The Snoozeroom

Back in the very early days of this blog, I made some disparaging remarks about screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.  You have no idea how many nasty comments I got back for Sorkin fans.  The guy has a deep and devoted following. 

Now, to be fair, I can be objective.  I liked "The Social Network."  Aaron was involved in that.  I loved "Moneyball."  Aaron was involved in that.  And I must admit that I was one of the three people in America who actually watched and liked that "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" TV show he created.

Meanwhile, I hated "The West Wing," which was nothing more than Sorkin transcribing what he bloviates over politically at a dinner party.  And, while it was a decent film, the one big problem in "A Few Good Men" was the stilted and overwrought dialogue as crafted by the always-impressed-by-himself Aaron.

So, as you can see, I can run both very hot and very cold when it comes to Aaron Sorkin.  I was intrigued by the prospect of his new HBO drama, "The Newsroom."  I always love the premise of working journalists, even though they barely exist in the lamestream media world of 2012.  As always, this program would probably be very, very good and engaging for me.  Or it could be very, very bad and having me groping for the remote control.

I choose the latter.  "The Newsroom," as written and created by Aaron Sorkin, is a mess.  Before it even premiered, I had popped it into my DVR series queue.  After watching the first four episodes, I have popped it right out. 

So, Sorkin-ites, read on.  And get some ink into those poison pens of yours.

Even though it's tough for any writer to find fault with the old "Mary Tyler Moore Show" show, my writing partner always had one major quibble about that program.

"That has to be the most un-busiest newsroom in television."

True.  Besides Mary, Murray, Ted, and Lou, you really only saw one or two other people bee-bopping around WJM.  Contrast that with the Los Angeles Tribune newsroom later depicted on the wonderful "Lou Grant" spin-off series.  Now that felt realistic and exciting.

Somewhere in between those two benchmarks, you find "The Newsroom."  A lot of running around by not a lot of people and there's absolutely nothing going on.  They have it both ways and really no ways.  Nothing could be duller and I was secretly hoping that Rhoda or Georgette would show up to have lunch with one of the characters.  Anything to spice up this complete misfire of a television show.

This is ACN.  Atlantis Cable News and the name is fitting because it should sink to the bottom of the ocean.  ACN looks a little bit like CNN, a little bit like Fox, and a whole lot like the editorial staff working at "Highlights for Children."  The head anchor is Will McAvoy and he's conflicted from the very first scene when we watch him have a You Tube melt down at a panel discussion.  Jeff Daniels once again overplays his role and Honey Baked should offer such a big ham. 

Well, McAvoy goes back to work but is demoted to doing a different anchor position, although the one that is most suited to him would dump him 20,000 fathoms under the sea.  Oh, maybe that's the metaphor Sorkin had in mind when he named this place Atlantis.  Whatever.  I'm already thinking way too much about this show.

So, McAvoy has to adapt to a new crew of "journalists," which is being commandeered now by an....watch for this convenient plot twist...ex-girlfriend.  She's played by Emily Mortimer, who's about twenty years younger than Daniels and they look virtually implausible side-by-side.  They banter as if they are the smartest people in the universe, but, then again, I thought the writer behind it was the smartest person in the universe.  Meanwhile, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn played this dynamic a lot better in "Woman of the Year" and that was produced over seventy years ago when real and impartial journalists actually did exist.

All the youngsters on the newsroom staff are smart and witty.  None of them live in any sort of reality.  But we know they're on top of things because they drop in references to Barack Obama and healthcare.  In an effort to make this show sound current, the whole thing becomes incredibly dated five minutes after it airs.  The shelf life for "The Newsroom" is only about one day longer than a package of Thomas' English Muffins at Ralph's Supermarket.

As you expect, the dialogue is Aaron Sorkin on steroids.  Because he can include politics, every character is made to wax poetic on every liberal talking point ever crafted by Nancy Pelosi.  As a result, nobody sounds even remotely realistic.  No one in any Aaron Sorkin production really talks like a real, genuine person.  My guess is that they all sound like him.  And, if that's the case, I'm glad he's not coming to my house this Thanksgiving.

Perhaps my biggest problem with "The Newsroom" is the implication that a non-biased, purely objective journalistic venture even exists in 2012.  There is no more news.  Nowadays, there is only conjecture and opinions.  Is somebody trying to tell me that CNN doesn't have a point of view or an agenda?  That's a place where the only real news that emanated was the recent announcement that Anderson Cooper was gay.  And who really was surprised by that???  Meanwhile, we have Fox News and the NBC-produced embarrassment MSNB-Hee Haw with its gaggle of morons and low lifes---from the Morning Schmoe to that unconvicted felon Al Sharpton.  News???  Hardly.

So, indeed, maybe "The Newsroom" should be viewed as a world that no longer exists.  A fairy tale. 

Once upon a time, Aaron Sorkin created a series....and all the king's horses and all the king's men....well, all of them sounded just like Aaron Sorkin.

Dinner last night:  Had a big lunch so just some Thai noodles.