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I cannot recommend The Newsroom enough.
Wow this show is good. The last 15 minutes of S1E4 is the best television I have ever seen. Just to appreciate it watch this scene out of context and leave it there if you want to. But I'm pretty sure you'll want to carry on.
What other TV shows have got you hooked from a scene with no prior watching?
I guess you just started it? I felt the same way at the start. After I was finished watching Season 3, I hated it. It's one of the biggest and fastest drops in quality I've ever seen, and that's including Dexter.
The "What happened to her hair?" plotline is some of the most contrived and stilited writing I think I've ever seen.
Just came back to tildes after 2 years and found this thread I posted. Since then I have finished it and recently done an entire rewatch. I think the main thing that made me love the show at that point was competence. For the most part it is about people who are doing their jobs well, and banding together against outside forces, rather than bickering amongst themselves. I enjoyed S2 so much more after Jerry left and they were fixing the shit that they caused.
People on the newsroom subreddit keep asking for a new season anytime any remotely important news story happens, but what I would love is a split where the show diverges from being in a non-fictional world to show what a functioning press can do, and how it can change national discourse.
I agree the hair and uganda plotline was incredibly bad writing.
Oh boy, I clicked in here thinking this was a new thread, not a two year old one. Letalone one where I had a popularly voted-on comment and a new reply! Not that I try to bitch about Newsroom everytime I see the name, I promise haha, I was just casually browsing Tildes while waiting for some next steps in dinner prep.
I immediately remembered than entire hair/Ugandan plotline as if I had just watched it just seeing the name of the show. I don't really know what it was about that particular storyline but I just can't get it out of my head when I think of the show. I think it's sheer disbelief to the point that it seared in my brain. When I watched the show, I was coming off of a West Wing marathon where I thought that show suffered greatly because of the lack of Sorkin, only to run headfirst into... whatever the hell that plotline was.
That all said, my favourite moment in the show is Paul Lieberstein being the doomsday prophet from the EPA. Loved that moment quite a lot.
I remember that the first season was basically a treatise against the Tea Party movement from the perspective of a more traditional patriotic conservative viewpoint.
I really wish he kept that going for the rest of the show because, yes, that was clearly a message that needed to be hammered in over and over. It does seem like the writing really suffered when the teeth were out away, as you said.
I couldn't stomach Dexter because they showed all that gore but really enjoyed the story line. What happened to the quality of Dexter?
Dexter's final season is probably the single most epic self-destruct of any show of all time. The final episode is legendarily bad... Dexter driving a boat into a CGI hurricane bad. I deleted the entire show out of my media library, that's how bad it was. It's a shame too, in the beginning that was one hell of a series.
Immediately stopped watching after Dokes (sp) died. Season 1? Also creepy Dexter was married to his sister in the show in real life.
oh jesus. Is there a spoiler tag here? Just it ... was bad.
Not yet. But on PC's we can utilize link tags for spoilers. Won't work on mobile though.
[mouse-over for spoilers](http:// "spoilers") = mouse-over for spoilers
Agreed. The Newsroom starts out pretending it's going to denounce all the inconsistencies that some political discourse has, and starts out strong, but then it drops the facade and ends up pretty mundane. Maybe it's particularly hard to write scripts for the show's premise, I don't know. It could have been a lot more interesting and delved into deeper intrigue.
Now I want to watch The Wire again.
My biggest complaint about newsroom was the relationship drama. A bit too much, and a bit too heavy handed. I don't object to its presence, it's just that the show would probably have been better if it'd focused a bit less on some of that and a bit more on the premise.
That said, I loved the show, and it's on my favorites list. It's no Wire or Breaking Bad for sure, but it's no Dexter either.
The opening scene to the pilot episode, where he freaks out on stage, is one of the best TV speeches I have ever seen. Not to mention one of the best openings to any show I have ever seen.
It's one of those things I rewatch in full every time its linked or brought up, it's crazy how true it really is.
Link
The writing in the show is superb.
I could never get past the way the characters speak. Not even a split second of silence, they basically talk over each other in an overly dramatic fashion and I found it exhausting and unrealistic. I think that's a standard Sorkin thing right?
Ceaseless banter is indeed a Sorkin thing. He’s great at it but it’s not for everyone.
It's not supposed to be realistic, it's basically stage production dialogue done on film. Realism just doesn't really work when it comes to writing dialogue, or filming. Too many ums and uhs and pauses in real speech.
A good way of viewing it would be "heavily stylized". A lot of shows do this: House MD, Hannibal, Sherlock all come to mind.
Emily Mortimer really carries that show, but I keep thinking of her as young Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle.
The opening monologue from Jeff is one of the greatest moments in television history.
The election coverage episode exposed so much about precinct reporting that I never considered before. Bittersweet that it had limited seasons.
Honestly I was glad it was short. It didn't really have time to sour like most shows do. I thought it ran just about the perfect length for a show about that topic.