The Newsroom

"The Newsroom" is honestly one of the best-made television shows I've ever seen. Brilliant writing; solid acting; dialogue that flowed more realistically than you'll ever see. And the stinging commentary on office politics and the cut-throat portrayal of the media was dead on. This wasn't a show about nothing. There was no audience. There was no laugh track. It didn't need any of these. It tackled real issues in the news, but gave you the insiders look. The show takes place in Toronto, Canada at a local news station. In one scene, the crew gets word of a train accident in the Congo river. Instead of going with the big local story, they go with the unrelatable, yet more interesting train wreck halfway across the world. In trying to somehow relate it to Canada, they check to see if any Canadians were on board.

Mark: We haven't even confirmed this Canadian. Jeremy: Well, we're hoping there's a Canadian dead. George: We're hoping he's dead.

Just an example of what goes on behind the scenes. Makes the network executives of Fox look like saints.

People have compared "The Newsroom" to Garry Shandling's "The Larry Sanders Show." Both similar; both excellent shows, "Sanders" coming before `the Newsroom.` But the Newsroom was done so much better in every way, that's there can be no comparison.

Like I said, one of my favorite shows of all time. Do yourself a favor and check your local PBS stations to see if they're playing "The Newsroom." Or, in Canada, beg the CBC to show some re-runs.