Showing posts with label The Newsroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Newsroom. Show all posts

Friday, December 12, 2014

Fun Friday: It's Tough to Beat Aaron Sorkin

I tend to have no ability to notice directing or writing similarities between movies or television shows. I have friends who can see one episode of a show and realize immediately that it must have been the same writer as another episode because of how they're written. Similarly, a colleague in grad school was obsessed with seeing movies by certain directors because he really liked their styles. While I have no doubt that I probably have my own writing and (theatrical) directing style, I'm oblivious to those of others.
Aaron Sorkin

HOWEVER, I am a big fan of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and an above-average fan of The Newsroom and Sports Night, which are three of Aaron Sorkin's four television dramas. (The fourth being West Wing, which I don't enjoy.) I don't know that I would have put certain trends together stylistically, but once I watch this parody, I can pick out mechanics that I've seen before in this series.

Did you notice these things as Sorkinisms before, or are you putting them together now like I am?
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, September 16, 2013

The Newsroom: Love


The number of "mistakes" in this episode are numerous, so perhaps it is a good things that nobody listened to Charlie's directions! Jim's major faux pas aside, I was a bit dumbfounded by the behaviors of some of the characters this episode, from Mac easily agreeing to Will's random proposal to Lisa fearing that she'll never wind up with someone "smart." There were some positive choices made, though, like Hallie posting a story that quotes Mac as a Cambridge graduate to fix the Wikipedia problem. And this also led to Jim questioning Neal using Hallie in that way, which set up the best joke of the episode, where the internet buff's teases the producer about calling races on his own. Hallie even goes a step further and writes her own article, offering the same note needed to help Mac's Wikipedia page be corrected. But is the sheer fact that it took that much work to get it fixed a smart choice by anyone?

The Newsroom "Election Night, Part II" (S02E09): Several groups have collected signatures to fire Charlie and Will, who are continuing to try resigning with Mac so that everyone else can keep their positions. However, everyone involved in Genoa wants to resign, too, not like it matters. [interesting ideas that Elliot would take Will's spot, Jim would EP Sloan at 10pm, and Don would get Mac's job.] See, Leona has passed the buck to Reese, who hesitates to make a call, but eventually decides to follow his mother's lead and not accept the resignations. However, just in case, Mac and Will remove themselves from the newsroom when a big call is made to show how the others could do it on their own. [Mac and Will alone and admitting to past issues was rough.] But, none of that even matters because Charlie decides that the "institutional failure" isn't real, and that it was all Jerry's fault so nobody should resign. [this could be a good time to mention that Don has decided to counter-sue Jerry.] It all makes Will realize that he and Mac could make things work, so he rushes over right away to propose, and she accepts. [did NOT see this coming!]

Lisa worries that she was never smart enough for Jim, but Jim asks Lisa to watch out for Maggie, and is able to get the two talking again. [I still don't get why Hallie cared about Maggie's situation so much!] Jim and Maggie actually have a lot going on, as they continue to worry about the early call regarding a Michigan race. The "winner's" office calls, wondering how it's been called, and Jim claims they have better people working than other networks. [ha!]

Sloan's book was bid up by fictional characters, and when Sloan sees a poster in Don's office, she knows it was him. She decides to diffuse the tension once and for all by going into the control room and kissing him. [another one of those "works on TV but not in real lief" stories.] Also, Don has enough confirmed to air the Petraeus story, but Mac and Charlie would rather go with the congressman's quote, so they do. [true, jumping the news isn't as big as affecting the polls.]
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, September 9, 2013

The Newsroom: The Election is Not the Entire Night

"Our elections are the envy of the world." Charlie tells the newsroom this before the night of election coverage begins. They see the Chinese pretending to vote and India having viewing parties, and it seems true... voting is an area where the US is envied by countries around the world. However, with all of the hoopla taking place recently, one must wonder how many people are tuning into ACN for election results where there are other options which may seem much more trustworthy.
However, the choice to focus on more than just whether Obama will be returning for a second term and the crumbling of the network as a whole is an interesting yet delicate one. There was certainly no need to include Hallie's questions, Sloan's book ordeal AND story-stealing, Mac's biographical errors, but Sorkin featured them all. Plus, it seems that another extraneous plot, Don's insider info on a major military resignation, is only just beginning...

The Newsroom "Election Night, Part I" (S02E08): It's the day after the craziness (and only a week after the interrogations began, as Jim tells Hallie that Maggie cut her hair a week ago), and Charlie tries as hard as he can to get Reese to accept his resignation before the suit is filed the next day. [why does Jim feel the need to tell Hallie all about it??] But, Reese's mother won't hear of it. [Will firing Mac just because he can was amusing. I had forgotten he had that power.] 

Taylor is visiting ACN to help with Election Night coverage, and everyone is trying not to make any mistakes. Still, it happens. Jim messes up the abbreviation for Mississippi, and accidentally call a race in Michigan instead. [hahaha!] He doesn't want to lose his job, so he pulls it from the scrolling results but doesn't retract it, betting that the race will play out as they reported in the end. Sloan tries to steal Elliot's story on the air, but she messes it up and it doesn't go anywhere. [that was terrible!]

However, there were other mistakes not aired on television, like Gary signing a book as Sloan, but his German mis-translates "love" for "shred," and she is determined to get it back from the person who won it for $1,000 in a Hurricane Sandy fundraiser. [she implies the elections aren't as important as finding out who bought the book, which is a bit odd.] Another error caught is Mac's Wikipedia page, which states she went to Oxford, not Cambridge. She demands Neal fix it, but apparently they won't accept information directly from a source. And, Don is being sued by Jerry because he gave him a bad recommendation and called him a "sociopath," which is a clinical term he can't legally use in New York. [ouch. hate Jerry!]

And, there's a juicy story that Don gets sources for but it's almost a problem to run... see, Maggie told Don about a 1990 speech where a congressman states that "it's a sad fact that women cry rape," and later mentioned he doesn't support abortion for rape-only circumstances because it will encourage more people to "cry rape." [oh goodness!] Don calls an old buddy for confirmation, but a deal is arranged to trade information and the fellow reporter offers two on-the-record sources about David Petraeus' upcoming surprise resignation. The problem is, ACN can't really report on government and military stories right now. [right between a rock and a hard place!]
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Newsroom Factroom - Red Team III (S02E07)

Bring on Operation Genoa and all of its fallout glory. Given that the cat's out of the bag and the handling of this story is now the bigger issue on the show, it seems allowable to reveal the name of the original mission and compare accordingly. Reading about it will not reveal anything not already covered in the show.

