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Health & Fitness

Overheard in the Newsroom

“I think it happened and I think we're two inches away from proving it.” (Charlie Skinner, The Newsroom, IMB)http://ow.ly/oNu7H

Have you been feeling a little like your on Jersey Shore overload and you just can’t take any more celebrity drama in your life...or maybe just a little bit less? A new show that has just exploded into my top five is a HBO series called, The Newsroom. While the everyday entertainment news is fun, this series has stolen my attention far away from Miley Cyrus, twerking and the likes of Justin Bieber.

While I definitely like my fair share of mindless television shows, I also enjoy engaging in shows and books that are creative, humorous and intellectually stimulating. Basically what I’m saying is I’m a bit of a nerd. I enjoy political dramas, science fiction shows and the occasional history channel on a Sunday night. As you can predict, I am consistently on the hunt for new shows that fit somewhere into that build.

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One show that has been my addiction since last summer is the new hit HBO series, The Newsroom. This show is full of political subtexts as it has chooses to tackle hot button political issues. I frequently bring up this show to many of my friends, some of who aren’t politically engaged, and who usually just brush me off since they don’t like or follow politics. However, what really set this show apart isn’t that it’s extremely political, but that it’s a fair representation of the news. Many young people seem to be turned off by politics. Maybe it’s a result of our parent’s set political beliefs, but a common trend is that young people are either sticking strong to their parents, floating somewhere in the middle or disengaging completely. This show is designed to pick up all young adults and teach them the importance of “the news” and its interest to the public.

There are numerous news broadcasts and shows that guide and shape audiences attitudes to a certain pre-determined opinion. Aaron Sorokin has established a reputation of going against this trend and throwing his audience curveballs. His name might ring a bell from his long-running political drama, The West Wing. His new series The Newsroom, has also stirred up controversy with viewers by demonstrating its fearless ways of presenting different versions of the news. For example during one broadcast, the news anchor Will uses facts presented in the broadcast to discredit the Tea Parties stance. However he also turned right back onto the democrats when they make a thoughtless argument. Unlike many news broadcasts like Fox and MSNBC, the Newsroom is about the facts and its up to the audience to make their decision. This show along with the West Wing has dragged me in and I find myself anxiously waiting every Sunday night for the next episode. 

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Being a political junkie, I am usually very picky about the kinds of shows I pick that contain political drama. With that said, this is one of the most entertaining and clever political shows I have seen since the West Wing. In many ways I connect to The Newsroom even more. After the West Wing, I had slowly been able to gain more political interest and knowledge. That knowledge made the Newsroom much more enjoyable - allowing me to recall the show’s political references to events in my time. Additionally, since the show is set a few years back, all of the events that occur are fairly current and I find myself having little flashbacks to how those situations were handled compared to how the Newsroom handles them.

While the politics and plot lines are important, the characters are what really sell this show. The writing and acting is phenomenal. I have fallen for many of the main characters including the host of the television show Will and his executive producer Mackenzie. There are young ones in the show that I can relate to, including Maggie, and some of the issues they encounter are not only humorous but realisti. For example, one of the assistants Maggie just graduated from college and can barely afford her shoe bedroom of an apartment and is financially even more burdened with college debt. One her first day with the new executive producer Mackenzie, she gets thrown into the business and has to work on the fly. She has common “freak out” moments that are hilarious and she also makes a lot of mistakes. This is refreshing because it shows a more realistic portrayal of the life of an intern or beginning assistant. (However, I did think that her promotion was given a little too fast.) 

While this is no call to arms, I highly encourage any type of audience member to try an episode or two. I can say that I actually feel better seeing others debate issues the truthful way and forgoing biased news.  In my opinion, the news can’t make a difference unless there is a great team to make it happen. I am encouraged each week by this team’s fearless drive to purse the truth.

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