HBO's The Newsroom

So you have HBO by now right?   Wait, you don’t have HBO?  What are you waiting for?  Game of Thrones, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, and now The Newsroom.  Many people think of HBO is just movies and documentaries, but they are sooo wrong.  There is also addictive, award winning series and tonight debuts the next new obsession.

The Newsroom is a new series from Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) premiering on HBO tonight at 7pm PST.  Jeff Daniels gives a superb performance as Will McAvoy, a news anchor for News Night, a slowly failing program that prides itself on its objectivity but actually panders to sponsors and viewing numbers. That is until he has a breakdown at a college seminar.

A college student asks McAvoy why he thinks America is the greatest country in the world.  McAvoy dances around the question by mentioning what other people say and not answering it. Just like Mitt Romney.  The moderator badgers him for an answer which McAvoy finally replies that America is not the greatest country in the world.  He continues with facts referencing how America is not number one in education, health care, infant death, etc.

McAvoy returns to his office after his ‘big slip’ to find his entire staff left to follow another news anchor and his ex-lover, MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer) is hired as his new executive producer.  Together they decide to change how they report the news.

Think of a mix between The Rachel Maddow Show & The John Stewart Show.  McAvoy and McHale want to make news the way it used to be.  Report the facts and cover the important stories no matter what corporation or politician you may piss off.

Sorkin keeps the fast, witty banter of The West Wing, moves it into the newsroom, and adds the hilarious Sam Waterston as Charlie Skinner (yes, I said hilarious) to help News Night move in a new direction.  Then there’s the stellar supporting cast including Alison Pill (midnight in Paris), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), and Tony award winner John Gallagher, Jr (Jim Harper).

I’ve only seen the premier episode and already it’s a show I won’t miss.  Check out the actors views below.