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The Newsroom is an American drama television series created and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin that premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012. The series chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel. It features an ensemble cast including Jeff Daniels as anchor Will McAvoy, who, together with his staff set out to put on a news show "in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles and their own personal entanglements." Other cast members include Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, and Sam Waterston.
Sorkin, who created the Emmy Award–winning political drama The West Wing, was reportedly developing a cable-news-centered TV drama since 2009. After months of negotiations, premium cable network HBO ordered a pilot in January 2011 and then a full series in September that year. Sorkin did his research for the series by observing several real-world cable news programs firsthand. He serves as executive producer, along with Scott Rudin and Alan Poul.
The Newsroom has been renewed for a second season.
Series overview
The series is set behind the scenes at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) and centers around anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), his new executive producer MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), newsroom staff Jim (John Gallagher, Jr.), Maggie (Alison Pill), Sloan (Olivia Munn), Neal (Dev Patel), Don (Thomas Sadoski), and their boss Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston).[3][4]
[edit]Cast and characters
[edit]Main cast
Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy: the anchor and managing editor of News Night.[5][6] Will is a moderate Republican whose success is largely the result of never offending anyone. He presents a gruff exterior when he is off camera. His world is turned upside down when MacKenzie re-enters his life. In the pilot, he is forced to contend with a new team after his executive producer lands a new program and takes most of his staff with him.[7]
Emily Mortimer as MacKenzie McHale: News Night's new executive producer and Will's ex-girlfriend.[5]
John Gallagher, Jr. as James "Jim" Harper: a producer who was offered another job when MacKenzie's previous show was canceled but turned it down to follow her to News Night. At his new job, he develops feelings for Maggie.[8]
Alison Pill as Margaret "Maggie" Jordan: associate producer of News Night.[9]
Thomas Sadoski as Don Keefer: News Night's former executive producer who leaves for the new program on the network.[7]
Dev Patel as Neal Sampat: writer of Will's blog and news scanner of the Internet who covered the London Underground bombings with a camera phone.
Olivia Munn as Sloan Sabbith: An economist with a show on the network.[7]
Sam Waterston as Charlie Skinner: ACN news division president.[10]
[edit]Recurring cast
Jane Fonda as Leona Lansing: CEO of Atlantis World Media (AWM), the parent company of ACN.[4]
Chris Messina as Reese Lansing: president of ACN, and Leona's son.
Hope Davis as Nina Howard: a gossip columnist.
Margaret Judson as Tess Westin: an associate producer for News Night.
[edit]Production
[edit]Development
Entertainment Weekly reported in April 2009 that Sorkin, while still working on the screenplay for The Social Network, was contemplating a new TV drama about the behind-the-scenes events at a cable news program.[11] Sorkin was the series creator of Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, both shows depicting the off-camera happenings of fictional television programs.[12] Talks were reportedly ongoing between Sorkin and HBO since 2010.[13] In January 2011, Sorkin revealed the project on BBC News.[14]
To research the cable news world, Sorkin had been an off-camera guest at MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann in 2010 to observe the show's production and quizzed Parker Spitzer's staff when he was a guest on that show.[15] He also spent time shadowing Hardball with Chris Matthews as well as other programs on Fox News Channel and CNN.[16] Sorkin told TV Guide that he intended to take a less cynical view of the media: "They're going to be trying to do well in a context where it's very difficult to do well when there are commercial concerns and political concerns and corporate concerns."[17] Sorkin decided that rather than have his characters react to fictional news events as on his earlier series, The Newsroom would be set in the recent past and track real-world stories largely as they unfolded, to give a greater sense of realism.[18]
In January 2011, HBO ordered a pilot with the working title More as This Story Develops. The Social Network's Scott Rudin signed on as executive producer.[16] Rudin's only previous television work was the 1996 spinoff series Clueless.[16] By June, Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston, Olivia Munn, and Dev Patel were cast, while Greg Mottola had signed on to direct the pilot.[19][20] The pilot script was later reportedly obtained by several news outlets.[21]
On September 8, 2011, HBO ordered a full series starting with an initial 10-episode run with a premiere date set for summer 2012.[1][22][23] A day after the second episode aired, HBO renewed the series for a second season.[24]
[edit]Series title
