The Newsroom

I work in broadcasting. This is a very real show to me. The ass-kissing, self-serving characters on this show hit home with me. There's not a character on this show that isn't like someone that I work with.

The show is hysterical. But, I think it's one that requires much attention, or you'll miss something. The actions and results are right on top of each other, from scene to scene. There is a lot of dialog, with no real punchline. It's totally played straight, which makes it brilliant.

The only thing I don't like about it is that there isn't a 4th season. What a pity.

The deadpan quasidocumentary feel of this series puts it solidly in an evolutionary chain from Canadian sketch comedy, perhaps most obvious among the SCTV and other Second City folk who've done so much that's been visible in the States, to such latter-day offerings as THE OFFICE, in its original UK form and US remake. The interplay of dialog is often as quick as anything I've seen in screwball or drawing room comedy in any medium, yet usually the build toward absurdity is held deftly in check till a rich payoff. The new season, offered to US television in 1995, may seem a bit familiar as a result of the first season's influence, and the first sequel project, MORE TEARS, was by intention somewhat more self-indulgent (parodically...and simultaneously not...Fellini-esquire), but all are well worth seeing, particularly this first season.

I saw this years ago, so I'm reviewing this based on my response in the 1990s.

This harsh satire of the news industry was pointed, dark and very, very funny. I don't remember too many details, but I remember that it was absolutely brilliant.

And then came the last episodes, in which the main character snaps. And they were awful. What had been a straight ahead comedy suddenly, inexplicably turned into an obvious tribute to/ripoff of Frederico Fellini. It was clear that series creator Finkleman, like so many humorists, felt humor wasn't enough and that he had to prove himself as an artist. And the result was tedious, pretentious and a complete misfit with the rest of the series.

But it's still worth watching all the episodes up until that point. It's just a shame Finkleman couldn't have been satisfied making a really funny satire of television news.

The first time I attempted to watch "The Newsroom" I tuned out, bored. The second attempt was not only better, but I became hopelessly enslaved and devoted to the series which I have watched over and over, for therapy, a hedge against loneliness, and other times when I just want to be a part of Finkleman's wacky world. I love the man. He can do no wrong for me. For many of the cast it had to have been the "best of times" to have been part of this magnificent production. Along with Ken's "More Tears", and Dennis Potter's "Singing Detective" I know of nothing finer ever done on TV, and I could absolutely kill myself for not being able to write a more fitting tribute to this great artist.

Let me be the first to say: The Newsroom is BACK, and darker than ever!

I've only seen the first episode, so I won't say much, but this premiere felt darker than all but the last few episodes of the original series. The original series was always black, but had a playfulness to it, and a certain charmingness about the characters; this new reinvention of the show carries most of the same issues and style, but is more unrelenting and comically depressing (and recasts all of the 'fun', 'quirky' characters). yes, I would even say they have taken it so far that it is no longer comedy, it's pure pain---but it in a good way! The Newsroom at its best achieved a kind of satire that made you fearful of seeing the characters as real people, and yet being forced into moments where we saw their saddest and honest humanity coming out (in the most crushing and embarassing and despicable ways); this entire first episode hit me with it again and again, at its most painful when Jim calls George Findlay practically in tears, and George could care less ...this is satire that dares you not to keep the safe comical distance (that even great satire usually makes use of), this is a *personal* satire that makes you bleed from the ears. I can't wait to see how far Finkleman takes this.

This said, I would be much more interested in seeing a totally new series from Finkleman, in a more open and more blatently surreal style.

Also, check out the insane and chaotic new series "This is Wonderland". I'm not sure if they can sustain it, but the pilot was ...different (and is one of the most de-centralized, self-destructive, frantic, infuriating narratives I've ever seen! almost every plot point collapsed in on itself and our heroine achieved essentially NOTHING!). It indeed manages to turn a court comedy/drama environment into a fairy tale world, and is about as unconventional and offbeat as it is possible for a court show to be these days. By way of comparison, the pilot would be best described as Ally McBeal on acid AND speed.

With this and an unexpectedly brilliant season of Da Vinci's Inquest (i was not such a fan in the past, but this season is something else), I'd say that CBC seems to have an almost violent level of energy this season!

(Schedule-- The Newsroom 8:30 Monday; Wonderland 9 Monday; Da Vinci 9 Sunday)