Operation Genoa is based on a real classified mission codenamed Operation Tailwind. The original special report was created by CNN and run in the same time slot: Sunday night at 9pm. The original mission took place in 1970 and was going into Laos and not the Hindu Kush like the show portrays. Rather than doing a point-by-point account of the massive number of differences, a few will be called out and only the larger ones fact-checked. Should you want to get a start by learning everything there is to know about the fallout from the story, there's a DoD report, the review of an independent lawyer hired by CNN, the pentagon's response, and a short film interviewing eyewitnesses. Oh yeah, and that election thing is happening...

The legend: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate.  Lights, camera, election...
  • Operation Genoa was an extraction. The first unit sent in goes down and a second unit goes in and saves the original captives, two marines.
    • Inaccurate.
      • The nature of the mission is one of the two details for which CNN apologizes in their official retraction of the story. The original mission was to create a diversion for another operation and put pressure on the other side. The portrayal of the mission as a rescue was a good choice because gas is historically a common tool in most rescue missions.
  • The pentagon told the former US Navy Seal who wrote a book about capturing Bin Laden they would pursue any and all legal remedies.
    • Basically, yes
  • US Representative Thaddeus McCotter had the strangest resignation speech ever.
As far as Benghazi goes, the surprise of the actors and story behind the movie is more interesting than the White House trying to get their facts right after the fact... To close up Operation Genoa, definitely more than one person was fired over it (and it actually resulted in a complete change of CNN's board of directors) and CNN became the target for multiple lawsuits.
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Newsroom Factroom - One Step Too Many (S02E06)

Deep into Operation Genoa at this point, there were SOME political facts thrown into this episode and those are up first. One item to note: Genoa's real-life parallel was not running on the same timeline. It's been stated that technology comparisons will not be done, and at this point, it should also be stated that enemy comparisons will not be done, either. If it's not already obvious, the opposing force in Operation Genoa is not the same as the real version. Sorkin is dramatizing only the media's role and the atmosphere of the failure in their context. The enemy's an enemy and plays its part. 'Nuff said...

The legend: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate.  And here... we... go.
  • The 112th U.S. Congress was one of the most worthless congresses in U.S. history, noting renaming post offices and commissioning the minting of coins among its accolades.
    • Unfortunately, yes, but...
      • The 112th definitely shouldn't brag about it what it did, but this opinion seems to have been sole-sourced from this HuffPo article, given they reference the former worst congress in U.S. history in the exact same manner.
      • The issue is when this story was reported. This wasn't news on March 21st, 2012 because at that point the 112th had a fair amount of time left in its term. It obviously wouldn't "boot and rally" to get the numbers of a productive congress, but it was preemptive to make the extreme comparison with "the worst ever."
  • We (the United States) were supposed to destroy all sarin gas by 2007 according to the chemical weapons convention.
  • Don was at Newsweek for the fallout of the Koran being flushing down the toilet.
    • Yes, but...
      • Yep, Newsweek reported this and then retracted it after the White House officially wondered why they hadn't and the Pentagon yelled and screamed.
      • There was no any correlation drawn between this story and the London bombing, even in the recorded conspiracy theories. Don seems to be expressing some unrequited guilt, but nothing factual.
But the most important fact checked in this episode, there are actually 10 reindeer: the original eight (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donner, Cupid, Comet, Blitzen) plus Rudolph and Olive. If you're looking to blame someone for this, blame the masses for bad melodic enunciation and evolving 'all of' to 'Olive.'
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, August 26, 2013

The Newsroom: Institutional Failure

Institutional Failure is a fascinating topic. No one person is responsible when something goes wrong, as the reason for multiple eyes on the same topic is so one person sees what another does not. The Red Team, as Don explains it, refers to red blood cells, whose job it is to clean up the mess white blood cells make in fighting infections. The Red Team pokes holes in the story the original team created to make sure there are no messes. The education system is often said to "institutionally fail" at its job, with a single teacher not being to blame for the reading levels of his/her students or a young adult being unable to graduate from college after six years. Institutional failure is not sharing that there are holes. Maggie apparently never told anyone that she was not present when Jerry interviewed Stomtonovich six months before the Genoa Report aired. The fact that he was alone in the room, and therefore there were no witnessed to whether Stomtonovich ever said "it happened" was problematic. Jerry tried to claim that it was said, just not on camera, hence Maggie's earlier interview with Rebecca. Will and Charlie both had a confidentiality issue prohibiting them from learning that their sources were apparently one and the same, but perhaps somehow this could have been discovered anyway. I agree with Don in that holes were seen, but Jerry cutting raw footage was the major problem behind it all.

The Newsroom "Red Team III" (S02E07): After 11 months of working on the Operation Genoa story, Will is brought in on the third Red Team. Later the third, Charlie green-lights it. He isn't surprised, as he has heard the same story but wouldn't identify his source. [so is the lawyer insinuating that Will's source is Shep, the same as Charlie's?] Jim fought the story, believing that it didn't feel right. Sloan and Neal stick with him, but have their own reasons as well: Don continues to worry about the possible mass riots and soldiers' safety, and Sloan thinks it shouldn't run until after the election. Will decides that he trusts Charlie and Mac, so things move forward and the special airs on September 9th. Immediately after, Stomtonovich calls, angry that he was taken "out of context." Charlie and Mac believe he's just upset and don't think anything of it, believing the raw footage to be real.

The next morning, it is troubling that the DoD takes its time responding. It turns out that they brought in the Attorney General and offer to de-classify information to prove that "Genoa" didn't happen. [it's so much more difficult to prove things 'didn't' happen...] That night, Sweeney speaks live on Elliot's show, noting that a "guilty conscience" is why he came forward. However, when he talks about a traumatic brain injury, they cut the interview short. [I agree with Sloan - that must have looked horrendous!] The staff comes together in the middle of the night to look at the whole story. Sweeney lied about why he got a Purple Heart, and a TBI could mean memory issues. Then, Maggie admits that she wasn't in the room with Jerry during the interview with Stomtonovich. Mac starts to worry that she led Valenzuela because he offers NO original facts in his interview. [ouch!] It turns out that the tweeter didn't die, his prepaid cellular package ran out. Charlie goes to talk to Shep, who shares that his son died because of a career move. He worked at ACN but posted things on the internet he didn't like about the show. Neal told him not to, but he did it anyway and wound up fired. Because Charlie didn't do anything to stop the firing, Shep manufactured the helicopter inventory as an "F-U" to Charlie. [this guy is just a military press liaison, I thought? Will claimed that his guy was "better than POTUS," no?] This leaves only Stomtonovich, so Mac looks at the raw footage again. Because Will gave her a lesson in sports clocks, she notices the shot clock jump around in the background. She confronts Jerry, who admits it, and she fires him. He claims that he's now unemployable and that it wasn't 100% his fault, so he's seeking $5M over wrongful termination. It also means that ACN must retract the entire story. This whole situation spooks the team into not fully investigating the Benghazi story, which is gaining in prominence.

