The Newsroom: The Complete First Season Blu-ray (review)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Newsroom-The-Complete-First-Season-Blu-ray/54209/#Review

DigiPack / Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy
HBO | 2012 | Season 1 | 610 min | Rated TV-MA | Jun 11, 2013 (New Release)

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List price: $79.98, Price history:
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The Newsroom: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Review
"Can you say why 'The Newsroom' is one of the best new shows on TV?"
Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, June 13, 2013

Aaron Sorkin is a man on a mission. And, no, not a political mission, even though The Newsroom is one of the most politically assertive, perhaps even aggressive television series since, well, The West Wing, yet another sharply penned, fiercely acted, confidently produced show from the mind of Sorkin. Instead, his is a mission to blur the line between fiction, reality and idealism; to create a socially minded series worth mulling over, discussing, debating and, above all, enjoying, regardless of one's political leanings. Of course, hardline conservatives and right-wing ideologues, particularly those who hang on Fox News' every word or bleed Tea Party red (please note the or before raising hell this early in the review), won't find much to enjoy in The Newsroom, no matter how desperately it plants itself in the center aisle or extols bipartisanship and transparency. Those sitting center-right, though, and obviously anyone to the left of center-right, will find Sorkin's impassioned indictment of 24-hour News and provocative assessment of the U.S. political arena to be a wry, entertaining, timely look at the way things are and, more importantly, the way things could be.

Snip: The Newsroom offers a broader appeal than its "America isn't the greatest country in the world anymore" opening volley suggests. In fact, it's Sorkin's signature writing style and rapidfire dialogue -- not the series' political wranglings -- that are by far the most divisive elements of the show. Adore textbook Sorkin? You're already well on your way to eating up every minute of The Newsroom. Not that reinvention and innovation isn't on the table. Rather than construct a typical narrative, Sorkin has devised a more intriguing structure. Each episode focuses on a separate major news story, some weeks removed from the last, and leaves much of what occurs in between to the imagination. Almost immediately, a legitimate sense of passing time becomes evident. Relationships stagnate. Tensions simmer without incident. Little changes. Until, that is, the arrival of another story serves as a professional catalyst with very real personal consequences. Ethics are tested. Integrity is challenged. Friendships strengthen or crumble. Conflicts rage. The status quo is altered. For as much criticism as Sorkin and his writers endured over the first season's character tangents -- the romances, the ex-romances, the new romances -- they forged a convincing workplace, a squabbling band of similarly-minded idealists, and a familiar reality: sometimes life doesn't exist outside of work, and the two become one.

More crucial to the series is the showrunners' handling of the newsroom itself. Ripping back the curtain on 24-Hour News, its follies and flaws, its benefits and costs, Sorkin uses a diverse cross section of recent historical events, cultural developments and political movements, both domestic and international -- from the rise of the Tea Party to the U.S. debt ceiling, the BP oil spill, voter ID laws, the Fukushima earthquake, the run-up to the Primary Elections, and the raid on Osama Bin Laden's Pakistani compound -- to examine U.S. policies and practices, emerging (oft-times troubling) trends in the political sphere, and the complex relationship between the public and its news sources. Yes, there are missteps and distractions along the way. The tiresome "high on the air" subplot that graces one episode (and its fallout). The amount of screentime devoted to Jim and Maggie's will-they-or-won't-they dating lives. And Will's card-carrying Republican status, which is too often more of a contrivance for balance's sake than a tool for providing insight into the beliefs and positions of the Party proper. Even so, The Newsroom is so thought-provoking, so funny, so topical, so unflinching, so moving and so infectious that anything but excitement over the series' upcoming second season almost seems hypersensitive or reactionary.

Snip: The Newsroom: The Complete First Season Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

Audio Commentaries (Discs 1-4): Five solid commentaries are available across the first season's ten episodes: "We Just Decided To" with creator/executive producer/writer Aaron Sorkin, executive producer Alan Poul and co-executive producer/director Greg Mottola; "The 112th Congress" with Sorkin and actors Jeff Daniels (Will) and Sam Waterson (Charlie); "I'll Try to Fix You" with Sorkin, Poul and actress Emily Mortimer (MacKenzie); "Bullies" with Poul, Daniels and actress Olivia Munn (Sloan); and "The Greater Fool" with Sorkin, Poul, Daniels, Mortimer, Waterson and actors Thomas Sadoski (Don) and Alison Pill (Maggie).

Inside the Episodes (Discs 1-4, HD, 33 minutes): Each episode is paired with a three to six-minute featurette detailing the stories, characters, plot developments and production of the series.

Deleted Scenes (Discs 1-4, HD, 6 minutes): Five decent deleted scenes, most of which are somewhat redundant extensions. I'm surprised there isn't more. Sorkin is either precise or selective.

Roundtable (Disc 4, HD, 26 minutes): Sorkin, Daniels, Mortimer, Waterson, Poul and Mottola discuss their experiences shooting the first season in this entertaining, informative and exclusive roundtable conversation.

Mission Control (Disc 4, HD, 5 minutes): A quick trip behind-the-scenes offers a look at the set of Newsroom.

FULL review and specs at link.

[applegrove]

1. I love that show. Just watched it on

dvd. For anyone who is a news junkie it is addicting.