The Newsroom: Season One (2012)

Creator: Aaron Sorkin

 If I were to extrapolate Aaron Sorkin's political/cultural views from this series and compare them to my own, they would compare fairly favorably. I have very few qualms with Sorkin's political views and agree wholeheartedly with most of them, yet I still have a big problem with this show, and that's because those views are never proven or argued. Sorkin's ideas and views are broadcasted loudly and literally to the audience. This is a television show that does not show, it tells. There are some great moments of wisdom from Will McAvoy or the other characters, but they only work as moments independent from the narrative. That's why the opening scene of the show went viral in our world (the blind nostalgia of that moment actually makes it one of the few things I actually don't agree with Sorkin on). It worked great as an individual scene, but in that sense it's no different from The Daily Show, which does much of what this show wants to do without the illusion of trying to be an actual drama.

While Sorkin was almost never subtle in shouting his hopeful and sometimes naive ideals there were a couple of moments that seemed to actually take place in the real world and show the difficulties of attempting to be righteous. The main one was the episode in which McAvoy goes extremely hard on a homosexual black Rick Santorum supporter, insulting the man on national television, and in the same episode Olivia Munn's character breaks journalism ethics in the pursuit of what she thinks is the truth. That episode showed that you can try too hard to make the world a better place, and that good intentions do not always result in good results. It was easily the best episode of the season in a season filled with just odd moments in which the news team would seemingly travel into the future and get information that they would use in their news reports, Sorkin was trying to make a statement on how the news should have been covered, but he was doing so frequently with the benefit of hindsight. All I've talked about so far pales in comparison though to the ambivalence I felt to the personal stories of the characters. I did not care at all if whatever-his-name got with whatever-her-name or vica versa. The relationships had almost nothing to do with the main goal of the news organizations to do the news better, not literally nor thematically (see the recently reviewed Broadcast News, or even The West Wing, if you want to know what I'm talking about). Having said all of this though, it's not a show I'd recommend, but it's a show I will continue to watch because I am deeply invested in the subject matter of the news media. And even though I like Sorkin much of the time, I also very much enjoy criticizing him.

Grade: C-

The Office: Season Eight (2012)

Showrunner: Paul Lieberstein

 I think by now it's pretty much a universally accepted idea that the Michael Scott send-off episode, "Goodbye Michael," from last season should have been the series finale of this show. The first post-Michael season has been so unambitious and left a mild taste in my mouth. I didn't hate it, because I have a connection with these characters and can always watch them, but nor did I come close to loving it. This is because there was nothing to love. The writers of this show know how to write jokes and the actors know how to deliver them consistently, but the writers have no idea how (or have no desire) to write compelling story lines for these fabulous characters.

I think the failure of this season to have any real stakes is mostly just laziness on the part of the writers. They've been at it for eight seasons, and lot of them were on their way out (like Mindy Kaling and Paul Lieberstein). So it feels like the writers are just doing the motions instead of actually flexing their creative and artistic muscles. One example is the Andy and Erin relationship. The writers tried to recycle the Pam and Jim relationship because that worked out well for them, and so the natural inclination for a business is to repeat successful strategies. It feels like the writers are making sure they save their best material for their next jobs. So the writers are getting lazy, and the actors are moving on. I guess the death of The Office is now official.

Grade: C-