Blowhardball

HBO's The Newsroom makes a better editorial than a drama

Melissa Moseley/HBO

Fluent in Sorkinese. "I'm a registered republican", says news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels). "I only seem liberal because I believe that hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure and not gay marriage".

The fourth episode of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom is called "I'll Try to Fix You." That may as well be the title of the whole series. Like Sorkin's The West Wing, the show wants to fix America, this time through the story of Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), a successful, cynical and bland cable-news anchor who decides that he, and journalism, and yea, democracy, can do better.

Which means what? Will's producer/ex-girlfriend MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer) explains: "Reclaiming the fourth estate. Reclaiming journalism as an honorable profession. A nightly newscast that informs a debate worthy of a great nation. Civility, respect and...

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