While the pilot was in development, the project was tentatively titled More as This Story Develops.[25] On November 29, 2011, HBO filed for a trademark on "The Newsroom" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.[26] The new name immediately drew comparisons with the Ken Finkleman-created Canadian comedy series of the same name that aired on CBC and public television stations in the U.S.[26][27] The series' name was confirmed as The Newsroom in an HBO promo released on December 21, 2011, previewing its programs for 2012.[28]
Writing in Maclean's, Jaime Weinman said the choice of name was "a bit of a grimly amusing reminder that the U.S. TV industry doesn't take Canada very seriously ... 'The Newsroom' is often considered the greatest show Canada has ever produced, but a U.S. network feels no need to fear unflattering comparisons: assuming they've heard of the show, they probably think most people in the States have not heard of it."[29] In an interview with The Daily Beast following the Sorkin show's premiere, Finkleman revealed that HBO did contact him for permission to reuse the title, which he granted.[30]
[edit]Casting
Jeff Daniels was cast in the lead role in March 2011.[31] Alison Pill and Olivia Munn reportedly entered negotiations to star in April 2011.[32] The fictional executive producer role was initially offered to Marisa Tomei, but negotiations fell through. Tomei was replaced by Emily Mortimer in May 2011.[33] Sam Waterston also joined the project in May.[34] John Gallagher, Jr., Thomas Sadoski, Josh Pence, and Dev Patel were added to the cast in June 2011.[9][35]
New York magazine reported that Sorkin had planned for MSNBC host Chris Matthews and Andrew Breitbart to appear in a roundtable debate scene in the pilot. However, the idea was shot down by MSNBC purportedly because the network was displeased with the corporate culture portrayal of cable news and skewering of left-leaning media in the show's script.[36]
Three months after the series was picked up, Jane Fonda signed on to play the CEO of the fictional network's parent company, Leona Lansing.[3][23] Fonda was married to Turner Broadcasting System and CNN founder Ted Turner for 10 years.[37] Lansing was touted by some observers as a female version of Fonda's ex-husband.[3] The name "Leona Lansing" is taken from the names of two highly successful businesswomen, real estate developer Leona Helmsley and former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing.[3]
Jon Tenney will guest-star as Wade, MacKenzie's boyfriend.[38] Natalie Morales will have a guest role as Kaylee, Neal's girlfriend.[39] Terry Crews will play Lonny, Will's bodyguard.[6]
[edit]Filming
The Newsroom's set is located in Sunset Gower Studios, Hollywood.[40] The fictional Atlantis World Media building, however, is actually the Bank of America Tower on 6th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, with CGI being used to change the name of the building above the entrance. Production began in the fall of 2011.[41] The schedule called for each episode – comprising a dialogue-dense script – to be filmed in nine days, as opposed to six to seven days for broadcast network TV series.[41]
[edit]Crew
Although The Newroom has fewer writers than most series of its type, it has been reported that Aaron Sorkin has already planned to replace most of the first season's writers in the second season.[42] Sorkin has explained his approach, “I create these shows so that I can write them. I’m not an empire builder. I’m not interested in just producing. All I want to do is write. I came up as a playwright—writing is something you do by yourself in a room. That said, I couldn’t possibly write the show without that room full of people. I go in there, and we kick around ideas. I’m writing about all kinds of things I don’t know anything about. So they do research for me.”[43] Sorkin will also hire conservative media consultants for the second season which will represent "every part of the ideological spectrum" and give the show "a political perspective that I [Sorkin] don't have." Sorkin also said the second season will mostly likely include the 2012 United States presidential election.[44]
[edit]Episodes
Main article: List of The Newsroom episodes
[edit]Broadcast
The Newsroom premiered in the United States on HBO on June 24, 2012. It was watched by 2.1 million viewers, making it one of HBO's most-watched series premieres since 2008.[45] The first episode was made available free to all viewers on multiple platforms, including HBO.com, iTunes, YouTube, and other free on-demand services.[46]
[edit]International
The show airs simultaneously on HBO Canada.[47] It premiered on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 10, 2012, two weeks after its U.S. debut.[48] In Germany and Austria The Newsroom premiered on Sky's video-on-demand service Sky Go one day after the U.S. premiere on June 25, 2012, and Sky Anytime one day later, although only with the original English language soundtrack. The German language version is scheduled to be shown on Sky Atlantic HD in fall 2012.[49] HBO Hungary also began airing the show with Hungarian subtitles on HBO Go one day after the U.S. premiere while the dubbed version premiered on July 30, 2012.[50] In Israel, the show premiered on yes Oh on June 30, 2012.[51] It premiered in the Netherlands on July 2, 2012, on HBO. In Poland the series premiered on July 16, 2012 on HBO. The show will debut in Australia on the soon-to-be-launched SoHo drama channel on August 20, 2012.
