjoyed the first season. Nothing spectacular but it was entertaining nonetheless. Forgot this came out this week.

This an whose line coming out the same week make me a happy camper.
 
M

Mudkips

Banned
Frustrated_me said:
This is exactly how I feel. This show is fucking awesome, it's so much fun. Last time I had this much fun watching a show was Entourage.. It seems like the haters have some past hate with the director or writer or something, fuck that noise I couldn't give a flying fuck.
Click to expand...

As far as I know I have never seen anything Sorkin had ever touched before I watched The Newsroom.
After 3 episodes I stayed on for the rest of the season to hate watch it.

I won't be back this season. I get enough whiny, self-important children from Girls. I don't need Sorkin's overhanded political diatribe slapped on top of that, I don't need to see a "serious version of Jim and Pam from The Office", and I don't need to see Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) complain about how hard it is to be taken seriously when she's so hot while Munn is IRL trying (and failing) to play a serious role. It's not because you're hot, it's because you can't act. Oh, and of course Sloan's character comes complete with the tired "nerdy beta male and the hot chick" trope.

A common criticism of this show is that the female characters are written terribly. But that's just not true. ALL the characters except 2 (Skinner and Lansing) are written terribly, and most of them are played terribly as well. I'd be back on board if MacKenzie, Jim and Pam, and Don (who's basically a serious version of Roy from The Office) were written off entirely.

They can fix the show in 3 simple steps:

1) Give the entire show to Skinner, Lansing and McAvoy. These 3 can at least act. Stop giving Daniels shitty plots and characters to work with.

2) Keep Neal and Sloan for the B-plot, but shut up about Olivia Munn being hot and Neal being a nerd.

3) Stop revisiting real news events with 20/20 hindsight so you can have your characters act like champions of journalistic integrity. It's not believable, it's not endearing, and it's always glazed in Sorkin's politics. In fact, just kick Sorkin out of the writing room.

I really wanted to like this show. It's an interesting concept and Jeff Daniels is great. But Sorkin Sorkined the hell out of the show, and faster than usual. I can only imagine how fast a Sorkin + Whedon venture would self destruct.
 
diffusionx

diffusionx

Gold Member
This show is terrible. Can't stand it. I mentioned my complaints in season 1. It's so phony (I once said that the dialogue reads like what people would say if they could go back and revisit conversations a day later) and just plays out like Sorkin telling everybody how great the world would be if everybody agreed with him.

Life is too short to even hate-watch this crud.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Oh goodie, The Newsroom is back. :/

dead souls said:
I can't believe Sorkin actually convinced HBO to throw out a couple of season 2 episodes and let him restart the season. They must have been pretty damn bad if they weren't up to the low standard this show set in its disastrous first season.
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lol
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
The one thing that came up on the podcast preview is that apparently the show isn't completely up its own ass this season... which doesn't bode well for my hatewatch unfortunately.
 
R

RevoDS

Junior Member
People hate this show? I thought the first season was pretty great.

Which is funny because I work all day long in a newsroom, I shouldn't be eager to watch one at home but I am somehow :p
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
RevoDS said:
People hate this show? I thought the first season was pretty great.

Which is funny because I work all day long in a newsroom, I shouldn't be eager to watch one at home but I am somehow :p
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In your newsroom, do you constantly yell at your bosses that you would rather run a story about the financial crisis instead of Angelina Jolie getting a double mastectomy? Because that is what the first season felt like every week.

(Setting aside how Sorkin thinks its funny that women don't know how to use computers or send email, of course).
 
E

Empty

Member
idk if i can help myself hatewatching

if i do i'll stay out of the thread and leave it for those who enjoy it
 
C

Cake Boss

Banned
I just finished watching the 1st season, this show would be amazing if it was more like the 1st scene in the show and less fucking stupid on everything else, less trying to be some kind of sitcom with stupid ass awkward teenagers and more serious adult shit.
 
V

Vyer

Member
Maybe because I am pretty much inundated by Fox News and the Fox News viewpoint of the world on a daily basis, but I didn't mind the other extreme that Newsroom trotted out. Definitely a lot of faults but I was entertained. I'll check out the second season.
 
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