HBO Home Entertainment has officially announced and detailed the Blu-ray release of creator Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom: The Complete First Season. Sorkin's sharply penned sociopolitical drama stars Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn and Sam Waterston, and arrives on Blu-ray on June 11th.
Synopsis: Nominated for two Golden Globe awards -- Best Television Series Drama and Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series (Jeff Daniels) -- The Newsroom follows the ACN 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. News anchor Will McAvoy (Daniels), the "Jay Leno of News Anchors," 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 and cynical, content to avoid rocking the boat as he delivers the nightly news straight down the middle of the road.
In a literal blink of an eye, though, McAvoy is catapulted from apathy to engagement when a spontaneous outburst leads him to tackle the principles of American patriotism in a public forum prompting his staff to jump ship. Setting the stage for Will's return, his boss Charlie (Waterson) covertly orchestrates the hiring of his ex-girlfriend, MacKenzie McHale (Mortimer), as his new executive producer. 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 both sides of the aisle, and realize his full potential by delivering the news with integrity.
Also starring are: 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; Olivia Munn (I Don't Know How She Does It) as Sloan Sabbith; and two-time Academy Award winner Jane Fonda (Klute, Coming Home) as ACN's corporate owner.
Special features include:
The Rundown: Sorkin, Daniels, Mortimer, Waterson, executive producer Alan Poul and co-executive producer Greg Mottola detail their experiences shooting the first season in this exclusive conversation
Five Audio Commentaries with Sorkin, Poul, Daniels, Waterston, Mortimer and others
Mission Control: Behind-the-scenes look at the state-of-the-art sets with the cast and crew
Inside the Episodes: Inside perspectives with revealing interviews from Sorkin
Best new show on TV. And it looks like the release date is tied into the start of the second season on HBO. But those three trailers above are limp. They have none of the meat of the show that makes it so good: the reporting on the shooting of Gabby Gifford, the killing of Osama bin Laden, the American Taliban (aka the Tea Party), etc. Sure hope the hiring of the Repub consultants doesn't water down how great the show is.
@ nathanp - Well if a movement concerned primarily with fiscal responsibility in an era of trillion-dollar annual deficits and looming national insolvency is commonly thought of as the equivalent of a political party that provided safe haven for mass-murdering terrorists and routinely oppressed, tortured, and murdered women, I think I'll be emigrating to Canada.
Tell me anything that is incorrect from the list read on the show:
Will McAvoy:
"Ideological purity
Compromise as weakness
A fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism
Denying science
Unmoved by facts
Undeterred by new information
A hostile fear of progress
A demonization of education
A need to control women’s bodies
Severe xenophobia
Tribal mentality
Intolerance of dissent
A pathological hatred of the US government
They can call themselves the Tea Party. They can call themselves Conservatives. And they can even call themselves Republicans. Though Republican’s certainly shouldn’t. But we should call them what they are: The American Taliban."
@ bluskies - This will be my last comment in this thread so it doesn't get derailed, but as someone who attended 3 Tea Party events, what you "think is accurate" couldn't be further from the truth. It's a primarily socially libertarian, fiscally conservative movement, so comparing it to a bunch of Islamic radicals promoting Sharia Law makes absolutely no sense, even if the intent is strictly humorous.
Just saw your updated post, so I'll update mine:
Ideological purity - In terms of the government living within its means, yes.
Compromise as weakness - We're 16.5 trillion in the hole with 100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. We don't have a choice but to get our fiscal house in order.
A fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism - Nope. Not even close. The Tea Party has never been about social or religious issues.
Denying science - If you mean they oppose a government-instituted cap-and-trade system which will raise the cost of energy through the roof, then yes.
Unmoved by facts - You'll have to be a little less vague.
Undeterred by new information - Again, a little less vague please.
A hostile fear of progress - Towards European-style socialism which has bankrupted that continent? Yes, I'm afraid. I'm very afraid.
A demonization of education - Nope. Just public sector unions who offer a lousy education in exchange for unsustainable pensions and health care benefits(see Illinois and California).
A need to control women’s bodies - Again, the Tea Party has never been preoccupied with social issues. They're mostly libertarian which means they're likely pro-choice, but oppose taxpayer funding for any of it.
Severe xenophobia - Opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants isn't xenophobic.
Tribal mentality - Not based on the Tea Parties I've been to.
Intolerance of dissent - Again, not based on the Tea Parties I've been to.
A pathological hatred of the US government - The current government? I wouldn't use the term "pathological", but considering this week the big story is how our President is ordering the assassinations of American citizens, can you fault any of them for feeling a little uneasy?
In answer to your reply, took awhile but I wanted to get some exact quotes from someof your fellow Tea Party members...
Ideological purity - This can also tie into compromise...any compromise...as a betrayal of what they believe in. No gun control. No tax increases for the rich.
