--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > OK, I know that not many here enjoy this series as much > as I do, but I'm the only person I have to please around > here, and I love it. > > I think it's tightly written, superbly acted and directed, > and it occasionally makes some strong and valid criticisms > of the News and how it works...and how it sometimes fails > to work. All six of the previous episodes this season have > been leading up to last night's episode, when a seemingly > strong story they'd broadcast came crashing down with > embarrassing-to-the-network and mass-resignations-required > consequences. And IMO all on the team did a fine job in > presenting this story in these six episodes. > > But -- again IMO -- all of this was preface. It was all > leading up to a scene featuring the actress who had not > been present so far in the season, delivering a speech > that both Aaron Sorkin (as the writer) and her (as the > actress delivering it) will be remembered for long after > those who rag on "The Newsroom" are dead and forgotten. > > The owner of the fictional News network gets called out > of a charity benefit she's dressed to the nines and paid > a thousand bucks to attend because she wanted to meet > Daniel Craig, who was a no-show. She's not in the best > of moods, because she really *wanted* to meet Daniel > Craig. And to top that off, she's stoned. Then she gets > called into a room and told that she has to accept the > resignations of her three most key employees at the > network. > > That's the setup. The punchline is that this woman is > being played by Jane Fonda, one of the greatest actresses > any of us have ever been privileged to see onscreen. > > My bet is that she'll be nominated for another Emmy (she > already was, for her work in last season) for this five > minutes of screen time. And my hope is that she wins. > This was as masterful a piece of acting as I have ever > seen in my life. She literally brought tears to my eyes. > > Those of you who like to rag on "The Newsroom" can carry > on now, carrying on. Me, I'll carry on enjoying great TV > wherever I find it, no matter how many others don't like i
Our household members are very big fans of "The Newsroom" and enjoyed this last episode immensely. While this drama may not be all that accurate a portrayal of how newsrooms work, it does make the point very wall that behind the camera are real people with real lives. These lives are full of drama and imperfections just like the subjects they cover and this can color how things can get reported (or ignored or suppressed). I like how the character of Will McAvoy is used to push things always back to the center when there's an axe to grind in either the left or right. I agree that some of the dialog is frenetic and even forced, but I think they're trying to cram 90 minutes of drama into a 60 minute format. That pace can be a bit much and I find we are rewinding certain scenes once in a while to make sure we got what was being telegraphed. The dialog is outstanding, but occasionally too smart for its own good. I hate that, but it's way ahead of a lot of the drek in sitcoms. This season feels like a homage to Dan Rather with the setup he fell into around his investigation into W that ended his stint on the CBS Evening News. ACN is trolled by someone with an agenda other than telling the truth. CBS was given so called vetted documents on Lt. Bush's record. Thus, the newsroom and the reporters become story. The fallout of such a troll is the proverbial "chilling effect." Cheney Bush were great at this, and sadly, Obama and Holder are following suit with their blatant intimidation of reporters. As an aside, I would expect the same if not worse from a Romney Presidency, but I am very disappointed in Mr. Change We Can Believe In. Also, these season has done a great job of characterizing how political campaign reporters are reduced to readers of press statements from spin meisters. Yeah... Sorkin is preaching to the choir, but I love his music. >