The day before the 2012 Elections is the fifth day of ACN employees talking to the lawyers. Don claims that it was all Jerry's fault, as he cooked an interview. Fingers point to Jim, who wasn't there more or less for personal reasons, and he would have stopped it from happening, as he knew better than to trust Cyrus West, who led Jerry to Sweeney. Will, Mac, and Charlie decide to resign, but Leona tells them they cannot, as she loves ACN and it makes her proud. [Rebecca seconding that was awkward, but perhaps not as much as Leona telling Charlie to "Get it Back," referring to the trust of the public.]
HBO
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Newsroom Factroom - News Night with Will McAvoy (S02E05)

As if on cue, the show dropped the lawyer bit longer enough to get back to real life events. Sorkin goes after Rush Limbaugh's slut comment, continuing the tradition of highlighting conservative radio's most childish lines. As stated previously concerning the Genoa storyline, the real name of the operation won't be mentioned here. The details will be compared (based on internet archives, etc.) to actual events, but the technologies used will not be verified since most of the current internet wasn't around during the time period of the original story. This episode portrays March 16th, 2012, so most of this should ring a bell...

The legend: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate.  Action...
  • Two car bombs went off in Damascus, Syria, in the same news cycle as when the tape of George Zimmerman's 9-1-1 call is released.
    • Not quite... but the dramatization of the time period is worth the small change.
      • The March 2013 Syria bombings are well documented, but the date that flashes right before Will begins reporting on the story is March 16th, 2012, which doesn't work. The bombings took place on March 17th at 7:30am local time, making it March 17th 12:30am in New York, the same day.
      • Zimmerman's 9-1-1 does seem to have been released the night of March 16th during the hour of 10pm ET. This is evidenced by the few outlets which did get up the audio that same day and hour, and then the majority, which followed the next day with articles on the audio content.
      • It's unclear why the date chosen was the 16th rather the 17th... Had it been one day later, there would be no issues with this.
  • A douche-bag boyfriend of Sloan's posted naked pictures of her on the internet (in reality).
    • No, but someone did try to do this to Olivia Munn...
      • Olivia Munn did have alleged naked pictures of her leaked on the internet around the same time frame in which this episode takes place. Olivia is a terrific actress and beautiful to boot, so none of those pictures will be linked to here. If you want to research this on your own, Google's available 24/7 and reputable news outlets such as HuffPo reported the story as there seemed to be a rash of celebrity phone hacking at the time.
  • Project Genoa: The press liaison for the ONI gives Charlie a manifest from the mission.
    • Nope, because the Navy wasn't involved, at least not in the original story.
      • ONI stands for Office of Navy Intelligence, which adds yet another branch of the military to the operation. Nowhere in the available information posted by CNN is there reference to the Navy. Army, Air Force, and Marines are all referenced in the apology, but never the Navy.
Two fact checks intentionally omitted: the fake World News Daily story about the "Righteous Daughters of Jihadi Excellence" and the edits to the George Zimmerman 9-1-1 tape. WND was so upset by Sorkin's portrayal of them in this episode, they responded, twice. By sending the CEO of WND on the warpath for HBO, if Sorkin was trying for earned media by picking on WND, he banked it, can retire, and live off the interest. Joseph Farah's direct response might have single-handedly renewed the show for a third season. He even said he was going to watch an episode... 

McAvoy just gained a viewer. 
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, August 19, 2013

The Newsroom: Time for the Red Team

The behind-the-scenes of how a show gets produced live is interesting, and probably too uncommonly used on The Newsroom, when considering the title of the drama. "One Step Too Many" utilized this educational tool nicely, though there was still a great deal going on outside of the control room. Of course, it seems no surprise that Jerry would do whatever he deemed necessary in order to force support for his story, but not realizing that the basketball game in the background will undoubtedly make his altering of the raw footage obvious was unforgivable. The wide range of dates in this episode is also barely passable for Sorkin, but, then again, everything going wrong for Jim in one night also seems unlikely. Many nitpick this drama all the time, but it might finally be getting too much to leave alone...

The Newsroom "One Step Too Many" (S02E06): Will does a focus group on himself because Charlie won't run them anymore, and he is concerned about his numbers. Nina thinks that Will should have guests that don't make him too combative, then suggests he is letting Charlie and Mac use him to do the show they want. [I had forgotten they were an item!] She even tells him to go on the morning show, which he does immediately. [what kind of power does this woman have over him??] The show taunts him into tossing footballs because he was a HS quarterback, and he purposely hits a lighting tree. [interesting segment between Will and Sloan discussing Disney getting screwed on John Carter for $200M, and their big brother-little sister relationship. also, I love the fact that her dating a Giants player makes Don insecure.]

It's time for the First Red Team Meeting, as there are now four sources. [notably, Will is not in the room.]
facebook.com/Newsroom
Sloan, Jim, and Don listen to the information about how 30 people from Sweeney's list were researched, and 29 refused to talk. The other is presumed to be deceased. After that, five searches were run that pointed to one more possible source, whom Charlie and Mac visit. He seems a bit untrustworthy because he forgot they were coming, but they ask him about the storage of chemical weapons and get some answers. [haha at the basketball metaphors during March Madness.] If they black-out his face and alter his voice, he's willing to talk about Sarin on camera, so Jerry goes to conduct the interview. The military man refuses to allow anyone else in the room, so there are no witnesses to Jerry not actually getting the guy to admit to what "exceptional measures" were taken, and instead he speaks in hypotheticals. But, desperate not to have a dead end, Jerry cuts the footage. [hate him. don't worry, I'll still love Hamish Linklater.]

March 21, 2012: Hallie comes to New York, but her romantic weekend with Jim is foiled. Between a drunk Ron Paul reporter double-dating Neal, Taylor tagging along as she just got fired for trying to get Romney to stand on his business history more, and a surprise add-on stop in Colorado, the evening sucks for Jim. [etch-a-sketch!] So, Jim winds up talking to Maggie, concerned that her heavy drinking will lead her to disclose Genoa. [totally possible...] 

