The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
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The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
Synopsis:
Spoiler:
Episode 9 of 10
Promo:
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Hard to believe it's almost over.
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
Loved this episode, and not only that, I'm one of the few that has stuck with this show from the beginning and loved them all. I wish next Sunday could come faster. The use of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" might have been reminiscent of the end of the third epsiode of "Studio 60", but I didn't care. I thought both sequences used the song well.
#5
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
Yeah, Mac really is unraveling. I loved the power coming back on at the end of her big speech.
Really good episode--surprisingly I thought the Jim/Lisa/Maggie/Don stuff was very well done, and that storyline has annoyed me in the past.
Of course, we knew they wouldn't get the debate because, well... it didn't happen in real life and there's no way they were going to be able to film a fake ACN debate with all those candidates.
Like most episodes, there had to be a lame attempt at humor by having a running gag. This time it was Will's pants. That was pathetic.
The development at the end in Neal's trolling endeavor is interesting. Can't wait to see where that leads.
Really good episode--surprisingly I thought the Jim/Lisa/Maggie/Don stuff was very well done, and that storyline has annoyed me in the past.
Of course, we knew they wouldn't get the debate because, well... it didn't happen in real life and there's no way they were going to be able to film a fake ACN debate with all those candidates.
Like most episodes, there had to be a lame attempt at humor by having a running gag. This time it was Will's pants. That was pathetic.
The development at the end in Neal's trolling endeavor is interesting. Can't wait to see where that leads.
#6
Banned by request
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
I don't think I'll ever forgive Aaron Sorkin for making me a fan of Olivia Munn.
I liked Lisa on the show, she's a character worth keeping around. More than Maggie, honestly.
I liked Lisa on the show, she's a character worth keeping around. More than Maggie, honestly.
#7
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
#8
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
I wish one of these days we could have a debate like Sorkin portrayed. To put that against what actually did occur with a CNN debate just asking Elvis or John Denver (whoever it was) I was like "That was actually a question in one of the debates?"
#10
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
"y u so agro?" (or something like that)
Didn't know that's how people talk on the internet. The troll storyline still has me laughing.
Didn't know that's how people talk on the internet. The troll storyline still has me laughing.
#13
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
Fucking embarrasing.
Great episode. And yeah Munn is surprisingly great every week.
#14
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
What sucks is that Don really goes back and forth. He was like that at the beginning of the show, and then for a while in the middle there they really started developing him, and then he regressed last night.
#17
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
Depending on the results this fall, maybe 2016 or 2020 would be a good time to debut a decent new debate format. It has to be when both parties are having contested primaries.
#19
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
It's not realistic at all to expect one of the parties to agree to that in a year when the person who emerges from the primary season has to face an incumbent. 2008 would have been a perfect time to have that debate. Another thing I'd love to see is a cross-party primary season debate so it's a lot harder for the candidates to sprint out to the fringe only to run back to the middle during general election time.
Depending on the results this fall, maybe 2016 or 2020 would be a good time to debut a decent new debate format. It has to be when both parties are having contested primaries.
Depending on the results this fall, maybe 2016 or 2020 would be a good time to debut a decent new debate format. It has to be when both parties are having contested primaries.
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
2012 would be a good time for a decent new debate format. Good for the country. There's nothing beneficial to the public discourse in hiding the intellectual and idiological flaws of candidates. I liked the episode because it showed why we can't have decent debates. There's huge competition, and news organizations sell their souls (despite trying not to) in order to get them. If everyone said, "No holds barred and if you don't accept that, none of your candidates get on TV," it'd be different. But someone would cave, and that organization would get the debate. So they all cave to varying degrees. It's a sellout, and I'm glad there's a show on TV that says it's a sellout, then shows why.
It's unfortunate the show had to use a RNC debate to present the issue because I think the issue would have been just the same with the DNC. The fact that the RNC was the target in the episode will undoubtedly cloud the overall issue for some.
It's unfortunate the show had to use a RNC debate to present the issue because I think the issue would have been just the same with the DNC. The fact that the RNC was the target in the episode will undoubtedly cloud the overall issue for some.
#21
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
But the RNC is always the target in todays media. That's the point. This would never be done for the DNC today. Gonna put yall back in chains.
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Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
Showing the flaws of how news is reported coupled with showing the flaws of the political process, but only for one side, diminishes the show. I guess at the end of the day, you can only write what you know. Perhaps it'd be false equivalency to say, the Republican party does "X," but the Democratic party does "Y." But if you don't at least try to show the foibles of each side, you become somewhat of an entertainment/attack piece, not an entertainment/education one. Purely as a business issue, I'm not sure how Sorkin can justify alienating a significant portion of the possible audience by telling them they sometimes suck without including that people who share his ideology also sometimes suck.
It's difficult for me to take seriously anything addressing political discourse when it's predicated on the foundational belief that one side is almost always right and the other side is almost always wrong.
It's difficult for me to take seriously anything addressing political discourse when it's predicated on the foundational belief that one side is almost always right and the other side is almost always wrong.
#23
#24
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
And I'm a regular CNN watcher. (ducks for potential backlash)
#25
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Newsroom -- "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" -- 8/19/12
As for Biden's comment, predominantly more intelligent heads were well aware of what he meant by that statement and knew there wasn't anything racial about it. But you go looking for hidden racism, you'll find it to always justify oneself.