And did you see the preview of next week’s ep? (Apparently) Will sees a shrink because he can’t sleep = Bartlet sees a shrink because he can’t sleep. (Apparently) Will gets death threats and throws a hissy fit about getting protection = CJ gets death threats and throws a hissy fit about getting protection.
I’m starting to wonder if Sorkin has an original storyline bone left in his body.
The great thing about HBO is that ratings don’t matter - they’re not selling ads. It gives the show time to grow organically, not in response to the short term ratings.
The “It’s Sorkin trying to be Sorkin” line was tiresome about five years ago during “Studio 60” and may be the most repeated line of criticism in TV history.
I fiond it interesting that the people who don’t like the show aren’t able to just not watch it, and are responsible for about 50% of the posts in this thread. Of course, that also is five years old from the Studio 60 days and just keeps getting repeated.
Sorkin could write a jingle for a shampoo commercial and the same criticisms would appear instantly, verbatim.
People who don’t like the show or find it disappointing are under no obligation to stop watching or stop posting about it after a handful of episodes. I don’t know what people have said about Sorkin in the past, and certainly some of the self-plagiarism comments ring a little hollow to me (even though I haven’t seen the shows being described). But the motivations behind the criticisms really don’t matter. They’re either valid or not, and I think most of them have been on target. The fact that almost the whole writing staff was shitcanned is a hint that the people running the show think at least some of its problems need to be addressed.
Hey, we kept watching Big Love for a year or two after it started to suck because it was so bad it was hilarious. But that show started off decent (but very flawed) and got worse over time.
You know, I was ok with the ad until the bottle started singing
I mean really. Would shampoo even understand Gilbert & Sullivan? And how old is the bottle anyway because I guarantee that the beauty products I buy wouldn’t have spouted such a dated reference.
I’d call that a *literary *reference, not a dated one.
I’m going to keep watching the show. But I do like discussing it here even if all the discussion isn’t positive.
He is known for fast-paced conversation (gotta have the captioning on if you want to keep up), but in *Newsroom *people talk/shout all at the same time. THAT’S what I mean by “out-Sorkin Sorkin.”
Well, that’s because with Sorkin it would be Blather, Evince, Repeat.
OK, I just got caught up by watching the fourth and fifth episodes and I have to say that the show is starting to grow on me. I was mystified by Neal’s obsession with Bigfoot in the fourth episode until they explained it when Will mentioned that it’s the sort of story that the tabloid press used to cover.
The Bigfoot thing was still ridiculously stupid. Would he really have called in the whole editorial staff on their day off just to tell them about Bigfoot? Of course not–they would have lynched him. But Sorkin needed an excuse to have them all at the office when the Arizona shootings occurred, and Bigfoot–freakin’ Bigfoot!–was the best he could come up with.
You’re right about that. For one thing, Neal certainly doesn’t have the authority to call in the staff on a Saturday. And even if he did, I’m sure they’d walk out as soon as they realized why they were there. It might have helped to have another excuse for everyone to be there when the Tuscon shooting occurred, or at least show everyone rushing to the office to cover the story.
I thought last night’s episode was a big improvement. The plot was actually journalism-related and I thought the dialogue was a cut above what we’d seen in the first five episodes. There was some ridiculousness mixed in there - the ring, the opposition research stuff, and their decision to have Sloan lie on air - but even the flashback structure worked better this time because they did lead Will to a better understanding of what had happened. Sam Waterston’s freakout was excellent and believable for his character, and it was also for the most part deserved given what happened on air, although I am not sure the network would have gone ahead in suspending Sloan after it was confirmed that what she reported was correct.
I agree–this was a big improvement. Munn is doing pretty well, at least better than I expected. I hope the therapist framing device was a one-time thing as it’s a bit cliche.
I had to look up Munn’s bio after this ep. She was obviously speaking Japanese without any phonetic pronunciation or voice-over. Turns out she grew up in a US military family in Tokyo, working in the local theater and did some modeling there.
You know, I agree with everything the show’s characters say and I loved West Wing, but I’m giving up on the show. As other posters have noted, it’s getting to be too much like liberal porn and the relationships are juvenile. I consider liberals to be the good guys, but I was ready to strangle them for being idiots. I wanted to like it, I really did.
I liked this episode more than the previous ones, but it still has so much TWW retread. Reminds me of the one with Josh and his PTSD, meeting with Adam Arkin. One of my favorite TWW episodes and the therapist/flashback combo works well, but it still has been done before in Sorkin-verse. It felt more natural than the previous episodes and I’ll still watch, even if I think it’s weaker than the rest of his shows. I think it could be really strong when it finally finds its own voice.
I never did watch The West Wing, so maybe that’s a good thing, as I’m not thinking ‘Hey, I’ve seen this before!’ Still love it.
That was actually pretty brilliant!
I had, have, many criticisms. Still watched it because I was interested anyway.
At the end of the third episode, I’d given in to the fact that it was my guilty pleasure. The fourth and fifth really swung me into the ‘I genuinely like it’ corner, criticisms included. It’s my favorite, globe-hopping, hobnobbing, anti-snob tattletale uncle who drinks too much on occasion, and has the BEST stories when he does.
And she does an *excellent *angry/pouty face.
Just saw it last night - agreed, it was better. The framing of the events with Will’s therapy visit gave it a very “Teleplay” kind of feel - I could see the pacing and exchanges coming a mile a way but enjoyed the actors doing their thing. And Sloan’s source and situation seemed more plausible vs., say, Jim’s having key friends and relatives in high places related to the gulf oil spill…
The only thing that makes this show different than the typical shit on one of the major broadcast networks is that we get to hear Sam Watterson say “fuck.” That’s not enough. I’m done.
In the first episode, the moderator at the begining made a big deal about how nobody knowns Will’s political allignment and would he tell it to us because it’s a big secret.
Every episode after that.
Will: I’m a Republican. I’M A REPUBLICAN! **I’M A REPUBLICAN! ** ***I’M A REPUBLICAN! ***
Oh and did you know he used to work as a speechwriter to a Republican politician? Huh. Guess he used to be a Republican.
Funny though. Never really seen him attack anyone but Republicans on the show.