ACN News during 9:00 to 10:00 at night had been treading water and compromising news broadcasts and the very popular (lucrative) anchor, Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels, turning in some of the best work of his career, I think) has a moral and emotional breakdown at a sitdown at Northwestern discussing politics and America. Sent up on youtube and other rival networks, McAvoy spent a couple weeks away from the cameras on vacation, returning to discover that his executive producer, Don (Thomas Sadoski), and various members of his hourly news team were jumping ship to the 10:00 to 11:00 night time slot, leaving him behind. Even worse (or so he at first feels) is that McAvoy's boss, Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston, finding the next great part post-Law & Order) has hired to contract MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer; this could very well be her best part of her rather impressive career), an old flame of Will's, having spent three years touring wartorn Middle East. Will thinks he saw MacKenzie in the Northwestern audience feeding him responses to questions he truly believes but answers untruthfully to avoid confrontation in the spirit of compromise towards those posing questions to the panel he is a part of on the stage
.this motivated the meltdown about how disappointed in America Will is and how he believes a return to what the country once was isn't totally out of reach. The episode takes place right as the BP oil spill, a devastating environmental tragedy that affected the Gulf Coast of my state and neighboring Louisiana, has erupted from an exploding oil rig that remained uncapped leading to the loss of aquatic life and polluted water. While Don considers this a non-story, MacKenzie's right hand, Jim Harper (John Gallagher Jr.), has two sources (one at BP, the second at Halliburton) that confirm that the BP situation is a lot worse than the government is letting on. Because Harper is persistent, while Don wishes he'd just shut up and stay out of the way, his hard work pays off when MacKenzie (after spending some considerable time in Will's office trying to convince him that they should quit compromising and run a news show that tells the truth and doesn't speak down to the audience, even if such a change in direction might turn away a large portion of the viewing audience that might not want such news) nudges Will to listen to him. The rest of the episode shows the news broadcast centered around provoking the truth from those involved in the oil rig (inspector, representatives for BP and Halliburton, scientists) and exposing errors in inspection, processes, and the inability to stop the leakage of the oil into the water. The Newsroom excels when we see the inner-workings of a newsroom and how the news is brought to the television audience. It also allows us to see the different personalities of those who make up the newsroom and how they co-exist.
The show really hums when we see them at work with a lot of activity (putting together the news as sources are called or contacts the news team) going on, and it can be quite frenetic and busy. It is all rather exhausting and exhilarating in equal measure. The heart and soul of the show is Will and MacKenzie's relationship; at times tense, with plenty of sexual tension and heated banter back and forth, they force each other to address their humanity and the integrity of providing their viewers with a news show that seeks to tell the truth. Good fun to be had with the amazing cast, including Indian Neal (Dev Patel), a kind of information go-to guy, and green intern, Margaret (Alison Pill) who moves up the ranks relatively quickly (she's also dating Don; the first episode shows us that Don isn't committed to her enough to meet her parents), through a loyalty to Will and gusto to help her team secure the information that leads to a solid news show. Just from the first episode, this is a series ripe for great drama and acting. Daniels and Waterston will be quite an amazing team.
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