If you haven’t yet noticed, HBO has been trying to create original content. This summer alone, they’ve launched two original series. The first was Girls which I wrote about previously. This weekend, the third episode of their new series The Newsroom aired. It’s a original show about politics and how news comes about in newsrooms.
Above is the trailer for the show. The main clip where main character Will McAvoy gives statistics to state why he thinks America isn’t the greatest country in the world anymore is from the opening scene of the first episode. A lot of people have come out criticizing the show saying that there is still a lot for Americans to be proud of. I would agree with them. There’s plenty to be proud of and just as much where we could do better. What this show does is get people thinking. It gets people talking about real issues. It’s inspired people to write about what they love about this country. This kind of stuff unites people because we can relate to their experiences.
Don’t get me wrong I love reality TV and all the drama it brings. However, I think that entertainment like this is great because, even if it’s not all based on facts, it exposes people who don’t normally follow politics to what’s going on in Washington.
The Newsroom is being received negatively same way that Girls was. People criticized it as far-fetched, but they were just out of touch with the demographic Lena Dunham, Girls’ writer and creator, was portraying. I believe the same is happening with Newsroom. It’s not a show about Zombies (I just started watching The Walking Dead, however) or some reality show skewed to create drama for viewers. The show is refreshing. Just like every actual news show, you shouldn’t agree with everything, you should take the information given, maybe investigate the topic more yourself, and formulate your own opinion.
It’s definitely a show worth watching even if you’re not politics because they also have relationship issues and how it affects people’s professional lives. The Newsroom airs Sunday nights on HBO and I will be watching religiously.