327 replies to this topic

[Howdyphillip]

Did anyone else catch tonight's premiere?

I think that I may have found my new favorite show of the summer. The writing is brilliant, and Jeff Daniels is hitting his role out of the park. There is a sense of levity when appropriate yet it still manages to keep things on a serious level. The dialogue was at times down right inspiring. If this series is as good as it's pilot the HBO has come up with absolute gold. I can't wait until next week.

[RedEyedGhost]

I enjoyed the hell out of it.  Jeff Daniels was fantastic as were Allison Pill and Emily Mortimer (who looked absolutely amazing).  I think having this on after True Blood is a mistake, because it's just going to magnify the shittiness of that show's writing.

Holafernando Torres, on 24 June 2012 - 11:11 PM, said:

The dialogue was at times down right inspiring.

I'm so glad that Aaron Sorkin is back on television.

[Crazydog7]

A little self congrulatory but that isn't out of the ordinary for Sorkin and I don't mind all that much.  Also that opening meltdown was epic.  Since our political leaders seem to have lost touch with reality can we make them all actors and move the guys from West Wing and Newsroom into political office?

Also good to see that guy from Slumdog.

[Triskele]

I wasn't sure what to think of this from the previews, so I'd tempered my expectations.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the pilot.  Fingers crossed that this is another great HBO show.

I know nothing about how the actual inside of a newsroom actually works, but the dilemma they presented in the pilot with the sources and the risk of running the story was fascinating.

[BLU-RAY]

Andy Greenwald over at Grantland just absolutely fucking eviscerated this show, which makes me a little disinclined to watch it (also b/c I'll be cancelling HBO in two weeks, as I really only got it for GoT).

I was a little surprised he killed it so badly, to be honest.

[ICE CROW]

Just when I think Jeff Daniels can't be in anything dumber, he goes and does a show like this...........................................................................AND TOTALLY REDEEMS HIMSELF!!!

[samparker]

i really enjoyed it that night premiere it was awsum.......

[Sir Thursday]

DVD ROTS, on 25 June 2012 - 01:44 AM, said:

Andy Greenwald over at Grantland just absolutely fucking eviscerated this show, which makes me a little disinclined to watch it (also b/c I'll be cancelling HBO in two weeks, as I really only got it for GoT).

I was a little surprised he killed it so badly, to be honest.

Yeah, I was kind of put off by his review as well. In part because now he has mentioned these flaws I'll be seeing them all over the place when watching it. It sounds as though he enjoyed the pilot but found that as the episodes went on he got more and more annoyed with it...guess we'll see what everyone else thinks.

ST

[mythsandstuff]

I liked it despite myself. There were some things I really, really hated (I'm calling it - she cheated on him because OF COURSE SHE DID; how do you have the "Frank Capra optimist" utter the words "speak truth to stupid" and expect me to believe anything anyone ever says about a character ever?). But, despite what I hated, and my feeling that Sorkin doesn't like women a lot, really, I liked it. It's like the dialogue gets me high, and for that one hour, I can forgive anything, but then the dialogue's gone, and I JUST FEEL SO DIRTY AND ASHAMED. But yeah, I'll be there next week.

[Inigima]

I thought it was okay. At times I thought it was great and other times I thought it was terrible. It was good enough I'll try the next one, so we'll see how that goes.

[Mexal]

I liked it. A bit preachy but it didn't really bother me.

ETA: Been doing a little reading and it seems like general feeling was people enjoyed the pilot but didn't necessarily like the next three episodes. I'm intrigued now.

Edited by Mexal, 25 June 2012 - 09:17 AM.

[Arataniello]

It was a good start, and a new Sorkin-written Tv show is always something to look forward to.  Most of the criticism I have read to date seems to be about the disconnect between Sorkin's view of what news shows should be, and what they currently are.  See for example -

http://www.guardian....ality-principle

All that to one side, it was great to hear Sorkin-esque verbal gymnastics again, which raised a couple of laughs.  Pity it is on so late on a Sunday - maybe I should think about getting a DVR finally, or just catching a rerun during the week.

I will give it a couple of epsiodes to settle in and find it's stride.  Looks like it is only ten episodes (according to Internet Movie Database).

[Commodore]

Sorkinisms

[Crazydog7]

Commodore, on 25 June 2012 - 04:34 PM, said:

Sorkinisms

If you can't stand Sorkin and his political opinions just say so but you can't just drop a link at random and put your trust in Jesus that we are all going to know what you mean.  And what the heck was with that video anyway they did a West Wing compilation and no one said "the thing" or "that thing"

[Commodore]

Crazydog7, on 25 June 2012 - 05:04 PM, said:

If you can't stand Sorkin and his political opinions just say so but you can't just drop a link at random and put your trust in Jesus that we are all going to know what you mean.  And what the heck was with that video anyway they did a West Wing compilation and no one said "the thing" or "that thing"

I've only seen Moneyball, which was great.

There are no opinions I can't stand.

[Dark Night Full of Ninjas]

Just saw the first episode tonight. I thought it was pretty good. I don't know much (meaning anything) about what goes on  ina news room, but I''m very interested in seeing how this show does

[Harry the Heir]

Saw the pilot this afternoon, and I have since decided that I'm not so in love with Sorkin-style dialogue that I'd be willing to watch a blatant Sorkin analogue in situations carefully constructed to show off his brilliance. (Sorkin said in an interview with Alan Sepinwall that he set the show in the recent past in part so that he could show the main characters being right much of the time.)

Part of this admittedly may be my low tolerance for Boomer nostalgia, and not exactly understanding why I'm apparently part of the "worst period generation period ever period." But I think even taking that away, there's something ludicrous about a world in which Will McAvoy's bog-standard Beltway centrism is a dangerous, exciting way of looking at the world, and something a little tired about Sorkin's apparent desire to gin up a thin fictional scenario in which he can re-fight old battles.

Edited by Harry the Heir, 26 June 2012 - 12:31 AM.

[Grogsmash]

Harry the Heir, on 26 June 2012 - 12:30 AM, said:

Saw the pilot this afternoon, and I have since decided that I'm not so in love with Sorkin-style dialogue that I'd be willing to watch a blatant Sorkin analogue in situations carefully constructed to show off his brilliance. (Sorkin said in an interview with Alan Sepinwall that he set the show in the recent past in part so that he could show the main characters being right much of the time.)

I couldn't agree more. The entire premise of the show is set up to make the main characters right all the time. There isn't going to be any surprises and they are going to make sure that their people always take the "right" side of every story with hindsight. So even though the performances were great and I love many of the characters, I don't think I will be watching it for long.

Anyway, the Grantland review said it perfectly...

Quote

Despite what The Newsroom would have us believe, it requires no bravery to stand athwart history yelling “I told you so.”.

Speaking of the Grantland review, might be a good idea to put a warning on the link. It has some spoilers that bothered a few people I linked it to in another forum.

Edited by Grogsmash, 26 June 2012 - 03:28 AM.

[Inigima]

Commodore, on 25 June 2012 - 05:15 PM, said:

I've only seen Moneyball, which was great.

I think West Wing's politics will annoy you, but do give Sports Night a look.

[mythsandstuff]

Inigima, on 26 June 2012 - 05:24 AM, said:

I think West Wing's politics will annoy you, but do give Sports Night a look.

I don't know. It hasn't aged well, but maybe that's because I am now unable to look at it and see anything but Sorkin.