The Newsroom, in retrospect

I really loved the show and was in the mood to rewatch it. Thought I could have some activity while watching it so I ended up writing down highlights and my thoughts on the first season.

1. The “why America is NOT the greatest country in the world?” speech

I remember starting this show without any expectation. I did not know the writer and the cast, except for Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) and John Gallagher Jr. (American Idiot the Musical) prior. To begin the first ten minutes with the reality slap about how deluded we can be, holding on very dearly into the tiny, sliver, string of memories about the “greatest time of our lives” we forget the problems happening today (early 2010s in the show’s context). The episode then had another brilliant moving monologue by Mackenzie. Gosh, the writers really packed a LOT for just one episode. I think I can watch the first episode over and over.

2. Will…is a textbook hostile boss, this won’t fly well today but I legit teared up when he said that Don is the smartest guy that’s why he understands he’s leaving the ship before it sinks. A reminder that nothing excuses us from being harsh and treating others without respect at work.

3. The show aired in 2012 but already covered major events from two years prior (BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill). I am just amazed again at the amount of research, commitment to reality, and once again the reminder how poorly mega-companies are monitored.

4. Is it okay to say that the opening credit is…boring?

5. Ensuring lawful immigration is one thing but using the said bill to discriminate against people who are likely to be already a citizen in the country, is another thing. And we know that most of the narratives and sentiments lean toward the latter; it appeals to racist voters, not for the “protection of our borders and resources”. How much resources are saved if they crack down and deport vs processing them and making them part of the state economy? Will the law be able to be enforced?

6. It’s only the third episode and there’s already intense flashback scenes back and forth. The upper management was already riled up with the drastic change. Jane Fonda was only in the shadows, barely speaking a word in the beginning.

7. I remember how I was rooting for Jim and Maggie together. The amount of reassurance Jim gave is giving the greenest flag.

8. I just realized David Harbour, Adina Porter, Kathryn Hahn were in the show too. I didn’t know their names when I was watching it 10 years ago.

9. I thought the gun control debate was heated and it would get somewhere later. Fast forward to today, well…they’re great at protecting their citizens’ guns without preventive measures.

10. By this point, I feel more strongly impacted by Will’s apology and him showing Charlie, Mac, and Don how unwavering he is: he won’t tell the public someone has passed away just because many other news outlets are reporting it without confirmation from the doctors. Honorable mention to the time Will shut down bigots with the fact that thousands of men contracted venereal diseases each day during WWI (making a point about homo and hetero sexual relationships)

11. An episode titled “I’ll Try to Fix You” with Coldplay’s “Fix You” playing in the scene. You know this must be in the late 2000s or early 2010s.

12. I still don’t understand the Tea Party and Koch Brothers thing, to be honest.

13. It was during the time when social media (r.i.p Tw*tter) and citizen journalism began to form. The news about the Egypt Revolution seemed like just another passing news to me at that time. All I heard was that the long-term “president” finally resigned, similar to what happened in Indonesia. I did not know that police brutality led to the uprising and how the government was already blocking the internet as an attempt to regain control. Poor Elliot for having to be attacked for trying to cover the ground. Watching it now, I kind of wished that we’d get more out of the attack on journalists.

14. I remember Will’s “scandal” and past relationship with Mac in the tabloid and entertainment news but honestly I forgot that Mac’s boyfriend being “favored” to help him win an election by appearing in the news was also brought up… anyway, additional point to Will for what she threatened to Nina Howard for coming after his staff.

15. Halfway, I am just so amazed at how quickly they present information and arguments; decide then produce them in the newsroom, from research, videos, correspondence, getting confirmation, pre-interviews, graphics, etc. I wonder if that has ever been the norm or standard because I feel like the news these days doesn’t feel like they’re being produced.

16. I remember how much I adored Olivia Munn and just realized how she was barely in the story at first, only as comic relief, a mismatched piece of puzzle because of her looks and level of education, or some sort. Her ineptness in human relationships became the plot until the Fukushima episode, which is my favorite episode of the season. I still remember (thanks to watching the clips over and over) the episode.

