You Must Watch This: The Newsroom (Ep 9-10)

I realize that by now, the first season of The Newsroom has been wrapped up for about 2-3 weeks, so sue me (please don't), but with all the greatness we've been bringing you here at Opportunity Assassins, I figured it was ok to delay this because hey, I run this joint. So let's get on with putting a lid on the first season of The Newsroom and wrapping up the first series of "You Must Watch This."

Episode 9: The Blackout: Part II
Last we left the crew, the gang was pre-taping an interview with some bimbo about Anthony Wiener's wiener when the lights went out in the entire building. So when Will asks what they do if the power doesn't come on by showtime, Mac has her moment to rally the troops with her own version of the "Braveheart" speech (FREEEEEEEEEDOM!) when, in another fantastic moment of comedic timing right as she's wrapping up her speech...the lights come back on and Mac screams "Son of a Bitch!" Thankfully, the internet has provided us with this moment, so you can relive it (or live it for the first time if you still haven't seen this show.)



See? Genius.
The character focus in this episode is the relationship square dance between Jim, Lisa (Maggie's roomate, played by Kelen Coleman), Maggie and Don. I'm not so thrilled with the will they/won't they of this story because we all know they eventually will. On the upside, once again we're seeing the teeth on Sloan (Olivia Munn) as she continues to try to get the importance of the Debt Ceiling debates up above the prattle of the Casey Anthony/Anthony Wiener "stories." All the while, Sampat is trying to get the story on internet trolls by dragging Sloan's name through the mud on an economic message board. As a result, we get to see some more of the really great day/night transformations of Sloan's character when she goes from "awwe" to yelling at Sampat. The best part of the episode was finally seeing the reveal of what they all have been working for in a debate format. I, for one, would love to see the debates run that way instead of the kid gloves that our candidates are treated with on most occasions. Anyway, the episode ends with Sampat goading the person who made the death threat on McAvoy setting up the last episode of the first season.

Episode 10: The Greater Fool (Season Finale)
The finale starts off seemingly right where we left off, except we're now two months after the end of Ep. 9 after the article on McAvoy is printed in New York magazine. Will is discovered passed out in his bathroom after combining too many anti-depressants mixed with bourbon and painkillers. This lands him in the hospital where he threatens not to return to the show. In the mean time, we're still coming toward a resolution on the getting Will fired arc set up in Episode 3. We've got the NSA insider set up during the bin Laden episode who has evidence against ACN's parent company but isn't a credible witness due to his past indiscretions. Of course, nothing is ever easy as the screw is turned even further when it turns out that the NSA insider commits suicide later. It turns out, though, before he did he sent a message to Skinner dropping one of the last puzzle pieces in place. This motivates Skinner to go to McAvoy and bring him out of his funk by calling his detractors "pussy-ass coward-ass pussified pussies" and bringing a personalized Voter ID story to McAvoy's attention via his nurse.

This combination of Skinner's glorious phrase, the Voter ID story and the discovery that Mac's phone was apparently hacked to give TMI (the tabloid under the same parent company as ACN) half of a story on Will being high the night of the bin Laden broadcast, lights a fire under Will's ass and cues a montage set to The Who's "Baba O'Riley". The montage shows the team building the show that has been interspersed throughout the episode. One of the more humorous moments of the episode is when Maggie goes off on a Sex and the City tour bus that Jim just so happens to be on. Of course, Jim chases Maggie down, they kiss..blah blah blah and Jim's nice guy/burden of knowledge once more prevents them from finally hooking up. Oh yeah...McAvoy's report confirms what we all have known all along - Jesus is a socialist. Finally, we get to the moment this whole season has been working toward, the face-off between Skinner/McAvoy and Reese/Laona Lansing. No surprises here, the Lansings lose and McAvoy and Mackenzie go on and put together one of the best shows to date.