At the Second Red Team Meeting, Jerry shows the tape, but Mack and Charlie want to wait, still not 100% positive that Genoa happened. Time passes, and the gentleman thought to be dead calls ACN, and he talks about Genoa, which forces the green light. [I liked how all of the headlines, both across the screen and from Will's mouth, served to show the passage of time.] However, five minutes after the hour-long special, Charlie knew there was a problem. [I wonder what the tip-off was...]
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, August 12, 2013

The Newsroom: So Many Balls in the Air...

This episode is a shining example of how Aaron Sorkin is capable of keeping a multitude of storylines going at one time without letting the individual plots and characters suffer. However, it is still a shame that The Newsroom promoted the episode via Facebook with questions that don't really apply to the episode.
facebook.com/Newsroom
Maggie's return from Africa was rather highly anticipated, as her punky red haircut has been making waves since the season opener. However, posing the question about how her "ordeal" will "affect her performance at work" went largely unanswered, even if viewers and Jim did learn that she has been sleeping around to avoid being alone and is drinking heavily. That said, it is quite clear that her work performance remains unchanged. Similarly, wondering how Jim will "be received back in the office after getting taken off the campaign trail" is nearly a moot point, as few people interact with him and only Maggie seems peeved at his experiences on the Romney tour. Furthermore, Jerry does not even appear in this episode and is barely even mentioned, so how his "pursuit of the Genoa story" has changed is not even addressed. Perhaps these issues will all rise in the future, but promoting them before "The News Night with Will McAvoy" may have been ill-timed.

The Newsroom "The News Night with Will McAvoy" (S02E05): Will ignores a call from his father's number, but listens to the voicemail. It explains that his father was brought to the ER after collapsing. [Will commenting about his "150 year-old" father still rounding up cattle was funny.] At Mack's advice, he calls to check on the man, but learns he passed away after the cardiac event. Will experiences a few moments of distress but otherwise carries on the news program as usual. [there will undoubtedly be some backlash about this, but I support Will continuing his work.] And, by "as usual," he is still distracted about his ratings and how they having been affecting his confidence level as of late. Every little thing bothers him, so when Neal informs him that a random woman, Pepper Burke, tweeted about Will allegedly snubbing her at lunch, he lets it bother him more than it should. [why IS Twitter coming up constantly on this show??]

Mack confronts Jesse, the head of Rutgers gay-straight alliance, who was to be a guest to talk about Tyler, a student whose roommate publicly "outed" him. [terrible situation!] He had intended to use News Night to come out on his own terms, particularly to his parents, but Mack puts the kibosh on that. Though she didn't want the twentysomething exploiting the show, the main reason Mack has to pull Jesse is because of a mistake that Maggie made. [what was with that random IQ test she was taking?] See, the Trevon Martin 911 call was released during the show, and because of a slow download, Maggie hardly had any time to edit it from 4:07 to :25. [that was a frighteningly short time frame, actually!] In doing so, she cut a question that gave context to Zimmerman's comment that Martin was black. [I don't think Neal explained the oversight well.] With this error, Will is forced to air the entire clip, eliminating the time for Jesse's story.

Initially, more news may have been compressed to fit in Don's proposed take on the Syrian bombing, but because Mack insisted on getting to the bottom of it, she determined that the woman claiming her husband was on the phone while trapped in the rubble without rescue was false. [it bothered me that Don completely left that alone to commiserate with Sloan and try to get a website to remove a quote of him joking about the daughters of Jihad.] Sloan is also cut from the evening's telecast in light of the fact that nude photos of her were posted online. She originally tries to deny it was her body, but she comes clean and admits that a boyfriend took the pictures over Christmas and decided to post them after she dumped him. [that sucks.] However, she is less upset about her career and more upset about what her parents will think, as her father googles her every morning for his scrapbook. [that is so cute. If my mom would Google me more, she would understand what I do.]
 
While all of this is taking place, a military press liaison comes to see Charlie under the guise of discussing the Navy building a server farm in Utah. In reality, he wants to know what Charlie knows about Genoa, advising Charlie that chasing a story about War Crimes is a terrible idea because of the consequences. [and, as he described them, they are pretty rough.] He also suggests that maybe events escalated into an "any means necessary" situation in order to extract a soldier who was about to be sold for a public beheading. [that's all well and good, but trying to appeal to the fact that Charlie has a son was uncalled for.]
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Newsroom Factroom - Unintended Consequences (S02E04)

Honestly, the lawyer bit is getting old. Questions on Maggie's state of mind after Uganda is a twisted preview setting up some future screw-up and, no doubt, some personal spiral of depression. Luckily, there were just enough campaign facts to keep the news political, which is always fun. [note: full recap with remarks on this episode here.]

The legend: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate. Web sources only and so forth, and now the checks...
  • The 490th Civil Affairs Battalion works in Africa constructing buildings.
    • Accurate
      • The information about the battalion is spot on and in this video they are actually building an eco-dome.
  • Rick Perry owned a ranch called 'Niggerhead.'
    • Yes... 
      • This was silly the first time around and it's silly now. The Washington Post was the first or one of the first news outlets to run the story, but again, so silly. Who didn't know Texas had some racism in its history?
  •  "They speak 1944 lanugages in Africa."
    • Ok, in the ballpark, but not exact
      • That's because almost all the sources are estimates, most over 1944. The CIA World Factbook has it at 2,150, while other websites and Wikipedia place the number at a minimum of 2000 and as high as 3000. Maggie needed an exact number to show that she was obsessed enough to do the research and reach conclusion. That she did. 
Hopefully, there are more facts in the episodes to come. For such an exciting year, the show is focused much on its own hype and not current events. Real world drama yes, personal drama no... let's hope. 
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, August 5, 2013

Newsroom Factroom - Willie Pete

Moving right along with season 2, it's going to get thick with political campaigning events and the very odd YouTube debate formats that were oh-so annoying. The debate YouTube clips shown will not be checked, but the questions, answers, and fact-checking of the answers are fair game.

