The Newsroom: The Complete Series: A Riveting Show from the Great Aaron Sorkin (Blu-ray)

The Show:

Without a doubt, one of the very best writers to come along in the business over the last few decades is the great Aaron Sorkin, who has garnered massive critical acclaim for writing extraordinary film projects like "The Social Network," "Moneyball" (co-written with Steven Zaillian), "Molly's Game," and "The Trial of the Chicago 7," all four of which earned him Oscar nominations and a win for "The Social Network." However, his work has not been restricted to film, with Sorkin having also dabbled in television, creating multiple award-winning shows like "The West Wing" and "Sports Night."

His last major outing into television was a little show called "The Newsroom," which ran for a brief three seasons and a total of just 25 episodes. On the surface, it utilized a somewhat simple premise of a group of people just trying to run a news show, but as usual, with Sorkin at the helm, it ended up being about much more than just that, with its richly-developed characters driving its compelling narrative. To celebrate this incredible show, which came to an end ten years ago already, Warner Bros. has compiled all three seasons into a new set, packed with plenty of bonus material, so now it's time to go back and take another look at this underrated program and see why it deserved to get far more attention than it did back then.

"The Newsroom" begins with News Night anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) participating in a Q&A at Northwestern University, where he goes on a rant about how America is not actually the greatest country in the world. A few weeks later, he returns to work from vacation to find that most of his staff are moving to the evening program and that his ex-girlfriend, MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), is his new executive producer, a hiring that his boss, Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston), made in an effort to improve the show.

Meanwhile, a major news story breaks regarding an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a story that Jim Harper (John Gallagher, Jr), MacKenzie's second in command, develops through his sources. With the help of the team, which includes Will's assistant-turned-associate-producer Maggie Jordan (Allison Pill), outgoing producer Don Keefer (Thomas Sadoski), and electronic media expert Neal Sampat (Dev Patel), they're able to put together a hell of a show on the story, proving that they work great together. From here, we follow the development of the characters and their relationships as they continue to work together on the latest breaking news stories.

This being an Aaron Sorkin project, you know going in that its success is very likely going to hinge on two incredibly important elements: the writing and the ensemble, two remarkable commonalities that you'll find in pretty much every film/show he's worked on. "The Newsroom" ends up being absolutely no exception to this approach, utilizing Sorkin's keen talent for fast-paced, riveting dialogue, fully-fleshed-out, engaging characters, and stories that are incredibly compelling, making it no surprise that each episode flies by so very quickly.

Naturally, to deliver his dialogue, which can no doubt be considered quite intimidating to those who aren't used to such a rapid-fire approach, he had to find a group of actors who would be able to handle the pacing. Headed by Jeff Daniels, who received an Emmy for his work on the first season and nominations for the other two, the stellar cast ends up being very much up to the challenge of bringing his complex teleplays to life, executing them with the exact precision that they require. Indeed, without an ensemble of such considerable talent, the show would never have worked anywhere near as well as it did.

If there are any complaints to be had, they would be focused on the rather disappointing series finale, which is crammed with far too much filler/backstory (including a bizarre musical interlude) that we either already knew or which didn't matter in the least at that point. However, it ends up being a tiny drop in the bucket for what is a marvelous show overall, one that critics sadly missed the mark on by quite a bit (perhaps it went over their heads or they simply couldn't keep up with its fast pace). It's one that certainly deserved far more attention than it got at the time, and now that it's being released in a complete collection, hopefully more people will take the time to give it a chance and discover what they missed. It may have lasted only a brief 25 episodes, but it remains one of the finest accomplishments of Sorkin's career, and very much deserves the chance to be re-evaluated by those who were so dismissive before.

Video/Audio:

"The Newsroom: The Complete Series" comes to Blu-ray in 1.78:1, 1080p High Definition transfers of outstanding quality, with a picture that looks beautifully sharp & clear throughout all 25 episodes of the short-lived program. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio tracks are fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue & music in excellent quality. Overall, Warner Bros. has done a marvelous job in both departments for this new release of Sorkin's underrated show.

Special Features:

The set comes with a multitude of extras, spread across all nine discs, that includes select commentaries, "Inside the Episode" & other behind-the-scenes featurettes, and deleted scenes. There's definitely more than enough great material here to please any fan of the show looking to delve deeper into it.

Conclusion:

Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom" remains one of the finest accomplishments of his great career, utilizing his keen talent for fast-paced, riveting dialogue, fully-fleshed-out, engaging characters, and compelling stories, complete with a marvelous ensemble who are very much up to the task of bringing his complex teleplays to life, all of which makes for a spectacular program that deserves far more attention than it received during its original airing.

Score: 4.5/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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