It’s something to sit down to watch something confident you’re about to witness an hour of superbly crafted drama with realistic characters and sizzling plot lines – and then find yourself describing it as ‘pompous’ and ‘terrible’.
When I first heard about The Newsroom I couldn’t wait to see it. A US drama set behind the scenes at a popular (fictional) network news show, from the pen of West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin, it felt bound to succeed.
I loved The West Wing but even while I watched it, as Bush Jnr sat in the White House, I could see it was a fantasy of what politics could – should – look like with a Democrat president. Ideologically-driven intelligent politicians and staffers worked tirelessly towards a grand vision of America, and American politics. Partisan differences were (not always, but sometimes) put to one side for the greater good, and while there were a few conniving, backstabbing or corrupt characters they were the exception, not the rule. But despite the fact it was obviously a fantasy designed to sustain Democrats through the long years of a Republican presidency, it worked on every level as a compelling show.
When I first heard about The Newsroom I couldn’t wait to see it. A US drama set behind the scenes at a popular (fictional) network news show, from the pen of West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin, it felt bound to succeed.
I loved The West Wing but even while I watched it, as Bush Jnr sat in the White House, I could see it was a fantasy of what politics could – should – look like with a Democrat president. Ideologically-driven intelligent politicians and staffers worked tirelessly towards a grand vision of America, and American politics. Partisan differences were (not always, but sometimes) put to one side for the greater good, and while there were a few conniving, backstabbing or corrupt characters they were the exception, not the rule. But despite the fact it was obviously a fantasy designed to sustain Democrats through the long years of a Republican presidency, it worked on every level as a compelling show.
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