The new Arron Sorkin program The Newsroom is on right now on HBO and since I am a fan of his writing, I am writing as it previews. Jeff Daniels is the lead. One co-star is Emily Mortimer, whose father John's writing I have loved, and was in one of my more favorite movies, Formula 51. This program is why Democrats will win in November. It opens with many levels of interesting conflict just as the BP oil spill begins. The script is really well constructed and will make you feel better about at least the ideals of political communication in the public sphere. It will make you want Keith Obermann back on the air ASAP and a palace revolt at MSNBC
http://www.hbo.com/
#NEWSROOM
As I watch the first episode, I am amazed at the first ten minutes and the next twenty minutes doesn't disappoint. The technical hero is the blog guy. And yeah it has a closure device for the episode. Another great piece of writing with the rhythm we've gotten used to in Sports Night and the West Wing. It has the elements of all the television newsroom genres, Sam Waterston as the craggy news division head, and Mortimer plays to type as the executive producer as roles and characters are introduced. Of course since I like His Girl Friday, it has all the nice pieces of great timing and even wackiness including references to Twitter and Dumb and Dumber as power's relation to the personal and the professional intersect as only Sorkin can do it. The time frame begins in April 2010 so as our November 2012 approaches we will presumably get some Brechtian references to what was good and bad about the present election's context.