This is one of the new shows I can’t wait to dive into. With heavy hitters like Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston, you know HBO has a winner. Make sure you tune in and don’t miss out on what I’m predicting will be one of the best things to happen to HBO. The Newsroom debuts June 24th at 10PM ET/PT only on HBO.
NEW DRAMA SERIES THE NEWSROOM, STARRING JEFF DANIELS AND EMILY MORTIMER, CREATED BY AARON SORKIN, DEBUTS JUNE 24, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO
JOHN GALLAGHER, JR., ALISON PILL, THOMAS SADOSKI, DEV PATEL, OLIVIA MUNN AND SAM WATERSTON ALSO STAR
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Aaron Sorkin, Scott Rudin And Alan Poul Executive Produce
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A favorite with viewers, news anchor Will McAvoy has found a safe niche with bankable ratings on his 8:00 p.m. flagship cable show, “News Night.” Numbed by success, McAvoy has become stoic, complacent, cynical – content not to rock the boat as he delivers the nightly news straight down the middle of the road – dialing it in as he avoids ruffling feathers with anything resembling politics. What fire he still has, he reserves for the cutting sarcasm and general unpleasantness that earn him no fans with his news team.
In a literal blink of an eye – or perhaps an optical illusion – McAvoy is catapulted from apathy to engagement when a spontaneous outburst leads him to tackle the principles of American patriotism in a public forum. Surviving the professional fallout from his unexpected tirade following an enforced vacation, McAvoy returns to work to discover that most of his staff has jumped ship for another show and is forced to work with several new team members brought onboard during his absence.
McAvoy’s boss, Charlie Skinner, the unapologetically old-school president of ACN’s news division, laments the changing face of the news. Setting the stage for Will’s return to the standard set by news legends such as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, Charlie covertly orchestrates the hiring of Will’s new executive producer, the one person who can restore Will’s passion and bring the best out of him – whether Will wants it or not.
Will’s new executive producer is MacKenzie McHale, back from 26 months embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan. MacKenzie was once romantically involved with Will and knows the idealism he has buried beneath a veneer of apathy and cynicism. With their shared past, she knows exactly how good he can be. Even more unsettling for him, she challenges Will to abandon the successful, middle-of-the-road approach that has made him so popular with bothsides of the aisle, and realize his full potential by delivering the news with integrity.
Also imposed upon Will are Jim Harper, Margaret Jordan, Don Keefer, Neal Sampat and Sloan Sabbith, the newsroom staff. Although this group finds itself off to a tumultuous start when breaking news comes over the wire, they immediately come together for one elusive goal: to do TV news well. Jim Harper is MacKenzie’s loyal senior show producer. Though only 27 years old, Jim is more like the old-school reporter Charlie than he is like his contemporaries. He finds himself instantly smitten with Margaret Jordan, a young intern-turned-associated producer, who is already in a relationship with Don Keefer, Will’s former executive producer. Neal Sampat, a young, resourceful self-made newsman writes Will’s blog and scours the Internet for stories, often finding leads his colleagues have missed. Sloan Sabbith is ACN’s financial news analyst.
Created by Aaron Sorkin (Oscar® winner for writing “The Social Network,” executive producer and writer of the multiple Emmy® winner “The West Wing”), the new HBO drama series THE NEWSROOM follows the news team on their quixotic mission to reclaim the legacy of Murrow and Cronkite in the face of a fickle audience,corporate mandates and tangled personal relationships. Kicking off its ten-episode season SUNDAY, JUNE 24 (10:00-11:15 p.m. ET/PT), the series is executive produced by Sorkin, Scott Rudin (the Oscar® winner “No Country for Old Men “) and Alan Poul (HBO’s multiple Emmy® winner “Six Feet Under”).
Jeff Daniels (Golden Globe nominee for “The Squid and the Whale,” “Something Wild” and “The Purple Rose of Cairo”) stars as Will McAvoy and Emily Mortimer (“Hugo,” “Shutter Island”) stars as MacKenzie McHale.
Also starring are: Sam Waterston (Oscar® nominee for “The Killing Fields”) as Charlie Skinner; John Gallagher, Jr. (Tony winner for “Spring Awakening”) as Jim Harper; Alison Pill (HBO’s “In Treatment”) as Margaret Jordan; Thomas Sadoski (Tony nominee for “Reasons to Be Pretty”) as Don Keefer; Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”) as Neal Sampat; and Olivia Munn (“I Don’t Know How She Does It”) as Sloan Sabbith.
The series is set at the fictional cable network ACN, but the news stories being covered in the broadcast are actual past news events. THE NEWSROOM offers viewers an opportunity to return to and relive the news that made headlines as they watch it unfold for the show’s characters, who race to put together the broadcast.
Content courtesy of HBO ©2012 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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