I'm feeling a bit concerned about HBO's Newsroom. As I explained two weeks ago, I became so fully convinced that the show was unwatchable as an actual show, I decided to start watching it as a mockery of hapless liberal naifs producing trash TV in the name of high journalistic art -- and to report back to you about the experience.
Well, last week brought word that Aaron Sorkin has reportedly sacked the entire writing staff, leaving open the worrisome possibility that the writing could improve. And episode 5, which aired Sunday, dabbled with actual story lines to give some of the characters something to do for the hour.
Not only that, but the plucky staff's handling of the Egypt uprising did not strike me as appalling. Is it possible that I've led you astray? Could Newsroom be salvagable as a TV show?
Probably not. I mean, the show can't even bother to try to set up its big payoffs. Last week, Sorkin wanted us to see the whole dysfunctional staff leap into collective action when the Arizona shootings come across the wire, which inconveniently took place on a weekend morning, so Sorkin gathers the staff in the office under the guise of... listening to nutty Web geek guy giving his "Bigfoot is real" pitch for the 18th time. This week, Sorkin wanted us to see the entire staff do a Rudy-esque tribute scene to Anchor Guy, so he sets it up by... having Anchor Guy excitedly relate the plot of Rudy, and especially that scene, for no apparent reason.
Anchor Guy, by the way, prior to receiving this touching tribute to his leadership had just -- no really, you'll think I'm making this up -- delivered an indignant lecture about the Seriousness of his staff's Journalism to a gossip columnist to whom he had planned to pay $50,000 extortion money until she dared suggest that she is just as much a journalist as Anchor Guy.
But it's selfless, you see, because the hush money was to stop her from running harmful stories about Mac, his true-love-in-exile executive producer. The bad gossip columnist had just written a story about Mac's boyfriend -- a story which was not only accurate, but original and newsworthy. How dare she compare herself to Serious Journalists like his staff, who, in breaks between hitting people they're not sleeping with on the
head to remind you that you're watching His Girl Friday-style zany romantic
comedy, do Important Journalistic Things like cribbing old New York Times reports about the Koch Brothers.
The best part of this episode for me, however, was the brilliantly unspoken subplot of Will Forgets He's A Republican.
There's this great running gag in the series, where once or twice every episode, for no reason out of the blue, Will the Anchor Guy says that he's a Republican. It's classic -- it's like Donald Trump insisting his hair is real, or Robin Williams saying he's not Jewish. You totally forget that he even bothers to make the claim -- he never gives any other indication of being Republican, in any way -- and then all of a sudden he says it and you spit out your drink laughing all over again. Great gag!
This episode finally sees the staff push the outer limits: they decide to report on teachers protesting against Governor Scott Walker's anti-union proposal in Wisconsin. If there's one thing a wealthy urban Republican is likely to get behind, it's the need to crack down on the bargaining power of public employee unions that has state governments drowning in unmanageable pension obligations and other costs. Walker, at least at that early stage of the Wisconsin story, would surely be second in Anchor Guy's hierarchy of good Republicans behind only Tri-State GOP (and public-union-fighting) hero Chris Christie. Right?
Yeah, so of course Anchor Guy goes ahead and takes the teachers' side against Walker's evil union-busting machinations -- there's not even a discussion or anything, it's just 'hey teachers are protesting a governor, let's cover it' and everyone runs off to throw together the up-with-teachers-Scott-Walker-sucks packages.
And guess what? This is the episode where Will totally forgets to mention that he's really a Republican. It's like he just forgot in all the hubbub of Egypt and Rudy and sleeping with the wrong people and bribing and/or lecturing gossip columnists that he's supposed to make sure everybody knows that he's a Republican, goll darn it! I betcha he remembers next episode, and it is going to be fucking hysterical!
Update: I totally forgot to mention that when Anchor Guy lectures gossip girl, he threatens to use his news show as a personal vendetta operation against her. Who's the real journalist now!
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