[edit]Reception
Critical reaction to the series has been mixed. It has a score of 57 out of 100 based on 31 reviews on review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter writes that how viewers respond to the show "has everything to do with whether you like his style. Because ... Sorkin is always true to himself and doesn't try to cover his tendencies or be embarrassed by them." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times commented that "at its best ... The Newsroom has a wit, sophistication and manic energy.... But at its worst, the show chokes on its own sanctimony." Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post called the preview episodes "a dramatically inert, infuriating mess, one that wastes a fine cast to no demonstrable purpose, unless you consider giving Sorkin yet another platform in which to Set the People Straight is a worthwhile purpose." Time's James Poniewozik criticized the show for being "smug" and "intellectually self-serving," with "Aaron Sorkin writing one argument after another for himself to win." Los Angeles Times critic Mary McNamara said the show's drama is "weighted too heavily toward sermonizing diatribes."
Reviews by newscasters have been mixed as well. Jake Tapper of ABC News criticized Sorkin's partisanship: "they extol the Fourth Estate's democratic duty, but they believe that responsibility consists mostly of criticizing Republicans." Dave Marash was not convinced that the show portrays the news industry accurately. Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather gave a favorable review, saying the show "has the potential to become a classic."
en.wikipedia.org
Sorkin, who created the Emmy Award–winning political drama The West Wing, was reportedly developing a cable-news-centered TV drama since 2009. After months of negotiations, premium cable network HBO ordered a pilot in January 2011 and then a full series in September that year. Sorkin did his research for the series by observing several real-world cable news programs firsthand. He serves as executive producer, along with Scott Rudin and Alan Poul.
The Newsroom has been renewed for a second season.
Series overview
The series is set behind the scenes at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) and centers around anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), his new executive producer MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), newsroom staff Jim (John Gallagher, Jr.), Maggie (Alison Pill), Sloan (Olivia Munn), Neal (Dev Patel), Don (Thomas Sadoski), and their boss Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston).[3][4]
[edit]Cast and characters
[edit]Main cast
Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy: the anchor and managing editor of News Night.[5][6] Will is a moderate Republican whose success is largely the result of never offending anyone. He presents a gruff exterior when he is off camera. His world is turned upside down when MacKenzie re-enters his life. In the pilot, he is forced to contend with a new team after his executive producer lands a new program and takes most of his staff with him.[7]
Emily Mortimer as MacKenzie McHale: News Night's new executive producer and Will's ex-girlfriend.[5]
John Gallagher, Jr. as James "Jim" Harper: a producer who was offered another job when MacKenzie's previous show was canceled but turned it down to follow her to News Night. At his new job, he develops feelings for Maggie.[8]
Alison Pill as Margaret "Maggie" Jordan: associate producer of News Night.[9]
Thomas Sadoski as Don Keefer: News Night's former executive producer who leaves for the new program on the network.[7]
Dev Patel as Neal Sampat: writer of Will's blog and news scanner of the Internet who covered the London Underground bombings with a camera phone.
Olivia Munn as Sloan Sabbith: An economist with a show on the network.[7]
Sam Waterston as Charlie Skinner: ACN news division president.[10]
[edit]Recurring cast
Jane Fonda as Leona Lansing: CEO of Atlantis World Media (AWM), the parent company of ACN.[4]
Chris Messina as Reese Lansing: president of ACN, and Leona's son.
