The Newsroom (American TV series)
The Newsroom is an American political drama television series created and principally written by Aaron Sorkin that premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012, and concluded on December 14, 2014, consisting of 25 episodes over three seasons.[1]
The Newsroom
Aaron Sorkin
United States
English
3
25 (list of episodes)
- Aaron Sorkin
- Scott Rudin
- Alan Poul
- Paul Lieberstein
- Denis Biggs
Todd McMullen
- 52–64 minutes
- 73 minutes (pilot)
HBO Entertainment
June 24, 2012 –
December 14, 2014
The series chronicles behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel. It features an ensemble cast including Jeff Daniels as anchor Will McAvoy who, together with his staff, sets out to put on a news show "in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles and their own personal entanglements".[2] Other cast members include Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, and Sam Waterston.
Sorkin, who created the Emmy Award-winning political drama The West Wing, had reportedly been developing a cable-news-centered TV drama since 2009. After months of negotiations, premium cable network HBO ordered a pilot in January 2011 and then a full series in September that year. Sorkin did his research for the series by observing several real-world cable news programs first-hand. He served as executive producer, along with Scott Rudin and Alan Poul.
Series overview[edit]
The 25-episode series is set behind the scenes at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) and revolves around anchor Will McAvoy, his new executive producer MacKenzie McHale, newsroom staff Jim Harper, Maggie Jordan, Sloan Sabbith, Neal Sampat, Don Keefer, and the head of ACN, Charlie Skinner.[3][4]
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Entertainment Weekly reported in April 2009 that Sorkin, while still working on the screenplay for The Social Network, was contemplating a new TV drama about the behind-the-scenes events at a cable news program.[5] Sorkin was the series creator of Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, both shows depicting the off-camera happenings of fictional television programs.[6] Talks were reportedly ongoing between Sorkin and HBO since 2010.[7] In January 2011, Sorkin revealed the project on BBC News.[8]
To research the cable news world, Sorkin had been an off-camera guest at MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann in 2010 to observe the show's production and quizzed Parker Spitzer's staff when he was a guest on that show.[9] He also spent time shadowing Hardball with Chris Matthews as well as other programs on Fox News and CNN.[10] Sorkin told TV Guide that he intended to take a less cynical view of the media: "They're going to be trying to do well in a context where it's very difficult to do well when there are commercial concerns and political concerns and corporate concerns."[11] Sorkin decided that rather than have his characters react to fictional news events as on his earlier series, The Newsroom would be set in the recent past and track real-world stories largely as they unfolded, to give a greater sense of realism.[12]
HBO ordered a pilot in January 2011 with the working title More as This Story Develops. The Social Network's Scott Rudin signed on as executive producer.[10] Rudin's only previous television work was the 1996 spin-off series Clueless.[10] By June, Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston, Olivia Munn, and Dev Patel were cast, while Greg Mottola had signed on to direct the pilot.[13][14] The pilot script was later reportedly obtained by several news outlets.[15]
On September 8, 2011, HBO ordered a full series starting with an initial 10-episode run with a premiere date set for summer 2012.[2][16][17] A day after the second episode aired, HBO renewed the series for a second season.[18]
Sorkin said in June 2012 that The Newsroom "is meant to be an idealistic, romantic, swashbuckling, sometimes comedic but very optimistic, upward-looking look at a group of people who are often looked at cynically. The same as with The West Wing, where ordinarily in popular culture our leaders are portrayed either as Machiavellian or dumb; I wanted to do something different and show a highly competent group of people."[19]
Series title[edit]
While the pilot was in development, the project was tentatively titled More as This Story Develops.[20] On November 29, 2011, HBO filed for a trademark on "The Newsroom" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.[21] The new name immediately drew comparisons with the Ken Finkleman-created Canadian comedy series of the same name that aired on CBC and public television stations in the U.S.[21][22] The series' name was confirmed as The Newsroom in an HBO promo released on December 21, 2011, previewing its programs for 2012.[23]
Writing in Maclean's, Jaime Weinman said the choice of name was "a bit of a grimly amusing reminder that the U.S. TV industry doesn't take Canada very seriously ... The Newsroom is often considered the greatest show Canada has ever produced, but a U.S. network feels no need to fear unflattering comparisons: assuming they've heard of the show, they probably think most people in the States have not heard of it."[24] In an interview with The Daily Beast following the Sorkin show's premiere, Finkleman revealed that HBO did contact him for permission to reuse the title, which he granted.[25]
Casting[edit]
Jeff Daniels was cast in the lead role in March 2011.[26] Alison Pill and Olivia Munn reportedly entered negotiations to star in April 2011.[27] The fictional executive producer role was initially offered to Marisa Tomei, but negotiations fell through. Tomei was replaced by Emily Mortimer in May 2011.[28] Sam Waterston also joined the project in May.[29] John Gallagher Jr., Thomas Sadoski, and Dev Patel were added to the cast in June 2011.[30][31]
New York magazine reported that Sorkin had planned for MSNBC host Chris Matthews and Andrew Breitbart to appear in a roundtable debate scene in the pilot; however, the idea was shot down by MSNBC purportedly because the network was displeased with the corporate culture portrayal of cable news and skewering of left-leaning media in the show's script.[32] Chris Matthews' son, Thomas, joined the cast in the role of Martin Stallworth, an associate producer for the fictional show.[33]
Three months after the series was picked up, Jane Fonda signed on to play Leona Lansing, the CEO of the fictional network's parent company.[3][17] Fonda was married to Turner Broadcasting System and CNN founder Ted Turner for 10 years.[34] Lansing was touted by some observers as a female version of Fonda's ex-husband.[3] The name "Leona Lansing" is taken from the names of two highly successful businesswomen, real estate developer Leona Helmsley and former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing.[3]
Jon Tenney guest-starred as Wade, MacKenzie's boyfriend.[35] Natalie Morales has a guest role as Kaylee, Neal's girlfriend.[36] Terry Crews plays Lonny, Will's bodyguard.[37]
Rosemarie DeWitt was originally cast as Rebecca Halliday, a litigator who is tasked with defending ACN in a wrongful termination suit in the second season,[38] but DeWitt had to vacate the role due to scheduling conflicts.[39] The role was recast with Marcia Gay Harden.[40] Patton Oswalt was announced to play Jonas Pfeiffer, the new V.P. of human resources at ACN, in November 2012,[38] but he ultimately did not appear in the season.[41]
Filming[edit]
The Newsroom's set is located in Sunset Gower Studios, Hollywood, on Stage 7.[19] The fictional Atlantis World Media building, however, is actually the Bank of America Tower on Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan (directly across the street from HBO's New York City offices at the time of filming), with CGI being used to change the name of the building above the entrance. Production began in the fall of 2011.[42] The schedule called for each episode—comprising a dialogue-dense script of 80 to 90 pages – to be filmed in nine days, as opposed to six to seven pages per day for broadcast network TV series.[42] The pilot episode was shot on 16 mm film, while the rest of the series was shot digitally with Arri Alexa cameras.[43]
Writing team[edit]
With fewer than 10 credited writers, The Newsroom has fewer writers than most other television series. It was reported that Sorkin planned to replace most of the first season's writers in the second season.[44] He later said this was untrue.[45] Sorkin explained his approach to writing:
Sorkin hired conservative media consultants for the second season to help him represent "every part of the ideological spectrum," thus giving the show "a political perspective that I don't have." Sorkin also revealed that the second season would include the 2012 United States presidential election.[46]