Sorkin playing to his strengths. This has the potential to be a worthy companion/follow-up to The West Wing.

I'd give it one or two seasons. I love Sorkin as much as the next guy, but this seems to be territory that Sorkin keeps addressing (Sports Night and Studio 60 come to mind).

I'm more excited for Veep. But my girlfriend is a Sorkin fanatic so I'll tune in as well.

I always felt that The West Wing - as much as I liked it - would have have been greater as a HBO-series, so I'm looking forward to Newsroom.

Pretty good premiere the other night. The sermonizing was a bit much at times, but a lot of it felt like exposition meant to build up some of the characters and set the tone for the rest of the show. I'm sure we'll see plenty more, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it be more natural at the same time.

I'm glad they're going the way they are with McAvoy. I had the impression from the trailers that he was going to be an idealistic ass that was out to save the news, so I was bit surprised to find he's just an ass interested in his own best interests above everything else. For now, at least. I figured it'd be him versus ACN and the higher up's with him pushing a return to actual news, but I like the idea of the roles being reversed. Good job on the part of the trailers setting up a bit of a bait and switch with that.

For those that missed it, or couldn't see it because they don't have cable/HBO, HBO put it up on Youtube and some other places. Watch and judge for yourselves.

It's not bad, but it is weighted on its own self-importance (a common Sorkin complaint). If you couldn't stand Sorkin, this show probably won't change your mind. Still, it's good television. I'm glad they kept the camera loose. It creates a better dynamic than the John Wells-E.R. 360 that was attempted with Studio 60. The love triangles and romantic entanglement are set-up like bowling pins, at almost cringing degrees.

Emily Mortimer is a plus, and it's not her fault that the first half of the episode was being locked in a room reciting Man from La Mancha. That was my: "for fucks sake" moment.

The reveal of the date was a nice touch.

There was a decent article in the trib today about the various shared themes & crossovers between Sorkin's shows.

There was a video circling the webz that showed every repeated line in all of his body of work. I'm too lazy to search now.

Just watched this last night. I think a lot of the show's ultimate success is going to hinge on whether or not it can develop its secondary characters into actually mattering to the story.

Daniels is good in that role though, and the one who had hollow bones on 30 Rock that one time was alright, but for a bit of protracted feminine weakness in the character that to me undercut her position. I don't think you get that job if you cry at work. But I'm not in TV, so Crutch, you're probably a better judge.

It's got potential. It's pretentious, already well up its own ass in the first episode, but at least it's well written. I might get tired of the romanticism of news culture after a while (in that opening monologue, Daniels talks about "great men" and how Americans "acted like men" and that always rings out like "blah blah blah white guy self-glorifying bullshit" to my ears), but I'm willing to give it a shot for another few episodes before I ultimately make up my mind.

Heh. Well, news is a different universe. I've only been exposed to sports news television, which is hectic, but it's crises aren't as random as regular news.

And I cry all the time. ;)

I've been kind of lazily keeping up with this. Still not really that into it, but I might be too deep to not finish out the season at this point.

Watched this week's episode last night. Funny how at the end they made their big moral stand by refusing to exploit the fact that Gabrielle Giffords might be dead for ratings on "the show," but kinda did the same thing in the name of "good drama." I guess that lack of self-awareness is kind of what's turning me off about it.

Also, making the Indian/subcontinental kid the tech guy who's also a big nerd is problematic.

Also, their stance on how America used to be great is problematic.

Also, their romanticism about the news is problematic.

I'm really not sure what it is that has me still watching at this point. Apart from Jeff Daniels and Whatsherfacewiththehollowbonesfrom30rockthatonetime, there's little chemistry to be had between the characters. The two pining for each other are just annoying, he the puppydog eyes, she the doesn't know what she wants. Ugh. It's as tiring as it is tired.

The only real strength is the rhythm when it picks up. The show is dynamic that way, going from these long languid scenes to quick cuts driven by sudden news breaks or whatever like that. Not sure if "well paced" is a decent foundation for a series though when your only really likable character is Sam Waterston and he just spends most of his time smiling condescendingly.

The fantasy of having a news program that is actually trying to deliver the news in a responsible manner is what's keeping me around at this point. It's preachy, has poor characterization, and has uneven writing, but fuck it. It's my guilty pleasure program, primarily because of the preachiness and the fantasizing. If America can have the fucking Jersey Shore, which isn't even a guilty pleasure for this country anymore, I can have The Newsroom.

It's funny though, because I feel like part of being able to enjoy this show is being able to see all the (many) flaws that are in it from the liberal view. It sets itself up to be a guilty pleasure.

Two episodes behind and just about ready to give it up. I don't think I care enough about what happens to the characters to watch the ones I missed on the DVR.

Its becoming more and more addictive. Sure, Sorkin seems to have a Capra-complex but he sure does it well. The dialogue and timing is highly entertaining and while the characters lack realism (I don't think Sorkin ever intended to be realistic) the cast is pretty cool.
The shouting-match between Waterston and Olivia Munn in the last episode was a personal highlight. BTW how could I miss Olivia Munn until now?

Yeah I love this show. I can't really articulate why.. It's unrealistic at times, but I'm entertained. My wife has True Blood, I have the Newsroom. .. And Portlandia.

Taskmaster isn't taking his weekend duty seriously. For shame.

5/1 was the best and worst episode at the same time. Loved the condition McAvoy was in and the arguing with the stewardess was priceless. But all the patriotic hoopla by literally everybody in the cast was flat and hard to bear - at least for non-US-citizens.

Yes, I agree about the patriotic stuff being hard to bear. Then again I don't understand patriotism (apart from sports I guess) and "being proud of your country" personally.
Furthermore, I don't see how one can cheer the murder of someone else. Even though Osama was probably as bad as they come, I think he should've gotten a trial. I find it pretty ironic and hypocritical that the guy was shot by the primary nation on Earth which prides itself on distributing Western values such as democracy, freedom and justice for all throughout the world.

That being said (as it isn't really my intention to start a political discussion), I find the whole series great, particularly the first 4 episodes so far.