17. Oh Will went to his therapist again, who Will thought was still alive and practicing but he passed so his son takes over and has been receiving the fee when Will is not showing up. I swear I did not remember it was this early. And Terry Crews is Will’s bodyguard. He plays a really fun role.

18. They were already including the “viewers comment” section in the news. In 2012, they were already talking about how anonymity only creates the illusion of “people”. I agree with Will. Unless they are in a specific life-threatening situation, “anonymity is cowardice”. No one can “single-handedly fix the internet”. Crazy how this is still a problem. Being vocal about our opinions should come with the responsibility of having enough information that form those opinions.

19. The Georgia and “LOL” meaning mix-up. Oh. No. Maggie.

20. The Sandra Bernhard and Sarah Bernhardt mix-up. And the Annie Oakley and Annie from Oklahoma mix-up. Oh. Sloan.

21. In case it wasn’t clear enough in the episode about the gun, Will’s a registered Republican.

22. What was Will uncovering in his therapy session after a while? The public and press attack on him was overwhelming. He also felt guilty for having cornered a Black, gay staff member of a senator campaigning for presidential candidate, outspoken about his views on gay marriage — the gist of Will’s point is, why are you supporting your boss when your boss doesn’t think that people like you is a human? And he added that he agreed to have Sloan to lie on news about her misunderstanding of the Japanese language during the off-the-record pre-interview about the Fukushima radiator going up to Level 7, after he sort of coached her into pushing the guest to say the truth. The level reached to 7 eventually but it did not change the fact that it was not the guest who said it and he had to resign because of the off-the-record pre-interview.

23. John Gallagher Jr singing. Jeff Daniels singing (well according to the plot he used to jam with Leonard Cohen).

24. The seventh episode is about the report of Osama bin Laden. I gotta say the first half, they build up the tension well; the refrain from immediately discussing news with strangers when you’re stuck on a plane or reporting unverified thing that what someone else posted, later we can just clean off our dirty hands by saying “well, that’s what was said we’re just telling you what was said” (well, sounds familiar?) gives this enough level of suspense of not knowing what are they going to do but you already know what the news was going to be regardless.

25. The second half of the seventh episode ensures to show how the tragedy and the news affect people. From the child of a victim, airplane crew, to the police.

26. “We were transformed that morning into a different nation, more fearful, more hostile…” . I have no more word to add.

I wonder if “our darkest days really will be followed by its finest hours.”

26. Speaking of darkest days, the following two episode are titled The Blackout. Well hearing the name you’d think the episodes will revolve around the blackout in the building, centering the plot on how they would be able to prepare and deliver the news but the blackout, mentioned in the beginning by Reese (it was weird that he was suddenly emphasising the weather) in the beginning, only lasted for Mackenzie’s monologue to the whole office about not doing the big thing wrong. For context, they were forced to so cover certain topics (Casey Anthony and Anthony Weiner, which I must admit, I did not read thoroughly into what apparently were two unrelated issues…because both have the same name). They once again, had to compromise, put aside their ideals in order to regain the audience so they can do the Republican party candidates debate they’ve been wanting to do. Spoiler alert: the Rep did not like the mock debate because it doesn’t show the candidates in a good light, more like Will attacking them (guess what, the eventual debate did not vet the candidates enough).

27. Neal is on a mission to insert himself into an internet troll community. (Well, the trolls are alive and thriving these days. Glad their pay-check is satisfying)

28. This exchange

Sloan: “We’re committing journalistic malpractice”

Neal: “Fortunately, there is no such thing <sarcastic>

Sloan: “How great would it be if there was?”

Couldn’t agree more, Sloan.

29. I did not mention this before but I think I have to anyway. “Hang Chew’s”. The bar the newsroom team frequent. I don’t know what to feel about a name that sounds like an awkward pronunciation of the city, Hangzhou.

