Comments on: Recap: ‘The Newsroom’ Halts Its Death Plunge With Its Least Terrible Episode Since The Pilot

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Ok, is it me or is Allison Pill absolutely one of the worst, most annoying and fuc$@ng annoying actress out there. I can't watch the Newsroom almost singlly handedly because she is such an awful, awful actress.

She needs to go, otherwise, me and about 50 others "will go"……

By: Jj

Jj — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

The idea this show portrays women badly is absurd. Idiotic articles like this continue to push the idea that every female character must be portrayed as a perfect superhuman or else the show's creators must hate women. What a joke.

This idea was put forth by the former monopoly known as Hollywood. Hollywood is only going to shrink from here on out, so all you writers might want to start changing your topics. Otherwise, good luck finding work in 10 years.

By: Chloebug

Chloebug — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Personally I like the show, but I find the character of Maggie to be obnoxious and find myself leaving the room during her rants and ridiculous faces; the character is terrible. The character of Mac is so-so, sometimes she is great, but the majority of the time not do much. I think Jeff Daniels is great, love Sam W, and the rest of the cast. I especially like yhe character interaction of Will and Lotti, and Will and Charlie. The female characters are expendable, but Lisa is growing on me. Love Don's snark.

By: Norman Horowitz

Norman Horowitz — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Not that it matters, but I have run divisions for major Studio Television Companies and I LOVE Newsroom.

By: Imeanreally

Imeanreally — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Yes! I WISH I could bring myself to stop watching this show, but clearly the same masochism that led me to see AMC's dreadful "Rubicon" through will keep me tuned in to this blasted mess. A few points of disagreement: I thought the final "jersey scene" was remarkably corny (I half expected a slow clap) and rather uncharacteristic of staff culture (that, of course, is if we believe for half a second that they are as sharp-witted and angrily earnest as Sorkin would have us believe). Â I'm so fatigued with the cute, awkward, longing girl routine that I want to smash Maggie's face (and really Mac's, too) through a window. This character FAILS over and over – on this show and so many others, nobody finds her endearing. Â In fact, I sort of caught a perverse delight at her momentary heartbreak when she discovered Jim was smashing her roommate who is much more legitimate or at least convincing at being a mess than Maggie. And I don't think Will McAvoy is unlikeable. In fact his lumbering effort at elitist snark shows all the ragged seams of a writing team that WANT him to be likeably unlikeable. Â Aaron Sorkin's gift for bitchy but smart, rapid-fire dialogue and perspective is lost on these characters. "The Social Network" worked because our context was limited and we wanted to believe that Harvard computer geeks have it in them to be brilliant at everything, including assholery. NOBODY on this show, not even sexy economist Sloan even remotely convincing in that regard. Â While we're speaking of Sloan: is the whole storyline about her hotness supposed to be a half-ironic commentary on the hullabaloo around Olivia Munn's actual stint on the Daily Show? And while we're still speaking of Sloan, what's up with these soap opera-ass names (Sloan Sabbith, Mackenzie "Mac" McHale, Leona Lansing) that try too hard in forcing me to find them exciting? At least Spike Lee's 0Gator Purify or Â Jesus Shuttlesworth are unique and half interesting. Â If this show wasn't so irritating, it'd be SUCH a yawn.

By: Shawna Watson

Shawna Watson — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Wow, this guy is really off the mark. CJ was my least favorite character on the West Wing and one of my least favorite female characters on tv period. I actually found her to be precisely NOT a representation of women while many of the successful women I know are actually much much more like Mac and Sloan- excellent at what they can do, floundering at many things they cannot do, and putting on a veneer for the rest of it. While I am admittedly one of the biggest Sorkin fans on the planet, I recognize the moments when he fails, and this show is not one of those moments. Its great.

By: JL

JL — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Talk about whining for the sake of whining. You said it'd be nice to see the show fuck up? How about the second episode. But oh, right, that was terrible too. I happen to think Mac is portrayed as very competent at her job, even if she doesn't have her life together – but who does? You also spelled a bunch of names wrong.

By: pmo

pmo — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

I love this show! Utilizing the benefit of hindsight, headline news stories of our recent past are given the (Taleb) Black Swan approach and held up to the light with provocative insight and crisp dialogue. Is it real? Of course not, it's TV Drama! Enjoy a ridiculous retort or even a Coldplay song accompanying a scene transition of a dark day in our American history. We have enough real news to bring us down! Look back on these stories with objectivity and realize these TV characters are just that.

By: Cienne

Cienne — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

I agree the best part of this show is the fast paced news developments themselves. One almost has to wonder if Sorkin is making a point by showing females the way he does, since he didnât in past series. I almost wonder if heâs making commentary on how females are treated in new rooms. Iâve enjoyed watching thus far, thanks to the suggestion of a Dish coworker. I have my Hopper set up to record the show and what I love about it is when I play back Iâm able to start watching a recording in one room and continue watching in another. This is so convenient and Iâm able to get a lot of work done.

By: Oogle monster

Oogle monster — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

He doesn't pay the ransom though. Right? He even says "restaurants are bad investments." I thought the checks were to help out with the money Will wired abroad to get the freelancer home safely. Also, can we all just collectively agree that Alison Pill's character is the most annoying Sorkin creation (and that's saying something). Olivia Munn is worthless as well… she has the most stiff line readings.

By: Gus

Gus — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

I think critics should admit to their sexual orientation…. only a raging, unhappy queen thinks this show treats women unfairly….. I've known enough unhappy queens to know of which I speak.

This 64 year old entrepreneur thinks the writing is just fine….. why oh why do these gossip types all sound the same?

By: C Ward

C Ward — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Struggling? Death spiral? What are you watching??

This is the best TV in a decade. [along with Luck]

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT… the girls, the guys, the background stories… the econ major…

LOVE EM LOVE EM LOVE EM>… Cannot wait for S01//E06

Emmys for EVERYONE! Scripts, leads, minor players… WONDERFUL WONDERFUL

you are NUTS… jealous … or a Koch employee.

By: Dean

Dean — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

You're all crazy – I love it.

By: Kerwood

Kerwood — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

Aaron Sorkin has been one of my favourite writers for years, and since The West Wing went off the air, I have to admit that I miss my weekly doses of his wit, intelligence, drama and perspective on the powerful people behind the curtain of Oz, in this case cable news. Each of the five episodes has had its moments of brilliance, but I'm getting tired and bored with the oscillations of that brilliance and the pedantic, relationship-challenged character development that brings all of the drama to a halt each episode. I hope this settles down soon, much in the way that the West Wing got rid of Mandy after the first season, she was deadweight. The same can be said for Maggie here, no matter how many lines he writes for her.

The other thing is I wish that the direction would take a valium. An entire cast of people, no matter how smart, don't all have the same devastating witty repartee available and deliverable almost as they're hearing the last syllable being spoken to them. The dialogue is sort of an updated version of those old Film Noire movies in the forties with Bogart, Greenstreet and the like…where everyone is so damned witty and no one even breathes between their lines, just blurting out the dialogue as fast as they can do it, like they're trying to keep the picture as short as the script will allow. Be witty, sure, but not everyone, all the time. It detracts from the realism that so much effort is otherwise spent trying to create, somewhat successfully.

By: Allymax

Allymax — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

1. Mac and Will have zero chemistry, so it's hard to buy into their torrid love affair that ended in such a devastating way for Will;
2. Viewers are led to believe that cable newsrooms are nothing more than bars at happy hour, settings for young workers to hook up and argue about their dating lives;
3. What sort of nincompoop in a state-of-the-art workplace doesn't know how to send mass email, let alone a producer of one of the most-watched cable shows;
4. Most of us would be fired if we acted out the way these workers do – the sniping and personal attacks have no place at work and are usually dealt with behind the scenes as professionally as possible, and
5. If I were in charge, I'd fire Mac, keep Jim and Will on a short leash and issue corporate directive that if workers can't keep their private lives private, they're fired. Unless you work for TMZ, there's no way any of us would discuss who's sleeping with whom at a business meeting.

By: jimmiescoffee

jimmiescoffee — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:58:28 +0000

this show is borderline unbearable. i cant stop watching in a "what will he do next" train-wreck kinda way. the way this show takes the high/moral ground on REAL LIFE incidents months after the fact is fucked up. the gabrielle giffords episode was monumental as a detached, idealistic, crass hour long seminar. and i agree, jeff daniels character (who is filthy rich somehow and apparantly a playboy..what?) is easily the most unlikeable asshole in TV history.