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Old 12-09-14, 12:21 PM
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Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Why was the show cancelled? I know it had lower-than-expected ratings and was expensive to make. Did Sorkin grow tired of writing it or did HBO want it to end? The short season seems to indicate that HBO might want to cancel it.

Anyone know?
Old 12-09-14, 12:23 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Sorkin didn't want to continue doing TV. It wasn't a HBO decision.
Old 12-09-14, 02:34 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by Noonan
Sorkin didn't want to continue doing TV. It wasn't a HBO decision.
This, more or less. HBO lured him back for 6. If it were up to the network, The Newsroom would continue.
Old 12-09-14, 02:56 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

I thought I read here that he didn't even like doing it. If that's the case then why even start the show?
Old 12-09-14, 10:25 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by Sgtsnake
I thought I read here that he didn't even like doing it. If that's the case then why even start the show?
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Old 12-09-14, 11:23 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

This last season has been the best season yet. It's a damn crime that it only got a 6 episode season. If Sorkin hadn't walked away this show could have easily gone another several seasons.

Though I have to say part of me is happy HBO disn't contiue without Sorkin. When he left The West Wing its quality plummeted!
Old 12-15-14, 10:29 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

It's strange because the critics loved Season 2. I would have thought that would have given him more confidence to continue.
Old 12-15-14, 11:29 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

I watched the first season and really wasn't all that impressed by it. It seemed like it had a bunch of hype going into it and there were some good moments but overall a pretty meh series. Maybe I'll re-watch the first season and also check out the second and third seasons at some point.
Old 12-15-14, 11:33 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by Kube
It's strange because the critics loved Season 2. I would have thought that would have given him more confidence to continue.
I'm surprised to hear that. Season 1 was great, Season 2 was a mess. Sorkin himself thought it was such a mess he refilmed the first several episodes. It really only started to work from episode 5 or 6 on.

I'm loving season 3 though. It's as good as 1.
Old 12-15-14, 11:45 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by JuryDuty
I'm surprised to hear that. Season 1 was great, Season 2 was a mess. Sorkin himself thought it was such a mess he refilmed the first several episodes. It really only started to work from episode 5 or 6 on.

I'm loving season 3 though. It's as good as 1.
They only re-shot episodes 1 and 2 last season. Not several. Sorkin was unhappy with the quality and HBO allowed him to re-write them. That caused a production delay and they were only able to shoot 9 instead of 10 episodes.

The funny thing is that it took almost 8 months to film 9 episodes. Since Sorkin doesn't really have a writing staff, he writes or co-writes every script, it takes much longer to write and film this show. I just think he struggles with the tight shooting schedule of TV. HBO had a little more leeway, but network TV or basic cable would probably kill him now.
Old 12-15-14, 12:21 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by Mike86
I watched the first season and really wasn't all that impressed by it. It seemed like it had a bunch of hype going into it and there were some good moments but overall a pretty meh series. Maybe I'll re-watch the first season and also check out the second and third seasons at some point.
This. I just think i've moved on past Sorkin's walking dictionary characters.
Old 12-15-14, 01:03 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by DJariya
They only re-shot episodes 1 and 2 last season. Not several. Sorkin was unhappy with the quality and HBO allowed him to re-write them. That caused a production delay and they were only able to shoot 9 instead of 10 episodes.

The funny thing is that it took almost 8 months to film 9 episodes. Since Sorkin doesn't really have a writing staff, he writes or co-writes every script, it takes much longer to write and film this show. I just think he struggles with the tight shooting schedule of TV. HBO had a little more leeway, but network TV or basic cable would probably kill him now.
I think the guy has mental issues. I read something about him never being satisfied and rewriting everything... even stuff that has been done for years.
Old 12-17-14, 02:04 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by Easy
I think the guy has mental issues.
Most exceptional people do.
Old 12-17-14, 04:32 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

The real answer to this is because the OP touches himself.


Way to go and ruin it for the rest of us, man.
Old 08-30-15, 12:05 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

I just started watching the series - I'm halfway through the first season and this is a fucking fantastic show!
Old 08-30-15, 04:40 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Don't kid yourself, it's pure liberal masturbation fodder.

From the get go with the "Why America ISN'T great", it was as Sorkin's paint by number garbage.
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Old 08-30-15, 11:24 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

I am a liberal, so I've been fapping to it non-stop.

Old 08-30-15, 06:37 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Despite the critical praise that the show received for specific elements of the production, I think Sorkin was discouraged and/or disheartened by the failure of the show to be embraced and adored for its overall intention: presenting a weekly instructional school of fairy-tale journalism.
Old 08-30-15, 08:43 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by Why So Blu?
I am a liberal, so I've been fapping to it non-stop.

It's almost hard to believe and you know it.
Old 08-30-15, 09:51 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

presenting a weekly instructional school of fairy-tale journalism.
This is the thing that really ruined the series as a whole for me. At least with The West Wing he had consultants that worked in politics for awhile. In the case of Newsroom, he clearly only consulted Network and his personal subscription to The Times when crafting the brilliant world of the Newsroom.

For example, if he had any real journalists talking to him during the writing process, they would have told him on day one "Uhh, no, of course you can't use actual real historical news events, just use fake ones like on the West Wing."

Or perhaps the gem of "Of course we know how to use email, you fucking twit!" I mean, does Aaron Sorkin really think that there's professionals in journalism who DON'T know how to use email?


The A.V. did a great write up on where I had the same problem with the show.
Here’s the thing: The show and its creator, Aaron Sorkin, are making completely valid points about how and why the media, specifically broadcast news, has let down the electorate. But the problem with the show is that it can’t help making those statements explicit. The Wire is a great show because it reveals, season by season, the futility of the “War On Drugs” and its corrosive, wide-ranging impact on a city’s social institutions and its people. It would not be a great show if Bubbles came out and said, “Man, the ‘War On Drugs’ has really had a corrosive, wide-ranging impact on the city’s social institutions and people like me.” Granted, Bubbles doesn’t have a camera in front of him so he can voice such an opinion, but Sorkin’s habit of stating his thesis over and over—rather than demonstrating it in the day-to-day reality of putting on a quality news broadcast—is The Newsroom’s biggest problem. And it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

Though I would add that an equal problem with the show in general was how it treated the female characters. But then again, that's all Sorkin level writing.
Old 08-31-15, 03:15 AM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Let it go, dude. The show's long dead.
Old 09-08-16, 07:57 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Does this take a couple episodes to get into? I'm trying to give it another chance but I'm not gripped like The West Wing. I know it's different show, but there are similarities in his writing. Only on 2nd ep...
Old 09-08-16, 08:46 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Newsroom was smug and full of itself, but it was nowhere near as bad as that Studio 60 garbage. God, that show was absolutely wretched.
Old 09-08-16, 09:15 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

Originally Posted by slop101
Newsroom was smug and full of itself, but it was nowhere near as bad as that Studio 60 garbage. God, that show was absolutely wretched.
Hey, is that streaming? I might give it a go again...
Old 09-08-16, 09:28 PM
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Re: Why was The Newsroom cancelled?

It's not a huge time commitment if you're interested in watching/continuing. Only 25 episodes for the 3 seasons. You could probably watch all 3 seasons over 1 weekend if you have the time. You still have a few more weeks until the Fall TV season starts up again.

I liked it and thought season 3 was a pretty good final season even though it was only 6 episodes.

I think the show could have easily gone 4-5 seasons had Aaron Sorkin not lost his desire to make TV.

Last edited by DJariya; 09-08-16 at 09:40 PM.


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