# The Newsroom (2012)

> A cable news anchor and his new executive producer fight to report the news well inside a newsroom squeezed by corporate and commercial pressure.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/14567

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 25
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Aaron Sorkin
- Network: HBO
- Cast: Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, Sam Waterston
- TMDB rating: 8.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1870479/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: none
- Tone: witty, idealistic, earnest, brisk, sincere

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim the series for its sharp, idealistic writing and strong lead performances, though its preachy tendencies draw complaints.

## Synopsis

The Newsroom (2012-2014) is an HBO prestige drama created by Aaron Sorkin, a three-season serialized workplace drama about a nightly cable news program. Jeff Daniels plays anchor Will McAvoy, a veteran newsman whose on-air persona has grown cynical, and Emily Mortimer plays MacKenzie McHale, his new executive producer and former flame, who wants to rebuild the broadcast around facts and principle. Around them, John Gallagher Jr. and Alison Pill play producers whose reporting collides with ratings demands, corporate owners, and the constant pressure of breaking stories on a deadline. The engine of the series is the everyday fight to get a story right before the cameras roll: scripts rewritten in the control room, research tested against a skeptical boss, and a team that keeps trying to do good journalism while a commercial network asks for something louder. Episodes are built around the news of the day, with each season running as one continuing story across ten, nine and six episodes. Sorkin's signature walk-and-talk dialogue gives the show a brisk, witty, idealistic energy, with moments of earnest sincerity and personal romantic tension woven through the office politics. Its political heat and fast verbal rhythm will appeal to fans of Sports Night, The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

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