I thought it was a little slow but overall I loved it. I think the pace will pick up after the first episode. I think there are 10 episodes for this season. Has anyone heard if HBO picked it up for a second season? HBO picked up BOARDWALK EMPIRE for a second season before the pilot even aired.
Loved it! The cast is top notch, from Daniels to Waterson. And everyone in between. Gallagher was a true standout, loved his "Entrance"! I can't wait to see where this goes. Brilliant Writing IMO.
Absolutely loved it. There's nothing quite like a good Aaron Sorkin show. The standout performance for me was the newsroom atmosphere when Thomas Sadoski's character was ignoring John's character. Emily did great. Sam Waterston was a hoot. And Jeff... brilliant.
Alison starred opposite Thomas in the original, off-Broadway "reasons to be pretty" right? She was great, too.
What did everyone think about the reveal that the show is actually set in 2010? I was a little confused since Will's college meltdown included a reference to. this. period. stuff. which I don't remember people doing in 2010. I love the whole idea, though. To some, it could be a cheap trick, like the Robert Pattinson set-in-New-York movie where you don't know it's Sept. 11 until the end. I personally love the idea of them taking news stories we already know and doing their spin on them. We all know that the spill was a bigger news story than the rig, and they got that right this time. Will the team get every news story right, or will we know when they miss an opportunity?
I thought it was decent. The first twenty minutes or so were so "Aaron Sorkiny" that I thought I may have to turn it off, but either the show mellowed or I did and I was able to enjoy the remaining hour or so.
And aproros of nothing, I think Thomas Sadoski is fine as hell.
a future episode will have Gallagher and Daniels singing and playing guitar. Sorkin found out that Daniels loves to sing and knows Gallagher is a singer/ musician, and wrote it into a script.
Big fan of Aaron Sorkin so I may be a little biased- but I really liked it- not as much as West Wing- but still enjoyed it. Loved it when he went off at the beginning on why America isn't the best country in the world. I always love when Sorkin uses all these statistics in his dialogues. I also love that he references Broadway plays and such. Wasn't a huge fan of using the oil spill from 2 years ago. The banter with Margaret and her boyfriend sounded straight out of Sports Night. I will definitely watch again. The cast is wonderful!
LOVED it! Best pilot episode I've seen in a long time. The writing and performances were superb. Very promising. Can't wait for Jane to make her entrance!
It's been savaged by pretty much every critic so I wouldn't count on a Season 2 anytime soon. I loved TWW and maybe this will grow into the deliciousness of that show. It's too early to tell. I have an aunt and uncle who work in television news at a high level and their reaction was that "some Aaron Sorkin on tv is better than no Aaron Sorkin". They found it incredibly unrealistic in just about every possible way but still found it somewhat interesting. Alison Pill is a gem.
I love the fact that Sorkin's shows are unrealistic and set in a "perfect world". I absolutely loved the moral high and do gooder feeling I get at the end (well most of his shows). But I'm a huge fan, so take my opinions as you may.
I just watched Newsroom and adored it. Granted, some of it all is just because of the West Wing Feelings and memories it brings up, but still I really liked it. I reallly like the cast and can't wait to see what they bring to the roles.
Incredibly unrealistic -- This is ok for most of us, because most of us don't live/work in that world. I suppose its like why so many of us are terribly disappointed in SMASH. WE know that it's incredibly unrealistic and it drives us nuts. But when it's a world we DON'T know, we can just get lost in it.
Though Sorkin does make himself a good target, regurgitating his own work and being a total Luddite regarding the Internet, critics are definitely critical of other shows portraying their world. Critical darling The Wire got heavily criticized in its final season when much of the show's focus was on the staff of The Baltimore Sun, critics kept pointing out that the newsroom on that show was stuck in the 90s or whatever period David Simon wrote for The Sun.
I really don't know how anyone can think this show isn't going to be picked-up for a 2nd season. Are you kidding me? And where are all these reviews that supposedly savaged the show? The ones I've read have all been good to excellent. In any event, this show is a shoe-in for a 2nd season. It's the best thing on T.V. at the moment. In this age of Snookie T.V. and Real Housewives of Who Gives a S#!t, it's so refreshing to see a show of this caliber make it onto the air, and even more so to know that there's still an audience for it, as the overnight ratings have proven. Bravo Alan Sorkin! Bravo HBO!
I would not say savaged but disappointed is a better term about the critical reaction (The New York Times, The New Yorker, Mo Ryan, The AV Club, and Alan Sepinwall were the critics). They were only screened 4 episodes and supposedly the last two left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. It could be Studio 60 PTSD but even in that case the show had fans.
Ratings still do matter. Luck got great advanced notice but had many problems including perpetually dropping ratings that eventually had HBO backing out of a second season.
If this show is somehow neck and neck with Breaking Bad as the best show on at the moment, then get back to me. What is the competition? Bunheads?
The New Yorker review seemed a little harsh, but also summed up some of my feelings with the show. As Strummergirl says it seems to be episodes 3 and 4 that the critics who haven't liked it really have issue with. Nussbaum, who I personally find to be one of the better TV critics writing, wrote in The New Yorker:
"The pilot of The Newsroom is full of yelling and self-righteousness, but its got energy, just like The West Wing, Sorkins Sports Night, and his hit movie The Social Network. The second episode is more obviously stuffed with piety and syrup, although theres one amusing segment, when McAvoy mocks some right-wing idiots. After that, The Newsroom gets so bad so quickly that I found my jaw dropping. The third episode is lousy (and devolves into lectures that are chopped into montages). The fourth episode is the worst. There are six to go." (http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2012/06/25/120625crte_television_nussbaum?currentPage=all)
I'm gonna stick with it, at least for a while. Like Nussbaum mentions, she stuck with the fascinating mess of Studio 60--and so did I. And it probably will get renewed for a second season if ratings stay relatively strong next week as well, which seems to be how HBO works, but colour me disappointed so far.
As far as I'm concerned, that New Yorker review is a pretentious pile of s#!t. How ridiculous to pick apart every character as stereotypical. You can do that with any show. Every character-type in creation has surfaced somewhere before. I'll reserve my judgment of episodes 3 and 4 until I've seen them, but, based on the quality of the pilot, I just can't imagine they're as bad as this pompous reviewer makes them out to be. But time will tell.
And for the record, I'm a huge fan of BREAKING BAD and am anxiously awaiting its return, but for me, it just doesn't come close to the excellence of THE NEWSROOM - at least not the pilot episode. But to each his own.
I dunno, I'm much more anxious to see where Breaking Bad heads now in its final two sets of episodes--I think it's one of the best things on TV. But it's all relative--I didn't find the review pompous, and I agreed with many of her points--but I know other people who love that Sorkin style much more than I do. However, I think it can't be argued that Sorkin's TV shows have nearly all handled very similar character types and that was a valid point.
heh..... 
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Posted: 6/24/12 at 11:30pm