30. Will said that before he couldn’t care less about the lives of the people he worked with but now he does, he is covering Don for the mistaken flower bouquet, meant for his new girlfriend, that got sent to the office.

31. Will went to see the therapist and actually did a session instead of interrupting another client like last time (the therapist suggested Will should forgive Mackenzie). More uncovering traumas related to his dad’s abuse and sensitivity to betrayal. On a lighter note, I agree with Will — although we can basically find information on the internet, we have to already know what we’re looking for instead of browsing on a random topic then explore it like opening a random page in an encyclopaedia. (I too used to want to have a set of encyclopaedia).

32. Maggie’s friend, Lisa, who dated Jim, became the “saviour” for appearing on the news show to talk about Casey Anthony as former “schoolmate”. They thought this would be a promotable guest that would bring in audience back. They briefed Lisa in secret to bring up the many violence and murders against children done by mothers. To their surprise, Lisa brought up the stigma on abortion with a compelling question — what if the mother had a choice rather than to be forced to be a mother who doesn’t want a kid or isn’t capable to raising one — which resulted in a-holes attacking Lisa’s residence.

33. Candidates who can defend what they’re saying after saying non-sense publicly. What a dream.

34. Jellyfish. Yes, Mac did mention it’s the one thing she’s worried about.

35. Will, one second he agreed to compromise the news he’s delivering hoping that it would protect him from getting fired, another second he’s mad someone doesn’t want Mac producing the debate show, with the consequence of losing the debate in the end.

36. The final episode is closing the loose thread on the illegal domestic surveillance on phones done to tamper or obtain evidence at the request of Reese. I am interested to read further about Britain’s World of the News case.

37. The Maggie-Jim-Don-Lisa thing. It’s why I haven’t mentioned their dynamics before because it’s…ugh…in case someone needs a TLDR (or myself needs to be reminded): Don and Maggie were dating before the season began. Maggie was feeling empty, not being paid attention to, and Don was sort of patronising in some way. They both fought, broke up, and made up multiple times, which we didn’t get to see more. However I think toward the end, Don was serious about Maggie so Don asked Maggie to move in with her. Lisa was introduced to Jim and Jim was being polite and not knowing how to refuse or be honest. Jim wanted to do a do-over and really started building relationship with Lisa as if they weren’t forced to meet and talk to each other. Lisa had already felt that Jim was into Maggie but both Maggie and Jim denied they ever had feelings for each other. At this point, both Jim and Maggie are in the wrong, obviously, right? They want the news to be truthful yet. Mackenzie however see things right through everything and knew how the OTP should be like (come on, please tell me any of you remember what OTP means back then) as if she’s one of the people watching the show.

38. Another jab at those who adamantly claim that the country (you know which are they talking about) was established as a Christian nation when in fact none of the Founding Fathers said so and in reality, they weren’t healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the weakest, and never pray in private.

39. The Sex and the City tour bus.

40. Sloan talking about “The Greater Fool”

“The Greater Fool is actually an economic term…For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool — someone who will buy long (term asset) and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego, to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.”

And one final banger.

“Ideological purity. Compromise as weakness. A fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism. Denying science. Unmoved by science. Undeterred by new information. A hostile fear of progress. A demonization of education. A need to control women’s body. Severe xenophobia. Tribal mentality. Intolerance of dissent. Pathological hatred of [ ] government….”

—

The show gave me high hopes that journalism does actually inform the people about the different sides of things; the things that have gone unreported or deliberately covered up; the people, ideas, and arguments that need to be heard. Media can be for entertainment, yes, but not all concerning humanity should be treated as a game for politics, who got it all right all along. Media can corner someone when they lie, when they don’t have enough information to back their statements. They blow news up to make more people aware not because they want to use it to gain advantage or support individual or party’s views.

Instead, we have whatever this fear-mongering shit show masquerading as a reliable truth-teller, holding us back from being a great country that cares of its people.

Will: “Ask me your idiot question, again”

Jennifer: reluctantly replies “What makes our country the greatest country in the world?”

Will: “…you do.”