The legend: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate.  Lights, camera, debate...
  • Will's entire coverage of the republican candidate debate and the YouTube clip with the gay soldier asking about the changes they would make...
    • Accurate
      • The video was identical. The replay shows nearly the exact same scenario as on the show except for approximately 1 second more of the same booing. It's a shame the answer to the question wasn't shown because it actually was a decent answer.
  • The U.S. was supposed to destroy all chemical weapons after the 1997 CWC accord but hasn't yet.
    • True... and apparently 10% of the chemical weapons declared in 1997 are still sitting around someplace today.
  • The Operation Genoa stuff
    • Kinda?
      • Keeping the story a surprise, the operation's objectives really haven't been made clear, but the title of the episode, 'Willie Pete,' really does refer to the white phosphorus and Charlie is correct in saying that shooting it at people would be considered a war crime.
      • Twitter wasn't around when the original operation took place, so the Twitter leads that the research team chase down are complete rubbish. Other than great product placement for Twitter, it's unclear if there was any equivalent coverage for the events.
Disappointed that more political events will be skipped now that Jim is off the Romney bus, but if Operation Genoa starts to take center stage, a more detailed comparison of Genoa to the original operation will probably take place. Until next time, please watch out for the remaining ~ 3,100 metric tons of chemical weapons lying around.
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

The Newsroom: Maggie's Story

Does anyone understand why Maggie has been treated as if she experienced the most horrible night imaginable when Daniel died? She had known the child mere hours, and knew little about him beyond the fact that his parents owned cattle and that he was a big fan of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. Will and the others have been talking as if she had been gang-raped and beaten to a bloody pulp. Surely Mackenzie has seen worse than this! Also, although it came as no surprise that Daniel died (the dramatic irony of one non-orphan at an orphanage was too obvious), the dueling visions in Maggie's memory were a bit confusing. Viewers are left wondering if it's a M*A*S*H scenario where she's blocking out the truth of what happened on the bus, or if she is struggling to distinguish fact from fiction. Of course, she may begin blocking out even more now that Jim is headed back from Romney's campaign trail...

The Newsroom "Unintended Consequences" (S02E04): Rebecca (who is a first amendment lawyer, by the way) is back to work on the wrongful termination suit and talks with Maggie about the events taking place in late September and early October, though there is also mention of a March 22nd interview Maggie conducted with a Polish guy in Silver Springs, MD. [what was with the Dutch jokes?] A freelance reporter in Africa met the pair and took them to the orphanage site immediately, where they began interviews with soldiers. Then, they go inside a classroom, where the kids think they're evil because of the video camera. [that was a very sad scene.] There's a kid named Daniel who is alone a lot, so Maggie tries to befriend him, reading him the same book eight times. Maggie and Gary unexpectedly wind up staying the night, and there's danger because men with guns arrive on the property after midnight. Nobody understands the language that is being spoken, so the request to hand over the camera was not comprehended. Instead, as the orphanage is evacuated, Maggie is left trying to save a terrified Daniel, who winds up getting shot in the back and dying. [but she pictured reading him the book again on the bus, perhaps to make herself feel better.] Because of the situation, they never made it to the big story, as they had to head back and be debriefed by HR. Maggie was prescribed Paxil, but she doesn't take it, feeling she doesn't need it. [figures.] She does, however, think that the boy saving her life, and she cuts and dyes her hair in a response to a comment that the African pastor made about blondes being nothing but trouble. The big question is to answer whether or not someone said "it happened," though the details remain sketchy.

Maggie and Gary left the night Will interviewed Shelly, Neal's OWS contact. [she's also an adjunct of some sort??] The interview went miserably, but the bigger problem is that Shelly will no longer help Neal, and he's desperate to gain access to someone else who knows about Genoa, as there's been no luck in contacting the tweeter. Shelly demands an on-air apology from Will, but he won't agree, of course. Both Sloan and Don separately try to talk to her, but both conversations end in disaster. [Don offering Shelly time on his news hour was nice.] In the end, Will actually goes down to her college to interrupt a class to tell her that her movement needs leaders. And, after she admits to being terrible on the show, he apologizes for treating her poorly because he is having a "crisis of confidence."
facebook.com/Newsroom
He didn't even need to go down there, as ACN was able to track down the source she knows - Leon Deet, who was working for a human rights commission and wrote a report that sounds a lot like the Genoa story.

Jim, Hallie, and Stillman make it to the hotel but they no longer have rooms because of their protest, so they share a room and intend to follow the bus the next day. After losing the bus, Hallie gets in trouble for not writing about the latest news, and Jim and Stillman witness just how poorly she is treated at work. [I'm more dumbfounded that something actually happened on the campaign trail!] Mack tells Jim to get it together and get comments on the news breaks, so he wears down spokesperson Taylor... only to get Hallie thirty minutes with Romney. [now he's just trying to be a nice guy, but I wish that he wouldn't!] Mack finds out and pulls Jim from the trail. There could be long-distance romance on the horizon, however, as Hallie kisses Jim. ["Vassar" could be the drinking word this episode!]  

There's also a small storyline where Don approves a copy containing the N-word, pissing off Charlie. Apparently, most other networks are talking around actually saying Rick Perry owns Niggerhead Ranch, though ACN uses the actual name of the location. 
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Newsroom Factroom - The Genoa Tip

For some reason, the first few episodes of season 2 of the The Newsroom seem to be under intense scrutiny by those who have first-hand experiences of the events being portrayed. Maybe, it being an off-year for elections has left everyone in politics without a target for their opinions, so Sorkin's latest brainchild is now the ugly stepchild at whom it's cool to laugh and call names. The biggest name lately is probably Romney's former spokesperson. The sooner political aficionados realize the show isn't trying to portray their exact reality but dramatize pieces of it to build a larger, entertaining puzzle of relatable events for the audience, the more they'll enjoy it. But until then, poking and prodding at the divergence from reality without comparing facts tells the world that you're watching, and reduces the price on that normally high-priced earned media.

The secret key: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate. And, go...

  • "...18 percent more viewers stay watching past the first quarter of the show if the show features ... an engaged twitter audience."
    • Just... no... and I'm not sure if this was altered or simply made-up.
      • From what can be 'internetified' on this one, the 18 percent actually refers to the number of viewers out of 1000 surveyed who noticed a hashtag while watching TV and knew how to interact with it. This wouldn't have made Charlie's point as strong in the episode, so the fake version is better for argument's sake.
  • There's a law on the books in New York that prevents people from wearing masks when in a group.
    • Yes...but it was the update in 1965 that accounts for the mask part.
  •  Operation Genoa
    • The investigation rages on..
      • As promised, Project Genoa will be checked as they appear. Unfortunately, there weren't any this week. The one witness name that was mentioned was not real, but that's expected.
Light facts on this episode as well, but hopefully as Romney coverage continues things will get more factual. We might be able to compare new confessions to this fictional version, since the politicos are obviously watching.
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, July 29, 2013

Newsroom: Twitter as a Source...

Military politics was the big theme for this episode, which is sensible when one recalls that the season is really a flashback to explain the incidents leading up to the Genoa broadcast. Still, it is enjoyable to see non-op storylines, like Jim on the campaign trail. I wonder if I'm alone in being surprised that so many reporters set up their own cameras and such? It seemed a little surreal to have everyone blabbering out the same press-release facts as well, but I can relate to that... it can be difficult to add much perspective to a bland story with no new facts. Similarly, Neal had little new to say about how OWS is going, though he does make an example out of Mac being the 1%. I'll leave that alone, though, before I start a debate that will rival the many that overtook Facebook when Occupy Wall Street was big...

