The Newsroom

Rarely does a television show come along and sweep you off your feet with brilliant writing, an amazing cast and an actual message that is relevant and inspirational. Aaron Sorkin has done it again with The Newsroom! This show is truly a display of what television can achieve if we have the right people who are willing to break the rules of the mundane drab to make an engaging and intelligent show.

Jeff Daniels plays Will McAvoy, the cautious, veteran news anchor tiptoeing with his career in order to "play it safe", concerned more with keeping his ratings than stepping on toes. He has the smarts, the background and the ability to be something more, a challenger of beliefs and a defender of ideals, but lacks the motivation until Mackenzie MacHale (played beautifully by Emily Mortimer), a woman from his past, reenters his life. She is the spark to ignite his flame and gets him burning with an unquenchable passion once again.

Within the first five minutes of the show, Jeff Daniels delivers a speech of Aaron Sorkin's words about the state of America that is extremely touching, stimulating and brutally true for a vast majority of the population. It's reminiscent of his West Wing days, but with even more flare and aggression. I only hope he can keep the pace that he has set with the pilot; the bar is set high.

I have never felt as driven to make sure other people understood just how perfect a show was. Not for Game of Thrones, Firefly, Sopranos or any of the other shows I obsess about. But this show changed that! This show boils down everything that is wrong with America and puts out a simple answer to solving that. DO THE BLOODY NEWS LIKE IT'S NEWS NOT A HIGH SCHOOL PROM ELECTION!

Jeff Daniels is perfect in his role as the tired beaten down journalist that just doesn't give a damn about anything anymore, but used too. And we can see the spark that ignites him to become great again. Why aren't real reporters like this? Why oh why?

If this show get's cancelled I will camp out in front of HBO HQ and not leave till the last Game of Thrones series comes out (because I have to get on with my life at some point).

This was my first review ever on IMDb, all because of this amazing show! You better watch it as well!

Boy, some people did not like this show.

Someone here said the first five minutes of the pilot were fabulous (I'm paraphrasing) and then it was downhill from there.

This is what makes the world go round. In the beginning, I found "Newsroom" too chaotic. I wasn't connecting with the characters and it was all too much.

Then I really got into it, and I found it fantastic. I loved the acting and the characters, and I don't understand why it went off the air.

I also loved the witty dialogue, and I liked the fact that it showed the interpersonal relationships within the newsroom as well as out. The whole Genoa thing was particularly chilling, when you absolutely know what's going on - fascinating to watch.

This is an Aaron Sorkin show, along the lines of The West Wing. And what actors - Sam Waterston, Jane Fonda, Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Allison Pill, Marcia Gay Harden, everyone top-notch. Even though I haven't been the age of most of the newsroom characters for many many years, I could still appreciate their lives and what they went through.

How bad can something with Sam Waterston in it be, I ask myself. Certainly worth checking out.

I've been watching television for all of my 57 years on the planet. It is a rare thing when I see a show that grabs me from the first moments and holds me to my chair until the very last, but this just happened tonight as I watched the first episode of The Newsroom. Brilliant writing, terrific characters, excellent dialog, smooth and sexy directing that organically brought all the pieces together, and there couldn't have been better casting. Every character just felt exactly right. When it was over, I said this will be the new West Wing. Jeff Daniels shines in this role and what a great opportunity to showcase his effortless acting. I can easily see major Hollywood "A" listers grabbing their telephone's right now making late Sunday night calls to their agents demanding they get a guest appearance on The Newsroom. I was hoping for good when I heard about this show last winter, but what was delivered was excellence. Well done HBO. You've got me hooked. Well done!

I am watching it for a second time. All of the critics are acting as if Aaron Sorkin kicked dirt in their faces. The critics said nothing of substance- just vitriolic rants. Maybe Sorkin has hit a nerve. In a sea of crap T.V. this is entertaining. Believe me, we all know that the Newsroom characters are no more realistic than President Bartlet or Sam or Toby, Josh,Leo, C.J., Josh, or Donna. I don't think for one minute that the President of the United States has a secretary who doles out cookies, but I desperately need to believe that we are capable of being all of these characters. I desperately need to be quixotic for an hour a week.