So where does this leave us for season 2? Well, Sampat is still looking for the person making the death threats against Will, which will take at least a temporary focus. Maggie's with Don and Jim is with Lisa even though they all know who should be with who. Will and Mac are still dancing around getting back together. We've circled all the way back to the beginning with Will hiring on the girl who asked the question that started this whole thing off as an intern, and touched back on several characters that I thought would just be forgotten. And probably my favorite part is that Terry Crewes is still McAvoy's bodyguard thanks to Sampat.

All in all, The Newsroom had an excellent first season. Do I still think it falls in the top 5 series of all time? No, but it could very well elevate to new heights with the second season. I'd still love to see more with Sloan's character because Olivia Munn plays her perfectly. While I agree with much of what Sorkin is saying with this show, I'd also like to see the Democrats held up to the same lens that the Tea Party is being burned with. I want less of the Maggie/Don/Jim triangle as realistic as those relationships might be (but I won't get that, for sure). Finally, I want more Skinner and his incredibly delivered lines. I'm really looking forward to Season 2 which will return AFTER the presidential elections, but I'm concerned how the show's tone might be tempered if Sorkin's boy, Obama, doesn't get re-elected as the Tea Party makes for an easy target right now.

For Opportunity Assassins, this is Jake signing off. Thanks for watching "The Newsroom."

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You Must Watch This: The Newsroom (Episodes 7-8)

Episode 7 of The Newsroom focuses around what could be considered the most iconic moment of Obama's first term as president - the assassination of Osama bin Laden. "5/1" is an episode that seems like it should have some more weight around it. Of course there were a couple nice moments when the show pays tribute to those most closely affected by the attacks of 9/11, pilots, police and military, but the whole air around this episode was a bit too lighthearted for such an important event. All in all, this was an episode where we didn't learn much about any characters we didn't already know. Don is being a big baby over the possibility (read: inevitability) of losing Maggie. Will is letting loose at some party for apparently no reason, ending up high as a kite for what would appear to be absolutely no reason other than to apparently show that the events of 5/1 are sobering.

Once more, Sam Waterston's Skinner is the standout role of the episode followed in close second by Lonny Church (Terry Crewes) and his run in with the cops. The rest of the cast was wholly invisible, including Neal Sampat's girlfriend who had what felt like a forced moment when she dropped the news that her father died in one of the WTC towers. The problem with this moment is that I have no emotional investment in her character (I don't even know her name) to begin with so this moment comes off as too little an effort to pull at our collective heart strings. It's a shame that this episode as good as it should have been, because such a major moment should have held more weight. The best part of this episode was Will's announcement of Osama bin Laden's death leading right into Obama's address to the public going into the closing credits.

Episode 8 is the first part of a two part plot line where the crew of The Newsroom throw everything they stand for out the window in order to regain ratings (and in return receive nod to moderate a republican debate where they will rewrite the rules) and protect Will McAvoy's career but also everything that they've worked so hard to accomplish from the network owner, Leona Lansing (Jane Fonda). Much improved from the last episode, we're actually given a few really strong performances from a character that's been strong all season long and a character that I've been waiting to see a glimmer of light from. The event focus is around ACN throwing the "real news" to the side in order to cover the Casey Anthony trial. Also taking place around this time is the Anthony Wiener scandal which just piles on the "not actually news the world should be concerned about" hurt.Of course in the hunt for ratings, an order given from the top, these are the stories that ACN will lead with.

A few of my favorite moments from "The Blackout Part 1: Tragedy Porn" was Don "Master of the Dark Arts" Keefer breaking down the ridiculous coverage of Nancy Grace (ooh..finally bashing a liberal and a voice/face not even a mother could love) showing all the ways that CNN is manipulating the hearts of the mainly female viewers. I wish I had a clip of this scene because it's pure gold. On another note, Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) finally bares some teeth in this episode while trying to convince Mac to run the story about the debt ceiling debates as just the doubt involved would destabilize the dollar as a world currency. The other great Sloan moment was when Neal suggests that Sloan has a big ass at which point she slams him against the wall then when he tries to explain that a lot of men like big asses, she slams him against the wall again asking "They do? Never mind." and storms off confused. Then, of course, there's Skinner's moment in the library where he meets with the mysterious NSA contact from "5/1" except he mistakes another guy for the contact in the library because he's wearing a carnation on his lapel. Just part of another series of great moments from Waterston (the reference to "The Dark Knight" was a treat as well).

