Aaron Sorkin's Failed Idealism

By Marshall Weber 

It's almost become a chore to watch The Newsroom. The second season of Aaron Sorkin's baby has taken a step backwards and instead of fixing all the negatives from the first season, Sorkin's beefing them up and serving them on a pretentious platter. 

For those who haven't seen an episode of the show, it's pretty likely you've seen the eight minute clip of Jeff Daniel's character, Will McAvoy, explaining why America is no longer the greatest country in the world...when he's supposed to tell the group of wide eyed college students the opposite. A generic and sappy piano score accompanies Sorkin's unbearable prose that even a talented veteran actor like Daniels can't even save. To make matters worse, this painfully conceited monologue went viral in real life and was shared throughout Facebook. 

Even though he's miscast, Daniels is one of the few redeeming qualities of the show. It's unfortunate for Daniels, but the character of Will McAvoy is forced to carry Newsroom. Sorkin wrote McAvoy as the anchor, rock star, voice of reason, and the idol whom Sorkin loves presupposing you're going to fall in love with. While I'll buy Daniels as Will McAvoy the anchor, I'll sell the rest. Daniels typically plays enigmatic characters and he plays them beautifully. The Squid and The Whale is an excellent example of Daniels' niche and proof he should just stick to playing depressed curmudgeons. 

And this is the best character on the show.

English actress Emily Moritmer from Lars and the Real Girl and Our Idiot Brother, also does a commendable job at having to escape all the horrible Sorkinisms of the show as MacKenzie Morgan. As the producer of News Night and Will's main love interest, she spends the entirety of every episode looking like she's about to burst into tears. Because in Sorkin's world the women can be powerful, but they also have to be submissive and unstable. The same is the case for Alison Pill who plays associate producer Maggie Jordan, who in the first season, has one of her many major meltdowns in front of a Sex and the City tour bus, which causes her to lose both of her love interests. Cool. 

The other male characters are forgettable and uninteresting. Even Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel can't save it. Simply put, Sorkin's greatest mistake is not making you care about these characters or anything that's happening to them. You're just very uninterested in the various breakups, hookups, or whatever plotline you wish to insert. Not only are the characters poorly developed, the majority of them are so annoying and unlikable it's almost impossible to get through an episode without rolling your eyes. 

It couldn't get any worse right? 

Even some of The Newsroom's biggest fans will tell you that the characters are unlikable but they love the show for the amazingly witty dialogue and the powerful way in which the news stories of America's sort-of recent history are portrayed. 

Aaron Sorkin is the best television and screenwriter in the world for people who can't name another television or screenwriter. Spewing out intellectual concepts and delivering them like you just took down half a gram of blow isn't great television writing. It's mediocre at best. It's Sorkin's snobbish and insecure way of getting people to really like him. 

Sorkin is able to cover up his inability to write any sort of real plot in The Newsroom by putting on his Captain Hindsight costume and writing about America's most infamous news events two years after they happen. As a result, McAvoy and company are always able to hit the nail on the head with every issue. What Sorkin's telling you is that not only is Aaron Sorkin a great and moral person, but Aaron Sorkin knew the perfect answer to the problem the moment it first appeared. Good for him. 

Aaron Sorkin not only presupposes that everyone loves Aaron Sorkin's idealistic commentary, but Aaron Sorkin also thinks you're too stupid to understand dramatic plot points without the use of Coldplay's "Fix You" or The Who's "You Better You Bet". Whether it's relating to the News Night part of the show or the egregious love stories, Sorkin uses songs like these to overstate his idealistic views in the simplest way possible. 

Simply put, The Newsroom thrives on those who can't think for themselves. Those who are eager to watch a good television series but don't have the patience to sit through The Wire or Breaking Bad. Those who want a complete and easy answers to questions we are still trying to solve. The only one's foolish to buy into Sorkin's repulsive utopia probably deserve the show. The biggest Newsroom fans are the ones that want to tell you how great of a writer Sorkin is but at the same time have never heard of David Chase, Matthew Weiner, Shawn Ryan, Graham Yost, Chris Carter or Vince Gilligan. Sorkin is the fruit farmer that takes pesticide filled goods and sells them as organic.  

The thing is, I'm fine with Sorkin's screenwriting...Moneyball, A Few Good Men, and The Social Network are all great. But if his television writing is actually considered the best of American culture, maybe McAvoy is right. We aren't the greatest country in the world.