The Newsroom "Willie Pete" (S02E03): Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum are all candidates supporting the military in one way or another, but none really say anything when a gay soldier in Iraq pitches a question during the September 23rd, 2011 debates about whether homosexual soldiers will be treated any better in the future. [I didn't think this point was made well... more explanation or time could have been given to it.] Jim, in particular, tries hard to get information out of Romney's people (or a one-on-one with the candidate himself), but he continues to be left out in the cold, whether the topic be health care, jobs creation, or Iran relations. He finally isn't alone, however, and another reporter asks about Romney's change in stance on abortion - on April 9, 2002, he supported a woman's right to choose, but now wants to repeal Roe v Wade. [I actually have no problem with someone who changes their mind on a topic after a number of years. you learn more, your own life influences you, you meet more people with varying circumstances of their own...] Jim attempts to lead a revolt against not having access to Romney, but all that does is get two journalists and himself kicked off the bus. [the stolen turkey sandwiches made me laugh.] 

Meanwhile, in New York, Jerry brings Mac with him to talk to Sweeney, but she's still a little skeptical of the man's circa March 9, 2009 story. After he explains that that they used "white phosphorus," but it was Sarin gas, she asks him to write down as many names as he can of the people who were with him. Jerry is permitted to work on finding someone who will corroborate the story, but it's a slow process and Mac was about to pull the plug on the research when translated tweets reveal the same details. [I didn't understand why the translations were being faxed in this day and age, though...]
HBO
Nina Howard finds out why Will didn't do the 9/11 broadcast and wants to spread the story. Will tells her the truth and asks her not to be "a mean girl" about it, and she agrees. The two then makes plans to go out, but Will still isn't over the fact that someone in the newsroom leaked the information. [we also learn the contents of Will's hacked voicemail to Mac, which included "I've never stopped loving you. You were spectacular tonight..."] It was Sloan, who turned down a date with Nina's book agent before Will actually "got sick." [in all honesty, who gets married on 9/11? I kinda feel like that date is off-limits for such festivities...] She makes Don go with her to tell Will the truth, but Charlie has figured out that it couldn't have been anyone on staff, because Nina knew that Charlie removed WIll, which the staff didn't know. So, Charlie and Will go to Reese with the admission-of-hacking recording, and he openly says that he told Nina and will tell others, as he wants it out there. [he's such a terrible guy!] Turns out, they can't even blackmail him, as the admission never recorded. [...WHAT??!?] Mac calls Nina to thank her for not running the story and asks her if she remembers Will's voicemail. Nina only tells her the part about how Will thought she did a great job with the coverage. [I'm more than over Mac and Will, isn't everyone??]

Smaller stories: Maggie gets her medical stuff in order to leave for Africa, and Mac warns her about the side effects of malaria pills. [what was the point in doing that? adding frenzy was not necessary.] Maggie is told she must also cover a human interest story in Uganda while she's over there. [I thought that was more than fair.] Sloan has moral issues with suggesting a certain stock. Mac wants the blog to be better, but Neal wants OWS to get more coverage. [I thought he put it well with the $1200 shows comment!]
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Newsroom: It's not about Will

note: Recaps and Remarks are going up later than usual due to Comic-Con and TCA.

The first episode of the season made it clear that the timeline would jump around from one period to another to tell the story. This episode allowed a month to pass from beginning to end, and the subsequent ones may eat up more time than that in order to catch-up to the depositions, so this is a technique to which viewers must quickly adjust. This episode also brought viewers some more history, explaining that, when 9/11 happened, Will was the legal correspondent, but when nobody else was available, he was put on the air for the first time, and stayed there most of the day. Whether he remained on-screen immediately or if anchoring was a gradual promotion remains unknown, but it certainly helps put into context Will's new obsession over the internet sites that blast him. Given that fact, why has his bodyguard not appeared recently? One would think that he is in danger now more than ever. And, one more thing about Will before admitting that this episode is actually not about him... the phrase "living outside the law keeps you from getting its protection" was very intriguing. It doesn't sound original, but it's not cliche (at least for non-attorneys), either. Are you familiar with that line?

The Newsroom "The Genoa Tip" (S02E02): August 25, 2011: Cyrus West told Jerry about Operation Genoa, and he asks Mackenzie for permission to look into the use of Sarin gas. She hesitates but allows him to. After a month of calls, he tracks down someone who knows about the Black Op, and admits that it existed, was an extraction, and confirms that Sarin gas was used. [Jerry was really dedicated to figuring this out!]

Don wants to help a guy on death row and hopes Will might assist in tearing apart the case. [his insistence on breaking into programming to cover the possible lobbying of a swing vote was interesting to the point of being disturbing...] Will, however, feels that the guy received due process, even if it wasn't with the best representation. Both men see reasonable doubt, and, in the end, the guy receives a lethal injection, though he maintained his innocence until his death.

Maggie tells Sloan about the youtube clip, and the two track down to poster to have it removed before more than 1,118 people see it. [where's Maggie's makeup? and why did they haul all that luggage to Queens??] The poster wants her Sex and the City blog to get hits, and the only way she'll take down the video is if Sloan promotes the blog on Twitter. Sloan reluctantly agrees, but rather than take down the video, the girl blogs about her encounter with Maggie and Sloan. [what a horrible woman!] So, when Maggie goes to move back in with Lisa, she's seen it and is upset, destroying the friendship between the roommates.

Now completely hating her life, Maggie wants a reason to go to Africa. Jerry suggests it's the next place that US soldiers will go to die, so she pitches it to Mack and gets permission to go with Gary, though there are many dangers of going there which are kept from Mackenzie. [... and we already know that Maggie will undoubtedly be deeply affected by what she experiences in Africa. also, what's with showing the gym twice in one episode??]

Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, Jim has issues getting on the press bus again, and he also learns that competitors can be helpful from time to time. He struggles to do his own camerawork and get a one-on-one with the candidate. [I always wanted Gilmore Girls to depict Rory going on the road as a political reporter, so I'm a little intrigued to see these scenes.]

September 19, 2011: Mackenzie makes fun of Neal for continuing to follow the OccupyWallStreet story, but two days later, he gets arrested for covering the first major protest of the group. He calls the newsroom from the precinct, and Will goes down to the station as Neal's lawyer and gets the arrest voided. [I love that the video footage was able to be salvaged.]
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Newsroom Factroom - First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers

The Newsroom season 2 is in full swing, swinging harder than the San Francisco Giants (well, except for maybe Pablo), so Factrooms are going to come fast and hopefully be caught up relatively quickly.

