Grade: B
One of the greatest injustices of the modern era is the cancellation of “The Newsroom” so far before its due time.
OK, maybe not one of the greatest, but it’s really tragic.
HBO, one of the only television content creators still driving the medium forward in a constructive manner, is following its wallet. People don’t care as much about Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant drama, and HBO isn’t in the business of charity.
But it’s still very unfortunate.
“The Newsroom” is Sorkin at his absolute finest — rapid-fire dialogue between bold, huge characters commentating on the state of affairs in today’s media, with plenty of preachiness and editorializing, all while telling the epic tale of a man trying to get in touch with his true self in front of an audience of millions.
And because it’s HBO, Sorkin doesn’t even have to censor or tone it down like he most definitely had to do with “The West Wing.”
“The Newsroom” is raw, real and daring, all the while still being entertaining.
But people are the worst, and they don’t tune in to shows that matter, shows that really have something to say.
“The Big Bang Theory” is still on air while we watch “The Newsroom” wither and die.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
Even sadder, though, is the fact that the obvious lack of morale could be felt in Sunday night’s “Newsroom” third and final season premiere, “Boston.”
It wasn’t a bad episode by any means. I just felt the slightest breeze of Sorkin phoning it in. That might have been me just imagining how I’d be feeling in his shoes, though.
The pacing felt slightly off — and in “The Newsroom,” pacing is everything.
Maybe it was the fact that this episode, which centered around the team covering the Boston Marathon bombings, bounced around from character to character so often that I never quite got to enjoy them each long enough.
The proverbial fire in the belly that I’ve become so used to felt more like a pile of smoldering embers at times Sunday night.
The cast, led by Jeff Daniels’ brilliantly portrayed Will McAvoy, did its job just fine — the same quality that we’ve grown to love.
There were still moments, especially the wildly intense final dialogue cutting to a hard black, that restored my faith in the show.
I’m just hoping Sorkin does this show the justice it deserves and finishes it as strong and powerfully as he started it.
