Newsroom: Likes, Dislikes, and what you wanted more of

I can't get into too much detail, but overall, it was a great series. Could have been close to being as good as TWW, had Sorkin wanted to carry on with it. However, I understand that TWW could go on as along as it did, mainly because it could cover two full presidential terms, whereas with this show .. don't know if they could keep it up that long.
Having said that, I'm dissapointed with the series finale. I understand that having only 6 episodes things have to be wrapped up quickly, but the endong was just too much good stuff happening and everything ends up in the best possible scenario. Apart form Charlie, everyone gets promoted instead of getting fired, and it's wonderland for all.
I was expecting all of them getting kicked out and have them sitting and talking about starting their own show, or something of the sort.

But again, a great show and it's a shame it won't have a season 4.

I loved how the minor characters were allowed to carve out excellent portraits, all those you mentioned and a special plus to Terry Crewes who played the body guard with an attitude.

And I loved that I learned so much so effortlessly. I will never forget the Glass-Steagall Act. And all the other the countless facts that was presented in an entertaining way.

The many discussion topics that were presented so intriguingly. Not the least was season 3's arc about crowd sourcing which is now discussed in Swedish press and TV. One British professor even mentioned in a program how interesting the citizen news gathering (as he called it) was, because of its authenticity!!!! So naïve, because we can never know which of the videos and pics actually are authentic and which are put up as a manipulation (i.e. a lie).

Another topic in season 3 is the role of FBI, Sorkin showed that they can do pretty well what they want, e.g. put people in jail and take them out again at the drop of a hat.

I thoroughly enjoyed all seasons.

The pros :
- Sorkin's writing. Uneven, but overall sharp, incisive and funny. We can say all we want about it ; if his style was so annoying, we wouldn't be here talking about the show.
- The awesome ensemble cast, starting with Jeff Daniels (of course) and Sam Waterston, then John Gallagher, Alison Pill (seasons 1 and 3), Thomas Sadoski (seasons 2 and 3), Chris Messina, Jane Fonda...
- The covering of historical events (like Mad Men, but in a newsroom). It electrifies the drama.
- The romcom part of the show : I usually enjoy that genre, and in The Newsroom, I find its naiveté quite refreshing. Most of what happens is predictable, but nonetheless enjoyable.
- The critic of the Interweb culture and its abuses. Easy, but always nice to hear.
- Olivia Munn. Olivia Munn. Olivia Munn.
- Season 3, for using Olivia Munn more. Because yes, these are not the words of a demented fanboy : Munn isn't just an über-knockout, she ALSO can act ("don't call me girl, sir !"). Her scenes with Thomas Sadoski were one of the highlights of season 3.
- Finally, the series finale. Not a masterpiece (too many happy endings), but it had a lot of strong moments (the singing scene was absolutely wonderful)... and bad season finales are SO common, especially these past years, that it's always nice to notice the not bad ones.

The cons :
- The liberal propaganda, as subtle as a panzer tank, and the fact that Sorkin tries to make it look like he's neutral with his pseudo-republican main character. I do not sharing Sorkin's political beliefs, and find the usual self-righteousness that accompanies them quite unlikeable, so I've decided to ignore that part of the show (otherwise, I'd have quit as soon as I heard Maggie's disneyland-compatible speech about illegal immigrants in episode 1x02). But it still exists. And it gets real bad when Sorkin makes his characters lie about real things (the Boston bombers were not muslim ? WTF, Sorkin ?).
- Sorkin's writing... its own worst enemy. Because it's way too self-conscious, it sometimes gets in the way. I want to get into the drama, but the mecanism, the tricks are too obvious.
- The fast pace of the dialogue can be tiresome at times.
- The female characters, especially in the first half of the show. It gives the feeling that Sorkin can only write one kind of them : goofy, clumsy, sometimes hysterical, only there to make the guy look cool and in control. Not very subtle. It gets better afterwards.
- Not enough Munn in season 1.
- Some aspects of the romcom part... as mentioned earlier, I enjoy it, but it can also be irritating when it tries to hard to be charming.
- As the OP wrote, not knowing more about Will and Charlie's past.

I must have missed a lot of other interesting points, but these things take time.

___________
"If it's any consolation, fish aren't never even really alive. They're just less dead."

My main dislike was silly stuff like Maggie and Jim being able to be in the same part of the airport where ticketed passengers are, (which in every airport I've been in since 9/11, they are separated, the area where the passengers are, is past security, not where you are able to purchase tickets) and then they are able to simply BUY the tickets from some passengers. (again, in the airports I've been to, your name has to be on the ticket and you have to have an id that states you are the person to whom the ticket was issued)
But perhaps they were in a less strict airport.

Mostly, tho. I loved it. I would rank it third tho, behind TWW and SportsNight.

"that is what's next so stick around" paraphrased. (love that he threw that little SportsNight tidbit in the final ep.

What I wanted MORE of? The Newsroom!


Quo Vadimus

The show tackled some very important and timely issues - I liked that.

The relationship back-and-forth, all the 90210-style ingrown office romance - I hated that.

In general, I liked the show, but couldn't stand the characters. Charlie was my favorite; Jim was OK sometimes; Don was OK sometimes. Leona was great, but not onscreen much. I thought Kendra might have been interesting, but they never gave her anything to do.

Every line a rapid-fire speech, most characters self-righteous and arrogant, but the basic premise of the show was compelling and interesting. For me, it ended at the right time. Any more would have been bad.

Likes:
The first episode, specifically its promise to be about a better mainstream media than we have in real life.

Dislikes:
How quickly the series degenerated into a portrayal of the real life mainstream media. It didn't even pretend to be nonpartisan, but rather took off immediately as as a portrayal of the liberal media. The premise that it is only against tea party republicans is weak. As Will himself so often said, the tea party has taken over the republican party. Which was only possible because the tea party articulates the politics of the majority of republicans.

The myth of objectivity. This was best portrayed in the episode about bin Laden getting whacked by the US military. Killing bin Laden, assuming that was him who was whacked, did not make us safe. It just fed into America's egoic desire to win. There was no coverage of the fact that we created bin Laden, nor that we obviously at the very least left the door unlocked and looked the other way which is the only way some guy on dialysis living in a cave on the other side of the planet could have orchestrated 911. Ergo, newsnight 2.0 was, in fact, newsnight 1.0.

Thought I'd like this show, but far too slow, and nothing like as good as West Wing.

I didn't like how they abruptly discontinued the storyline of Will and his online bullies. I really wished Neal found out who that person was.