The Newsroom on DVD

I know that I am supposed to be doing movie reviews, but I feel that this is good enough that it deserves a special mention.  This week the first season of HBO's The Newsroom was released on DVD.  While this show does not receive the pomp and circumstance of other past and present HBO staples such as The Wire, The Sopranos and Game of Thrones, this may very well become the best show HBO has.  This show was created by the world's greatest living screenwriter in Aaron Sorkin and he also serves as executive producer.  Every time he has done that on TV he has hit a home run.  He has created The West Wing, one of the ten best drama shows of all time, and two of the most underrated shows of all time in Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

I will admit, when I first saw commercials for the Newsroom, I was convinced I would not enjoy this show largely because I have never been a fan of Jeff Daniels.  He's been in some of my favorite movies like Dumb and Dumber, State of Play, and Traitor but he has always been a supporting guy, never the star.  In this he stars as news anchor Will McAvoy, who early in the first episode is described as the Jay Leno of news anchors in that he is popular for never bothering anyone.  While I may not normally be a fan of Jeff Daniels, he carried this show with a tremendous performance in every episode and he had me hooked from the first scene of the first episode, and this incredible monologue:

This speech on whether or not America is the greatest country in the world is not only provocative, it is legitimately though provoking.  Jeff Daniels in this show is incredible and earned the Golden Globe nomination for this show.  What is a travesty is that his co-star, the always talented Emily Mortimer, did not earn a Golden Globe nomination for her turn as executive producer, and Will's former girlfriend, MacKenzie McHale.  Together they turn their show around and turn it in to a news show that they can be proud of and together tackle many recent real news stories such as the BP oil spill, the killing of Osama bin Laden, and the Tea Party takeover.

What makes me impressed about this show is how great the cast is from top to bottom.  Every member of this cast does a great job no matter how big or small their roles are, and Sorkin does a great job of giving everyone their moment to shine.  Whether it is little known actor Dev Patel, who plays a blogger who wants to become a producer, or Alison Pill who goes from being Will's assistant to a producer or Olivia Munn who plays an economist who works on Will's show, every young and relatively unknown cast member in this show is amazing.  The one that I love the most though is Sam Waterston, the former star of Law and Order, who plays Will's boss.  He does an incredible job and also deserved nominations for his performance in this show.

Unlike other Aaron Sorkin creations like The West Wing and The American President, where he shows his incredible left wing bias, Sorkin does a great job of creating a right wing character he can be unbiased at most all situations.  I love how this show lacks the political skew it could have taken.  It is in my opinion the best show that premiered in the year 2012 and is one of the 5 best shows currently running on television, along with Dexter, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Game of Thrones (not particularly in that order).  If you missed this show find a way to watch it because you are missing out, and I promise you will not regret it.