The details: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate.  This is based on internet research from primary sources (and even Wikipedia when they do it best).  Luckily, with the scene set in modern day, these things are available via the web.  And, go...
  • "There's 8 Broadway musicals that have won the Pulitzer prize for drama."
    • Yes... and there probably won't be another until after 2020
      • This one is pretty cut and dry. Feel free to troll the contest sites out there asking this question but Wikipedia has a very nice list.
  • "On June 9th (2011) the domain name OccupyWallstreet(.org) was registered."
    • Yep Yep
      • Yep, and here's the whois record for that. In reality, this is a worthless detail for Neal to mention. But, so many domain names are registered that it's very unlikely he would have run across this, even if monitoring AdBusters closely. A more likely and useful detail would have been the site going live or a traffic milestone.
  •  Was Project Genoa real?
    • No, but...
      • If you follow press for The Newsroom closely, you know Sorkin has already likened this to its real world equivalent. You won't see that spoiler here, but when facts are presented about it, they will be checked against what data can be found on the real event. The facts will still be organized by the episode in which they aired. Hopefully, fact checks can continue without completely betraying the season-long deposition. The lawyer is making $1500 an hour... assuming she's interviewing in all the episodes, that's $15,000 worth of story.
Very light on numbers this episode, but there was much ado about character placement for upcoming drama. More next time!
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, July 15, 2013

RETURNING: The Newsroom: Jumping Around

At this point it's no secret that many people, critics and television junkies alike, hate-watch this drama. The new opening does not help matters at all, as although it's not as dated, it makes the happenings of a newsroom seem rather trivial. Starting off a season with scene that takes place about a year after the bulk of the episode's action is also an alienating technique, especially for those who do not follow a lot of American politics. The jumpy arc made the events a little more difficult to follow, but thankfully HBO almost always includes date-stamps during transitions. The episode succeeded in drawing audience intrigue, as it did set-up quite a few starts to bigger things with most of the characters, giving everyone something to ponder. At the same time, however, the many distinct storylines can make it difficult for one to follow, particularly when the events are not happening simultaneously. Neal is hunting for the scoop on Occupy Wall Street while Jim is following Romney on the campaign trail while Will is still fighting back against backlash while a new producer (played by Hamish Linklater) is fighting for the acclaim that his New York counterparts enjoy. More catch-up and jumping around are expected as more blanks are filled and plots intersect, plus some unaddressed cliffhangers from the previous season (Will's missing voicemail to Mackenzie, for instance) as well.

The Newsroom "First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers" (S02E01): It's been 14 months since Will gave the Tea Party speech, and he's now being questioned about an entirely different issue, as is Mackenzie. [and apparently Maggie is also on the list to be interviewed?] But, the issue isn't fresh; it actually only took place a short time after the Tea Party = Taliban debacle, and this episode is used to introduce the events leading up to it. [let's hope for more background in the next episode, too!]

Will gets pulled from the 9/11 coverage because Charlie doesn't think he's the right face for the job after his recent tirade, and Will agrees to fake being sick. [probably a good call by Charlie, though I'm shocked at how seriously everyone took Will's statements.] But, before we actually get to the memorial date, Jim volunteers to cover the Romney campaign (to get away from Maggie), so the team brings up a guy named Jerry from DC to cover for him as senior producer. Jerry brings his own specialist onto the show, rather than one Jim would use, resulting in a poor segment. [I'll say! but why didn't Mackenzie try to get Sloan to ask the question when Will wouldn't?] To save his butt, the guy offers to give Jerry a story if Jerry promises to use him again, and, though details are not given, the story, about a Black-Op named Genoa, is the reason for the lawyers a year later. This story may be branching off from the drone strike controversy discussed by Will and Sloan. [I loved Sloan using a blank sheet of paper to make her point. also, the line "it's like playing golf behind a foursome of blind people."]

Sloan and Don are awkward around one another, as she didn't wind up quitting after admitting her feelings for him. [there's really no other way they could be.] All hope is not lost, however, as Don breaks up with Maggie when he learns of her rant at the Sex and the City tour bus (as it makes the rounds on the internet), which shows her passion for Jim. We don't get much of Maggie's reaction to that, but we do know that she winds up going to Uganda and has a life-altering experience, returning with short, punky red hair. [I'm especially curious about this plot point...]
facebook.com/Newsroom
Meanwhile, AWM/ACN people are being treated poorly because of Will's Taliban speech, with main examples being Reese unable to attend a meeting for SOPA at the capitol building, and Jim being unable to ride the Romney press bus in New Hampshire. There's also a few fun moments that work for the show, including Will making the intern learn musical theatre history, and Mack and Jim scurrying to get a reporter to deliver a line live because of a fact-check problem the day the rebels taking Tripoli on August 23, 2011. [I really enjoyed the latter!] Plus, on August 24, 2011, Neal suggests a story on the formation of Occupy Wall Street, and though Mackenzie doesn't have much faith it'll become big, she encourages him to attend a meeting. Because he's press, he's treated with disgust at first, though he eventually gets one of the leaders to open up about the group's plans, and he even suggests that they narrow their goals. [what made him feel qualified to offer such an idea? and why would the writers of this series have him take such an active part?]  
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Newsroom Factroom - The Greater Fool


In the spirit of the upcoming The Newsroom season 2, we're getting back to Factrooms.  I'm going to attempt to get the last few factrooms from season 1 completed as prep for the start of season 2, which begins tomorrow.

A reminder: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate.  This is based on internet research from primary sources (and even Wikipedia when they do it best).  Luckily, with the scene set in modern day, these things are available via the web.  And, go...
  • "An estimated 20 million people do not have a photo ID in the United States."
    • Yep, actually it's closer to 21..
      • The numbers come from a study conducted by the Brennan Center at NYU, and the actual figure was 11% of the population (which was converted to a count based on the 2000 census numbers). This figure and this number have been attacked every which way (including questioning if those without IDs even show up to vote), so if you'd like to argue with the figure, here's a rebuttal by the Brennan Center to the then Kansas Secretary of State. For a more up-to-date view just before last year's election, try Everything you wanted to know about Voter ID, which even references the great Nate Silver.
  • "42% of Americas believe when we raise the debt ceiling, it means borrowing more money."
    • Rounding to no...
      • There's a reason Sloan quotes this number as coming from an 'ACN poll,' because that wasn't the question asked in the actual poll. 42% of respondents actually said they would want their member of Congress to vote against raising the debt ceiling. There was an option to claim uninformed on the issue, but that was only around 34%. No where in the poll results or in the analysis does it lend credence to the idea that those wanting Congress to vote against it have this misunderstanding. It seems to be a ploy for viewers to see Sloan as smarter, but she might need more accurate facts for that...
        facebook.com/Newsroom
  •  In the first 31 months in office, Obama took 61 vacation days while Bush was away 180.
    • Technically true, but..
      • The connotation in the show isn't quite there in the article that uses those same numbers. The days Obama 'took for vacation' seems to be 'time not officially working,' as much as a President can do that kind of thing. The days Bush 'spent at his ranch where his staff often joined him' is not the same.  This really blurs the line but it was one of the top myths going around about Obama for a while.
Very accurate episode and strong with facts and numbers to end season 1. 
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Monday, January 14, 2013

