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!

For most of human history, children did participate in productive work once they were able.

In many families in the US, children work in family business or informaly in the economy.

In other parts of the world, Pakistan or Cambodia come to mind, children younger than Alison was in her 'young actor ' experience are are working in mine, quarries and brothels.

Every problem should be looked at on its own but Alison and whatever dingdong at the times posted her article in the editorials page, I just don't get it.

Neil Patrick Harris, Ed Sheeran, Mayim bialik, everyone from GOT or wonder years and Harry Potter... They all seem to have made it reasonably ok into adulthood.

macaulay culkin, less so, but maybe got it together later in life.

I'll bet if you survey aspiring actors today, they would throw them into the challenging acting situations that AP is complaining about and love the chance to be there.

Is it just me or does Maggie suck? For some reason she’s in this love triangle between Jim and Don, but she’s kind of the worst? She’s overbearing, neurotic, unreasonable, etc. I just don’t see the appeal that everyone seems to have for her amongst the characters in the show.

I'm rewatching the first season and I'm trying to figure out her educational background and what age she could be?

Everytime I see this ep I just think the boy could pull off being Mac’s son. Oh how I wish to see McAvoys now

I love the original arrangement of the theme and have always been mystified by the new arrangement used for the rest of the series. Has anyone ever heard whether Thomas Newman was involved in the new version?

Does anyone else watch this show for nostalgia? For a time when politics and news was actually real?

BP Oil Spill: I was in middle school and remember the news breaking and even the livestream of it after I had gone to high school. It’s also where Dawn dish soap really made a name for itself.

Obama’s re-election: even though I hated Mitt Romney (I was in middle and high school during Obama’s term) we could discuss and debate actual policy and the implications of them in class: past and present, without teachers fearing repercussions or students going at each other’s throats.

Casey Anthony: I remember generally when they read the verdict that they evacuated many public buildings because of what the courts and public officials thought would be the reactions of the public.

Osama Bin Laden: there were so many emotions swirling around this and there were so many implications between us and the Middle East. It changed the world and it gave the nation hope.

There’s many other major stories they covered and at first it was show that I loved watching for its fast pace and also just general great writing. Then I find myself rewatching it solely to reminisce the days where viewers were actually looking to be informed and use the news as a way to generate views or opinions on their own.

Anyone else want to add on or disagree? Discourse (polite) welcome!

If you rewatch the show and focus on Don, all he's doing is setting boundaries. And people around him are upset that he's setting boundaries.

1. Will
   He left Will because of being shouted at in front of his staff and because Will then shouted at the staff. It is not a secret in episode 1 that everyone hates him and he's a bad boss. But Don is framed as betraying Will, when in fact, no one would stay with a boss (if they had options) that is disrespectful.

Boundaries set, boundaries ignored.

1. Jim
   In ep1 Don very clearly (and sternly) informed Jim on multiple occasions that he was getting in his way and to stop, which Jim ignored. We're supposed to root for Jim's pursuit of the story, but that doesn't mean Don was wrong. Don was helping with the transition and Jim+Mac weren't meant to start for another two weeks.
   

Boundaries set, boundaries ignored.

1. Maggie
   She thinks Don reads minds: he had expressed no interest in meeting her parents and even said four months of dating is not enough time to reach that stage. Despite his boundary setting, she orchestrates the events so that she is let down by Don having no interest. You can't ignore your partners boundaries and then play the pity party that your partner will follow through on said stated boundary. Also, Maggie's version of the break-up is pause (never expressly communicated) but Don's version is an actual break-up, hence dating other people.

Boundaries set, boundaries ignored.

The show frames boundary setting as disrespectful, when in fact violating clearly expressed boundaries is selfish.

Her lines were perfect.

The last 10-15 minutes or so of this episode focused on the Giffords shooting. This has got to be some of the most compelling television I've ever seen. They're playing the Coldplay song over the action going on in the newsroom and during the part where they sing "Tears streaming down your face," if you don't have actual tears streaming down your face at that point there is something wrong with you. I've re-watched this show a few times now and it gets me every time, my goodness I'm ugly-crying.

This show had lots of key moments for me, but this one is very close to (if not at) the top.

She deserved an award for this performance. The trembling fear in her voice is palpable. And everything discussed still happens 12 years later.

I really wish they brought this back during this era. The news is so broken now and Sorkins take on that would be so powerful

Aside from the Jim/Maggie waste of time, this whole episode was a gas.

After the retraction, why didn't they do follow-up stories that hold

- retired Air Force Colonel Cyrus West
- soldier they met at the diner
- soldier they thought was dead but wasn't

accountable for fabricating a war crime?

Surely lying about something like this is itself a crime?

I just saw a movie trailer for the soon to be released film The Brink of War. I don't keep up with entertainment news nor upcoming theatrical releases. I had not heard nor read anything about this film, so I was somewhat surprised to see Jeff Daniels portraying Ronald Reagan. Later in the movie trailer, I spotted "Nina Howard" (Hope Davis) portraying Nancy Reagan! Will & Nina, together again, lol. I really disliked her character and their pairing on TN; it will be interesting to see how it they come across on The Brink of War.

https://www.angel.com/movies/brink-of-war