Review: The Newsroom

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First: If you’re going to psychoanalyze this show, or point out its occasional (OK, habitual) stretches with regard to realism, or if you’re going to snark on about how it’s basically historically inaccurate with regard to the role of cable news and competition and ratings share, or Aaron Sorkin’s dreamland interpretation of Committed, Serious People Doing the News for the Greater Good, then maybe you shouldn’t watch it.

However, if you want some gosh dang great acting, and kick-arse, awesome rapid-fire dialogue in a series that makes you wonder where the heck the last hour went — you should definitely watch The Newsroom (Sundays, 10 p.m. on HBO). The opening scene was among the most enjoyable five minutes I’ve ever witnessed on TV.

The lead character, cynical news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels, in a curmudgeonly, crusty role that will hopefully make everyone on earth forget Dumb and Dumber forever), sits on a panel discussion at Northwestern University, and the moderator — clearly becoming frustrated with McAvoy’s non-answers — goads him into answering an uncomfortable question, which launches him into an absolutely delicious rant (warning: profanity).

Who cares if the last 90 seconds were a bit pie-in-the-sky (um, going to war for “moral” reasons??)? It was great theater, and I loved it. I was entertained. See, that’s the problem sometimes: people inexplicably confuse entertainment with real-world thinking. Now I’m all for realistic renderings of current events, and truthfully, Sorkin doesn’t quite deliver the goods. For instance, the show focuses on the day of the Gulf Coast oil rig explosion. Supposedly, every other network was calling it a search-and-rescue mission, while only the dynamic, greenhorn twenty-somethings in McAvoy’s newsroom saw the real environmental consequences, and ran with it on-air to produce a truly compelling, dramatic newscast. But hey, I forgive them that. Why? Because it’s great television. That, and I’m not a pretentious schmuck who whines when I’m not intellectually edified by an hour of play-acting. Hello.

But it’s still art, and that’s what’s gratifying. If it makes people mad, great. If it makes people think, greater. If it amazes and fulfills and entertains — fantastic. That’s what art is supposed to do.

The only trouble I have with the suspension of disbelief is Sorkin’s choice for the young, irresistible romantic female for whose affections men are seemingly willing to throw down. Allison Pill is a fine actor, and does the confused-but-intelligent intern thing really well, but...gorgeous? Not so much. That’s a little thing, though. I know I’m not pretentious, but let’s not ruin it by instead being shallow. :-D

Still, it was totally enjoyable, and I’m not kidding when I tell you I looked at the clock and could not believe it was 10:55 already. For some, the show will seem like a kind of amalgam; a case of House meets The Network. To me, that’s part of its charm. It’s a keeper in my book.

On the Rat-O-Meter scale of five cheeses, I give The Newsroom:

Well that was interesting.

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What Was Supposed to Happen Yesterday

  • Leisurely morning of fun errands
  • Leisurely afternoon of boat riding on a gorgeous day
  • The Js for a sleepover

What Happened Instead

  • Another plumbing disaster (tree roots in our main water line)
  • No boat ride
  • No Js

Now, you just might call that a fail, but as it turned out, all is well. While the boat ride has been postponed until post-Odyssey, the Js are coming tonight for a sleepover, and the plumbing problem has been fixed (again). In the meantime, I am spending the day doing pre-flight prep work, and embarking on a redesign of the Thriller’s website. As much as I heart him, he is already driving me bat crazy. And of course, he derives unlimited delight from doing so. :P

Those of you not in the Ohio area (or the US) might have missed Cleveland meteorologist Mark Johnson’s mini-rant on the news the other night. He was crackin’ up — he even made the national news (although Diane Sawyer called him “Mark Jackson”).

Sports…funny thing, that.

PS – Many thanks to Mavis for her water facilities and for the great visit!

Yes, yes, let’s get through it.

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Let’s process it, let the brouhaha die down, and try to forget it.

Yes, Bron-Bron won his championship. The self-proclaimed king finally got his crown. Good for him. Good for Miami, yay I’m a good sport, congratulations, well done, nice job, drop dead, thank you.

There, see? I’m not a perpetually bitter Cavaliers fan. *ugh* OK, getting past that now and looking forward to today! A (slow, 6 MPH, smooth) boat ride, the Js for a sleepover, and puppy-sitting the famous Drago!

Awwww

Now on with the morning…late start, gotta git. And it’s Finkday, wahoo! Have a good one, fiends.

One week to go

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Happy Rat, hee!

Well…a week and a day, but I wanted to yammer about it this morning.  :cool: I am a happy rat.

It’s almost time for the New England Odyssey. Pre-flight preparations are already underway in the dining room. That might explain, incidentally, why Rousseau is glued to our legs all danged day long. Pup hates suitcases, and there are two of them sitting beside the dining room table. He has learned to equate luggage with leaving, and it totally shakes up his juju to see us messing with bags.

He doesn’t know it yet, but he will be happy when we leave, because he gets to go to BFF Kay and Bob’s farm for his vacation while we’re on ours. He loves it out there, so he’ll be content. Doesn’t help him much during the packing stage, however, so he gets extra hugs and biscuits lately.

Speaking of packing…after two major road trips in as many years, and a dozen small jaunts in between, we’ve arrived at a pretty solid take-along list. There are two things we don’t leave home without:

  1. Small fan. Like this one. Nothing can rob you of sleep faster than weird or annoying sounds in hotels, or worse — no noise at all. Silence can kill. So we always pack the little black noisemaker, and it is a life saver. (We have to have the white noise on every night at home, too.)
  2. Power strip. Hotels are slowly “getting it,” in that they’re beginning to wire more outlets in their rooms. Still, most leave us wanting, so we bring our own volts. By the time you schlep in a laptop, Nook, iPad, two cell phones and a GPS, you’ve got most hotel rooms loaded past the maximum.

Of course, we try to pack light. In my mind, I go through all the outfits I want to take, then take away half of them. Seriously. We’re going to be either walking or sitting; I don’t need six pairs of shoes and four sweaters.

We also take a cooler of snacks, lunch stuff and drinks, to avoid extortion from convenience stores and travel plazas. I have made many a ham-and-cheese sandwich at 70 MPH. Saves time and bones.

So, fellow road warriors: do you have any cool packing ideas, or rituals you go through before and during your trips? I’m up for hearing them and using them!