Hope Davis as Nina Howard: a gossip columnist.
Margaret Judson as Tess Westin: an associate producer for News Night.
[edit]Production
[edit]Development
Entertainment Weekly reported in April 2009 that Sorkin, while still working on the screenplay for The Social Network, was contemplating a new TV drama about the behind-the-scenes events at a cable news program.[11] Sorkin was the series creator of Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, both shows depicting the off-camera happenings of fictional television programs.[12] Talks were reportedly ongoing between Sorkin and HBO since 2010.[13] In January 2011, Sorkin revealed the project on BBC News.[14]
To research the cable news world, Sorkin had been an off-camera guest at MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann in 2010 to observe the show's production and quizzed Parker Spitzer's staff when he was a guest on that show.[15] He also spent time shadowing Hardball with Chris Matthews as well as other programs on Fox News Channel and CNN.[16] Sorkin told TV Guide that he intended to take a less cynical view of the media: "They're going to be trying to do well in a context where it's very difficult to do well when there are commercial concerns and political concerns and corporate concerns."[17] Sorkin decided that rather than have his characters react to fictional news events as on his earlier series, The Newsroom would be set in the recent past and track real-world stories largely as they unfolded, to give a greater sense of realism.[18]
In January 2011, HBO ordered a pilot with the working title More as This Story Develops. The Social Network's Scott Rudin signed on as executive producer.[16] Rudin's only previous television work was the 1996 spinoff series Clueless.[16] By June, Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston, Olivia Munn, and Dev Patel were cast, while Greg Mottola had signed on to direct the pilot.[19][20] The pilot script was later reportedly obtained by several news outlets.[21]
On September 8, 2011, HBO ordered a full series starting with an initial 10-episode run with a premiere date set for summer 2012.[1][22][23] A day after the second episode aired, HBO renewed the series for a second season.[24]
[edit]Series title
While the pilot was in development, the project was tentatively titled More as This Story Develops.[25] On November 29, 2011, HBO filed for a trademark on "The Newsroom" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.[26] The new name immediately drew comparisons with the Ken Finkleman-created Canadian comedy series of the same name that aired on CBC and public television stations in the U.S.[26][27] The series' name was confirmed as The Newsroom in an HBO promo released on December 21, 2011, previewing its programs for 2012.[28]
Writing in Maclean's, Jaime Weinman said the choice of name was "a bit of a grimly amusing reminder that the U.S. TV industry doesn't take Canada very seriously ... 'The Newsroom' is often considered the greatest show Canada has ever produced, but a U.S. network feels no need to fear unflattering comparisons: assuming they've heard of the show, they probably think most people in the States have not heard of it."[29] In an interview with The Daily Beast following the Sorkin show's premiere, Finkleman revealed that HBO did contact him for permission to reuse the title, which he granted.[30]
[edit]Casting
Jeff Daniels was cast in the lead role in March 2011.[31] Alison Pill and Olivia Munn reportedly entered negotiations to star in April 2011.[32] The fictional executive producer role was initially offered to Marisa Tomei, but negotiations fell through. Tomei was replaced by Emily Mortimer in May 2011.[33] Sam Waterston also joined the project in May.[34] John Gallagher, Jr., Thomas Sadoski, Josh Pence, and Dev Patel were added to the cast in June 2011.[9][35]
New York magazine reported that Sorkin had planned for MSNBC host Chris Matthews and Andrew Breitbart to appear in a roundtable debate scene in the pilot. However, the idea was shot down by MSNBC purportedly because the network was displeased with the corporate culture portrayal of cable news and skewering of left-leaning media in the show's script.[36]
Three months after the series was picked up, Jane Fonda signed on to play the CEO of the fictional network's parent company, Leona Lansing.[3][23] Fonda was married to Turner Broadcasting System and CNN founder Ted Turner for 10 years.[37] Lansing was touted by some observers as a female version of Fonda's ex-husband.[3] The name "Leona Lansing" is taken from the names of two highly successful businesswomen, real estate developer Leona Helmsley and former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing.[3]
