Tag: news

My 2012 on The Internet, Good and Bad

A year ended last week — a year in which I spent a full 3% of my life. That may well have been the last 2012 I will ever experience. A sobering thought.

I completely forgot I had done a postmortem for 2011, which makes a great springboard for this year’s version! And it’s gonna be a long one.

Continue reading “My 2012 on The Internet, Good and Bad” →

Saw It For You: The Newsroom, Season 2 (2013)

Good news for fans of Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom: it’s been reported that Season 2 begins filming on November 12, 2012. Better news: Saw It For You has already seen all of Season 2, and can reliably report its highs and lows. We have double confirmation.

The Newsroom, Season 2 (2013)

Synopsis. Will McAvoy and the crew of ACN’s NewsNight face all new challenges as they become the most popular news program in history while simultaneously retaining the status of lovable underdog.

Trivia

  • Creator Aaron Sorkin remarks about Season 2: “Once Will McAvoy is able to trust his subordinates to help shoulder the mantle of his genius, we’ll really see there’s no limits to Aaron’s brilliance. I mean, Will’s.”
  • Actor Jeff Daniels underwent eye surgery between seasons in order to have the same vision problems as Sorkin, so that his character would need to wear the same glasses.
  • “Will McAvoy” and “MacKenzie McHale” were named by Sorkin after he had eaten a Big Mac in 2010, during the series development phase. In Season 2 we learn that all the other characters also have either “Mc” or “Mac” somewhere in their names.

Mistakes

  • Continuity. In Episode 3 (“Land of Confusion”), a male character says something to a female character. When the camera angle changes, the female character is not having a ridiculously-telegraphed emotional outburst.
  • Aaron Sorkin in frame. During Charlie and Will’s shouting match in Episode 6 (“A Rush of Blood to the Head”), Aaron Sorkin can be seen behind the potted plant, holding actor Jeff Daniels’ hand and smiling.
  • In Episode 8 (“DC Talk”), Will McAvoy tells MacKenzie McHale that he’s a classically trained pugilist. However, during the assassination attempt on President Obama, he disarms Ann Coulter with a Muay Thai overhead double knee strike.
  • Medical inaccuracy. A hydrocodone addiction would not allow Rush Limbaugh to live with his heart outside of his body, even after MacKenzie’s discovery that the Tea Party possesses a “heartbeat energy transmitter.”
  • Episode 9 (“Where’s The Beef?”) features no characters correcting each others’ pop culture references in the middle of an argument.
  • Historical inauthenticity. Rick Santorum did not violently burst into green flame upon the discovery of President Obama’s birth certificate.
  • At various points throughout the season, both Will McAvoy and Jim Harper respond to the following names without incident or correction: “Will McHarper,” “Will McAaron,” “Jim Sorker,” “Aaron Harpin,” “Young Aaron Sorkin” (to Jim), “President Bartlett” (to Will).
  • The Large Hadron Collider does not contain an abortion clinic.
Incorrectly Regarded as Goofs
  • It appears at first that all ten episodes of Season 2 of The Newsroom fail the Bechdel Test. However, in Episode 1 (“The Beat Goes On”), Will McAvoy offhandedly mentions that cartoonist Alison Bechdel died in 1983 before she could even formulate the test.
  • There is no proof that Mitt Romney doesn’t own an army of “horror golems.”
  • Will McAvoy’s stirring speech that unites the country in Episode 10 (“Call Me Maybe”) seems to be inaudible over the incredibly loud and dramatic orchestral performance of The Newsroom theme music. McAvoy is actually speaking the theme music.

Memorable Quotes

Maggie Jordan. Are you the one who told Will I volunteered for the debt crisis pre-interviews? Do you have any idea of how busy I am already?
Jim Harper. (smug, half-lidded, sleeves-rolled-up bemused smirk and glance down bridge of nose, tinged with a distant longing)
Maggie Jordan. AARRRGHH. (kisses Jim) 

Will McAvoy. Leona’s going to fire my ass for this. Charlie, I said I was willing to compromise, not bend over.
Charlie Skinner. It’s better than lying down. Sometimes a compromise means bending over.
Will McAvoy. Only if I get to decide which way I’m gonna bend. And I’m not talking like Beckham.
MacKenzie McHale. What’s David Beckham have to do with this?
Will McAvoy. You know, Bend It Like Beckham? The 2002 British dramedy starring Parminder Nagra and a young Keira Knightley?
MacKenzie McHale. The girl from Star Wars?
Will McAvoy. You’re thinking of Natalie Portman but I’ve made that mistake before.
Neal Sampat. Actually Knightley appeared in Star Wars alongside Portman.
MacKenzie McHale. AARRRGHH.

MacKenzie McHale. I am sorry. I’m so sorry, Will. I’ve been an asshole and a fuck-up, and I have destroyed your career and your dreams. But maybe… maybe I can earn some respect once more. From you, and from myself. (hands Will a CD)
Will McAvoy. What’s this?
MacKenzie McHale. Here is a complete exposé on the Tea Party’s corruption. It’s one you always wanted to do. It’s done except for a byline.
Will McAvoy. Mac, you just gave me my kokoro wish. (smash to black, end of Season 2)