Why is this even on my blog? Well, this show's opening episode was written by Aaron Sorkin who is a personal writing god of mine. The man who was responsible for the Greatest Show Ever On TV (TM) - The West Wing - just doesn't seem to be able to write anything not worth watching. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (or whatever it was called) was a cracking show based inside a sketch show that lampooned the events of the week, but only lasted one season for the crimes of being intelligent and not having too much nice to say about network TV in the States. There is only so much biting of the hand that feeds you that you can get away with.
And The Newsroom is more of that. Right from the outset, Sorkin accuses media news of being lazy, corrupt and more interested in the advertising revenue than the quality of the news. No surprise then that the media in the US went ape and tore the show to shreds. There is no way that the show deserved any of the maulings it got, even on the evidence of this opening episode that is never going to be as slick as it's going to get. It's a case of "say you don't like us and we'll say it back".
Sorkin's got the last laugh, however, as HBO has commissioned a second outing for the show that has, after just one episode, become unmissable.
