I am a die-hard fan of Aaron Sorkin. I marvel at his ability to craft dialogue and admire the elegance with which he develops a story. His themes often resonate with and inspire me, and I find his characters and their relationships accessible on a very personal level. Thus, I've been eagerly anticipating the debut of The Newsroom, which I watched last night with my girlfriend*.
*We've been watching The West Wing together on DVD over the course of the last few months - we're in the middle of season 4 - and she is becoming a big Sorkin fan as well.
Having read quite a few less than stellar reviews of the show, or at least the first four episodes that have been made available to critics, I hoped to enjoy it but feared I may not. To my surprise, Aaron Sorkin and HBO presented an engaging, fast-paced, intelligent hour (or more) of programming. I can see through what I enjoyed to understand where the negative reviews are coming from, but at least in the first episode I disagree with them. And I don't mean to be resentful of the critics or to pile on the backlash against the backlash; rather, I'm glad I encountered their reviews because, if anything, they helped to temper my expectations for the show.
I loved Will McAvoy's blowup, and I loved his immediate reflection and reconciliation of his commentary even more. I loved the behind-the-scenes look at breaking a story - brought back fond memories of Sports Night, another Sorkin show I try to rewatch once a year if possible. I loved the twist at the end revealing that Mackenzie was in the audience. I even loved Sam Waterston being crazy, drunk Issac Jaffe.
The danger points for the show are evident. If Will, Mackenzie and company are retelling real stories and always getting them right at the expense of real news outlets and/or politic and media figures, they're going to come across as smug, fast. Sorkin will need to find a balance of his crew getting things right, getting things wrong, and getting things on par with everyone else, like he did in The West Wing. And he'll need to tone down the male chauvinism while staying true to the male-dominant culture of cable news and TV production. But most of all, The Newsroom will have to make us care about its characters**.
**To me, this was the biggest failing of Studio 60 - as sharp as the show was in some ways, I didn't find myself caring enough about the characters to invest in watching it.
My girlfriend's reaction to the show was that she liked it but wasn't sure she liked any of the characters enough to keep watching. Now unless the show is on Bravo and starts with the words "Real Housewives," she's not he TV junkie I am, but her point is insightful and valid. Through the first hour (or more) of The Newsroom, the character I find myself identifying with most is Jim Harper, AKA Tyler the creepy Indiana campaign volunteer who drives Josh, Toby and Donna to the train going in the wrong direction. Over time, that could prove problematic.
The critics are right, The Newsroom may not be the Sorkin masterpiece we hoped it would be. Then again, maybe it will be. One or four episodes is not enough to make that judgement, and I for one will be sticking around to witness the resolution.
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