Jon Tenney will guest-star as Wade, MacKenzie's boyfriend.[38] Natalie Morales will have a guest role as Kaylee, Neal's girlfriend.[39] Terry Crews will play Lonny, Will's bodyguard.[6]
[edit]Filming
The Newsroom's set is located in Sunset Gower Studios, Hollywood.[40] The fictional Atlantis World Media building, however, is actually the Bank of America Tower on 6th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, with CGI being used to change the name of the building above the entrance. Production began in the fall of 2011.[41] The schedule called for each episode – comprising a dialogue-dense script – to be filmed in nine days, as opposed to six to seven days for broadcast network TV series.[41]
[edit]Crew
Although The Newroom has fewer writers than most series of its type, it has been reported that Aaron Sorkin has already planned to replace most of the first season's writers in the second season.[42] Sorkin has explained his approach, “I create these shows so that I can write them. I’m not an empire builder. I’m not interested in just producing. All I want to do is write. I came up as a playwright—writing is something you do by yourself in a room. That said, I couldn’t possibly write the show without that room full of people. I go in there, and we kick around ideas. I’m writing about all kinds of things I don’t know anything about. So they do research for me.”[43] Sorkin will also hire conservative media consultants for the second season which will represent "every part of the ideological spectrum" and give the show "a political perspective that I [Sorkin] don't have." Sorkin also said the second season will mostly likely include the 2012 United States presidential election.[44]
[edit]Episodes
Main article: List of The Newsroom episodes
[edit]Broadcast
The Newsroom premiered in the United States on HBO on June 24, 2012. It was watched by 2.1 million viewers, making it one of HBO's most-watched series premieres since 2008.[45] The first episode was made available free to all viewers on multiple platforms, including HBO.com, iTunes, YouTube, and other free on-demand services.[46]
[edit]International
The show airs simultaneously on HBO Canada.[47] It premiered on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 10, 2012, two weeks after its U.S. debut.[48] In Germany and Austria The Newsroom premiered on Sky's video-on-demand service Sky Go one day after the U.S. premiere on June 25, 2012, and Sky Anytime one day later, although only with the original English language soundtrack. The German language version is scheduled to be shown on Sky Atlantic HD in fall 2012.[49] HBO Hungary also began airing the show with Hungarian subtitles on HBO Go one day after the U.S. premiere while the dubbed version premiered on July 30, 2012.[50] In Israel, the show premiered on yes Oh on June 30, 2012.[51] It premiered in the Netherlands on July 2, 2012, on HBO. In Poland the series premiered on July 16, 2012 on HBO. The show will debut in Australia on the soon-to-be-launched SoHo drama channel on August 20, 2012.
[edit]Reception
Critical reaction to the series has been mixed. It has a score of 57 out of 100 based on 31 reviews on review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter writes that how viewers respond to the show "has everything to do with whether you like his style. Because ... Sorkin is always true to himself and doesn't try to cover his tendencies or be embarrassed by them." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times commented that "at its best ... The Newsroom has a wit, sophistication and manic energy.... But at its worst, the show chokes on its own sanctimony." Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post called the preview episodes "a dramatically inert, infuriating mess, one that wastes a fine cast to no demonstrable purpose, unless you consider giving Sorkin yet another platform in which to Set the People Straight is a worthwhile purpose." Time's James Poniewozik criticized the show for being "smug" and "intellectually self-serving," with "Aaron Sorkin writing one argument after another for himself to win." Los Angeles Times critic Mary McNamara said the show's drama is "weighted too heavily toward sermonizing diatribes."
Reviews by newscasters have been mixed as well. Jake Tapper of ABC News criticized Sorkin's partisanship: "they extol the Fourth Estate's democratic duty, but they believe that responsibility consists mostly of criticizing Republicans." Dave Marash was not convinced that the show portrays the news industry accurately. Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather gave a favorable review, saying the show "has the potential to become a classic."
en.wikipedia.org
Last edited by a moderator:
