so i finally watched all of this, all fast at once the other day
kind of not feeling it enough to say anything about it, not sure it merited it - it was enjoyable enough but minor, nothing new to add even to the sorkin canon. a recovery from the worst problems of studio 60, but not really much insight into the news specifically or any of its character(-types). schlump otm re alison pill tho <3.
been thinking though that a better approach to understanding ~~~the essence of sorkinism~~~ is probably in terms of time. specifically, the question of what he can/can't do with his usual combination of structures. and why combine *those*. the just-in-time success plot, the therapeutic admission plot, the unapologetic deposition plot, the 'bad timing' and past-he-can't-get-past romantic plots.
― j., Tuesday, 18 November 2014 05:48 (nine years ago) link
"everybody at my work does"
― a total laugh package (s.clover), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 05:51 (nine years ago) link
some very nice rat-a-tat dialogue in this ep.
are sorkin, mamet, and rhimes the only distinct television writerly voices?
maybe in comedy Caspe of happy endings/marry me, and even i guess Chuck Lorre?
― a total laugh package (s.clover), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 05:54 (nine years ago) link
milch, whedon, i dunno i would not be surprised if david e kelley shows had a 'voice'. i haven't watched enough of them but i kind of recall one. bochco?
i don't know how localized the responsibility for it is but whenever abrams-related shows from alias onward put interpersonal-relationship-dialogue in their characters' mouths, i feel like there's a characteristic blankness to it.
― j., Tuesday, 18 November 2014 06:12 (nine years ago) link
dunno if i can recognize milch, whedon, kelley voice scene to scene in the writing itself. in the storyline, sure.
sorkin, mamet and rhimes all have a moment-to-moment rhythm, a distinct feel for beats, crescendos, pauses.
― a total laugh package (s.clover), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 06:37 (nine years ago) link
I've caught a few eps of this without knowing what it was- every one of them seems to end with Jeff Daniels blowing up at somebody/everybody and quitting, while Sam Waterston gently smiling and looking like he's about to pass out. The dialogue is so full of shit I keep thinking it's supposed to be a comedy but apparently not.
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 06:50 (nine years ago) link
i love the sync in the opening credits between this big ostentatious orchestral drum roll & a sharp cut into explosion footage
― schlump, Monday, 1 December 2014 03:45 (nine years ago) link
hahahaha now that was the revolting Newsroom I remember
― Simon H., Monday, 1 December 2014 05:06 (nine years ago) link
i think a cool newsroom finale would be jeff daniels blowing himself up to prove a point of some kind
― schlump, Monday, 1 December 2014 05:38 (nine years ago) link
the resultant viscera spells out "ethics" across the side of the ACN building, magisterial but restrained horn fanfare, fade to black
― Simon H., Monday, 1 December 2014 05:47 (nine years ago) link
ahhahaha sorkin hates the internet so much
― celfie tucker 48 (s.clover), Wednesday, 3 December 2014 03:42 (nine years ago) link
also omg the dialogue is so bad this episode
― celfie tucker 48 (s.clover), Wednesday, 3 December 2014 03:45 (nine years ago) link
there was a pretty reasonable new york magazine piece recently about how the newsroom was an unpromising concept because it tried to attach a sort of noble credibility to contemporary news television, it comes through when you hear jim talking really confusingly idealistically about the honour of cable tv
― schlump, Wednesday, 3 December 2014 04:01 (nine years ago) link
Ave Maria over the wedding/arrest. I bet when they were filming those scenes they thought it was going to be really cool, and then they saw the episode and were like WTF Aaron, come on. This is not a lord of the rings battle.
― franny glasshole (franny glass), Wednesday, 3 December 2014 15:10 (nine years ago) link
lol gawker stalker
― celfie tucker 48 (s.clover), Monday, 8 December 2014 06:40 (nine years ago) link
Ave Maria bit was clearly trying to recreate Hallelujah over Bartlet giving the order to shoot down that Qumari dude + Simon Donovan getting toasted in the 7/11 in the West Wing. It didn't work at all.
― ailsa, Monday, 8 December 2014 10:45 (nine years ago) link
then they did it again this ep!
― celfie tucker 48 (s.clover), Monday, 8 December 2014 16:12 (nine years ago) link
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/08/tweeting-towards-bethlehem-newsroom-week-5/
Natasha Vargas-Cooper: There’s a term in poker for when you bet too much and you don’t make great decisions: you are ON TILT. Aaron Sorkin was ON TILT last night.
― forbodingly titled It's True! It's True! (Eazy), Tuesday, 9 December 2014 17:34 (nine years ago) link
Also: potential drinking game each time someone says "your generation."
― forbodingly titled It's True! It's True! (Eazy), Tuesday, 9 December 2014 17:36 (nine years ago) link
Already missing this show, there's nothing else in the same vein on tv.
― hobbes, Monday, 15 December 2014 05:35 (nine years ago) link
man this was such total garbage
― tender is the late-night daypart (schlump), Monday, 15 December 2014 06:53 (nine years ago) link
lol @ a 90min finale of a show about news having abt three lines of dialogue about Mandela on his death bed and 89min of soap opera tropes
― gr8080, Monday, 15 December 2014 14:19 (nine years ago) link
I've been told there was a musical number
― The Understated Twee Hotel On A Mountain (silby), Monday, 15 December 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
at a wake
― Drop soap, not bombs (Ste), Monday, 15 December 2014 17:32 (nine years ago) link
at least neal came out looking ok
― celfie tucker 48 (s.clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 01:57 (nine years ago) link
*takes down website for entire week*
― gr8080, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 02:10 (nine years ago) link
omg the musical number.
sorkin shows are the sound of boomers slowly disintegrating and their bonedust fluttering into the breeze
― celfie tucker 48 (s.clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 05:28 (nine years ago) link
― gr8080, Monday, December 15, 2014 10:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
ha ha
― tender is the late-night daypart (schlump), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 06:23 (nine years ago) link
Haha y'all didn't feel anything for any of these characters? neal and maggie were a little annoying, but the rest? Their corny earnestness just made them more endearing! The whole show was ridiculous but that's what made it great, enjoyment of it demanded the viewer take it less seriously than it wanted to be taken, if that makes sense.Like how was will maccavoy walking into the garage of his newly dead best friend and having an impromptu jam session on accoustic guitar with his best friends newly depressed cello playing grandson not the most entertaining thing you saw all year. Have never seen the west wing/studio 60 but the writing here seemed as sharp as his movies. charlie and sloan were some of sorkins best characters.
― hobbes, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 10:27 (nine years ago) link
the show spent so much time presuming i would FEEL FEELING about Will and Mac or goddamn Jim and Maggie that i was pleasantly surprised when Don and Sloan ended up being the most compelling relationship in the show. Lisa is still the show's MVP for her speech when she got fed up with Jim and Maggie's passive aggressive love triangle bullshit.
― some dude, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 13:27 (nine years ago) link
I love that this didn't even wind up producing as many episodes as Ken Finkleman's The Newsroom.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 16 December 2014 14:47 (nine years ago) link
some dude otm. olivia munn really came out of this show surprisingly well.
― celfie tucker 48 (s.clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:27 (nine years ago) link
i'm still kinda confused what people were ever so mad at her about.
― some dude, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:35 (nine years ago) link
it's about ethics in fictional journalism
― a stupid red mute juggalo (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
Haven't read thread but this is good at an ally mcbeal level and i am in love with mac
― your own personal qanon (darraghmac), Tuesday, 6 April 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link
how far in are you
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Tuesday, 6 April 2021 20:55 (two years ago) link
mostly I just need to know if you've gotten to the bin laden scene
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Tuesday, 6 April 2021 20:56 (two years ago) link
Ive been busy so just catching decent comedy snippets and showy dialogue and devastating silhouettes of macs blouse/skirt game but "we" have in fact blitzed through to the season 2 finale since last friday
― your own personal qanon (darraghmac), Tuesday, 6 April 2021 21:31 (two years ago) link
I recall a stretch in the second season that sort of threatened to be OK, and then they got to the college rape storyline and it was all downhill sharply from there
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Wednesday, 7 April 2021 02:45 (two years ago) link
the 'buckle up sweetie, here's why America used to be good and now sucks' monologue should have gotten this shit cancelled after the first episode
― Joe Bombin (milo z), Wednesday, 7 April 2021 02:54 (two years ago) link
Absolutely the worst thing to ever air on HBO, including Arli$$.
As they say, "One man's Mede is another man's Persian."
― Judge Roi Behan (Aimless), Wednesday, 7 April 2021 03:01 (two years ago) link
oh man, this was actually p bad huh. the whole season is just gonna be emily mortimer's beseeching face & endless cycles of affirmation & reaffirmation & pledging & repledging of commitment to a non-specific noble idea.
schlump
Well make up yr mind which is it
― your own personal qanon (darraghmac), Thursday, 8 April 2021 00:50 (two years ago) link
Finished this, hobbes otm with summary rly
If you tried to take it as seriously as it wanted, more fool you id say.
The hamfisted smug arguments on all sides, well again if you choose to see these as things worth railing against sure youd get vexed but this was a zingy sexy sitcom about how much jeff daniels could try to get sorkin away with and i repeat macs blouse/skirt/winsome trinity is unbeaten
― flagpost fucking (darraghmac), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 01:26 (two years ago) link
sorkin is lame is how i break it down to an extent
― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 03:14 (two years ago) link