Compromise as weakness - The Tea Party members of the Congress believe in "My way or the highway." Rush Limbaug refers to himself as a member of the "No Surrender" Party. Republicans and Democrats in Congress know from years that somewhere in the middle is where things get done. Tea Party members are willing to let us go off the fiscal cliff and to let this government shut down.
A fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism - Shall I bring up Christine O'Donnell's quote on how evolution isn't real?
Unmoved by facts - Shall I bring up Todd Akin's belief that during rape women won't get pregnant because their bodies will shut down that part.?
Undeterred by new information – Shall we mention the Tea Party refusing to accept that President Obama was born in America, though his birth certificate has been shown, that government officials in Hawaii say he was born there. Let’s go to the source, TeaPartyNation.com: “There are a lot of questions about Obama’s birth. Why doesn’t Obama simply release his birth certificate? Why did the Obama Regime feel it necessary to release an obviously forged photoshopped version of the birth certificate? The forgery was so bad that Photoshop experts and questioned document examiners quickly picked it apart. Why did Obama’s literary agent, beginning in 1991 and for years afterwards, state in promotional materials that Barack Obama was born in Kenya? Obama’s penchant for secrecy extends throughout his life, including his college records. Many people have asked how someone who was a self admitted poor student get into first Occidental College, then Columbia University and finally Harvard Law School?”
A hostile fear of progress - First, we are talking about a party which has members who dress up in Continental uniforms. A party that thinks that universal healthcare, which is standard in almost every country in the world, including Canada and England, is Marxist socialism.
A demonization of education – Cutting billions from or dismantling the Department of Education. Yes, they are against unions, but there are many reasons for that, which could be discussed another time. Michelle Bachmann thinks that schools should be teaching Christian creationism in public schools.
A need to control women’s bodies – The Tea Party supported pro-life politicians, which led to a heavy Tea Party victory in 2010. Which led to many Republican governors across the country outlawing abortion in their states.
Severe xenophobia – “anyone that is a Muslim is a threat to this country, and that’s a fact” Wes Harris, the founder and chairman of the Original North Phoenix Tea Party. And if we were to discuss racism, it would take a lot of space here.
Tribal mentality – one definition: “people are more loyal to their tribe than to their friends, their country, or any other social group”. This can be seen in the following.
Intolerance of dissent - "Again, not based on the Tea Parties I've been to." Ever seen the clip of Tim Profitt, a Rand Paul supporter, stomping on the head of a female dissenter lying on the ground, giving her a concussion? Ever seen the clip of Edward Kimmel walking through a Tea Party rally being booed loudly by everyone because he carried a sign that said “Public Option Now” where he had police surrounding him to protect him?
A pathological hatred of the US government – belief that the government is coming for your guns. That the government will have “death panels”. That the government in building internment camps for its citizens. Paranoia: “Towards European-style socialism which has bankrupted that continent?” (Need I say more?) As to the “Assassination of Americans”, you fail to mention that it is regarding Americans who have joined terrorist groups to cause destruction to the United States of America and death to our people.
Well, this got Political quick... and considering the material, I understand why. I'd rather not comment on the political side of things, I'd just like to say, I can't wait for this show's release.
Adam_ME - Good luck with that Canadian emigration plan. Canada politically, even with the conservatives in charge, is well left of the U.S. in nearly every respect. They tend to care about one another and support a strong social safety net. They also have real universal healthcare there, not the watered down corporate run insurance we have. If it wasn't so cold up there I'd have moved to Canada a long time ago. But if you think Canada is some tea bagger "free market" utopia you know nothing about that country.
Sounds like you'd fit in better in someplace like Somalia where there is no government to "oppress" you.
Adam_ME - If tea baggers are not about hardline social issues why do ALL of their elected politicians start passing hardline right-wing laws the second they come to power? We see this in state after state. Every place a tea bagger majority takes power extreme anti-abortion, anti-immigration and overall anti-woman laws are immediately passed. During the years of 2010-2011 after tea baggers took over many state legislatures the number of anti-choice legislation increased by several hundred percent. By and large elected tea party politicians are religious kooks who think the bible is for real. It's nothing more than a 2,000+ year old $cam. For crying out loud we have tea bagger politicians seriously claiming Earth is only a few thousand years old and dinosaur bones are a creation of Satan. These tea party politicians need psychiatric help.
And lets not forget the biggest waste of taxpayer funding there is - "defense." Not only do tea baggers not want ANY cuts in government spending to defense, and yes defense is government sending, they want to INCREASE spending on it. In many cases we're wasting billions on crap that even military leaders come out and admit we don't need. Once you guys start talking about cuts to our massively bloated defense budget I might take you seriously when it comes to cuts in other areas.
Thanks for the comments about Canada. I forgot to remark about his "Just public sector unions who offer a lousy education in exchange for unsustainable pensions and health care benefits(see Illinois and California)."
