These are initial observations for Newsroom episode 2-01 "First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers" written by Aaron Sorkin and Ian Reichbach, and directed by Alan Poul. There are a few credits for these guys you may find interesting.
Reichbach has worked on numerous Sorkin projects including as a writing assistant on Studio 60 and story editor on the first season of Newsroom, as well as working on features including Charlie Wilson's War and The Social Network. IMDB.com also says he acted on Saved by the Bell*. Poul's resume includes directing episodes of Rome and of Six Feet Under, and executive producing Six Feet Under and My So Called Life.
* Which I have never seen. This fact invokes ridiculous reactions when it becomes known.
- We're treated to a new opening credits. The theme sounds altered as well
- The title refers to a Shakespeare quote, which I believe people commonly misinterpret as being serious. I believe it comes from a foolish character in order to demonstrate the rule of law is important and only a fool would actually get rid of lawyers. I do not remember the play or character or even if that is correct context.
- Marcia Gay Harden was great as the general counsel for UNR on Damages, but if we are going to do lawyer speak and depositions and such in conference rooms, then we need Patti Hewes to visit. It should not be difficult, they both are located in New York City.
- MacKenzie has some uber-competent moments during the show (so the "pajama people" will look for other stuff to complain about) splicing in sound from a reporter correcting ill-checked information that would probably open the door to a law suit, while still maintaining the piece.
- No surprise Maggie, who is awful, fucked that up.
- Everything (Blue coat, khaki pants, yellow tie...his fucking haircut) about this prick Romney guy screams prick Romney guy and would be thought of as a stereotype if we hadn't spent twelve months watching Mittens and his supporters.
- Maggie (who is awful) is so lame that Jim would be lame by association if he weren't lame on his own merit.
- The new producer replacing Jim, Rand McNally, or whatever, has more of an agenda and seems to be more of a climber than Jim. As much as I don't like Jim's personality, he is uber-competent and his loyalty lies with the news, the viewers, and MacKenzie. I get the sense Mr. McNally's loyalty is not to his constituency but to himself.
- McNally has a similar trait to Neil where he seems like he may push a story because he wants it to be real, not because it is real. Or because it may win him some prize.
- I was going to say ol' Rand boy here seems more forceful than Jim, but the more I thought about it, Jim has an effective way of getting his point of view across. It is just in a whinier, more righteous tone.
- Randle's friend, Cyrus West, or whatever, seems to also suffer from a version of climberism. He wonders if he'll be asked back on the show. It seems to be a no so Cy wonders to himself, if he dresses up as a woman maybe he can comeback as a whole new person, Myrus Best.
- Maybe not climber-ism where he steps on people but he is clearly a parasite of sorts. Cy wants to feed him a story and latch onto it, riding it for more exposure.
- Will almost takes a backseat in this episode to the other machinations of the newsroom. He serves as an occasional narrator and tier of things together but does not exactly have a storyline
- Nice to see Sorkin employing the vehicles that made West Wing so good, like flashbacks.
- The structure of this episode is a lot like The Social Network, and I would not be surprised if that continued this season
- Did they bring the funny? These were hilarious
- Sloane using a blank paper as a prop
- "Ben Franklin. Nailed it!"
- Will singing "Friday"
Evoking West Wing
Sam Seaborn once mentioned he billed at $500 an hour (in 1999 dollars). This lady bills at $1,500. Even accounting for inflation, she bills at $800 more than Sam. Who is a genius. So they are in some stuff here.
MacKenzie gets a fax (which I only use when I'm dealing with local government agencies like the DMV or tax office, so it is probably surprisingly appropriate here) about the protests in NYC and it reminded me of a fax from NASA that Donna is concerned about, which states a Chinese satellite is crashing into the Earth ("The Fall is Gonna Kill You").
EDIT: Now that I think about it some more, this is structured more like "Celestial Navigation" where one character is recounting an odd sequence of events. Josh Lyman mentioned a news cycle that wouldn't end which "started either with a cabinet secretary losing her temper, a committee chairman baiting her during a hearing, the President answering a question he shouldn’t have, a dentist appointment, or me being stupid." Will recounts some of the things that transpired to bring about their apparent Operation Tailwind-esque mistake.
Sometimes I try to guess what everyone's going to be angry about this week:
- "...women try things" regarding Maggie's* horrible haircut. Thanks for giving us another reason to ridicule Maggie*, I was worried it'd have to rely on her personality again. Also, Sorkin hates women
- "Money Skirt" regarding Sloane, which should be written at "$kirt". Remember, this has everything to do with Sorkin hating women and this has nothing to do with the funny way his characters, Sloane (maybe the best character on the show) and Charlie, express their fondness for each other via hijinks and japes
- "Pajama people" which I assume refers to people who write or comment on the Internet from the comfort of their homes and in their sweats. Sorkin hates the Internet!
- This will conveniently ignore Neil citing Reddit and Twitter as evidence a story is gaining traction later in the episode. Also Sorkin writing a whole movie about Facebook
- Given the strong desire out there by many people to never be happy with anything, I don't find comments like these out of line
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