Home » The Newsroom: Invitation To The Set

The Newsroom: Invitation To The Set

by Charlie Harwood
7 comments 204 views

Try Max Now
thenewsroom-300x186With Game of Thrones going strong and Season 5 of True Blood just around the corner, we haven’t heard a whole lot of publicity from HBO about Aaron Sorkin’s new drama The Newsroom. Even though promotion for the show hasn’t been widespread, HBO is proving time and time again why they are the best at bringing consistent top-tier cable programming. For the third series trailer, HBO released another promotional video in their Invitation to the Set series focusing on The Newsroom. Set to premiere the new drama on June 24, which is only a few weeks away, the new trailer gives us a good look into the show where the previous ones have not. A few weeks ago, I posted a complete casting preview for The Newsroom; however, this time around we have more interesting and new material to speculate on.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the series, it is about a fictional news anchor named Will McAvoy (Daniels) and focuses on everything that goes on behind “good evening”. Aaron Sorkin’s brings his usual witty humor and political satire, but this time into the world of mainstream media and journalism. Set behind-the-scenes at the fictional cable news network Atlantic Cable News, lead anchor Will McAvoy is struggling to report quality news on his nightly show “News Night”. Emily Mortimer plays his new executive producer Mackenzie McHale and her character is deeply concerned with how the news is presented each night. Rounding out the rest of the newsroom staff are Maggie (Alison Pill), Jim (John Gallagher, Jr.), Sloan (Olivia Munn), Neal (Dev Patel), Don (Thomas Sadoski), and their boss Charlie (Sam Waterston). Quoting show creator Aaron Sorkin, “the show isn’t just about the news; it’s about the personal lives of the people who are working in this new studio.” It’s a complex web of breaking news and relationships. The Newsroom tells the story of how a major news corporation puts together a show amidst all the controversy, conflicts, and clashing personalities that takes place behind the scenes.

Jeff-Daniels-Newsroom-224x300What is really interesting to me about the new trailer is the description of the set. We have never known HBO to cut costs right? In order to be THE premiere cable channel, they don’t cut costs and they don’t skimp. The current show dominating HBO’s ratings, Game of Thrones, spares no expense when it comes to creating a believable environment for viewers to witness. The costumes, filming locations, and set designs are superb and it’s part of the reason that show is doing so well. For The Newsroom, it looks as though HBO is taking the same approach. Production Designer Richard Hoover explains that they decided to create a fictional version of a complete news network bullpen, studio, and control room. The amount of work put in and the accuracy of the set makes it function like an actual news studio. Jeff Daniels even humorously exaggerates the capabilities when he says all they need is an antenna on the roof and they could broadcast.

As a fan of Sorkin’s work, I am pretty enthused about this show. I think it looks like a great mix of politics and humor that we don’t see too often with any other writer. I’m interested to see how the cast works together to bring this fictional news team to life. Staring June 24, we will all get a chance to see for ourselves. Don’t miss out!

Try Max Now

Related Posts

7 comments

Jef May 18, 2012 - 12:43 pm

I am getting more and more intrerested in this show as it gets closer.

My biggest problem is going to be actually sittikng down to watch it as I don’t sit around and watch TV when I can be out enjoying summer nights! I will most likely watch it on HBOGO when it fits my time schedule.

Reply
LEvi May 18, 2012 - 9:27 am

I wonder how Sorkin gets his insider information on each of these worlds. I’m thinking he has a broad idea of the people that inhabit this world and just works on their personal stories like he mentions and then brings on consultants or writers who have worked in those environments a la sports show, sketch comedy, white house etc…

Reply
Charlie Harwood May 18, 2012 - 9:51 am

He did his research by shadowing actual news shows. I talk about it in my casting preview: https://hbowatch.com/casting-preview-for-aaron-sorkins-the-newsroom/

Reply
Charlie Harwood May 18, 2012 - 9:52 am

“While researching for The Newsroom, Sorkin did his due diligence. As an off-camera guest, he observed MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann in order to observe the show’s production and even threw a few questions at Parker Spitzer‘s staff while a guest on his show. Additionally, Sorkin sat-in on Hardball with Chris Matthews, as well as various other news programs on Fox News Channel and CNN.”

Reply
movies grab May 18, 2012 - 9:02 am

thanks for the news….

Reply
Charlie Harwood May 18, 2012 - 9:24 am

Thanks for the thanks. haha. Bringing you good news is what we do!

The new trailer was embedded but there were problems on my end. You can click the link at the bottom to watch it until the vid gets put back up. Sorry bout that.

Reply
Jacob Klein May 18, 2012 - 9:34 am

Fixed. Newsroom trailer back in business!

Reply

Leave a Comment


Adblock Detected

Please support us by disabling your Ad Blocker extension from your browsers for our website.