Why The Newsroom is Worth Watching
If you look up reviews of Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, you’ll see critiques with promising titles such as “Broken News,” “Why Do Viewers - And Critics - Love to Hate The Newsroom,” and “Condescending Critic Patronizes ‘Newsroom’ Fans for Patronizing Condescending Critics” (1,2,3). Fun.
Personally, I was unaware of these critiques when I began watching the show. I found The Newsroom after watching the video below, and proceeded to finish it within two months.
And, despite a shaky pilot episode and the controversy surrounding it, I do believe that The Newsroom is a good show. A bit melodramatic, yes, unrealistic, definitely, but still fun television (especially for people who love quick-witted dialogue and political commentaries). So, in the following paragraphs, I’ll do my best to make a convincing argument for why it is worth watching; if that doesn’t convince you, The Newsroom has stopped running, so no harm done (which is a different case than Elementary, which is still running and must be absolutely watched for more seasons to be made. Please watch it).
The Newsroom is a drama focused on the lives of journalists who work at Atlantis Cable News. Its premise is centered on revamping the show of famed anchor Will McAvoy (shown above criticizing an increasingly polarized America) so that it upholds certain standards in media and politics. With the help of seasoned producer MacKenzie McHale and her team, expert economist Sloan Sabbith, and snarky Don Keefer, McAvoy’s show tries to become the stuff of fantasy: a bipartisan cable news hour that chooses to responsibly report the truth about major events.
The team is aware of the impossibility of their dream considering the system of ratings and ads that exists in cable television, but they are willing to try anyway. A common reference is Don Quixote, the story of a Spanish knight who goes out into the world attempting to civilize, yet gets knocked down again and again. When Sloan Sabbith, the show’s economist, was offered a job on Wall Street that had a salary twenty times larger than hers at Atlantis Cable News, she chooses to stay, saying, “The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool— someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.” The Newsroom celebrates doing something that should not work, no way no how, as an American ideal. To further emphasize this point, here’s the scene where the sorority girl who Will McAvoy chewed out applies for and gets a job at Atlantis Cable News.
If you believe in these types of ideals, The Newsroom is a comforting watch. It reinforces taking risks and doing what’s right with lovable characters and snappy dialogue. For example, the main character, Will McAvoy. He begins The Newsroom in a daze, having been reporting news passively for the last few years. As the show goes on though, his past as prosecutor and former child genius? (he graduated college at 19) shows when he ardently questions Tea Party politicians who claim to be real Republicans. He also has plenty of gaffes and quotes, some of which are included in the video below:
There’s also MacKenzie McHale, the show’s producer, who is responsible for actually making the revamp of the show happen. She returns to Atlantis Cable News after 26 months of reporting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and winning two Peabodies. Above are her moments of making the show happen, regardless of people moping.
The rest of The Newsroom team - Don Keefer, Sloan Sabbith, Neal Sampat, Jim Harper, Elliot Hirsch, and Maggie Jordan - interact in the following scenes, which I think encapsulate each of their personalities fairly well:
Don, Sloan, and Elliot stuck in a plane when they could be reporting a huge story
Neal trying to convince The Newsroom team that Bigfoot is real, and getting shot down by Maggie and Jim.
So, to end this blog post, before I go on and on about The Newsroom, I will simply say that it may have its faults, but every show does. Journalists may have criticized it harshly for not being realistic, for painting the rest of media in a bad light, but at this point, mainstream media has already done that to itself. The Newsroom is no more realistic than Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, and while some may feel that the show is too high and mighty, the show acknowledges that flaw, and pokes fun at it. Hopefully this blog post will encourage you to give The Newsroom a chance, and if you like it, let me know!
Ana! My darling political show commentator!
ReplyDeleteI remember when you showed me the first clip in subbie year and I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. However, I forgot about it and *The Newsroom* later on. You, however, have just revived my interest. I think another selling point is that now looking back, we can watch the beginnings of polarization in the media take root (e.g. when news became fake and how outlets at the time combatted that idea). Thank you for reminding me that journalistic gem exists, I hope to watch it soon.
Fun fact: the mother of a friend of mine once dated Aaron Sorkin. It was well before he was famous, and apparently he was kind of a weird guy. But it's something I think of every time I hear about The Newsroom, The West Wing, etc. As in your last post, you've sold me on checking this show out- I've watched some West Wing, but never looked at his other work. And, as an aspiring journalist, it feels only natural to get on this train.
ReplyDeleteI think watching this show would make me a little depressed because it was made in Obama's second term, which, looking back, seems like heaven. In the last paragraph, you totally nailed the response to criticism about the show being "unrealistic". Medical and police procedurals have completely ditched realism for decades because watching actual doctors and policemen isn't good drama. It doesn't grab people. Why should a meta-cable-TV show be any different?
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