The 2013 Golden Globes: Times are Changing

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

In four years, this site has never talked about the Golden Globe Awards. They've been around since 1944 and annually award excellence in film (14 categories) and television (11 categories). They're not one of the "big four" awards, which is probably why I've always dismissed them as "not counting" like the big boys do. Others discount them because the members who determine the winners are foreign journalists. Really. The 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association all live in Southern California and are accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America but write for newspapers and magazines elsewhere.

Regardless of who is picking the winners, some people embrace the Golden Globe Awards as part of the "Award Season," which ends with the Oscars each year. For those who aren't cinephiles, the Academy Awards (Oscas) don't mean a whole lot, aside from possibly giving you a film or two to put on your bucket list. The Golden Globes, on the other hand, tend to appeal to a broader audience because of its mix of television and movie awards. Sure, Argo and Les Miserables took the big awards home in the silver screen division, but many expected that sort of thing. The bigger surprised were from the small screen categories.
Golden Globe Awards © HFPA facebook.com/GoldenGlobes
You may already be aware of the winners from last night's ceremony, but did you realize that they are almost exclusively from premium cable channels? Broadcast networks and the main cable networks had many nominees to boast, but when the hammer fell, so did they. Take a look: 

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
Homeland (Showtime) *winner
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Downton Abbey Season 2  (PBS)
The Newsroom (HBO)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
Claire Danes, Homeland (Showtime) *winner
Connie Britton, Nashville (ABC)
Glenn Close, Damages (Audience Network)
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey Season 2 (PBS)
Julianna Magulies, The Good Wife (CBS)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
Damian Lewis, Homeland (Showtime) *winner
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom (HBO)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Girls (HBO) *winner
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Episodes (Showtime)
Modern Family (ABC)
Smash (NBC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Lena Dunham, Girls (HBO) *winner
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl (FOX)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
Tiny Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation (NBC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Don Cheadle, House of Lies (Showtime) *winner
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Louis C. K., Louie (FX)
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes (Showtime)
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Game Change (HBO) *winner
The Girl (HBO)
Hatfields & McCoys (History)
The Hour (BBCAmerica)
Political Animals (USA)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Julianne Moore, Game Change (HBO) *winner
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway & Gellhorn (HBO)
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Sienna Miller, The Girl (HBO)
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals (USA)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys (History) *winner
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock (BBCAmerica)
Woody Harrelson, Game Change (HBO)
Toby Jones, The Girl (HBO)
Clive Owen, Hemingway & Gellhorn (HBO)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES, OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey Season 2 (PBS) *winner
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville (ABC)
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife (CBS)
Sarah Paulson, Game Change (HBO)
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family (ABC)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES, OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Ed Harris, Game Change (HBO) *winner
Max Greenfield, New Girl (FOX)
Danny Huston, Magic City (Starz)
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland (Showtime)
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family (ABC)

FOX didn't have a single winner. Neither did ABC, CBS, NBC, or the CW. PBS took one award. ONE. So, of the broadcast networks, only one out of eleven awards went to a show that the general public had a fair chance at seeing. History, a cable network, picked up a single win as well. I don't know how much every provider charges for History, but U-Verse includes it in all packages at and above $57/month. The remaining nine categories were all swept by HBO (with five) and Showtime (with four), networks which are additional costs for cable subscribers. Some quick internet research shows that HBO is about $13 extra per month, and Showtime is about $14 more per month. So, illegal downloading aside, what percentage of the population was familiar with the vast majority of the winners? How upset were the people around your office water cooler today when they couldn't talk about House of Lies, Girls, or Homeland? I know that it definitely limited some of the conversation that I witnessed today, and it made me think...

I mean, there's a reason that Game of Thrones was the show most pirated in 2012! People don't have access. The way that the premium channels took the Golden Globes really forces some perspective on the futures for those networks... was this a strange coincidence or is it a trend? During a time when so many people have been discussing the disparity in our nation's socioeconomic classes, will the elite be the only ones talking about awards shows? Last fall's Emmys gave us 12 broadcast winners, 8 cable winners, and 10 premium network winners in the non-creative categories. Premium did better than cable, but only got one-third of the total awards, allowing more of the general public to be aware of "what's best" and take part in conversations about the ceremony.

No, I don't think that the premium networks should be excluded from these awards. But the playing field isn't exactly level, either. What you can say and show at 8pm on ABC is not the same as what you can say and show at 10pm on HBO. The goals for the networks aren't the same. So many things work differently, from censorship to funding to audience demographics. If this is a taste of where "good" television is going, what is going to happen next?
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Newsroom Factroom - 5/1

by Jonathan Bredemeyer

Finally! Getting back to Factrooms... sorry for the delay.  To wrap up the season, I'm going to try and focus on a few key details of each episode (past readers know critical plot facts are particularly alluring to me). 

A reminder: accuratepotentially accurate, or inaccurate.  This is based on internet research from primary sources (and even Wikipedia when they do it best).  Luckily, with the scene set in modern day, these things are available via the web.  And, go...

  • "Presidents don't announce bad news from the East room. They do it from the Oval Office or the briefing room."
  • It was 9 years, 7 months, and 20 days between the attacks on the World Trade Center and day bin Laden was killed.
    • Accurate.
      • It was interesting to watch the various main characters get the chance to report the news to airline pilots and police officers in New York City.  I was online working and got to instant message colleagues, and bloggers blogged...
Personally, if I were P.O.T.U.S. and Osama bin Laden had been captured under my watch, the White House announcement would have looked a bit different.  I would have only said three words: "We got him," and sat down.  The rest of the air time would have been police, firemen, and 9/11 eyewitnesses thanking the special forces and people who made it possible.  But in this case, it seems Sorkin portrayed exactly what most likely happened in newsrooms all over America that night...
facebook.com/Newsroom
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This