The Greater Fool (26 Aug. 2012)

On a night in August, 2011, there are many top stories as voter ID laws take hold and Congressional Republicans hold the nation's credit hostage. In flashbacks, we see the eight days ... See full summary »

Director:

Greg Mottola

Writers:

Aaron Sorkin (creator), Aaron Sorkin

Stars:

Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr.

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Daniels	...	Will McAvoy
Emily Mortimer	...	MacKenzie McHale
John Gallagher Jr.	...	Jim Harper
Alison Pill	...	Maggie Jordan
Thomas Sadoski	...	Don Keefer
Dev Patel	...	Neal Sampat
Olivia Munn	...	Sloan Sabbith
Sam Waterston	...	Charlie Skinner
Chris Messina	...	Reese Lansing
Hope Davis	...	Nina Howard
Terry Crews	...	Lonny Church
Kelen Coleman	...	Lisa Lambert
Stephen Henderson	...	Solomon Hancock (as Stephen McKinley Henderson)
Angela Sargeant	...	Nurse Cooper
Adina Porter	...	Kendra James

Storyline

On a night in August, 2011, there are many top stories as voter ID laws take hold and Congressional Republicans hold the nation's credit hostage. In flashbacks, we see the eight days leading up to a hard-hitting broadcast. Will is in hospital, resolved not to come back to "News Night," Brian's published a savage piece in "New York," Charlie's source at the NSA may not be rock solid, and Nina is pursuing confirmation that Will was high on the night he announced bin Laden's death. Sloan surprises Don, Don surprises Maggie, Jim takes a "Sex and the City" bus tour, Neal eggs on the haters, and a somewhat-familiar young woman sits in the newsroom.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | flashback | reference to grover norquist | kiss | u.s. constitution | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 2012 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Will is in hospital on his laptop, he is watching the footage of his tirade against the sophomore student at Northwestern University. However, the camera angle from which the video was taken would not have existed, as there were no cameras in that position. It was obviously extracted from the Pilot "We Just Decided to".

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Quotes

[Maggie brings pages to Bill as "Baba O'Riley" plays over the scenes]
Roger Daltrey: Teenage wasteland / It's only teenage wasteland
Maggie Jordan: John Adams.
Roger Daltrey: Teenage wasteland, oh, yeah
Maggie Jordan: Thomas Jefferson.
Roger Daltrey: Teenage wasteland
Maggie Jordan: James Madison.
Roger Daltrey: They're all wasted!
Maggie Jordan: George Washington.

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Connections

References Sex and the City (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Baba O'Riley"
(uncredited)
Written by Pete Townshend
Performed by The Who

User Reviews

"The Newsroom" comes full circle

Aaron Sorkin's new show started by being attacked mercilessly before it even aired. I took a stand when it finally *was* aired, and I got to see the first episode. I've just watched the tenth, and final, episode of the year. I stand by my original stand.

It's good writing, it's good entertainment, it's good acting and direction, and it's got a pair of balls the size of Mars.

And I'm still betting on it sweeping the Emmy awards, and sending an enormous F**K YOU to all of the people who ranked on it because...well...because they have balls the size of peas, and brains to match.

It's difficult to make entertainment while conveying a useful and needed message. It's even more difficult when the very people who should be cheering that message on are so petty and green with envy that they play shoot the messenger, too.

This was the rap rattled off by Jeff Daniels' Will McAvoy during the wrap-up of his last news broadcast of the season, over a bottom-of-the-screen banner that said Republican In Name Only:

* Ideological purity * Compromise as weakness * A fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism * Denying science * Unmoved by facts * Undeterred by new information * A hostile fear of progress * A demonization of education * A need to control women's bodies * Severe xenophobia * Tribal mentality * Intolerance of dissent * Pathological hatred of the US government

"They can call themselves the Tea Party, they can call themselves conservatives, and they can even call themselves Republicans, though Republicans probably shouldn't. But we should call them what they are, the American Taliban."

This is the message that real news stations in America should have been airing as real news last night as the Republican Convention opened. Instead, it had to be aired on HBO, on a show that even Democrats and liberals tried to kill. This is one of those days that forces me to think about America and remember the lines to a great Bob Dylan song:

"And you ask why I don't live there Honey, how come you even have to ask me that?"