Of course every Part 1 must have a Part 2 (unless you're Mel Brooks' "History of the World: Part I"), so we must be left in the dark until next week. So in order to get there, cue Mac: "God, Please give me a sign I'm not doing a big thing badly" At that moment, all the lights in the building go out, which a few people comment on. Of course, Mac follows this up with: "I didn't know he had that kind of comic timing". Good stuff all around. I'm looking forward to Part 2 airing Sunday, Aug 19.

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You Must Watch This: The Newsroom Episode 6

Six episodes into the first season of The Newsroom has me a bit on the edge of a dangerous precipice. I'll get to why in a bit, but first let's take a look at the character focus of this episode.

"Bullies" focuses on further developing the characters of Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) and Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels). As I said during the write up of episodes 3-5, I'm very interested in seeing the character of Sloan better developed. We've seen her very briefly so far, but outside of figuring out she's an economic specialist and an awful person to ask relationship advice of. With Will, we've seen occasional glimpses of humanity under a cold shell but we haven't really learned too much about his life outside of things between Will and MacKenzie Hale (Emily Mortimer).

In this episode we learn that Will spent time as a speech writer for George H.W. Bush, was used as leverage by being "offered" a late night talk show on Fox, was abused by his father in youth and had to pick up the mantle of being the protector for his brother and two sisters. The key scene of the show was Will interviewing the Santorum staffer, a gay, black, man working as an adviser to the Santorum campaign which was anti-homosexuality. Will kept attacking the adviser along the lines of working for a man who thinks homosexuals are sub-human to the point where he snaps at Will, thoroughly putting him in his place. He tells Will that his view is too narrow; that Santorum's stance on abortion is more than enough to offset his stance on homosexuality. As a result, Will is quite obviously flustered as he mixes up words during the signing off and the guilt of this exchange is preventing him from sleeping.

Sloan, while dealing with a similar guilt and getting some more attention in this episode, is still not given the fleshing out that the character deserves. While there isn't one massive event focus on this episode, the driving force for the plot line was the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor as it's failing catastrophically. Sloan just so happens to have a good relationship with the spokesperson for TEPCO and is acting as translator for the staff putting the story together for ACN. The source is insisting that the reactor is only at a class 5 (Three Mile Island) but Sloan knows that the Japanese under sell the issues so she asks the team to leave the room where, off the record, the source tells Sloan it's actually more like a class 7 (Chernobyl). When she's asked to work the 10 O'Clock news, she has to interview the same spokesperson on the air. Sloan asks Will for advice on how to get the spokesperson to say on the air what he told her so, following Will's advice, she grills the TEPCO spokesperson but the translator is mistranslating both Sloan's questions and the responses. Of course, since she speaks Japanese, she goes off the rails and decides to handle the questions in Japanese herself. She then reveals that he told her it was actually a class 7, not a class 5.

When Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston) verbally dresses down Sloan (have i mentioned he's incredible in this role?), we see glimmers of who Sloan really is. We see she has the strength to stand up for herself as mistaken as she might have been. She believes so much in what she did that she didn't even care about being paid during her suspension. When she hears that her friend, the TEPCO spokesperson, was stepping down and his honor would be at stake, that's when we really see the glimmer of Sloan's convictions. It's a fantastic, albeit brief, moment where the possibility of Sloan's character glimmers to the surface. But this is really a great example of why this show has me on the edge of the cliff. Characters with so much potential are glazed over far too often. Finding out about Will's past was done in a mostly meaningless manner to get to the bottom of the his guilt over the best moment of the episode.

