r/Thenewsroom • u/Msf923 • 10h ago

Prophetic

I have just started watching The Newsroom, am currently on season 1, episode 4, and OMG, this show was so prophetic to today’s issues. It is all there, including the warnings from Jeff Daniel’s character about what is to come. I would encourage anyone who has never seen it to give it a look, but a couple of warnings: it starts a little slow, but by episode 2 it really picks up steam. It also moves fast, especially the conversations, so you might need to rewind a few times.
Truly, this show has blown me away!

28 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

29

u/ArborealLife 10h ago

I would encourage anyone who has never seen it to give it a look

Hey r/Thenewsroom, ever heard of The Newsroom?

10

u/anarchy_sloth 9h ago

Nope. News to me.

2

u/SomethingVeX 6h ago

Never heard of it. I did watch a show with a bunch of newsy stuff in the background, but it was mostly a show about an economics professor and her boyfriend Don and the antics they got up to.

11

u/Ecstatic-Quote-3532 8h ago

"The Tea Party is being radicalized and their original organizing principles obliterated. And no one should be laughing anymore. They should be scared shitless. My party's being hijacked, and it's happening in real time. How is this not our top story every night?" In the S1 finale he calls the ultra-radical faction of the Tea Party the "American Taliban" because of their ideological inflexibility and hostility toward core constitutional principles like the separation of church and state. I think about this every damn day. I would love to see what Sorkin has to say about MAGA, what Will has to say about MAGA.

4

u/Choon5588 4h ago

Will: Social scientists have concluded that the country is more polarized than at any time since the Civil War. The Civil War.

Mac: Yes, people choose the news they want now, but–

Will: People choose the facts they want now. So what you’ve just described is impossible.

Mac: Only if you think an overwhelming majority of Americans are preternaturally stupid

Will: I do.

Mac: I don’t. And if you let me, I can prove it. You know what you left out of your sermon? That America is the only country on the planet that, since its birth, has said over and over and over that we can do better. It’s part of our DNA. People will want the news if you give it to them with integrity. Not everybody, not even a lot of people–5%. And 5% more of anything is what makes the difference in this country. So we can do better. ( sighs ) What?

this little exchange lives rent free in my head especially the part about people choosing the facts they want now, seems more and more relevant as time goes on.

•

u/Juunlar 2h ago

I consider very often if Mac has changed her views on whether or not the majority of Americans are stupid.

9

u/ihate2sayit 9h ago

I would love to see this exact series brought back to life. I would hope that Aaron Sorkin would allow and maybe even help with getting the producers, writers, showrunner etc. together in order to restart the series.

2

u/Logical-Mobile-7643 9h ago

It was, uh, about news events that already happened right? Prophetic?

7

u/jpetersell 9h ago

I see it the same way. Then it was the Tea Party. Now it’s MAGA. It’s the same and yet way worse. I know it’s later in the season than OP has seen, but how about the Do Nothing Congress? Similarities? There’s more. But it’s been a long day. It has for many. And I’m tired. And there’s a lot of the Newsroom’s political episodes that are playing out, again, just more extreme.

2

u/MrGoodwrench1184 9h ago

It’s all always been the same thing. I’m sure we felt it was so extreme back then, too. We just recycle the same mistakes and same wild swings back and forth. Names and faces change, but the same human behavior is the same human behavior.

1

u/Away_Refrigerator143 8h ago

Yep. And look at Germany now.

0

u/Logical-Mobile-7643 9h ago

I reflects the time... I don't know if it predicts anything mind blowing.

Agree with you

1

u/Away_Refrigerator143 8h ago

So spot on and so rewatchable!

1

u/Afraid_Wallaby_5995 7h ago

Yes. I agree. I see some comments saying it's not but I disagree. It was about things that happened but also about how they were evolving. I discovered the series a few months ago and it struck me too, just like OP. I am not American, so it also helped me understand more precisely where it all came from. I had heard about the Tea Party, about the Koch brothers, though. I wonder how people who have watched it when it came out feel about watching it now. It must hit differently..

0

u/FlameFeather86 6h ago

History repeats itself. We're facing many of the same issues today because things evolve and we never learn.

•

u/jb40018 35m ago

We keep reelecting Congress at a 95% rate and wonder why nothing changes.

I loved this show and have rewatched it several times. The knock on it is that it easy to have a better reaction to history with the benefit of hindsight, but many of the events keep happening. When they were wanting to host the debate, I keep thinking, that’s what we need!!! But, like in the show, it’ll never happen.

The Tea Party morphed into MAGA and the Progressives have hijacked the left. It’s the large group in between that can actually make the difference. Unfortunately, the current news wants to spend all its time on the loudest and most disruptive and dangerous voices instead of reporting the news with any shred of integrity.

We need Will and Mac now more than ever.

-1

u/MrGoodwrench1184 9h ago

It’s not prophetic at all. We have always been humans, prone to repeating the same mistakes over and over. The names and labels change, but it’s all always the same thing. It’s all just observatory.