Blog Post: Don't Miss Aaron Sorkin's New HBO Series, 'The Newsroom'

Having been a regular viewer of HBO series, I was beginning to become disenchanted of late. However, with their new series The Newsroom, suddenly I find a reason to stay home on Sunday nights again (I have to admit I DVR True Blood), but this one I want to watch live.

I consider writer Aaron Sorkin to be the Paddy Chayefsky of the 21st Century, (even though he began his illustrious career in the latter part of the 20th Century). By the way, if you don't know who Paddy Chayefsky is, well he only won Academy Awards for Marty, The Hospital and Network. 

The writing on The Newsroom is articulate, rat-a-tat speed and hilarious, and often feels like you're watching a Kaufman & Hart play. (And if you don't know who they are look them up yourself). Sorkin's characters are larger than life with complexities that never feel cliche. 

This show is right up there with his previous series - The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Sports Night–not to mention recently won the Academy Award for the screenplay The Social Network. 

The show stars: Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston, Dev Patel, and Jane Fonda in a recurring role.

The series is set at the fictional cable network ACN, but the news stories being covered in the broadcast are actual past news events.

A favorite with viewers, news anchor Will McAvoy has found a safe niche with bankable ratings on his 8 p.m. flagship cable show, “News Night.” Numbed by success, McAvoy has become stoic, complacent, cynical–content not to rock the boat as he delivers the nightly news straight down the middle of the road–dialing it in as he avoids ruffling feathers with anything resembling politics. What fire he still has, he reserves for the cutting sarcasm and general unpleasantness that earn him no fans with his news team.

In a literal blink of an eye–or perhaps an optical illusion–McAvoy is catapulted from apathy to engagement when a spontaneous outburst leads him to tackle the principles of American patriotism in a public forum. Surviving the professional fallout from his unexpected tirade following an enforced vacation, McAvoy returns to work to discover that most of his staff has jumped ship for another show and is forced to work with several new team members brought onboard during his absence.

McAvoy’s boss, Charlie Skinner, the unapologetically old-school president of ACN’s news division, laments the changing face of the news. Setting the stage for Will’s return to the standard set by news legends such as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, Charlie covertly orchestrates the hiring of Will’s new executive producer, the one person who can restore Will's passion and bring the best out of him–whether Will wants it or not.

Will’s new executive producer is MacKenzie McHale, back from 26 months embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan. MacKenzie was once romantically involved with Will and knows the idealism he has buried beneath a veneer of apathy and cynicism. With their shared past, she knows exactly how good he can be. Even more unsettling for him, she challenges Will to abandon the successful, middle-of-the-road approach that has made him so popular with bothsides of the aisle, and realize his full potential by delivering the news with integrity.       

Also imposed upon Will are Jim Harper, Margaret Jordan, Don Keefer, Neal Sampat and Sloan Sabbith, the newsroom staff. Although this group finds itself off to a tumultuous start when breaking news comes over the wire, they immediately come together for one elusive goal: to do TV news well.

Jim Harper is MacKenzie’s loyal senior show producer. Though only 27 years old, Jim is more like the old-school reporter Charlie than he is like his contemporaries. He finds himself instantly smitten with Margaret Jordan, a young intern-turned-associated producer, who is already in a relationship with Don Keefer, Will’s former executive producer. Neal Sampat, a young, resourceful self-made newsman writes Will’s blog and scours the Internet for stories, often finding leads his colleagues have missed. Sloan Sabbith is ACN’s financial news analyst.

The show premieres this Sunday, June 24, on HBO.

Sandi Berg is also a freelance journalist and writes about television for several magazines including Written By (Writer's Guild of America), Life After 50 and Whole Life Times Magazine.