While I still thoroughly enjoy this show and highly recommend it, I can begin to see that there's the opportunity for greatness but also an equal opportunity to falter dramatically. Sorkin is walking a dangerous path, but it won't be until Season 2 begins that we'll find out if the new writing team can pull it back from the edge.

But hey, it's your time. Waste it how you see fit.

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You Must Watch This: The Newsroom (Ep. 3-5)

I've slacked off a bit, this I know. Five episodes in and I've only half-assed the reviews of the first two episodes so to make up for this, and to bring us up to speed in anticipation for episode 6, I'm using this time to "review" episodes 3, 4 and 5. Note: While Dan Rather did review these episodes, he has since stated he will no longer be able to review The Newsroom, so I have chosen not to link to his reviews.

And yes, there are SPOILERS

I've decided to go a different direction since a pattern has started to emerge through these first five episodes. It would appear that while each episode has it's plot lines to move all of our characters forward, The Newsroom gives up a bit more information on a particular character or two. Before I get started, though, here are a few words about the series as a whole and a move that Aaron Sorkin made that I'm scratching my head about. 

First, the increasingly left-leaning plot lines. I'm left of center politically, but these last couple episodes (as good as they've been) have made me question where this thing is going. I love what Sorkin is trying to convey with The Newsroom trying to break the ugly cycle of the media mimicking (and driving) the extreme partisanship that this nation is experiencing by driving the hard-nosed facts regardless of the face opposite McAvoy (Jeff Daniels). The problem is that the faces opposite McAvoy have been solidly on the right. Episode 3 was a straight forward attack on the Tea Party or more specifically the grass roots Tea Party being co-opted by the super rich (read: Koch brothers). A common complaint is that while McAvoy keeps proclaiming he's a conservative, the character doesn't appear to really display any traits of a conservative other than (in episode 4) a curious amount of gun knowledge.

In episode 4, Sorkin has the team attacking the stupidity of the right for standing on the mountain tops declaring Obama will take away our guns (after reporting on the AZ Rep. Giffords shooting) when, in reality, Obama has done no such thing. Episode 5 was focused mostly around the Arab Spring (Egypt), but later took on my home stat's governor, Scott Walker in the now ancient history Madison protests due to his attack on the unions while balancing the state budget. Now, I'm all for setting idiots straight because, let's face it, many people discussing politics these days are idiots but much like every other news story, I'd like to see Sorkin take on the left wing morons as well. I guess only time will tell if we'll see the other side of the coin but for the time being, The Newsroom is still worth your time.

Second is Sorkin's decision to replace a good chunk of the writing staff for Season 2. There isn't really much to say about this other than it's most likely a response to the statements relating to the comments about Sorkin's right wing bashing. Some reports had him firing all but one of his writing staff, while others said it really wasn't that bad and was fairly normal for a show going into a second season. Of course the detractors of The Newsroom's writing are salivating at the mouth to report this so it will be interesting to see if season 2 will take at look at both ends of the political spectrum. With that out of the way, let's take a brief look at the focus character from episodes 3, 4, and 5.

"The 112th Congress"
Episode 3gives us a deeper look into one of the standout characters of the show, Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston). In this episode Skinner, who heads up the news outlets belonging to the mother company, goes toe to toe with the owner of the mother company (and her douche bag son) while leaving McAvoy + Co to go about the direction of picking the Tea Party apart. Of course, since many of the newly elected are tied to the Koch brothers who fund a great deal of the network, the owner's pissed about the direction being taken by McAvoy's team with Skinner's permission. Waterston is perfect as Skinner and his performance really shines. I'm looking forward to how this battle will turn out as the season moves on.