As someone who was born and raised in Canada, the Canadian healthcare system was fantastic. And as far as saying Canada has a lousy education system, I disagree. I was educated there and I would say I have an excellent IQ. And you would be surprised at the education level of people here in California, where I now live as a proud U.S. citizen. True, there are the cliches of valley girls and Hollywood types. But I have as my friends some very smart people. And I think that we are about 90% liberal here is based on being smart enough to know what's right and what's wrong...and that we are living now in the 21st Century, not 1950.
Chad, you mentioned "anti-abortion, anti-immigration and overall anti-woman laws"...but you forgot one...voter suppression. They know they can't win based on ther policies, so they try to fix elections. One of the biggest they are doing now is the state-by-state destruction of unions. The Repub governors claim unions hurt businesses...but the actual fact is one simple thing: Unions support Dem campaigns. Corporations support Repub campaigns. So, get rid of unions and their funding, and you win every election, forever and ever.
Ideological purity/Compromise as weakness - Do you have any clue what's going on in our government? The fiscal cliff deal just negotiated by both parties included tax hikes. And not just on "the rich", but on 77% of working Americans since the payroll tax holiday was eliminated. And in return, do you know how much in spending cuts conservatives got? Zero. In fact, spending actually went up. Sure sounds like the Dems gave up nothing and got everything they wanted, not the Tea Party or GOP.
A fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism - Again, this has nothing to do with the Tea Party. I went to 3 Tea Parties over a span of a year and I never once heard any attendee or speaker talk about social issues or religion. Well, aside from Americans being "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" which if that offends you says way more about you than any Tea Party member. With regard to O'Donnell's views on evolution, a Gallup poll just last year showed only 15% of Americans believe in evolution without any divine intervention.
Unmoved by facts - Todd Akin was not the Tea Party candidate in that Missouri race. Sarah Steelman was. And every Republican and conservative in the country(aside from Mike Huckabee) begged Akin to bail on the race after his stupid remark, but his ego(and wife) got the better of him.
Undeterred by new information – I think you're confusing the Tea Party with the Birther movement. There may be some incidental crossover, but those are mutually exclusive groups. And do you realize how many Tea Party chapters there are in the nation? If you're gonna smear the entire movement with a few randomly selected quotes, then I suppose I can do the same with the entire Democrat Party since it has its share of 9/11 truthers who think Bush bombed the WTC.
A hostile fear of progress - Tea Partiers dress up in Continental uniforms? Ok, what about the Obama supporters last fall who dressed up as vaginas and binders? As for universal healthcare, we think it's an inferior, less efficient, and less accessable alternative to a free market system. And given the huge majority in this country opposed to single payer, it ain't just the Tea Party who feel that way.
A demonization of education – Our public education system has gotten worse since the creation of the Dept. of Education. This despite consistently increasing the amount of federal funding in the last 30+ years. Our government spends more per student than any industrialized nation in the world and gets little in return. So there's no corolation whatsoever between a massively funded federal bureaucracy and a quality public education.
A need to control women’s bodies – Where is abortion outlawed in America? Name me one state. If you're referring to laws passed that require parental notification or defunding Planned Parenthood(which uses taxpayer dollars for abortions despite their constant lies about only allocating the funds for mammograms), I hate to break it to you, but those are policies that enjoy widespread support in the states where they've been passed.
Severe xenophobia – Again, you're going to take one quote from one Tea Party member and smear millions of people as guilty by association? So does this mean I can take a remark made by any Democrat politician or supporter and say that person speaks for the entire party? That's a dangerous road to go down.
Intolerance of dissent - Ok, how about Kenneth Gladney, a black Tea Party member, who was assaulted by two other black people(who were members of the SEIU public sector union BTW) and called the N-word. Gladney ended up in the hospital. Were those SEIU folks tolerant of his dissent? How about conservative speakers at college campuses who are routinely shouted down and protested until many of their engagements have to be canceled outright? Sound like tolerance to you?
A pathological hatred of the US government – The government isn't going after guns? Have you seen what they did in NY recently? Only allowing a maximum of 7 bullets loaded in a gun? I'm sure all the criminals and gun-crazed madmen will be first in line to adhere to that stupid and arbitrary new law. I like how you never even attempted to dispute that Europe(or the US) is broke. How do you like those 25% unemployment rates in Greece and Spain? The latter country BTW got to that point partly because of heavy government subsidizing of green energy which ended up costing more jobs than it created. Sound familiar to what we're doing here? Death panels? You mean the Independent Payment Advisory Board created by Obamacare? A 15-member panel of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats whose sole responsibility is to keep Medicare costs down. Gee, I wonder how they'll manage that feat. The word rationing comes to mind. Which is already happening BTW in Britain with the NHS. You know, where they have that wonderful universal healthcare system you champion. As far as the assassinations of American citizens, you explain to me why Obama ordered a drone strike killing a 16 year-old American kid from Denver who by all accounts was in no way affiliated with any terrorist organizations. And no, having a father who was a suspected terrorist(who had already been killed 2 weeks earlier) is not justification for murdering an American minor.
