During the 2016 election I watched reruns of The West Wing and found it relaxing, to be able to visualize a government run in a human and intelligent way. Last night, looking for something to watch, I spotted The Newsroom on HBO and thought I would give it a try. Perfect choice. Another Sorkin show, a bit dated, in terms of tech very dated, but who cares. It's a bunch of actors, some good and famous reading Sorkin dialog about how news would work if it worked well. I've just watched the first three episodes, it's an incredible antidote to the way news is these days. Highly recommended, and as I step through it I expect to have more to say. BTW, it's available for streaming on Amazon.#

A bingeing update. I wrote that I really liked The Morning Show on Apple, but when I picked it up again, starting with episode 4, I couldn't stand it. It was like a bad soap opera. One word: Insipid. Too bad because the actors are great and they had lots of money to do it right. The story is childish and the dialog is embarrassing. Those are also some of my criticisms of The Newsroom (see above) but there is substance in that show and the writing is pure Sorkin, so it's funny to think the actors are just saying what Sorkin told them to say. Like Leo and Bartlet, Josh and CJ. Except not them, other people. And lots of lessons about journalism. For example Chuck Todd is lying when he says he didn't get that the Repubs were always lying on his air. How do I know? Because the fourth episode of The Newsroom is all about Repubs openly lying. And that was a non-journalist writing, at least nine years ago. If Sorkin could figure it out, so could Chuck Todd. He's playing us, badly and we'd be foolish to accept him at face value. #