The Newsroom - observations

Aaron Sorkin's new HBO drama The Newsroom takes the logical step from The West Wing. WW was supposed to be a drama about American politics but ended up almost a science fiction show where we could follow events on an alternate Earth where a chimpanzee wasn't president.

Now we have a show that, between the requisite soap opera elements, will provide a science fiction version of TV journalism, allowing us to see how recent news stories would have been covered on an alternate Earth where the news is really courageous and idealistic and witty.

And it is witty. Impatiently cutting short a spokesman saying the boilerplate, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families," with, "Everyone's thoughts and prayers are with the families... it is not like anyone's thoughts and prayers are with the fire," is pretty funny. And when a Halliburton spokesman doesn't like his treatment and wants it known that he is appearing voluntarily, the news anchor says, "I don't have subpoena power... all guests on this show are appearing voluntarily." And "Speaking truth to stupid," may catch on.

But the show is not wise. Though clearly liberal leaning it is still enmeshed in the obligatory "third-way" style that is the only safe way to talk about politics in America.

The opening eruption/speech from Jeff Daniels is exciting and will surely seem to some contemporary viewers as a 2012 Howard Beale moment, but what Howard Beale had to say in NETWORK was genuinely subversive. Pullman's entertaining reality check on the USA wasn't the least bit subversive. It was uncomfortably like what I'd expect from Tom Brokaw after he had had a few too many. (Or at least Brian Williams.) It's the invocation of a self-serving mythology of a nation as if that was what things were really like, "back in the day." (It is even couched as a centrist rant.)

As a TV show, the decision to make a show about news in an energetic video style is incredibly 20th century. Very dated. And also a poor aesthetic choice, to my eye. If reality is shown as resembling television it undercuts the idea that television is something people create... that there is something casting the shadow on the wall of Plato's cave that is media reality.

Very theatrical, and not in a good way. It often feels like a stage production, but at the same time the style of the show is intimate video-world. So it sometimes feels like a reality show about the actors rehearsing the lines from the show. (Or a documentary about a strange town where everyone talks in dramatic little canned speeches.)

In fairness, most pilots/first-episodes have a stagy feel. TV is a character driven medium and the requirements of introducing everyone, having a story and having an easy take-away message all in one is a lot.

Not a great TV show, but the hook of them covering real news stories from a couple of years ago (starting with the BP oil-rig explosion/spill) is enough to make it interesting.