Posted November 11, 2016
There's threads for everything we might be watching, why not make one about bitching over the stuff we are intent on not watching ever again?
The Newsroom, made it 7 episodes in.
This is my first real introduction to Aaron Sorkin. I watched maybe a couple of episodes of West Wing a decade ago and remember nothing from them. I have to say that I love the subject, the characters are creating something every week, that's a great source of continuous drama, plus it's about the news and dissecting how it's done on tv, which is even more interesting.
Too bad the writing is horrendous. I can't believe that googling Sorkin I get a bunch of links saying he's a master at writing dialogue. Everyone on this show speaks like an alien that just learned a human language. It's either long monologues, or very rapid exchanges from two characters building to a predictable punchline or takedown at the end. It's all so fast. There are no pauses where the emotion is conveyed just through the acting, it's all in the dialogue, if the character is thinking something they're going to say it out loud to make sure you got it. No one processes what they've listened, it's almost as if everyone already knows everything that's going to be said and they are just reading it all from the page.
I keep getting the feeling that a lot of what's happening is supposed to be cute or endearing character moments, but instead all you have is these supposed geniuses alternating between: acting like emotionally unstable shrieking banshees; and acting like morons so that Sorkin's big self-insert character can explain them things, deliver a zinger or worse launch into a preachy monologue. Although it's not only him, no one in the show has a character voice, they are all merely vehicles for delivering Sorkin's voice.
It could have been good, but good God, I hated almost every word spoken.
P.S.: I'm sure that there's a bunch of clever people out there hoping to answer with "the news", or "the election", or maybe even "the world as a whole". Oh, how witty and funny you are, but since I just stole the joke you were going to post, unfortunately you can't do it anymore. Which is for the best, since if people are going to be mad in this thread, I'd prefer if it was at me for saying Sorkin's writing in Newsroom is shit.
The Newsroom, made it 7 episodes in.
This is my first real introduction to Aaron Sorkin. I watched maybe a couple of episodes of West Wing a decade ago and remember nothing from them. I have to say that I love the subject, the characters are creating something every week, that's a great source of continuous drama, plus it's about the news and dissecting how it's done on tv, which is even more interesting.
Too bad the writing is horrendous. I can't believe that googling Sorkin I get a bunch of links saying he's a master at writing dialogue. Everyone on this show speaks like an alien that just learned a human language. It's either long monologues, or very rapid exchanges from two characters building to a predictable punchline or takedown at the end. It's all so fast. There are no pauses where the emotion is conveyed just through the acting, it's all in the dialogue, if the character is thinking something they're going to say it out loud to make sure you got it. No one processes what they've listened, it's almost as if everyone already knows everything that's going to be said and they are just reading it all from the page.
I keep getting the feeling that a lot of what's happening is supposed to be cute or endearing character moments, but instead all you have is these supposed geniuses alternating between: acting like emotionally unstable shrieking banshees; and acting like morons so that Sorkin's big self-insert character can explain them things, deliver a zinger or worse launch into a preachy monologue. Although it's not only him, no one in the show has a character voice, they are all merely vehicles for delivering Sorkin's voice.
It could have been good, but good God, I hated almost every word spoken.
P.S.: I'm sure that there's a bunch of clever people out there hoping to answer with "the news", or "the election", or maybe even "the world as a whole". Oh, how witty and funny you are, but since I just stole the joke you were going to post, unfortunately you can't do it anymore. Which is for the best, since if people are going to be mad in this thread, I'd prefer if it was at me for saying Sorkin's writing in Newsroom is shit.
Post edited November 11, 2016 by DaCostaBR