"I'll Try to Fix You"

Episode 4 focuses quite a bit on both Maggie Jordan (Alison Pill) and Will McAvoy as each of their relationship issues really come into play. I have to be perfectly honest - this is the weakest episode so far and while I only had to watch the others once to write about them, I had to go back and rewatch this episode to remember the character moments. So what did I find from the second watch? Well, Will and I share the same tolerance for shallow and stupid, Maggie has a short term memory dysfunction and Sorkin just realized he was on HBO and could say "fuck" a lot (see the clip below). The second time around proves that this episode stands as the weakest so far but the episode ends on a very strong note with the reporting of the Giffords shooting. On the upside, Skinner and Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) get the best lines of the episode with Skinner taking pot shots at McAvoy and Sloan just generally being awful at giving relationship advice. I'm looking forward to seeing how Sorkin fills out the Sloan character because Olivia Munn is the epitome of awkward and thus fits perfectly.

"Amen"
Episode 5 gives us a much deeper understanding of Neal Sampat (Dev Patel), a nerdy type with a penchant for Bigfoot. Throughout this episode, Sampat tries to convince the other staff that Bigfoot exists. While this was quite the humorous look at Sampat, the real story comes out when they try to find an Egyptian to report on the Arab Spring from within Egypt. Someone that was willing to risk their life to bring the real story from the streets. Sampat and this insider quickly build a rapport because Sampat, as it turns out, lived through the July 7, 2005 terrorist bombings of the London Underground and reported on the events with his personal camera, breaking the real story. When the insider goes dark, Sampat spends countless hours trying to figure out what happened to the insider and stops at nothing to rescue him from (as he would later find out) the Egyptian Army holding him captive. We find out in this episode what Sampat is really made of and realize that he's much more than a lovable nerd.

The next episode of HBO's The Newsroom airs tonight, to come on back later this week for the rundown of episode 6.

But hey, it's your time. Waste it how you see fit.

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You Must Watch This: The Newsroom (Episode 2)

I find myself sitting on my couch in awe of the events taking place on the TV in front of me. I have come across few series lately where stutters in playback have had me chomping at the bit to get things ironed out. As a matter of fact, I can name only 3 shows in recent memory, including The Newsroom that got me so riled up: Game of Thrones (HBO) and Sons of Anarchy (FX).

So why is it I like The Newsroom so much?
Are there lavish parties with excess, drugs and naked people all over the place? No (not yet at least).
Are there murders by the hundreds? Same answer as before,
What about midgets (or dwarves), please tell me there are some little people running around? Nadda.

What there is is meaningful moments of dialogue with actors and actresses that don't feel like they're trying too hard (still not sold on Olivia Munn's character yet, admittedly) to sell themselves. There are these little moments that build the characters up like elaborate puzzles, shaving off layers of the mystery one spec at a time. The topics covered are real stories that we lived through and the frustration of the spin placed on these stories is (at least to me) infinitely relate-able. This is only part of what makes The Newsroom so great (so far).

In Episode 1, we jumped in to a transition period and saw how everyone pulled together to create this awesome, top notch production. Episode 2 shows the flip side of the coin - what it's like to deal with a disaster (especially when you know it). You know that the rest of the episodes could go either way...there will be hits and misses but, dammit, it will be entertaining.

Again, though, if you need more convincing, listen to the man who's lived the life for years as Dan Rather reviews Episode 2.

Next time on Opportunity Assassins, I'll take a look at Episode 3 and from there, I will get to a more normal weekly schedule for my reviews. The Newsroom airs every Sunday at 9PM central on HBO.

But hey, it's your time. Waste it how you see fit.

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You Must Watch This: The Newsroom

It is a very very rare occurrence that a new TV show comes around and absolutely blows me out of the water. HBO's brand new drama, The Newsroom is one of those shows.

I won't bore you with a long rundown of what the first episode entails because Dan Rather already did a much better job than I could ever do.

Instead, I will leave you with a little taste, which is by far one of the best performances of Jeff Daniels' career.

You can find the whole of the entire first episode thanks to HBO on YouTube, which I would have graciously embedded if given the choice. This includes, as you will see, the video above so watch one or watch both, it's up to you.

But if you've trusted me before with your viewing options, trust me on this one. Beg, borrow or steal to watch this show and thank me later.

But hey, it's your time. Waste it how you see fit.

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