When Robert Guillaume suffered a real-life stroke, it was added to the story-line. His character, managing editor Isaac Jaffe, also had a stroke.
Originally conceived as a movie. Aaron Sorkin could not devise a coherent plot, but it fit the episodic nature of television.
The last episode of the first season of all three of Aaron Sorkin's TV shows (West Wing - Tutti gli uomini del Presidente (1999), Sports Night (1998), and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006)), as well as the series finale of "The Newsroom" (2012), is titled "What Kind of Day Has It Been?"
The show was finally canceled when Aaron Sorkin decided to concentrate on his other show, West Wing - Tutti gli uomini del Presidente (1999). Despite low ratings on ABC, it got several attractive offers to continue on cable TV. All the deals included Sorkin as a writer, but Sorkin declined.
According to Peter Krause, ABC tried really hard to change the show. They couldn't make every change they demanded because Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme fought back.