TV Review: The Newsroom 1.8, "The Blackout Part 1: Tragedy Porn"

By Chris Swanson / August 14, 2012

rating: 5

WARNING: Significant spoilers follow The problem with the news business is that it is, before the news, a business. This has been an ongoing theme through HBO€™s The Newsroom, but seldom has it been driven home harder than in this week€™s episode. Much happened this week. Will (Jeff Daniels) agreed to let a reporter named Brian come and cover the news team. That Brian used to date McKenzie (Emily Mortimer), and that she, in fact, cheated on Will with him, seems to be incidental, at least to Will. We also learned that the show€™s ratings have tumbled recently due to them not covering the Casey Anthony trial (note to people from countries with real news coverage: she is a telegenic woman accused of murdering her daughter, something she was found not guilty of. This didn€™t stop the media from making her famous). Charlie (Sam Waterston) is pissed about the ratings drop and insists that they start covering the story. Add to that the fact that Charlie made contact with a man from the NSA who tells him that someone very high up at the network has been hacking into phones ala News Corp, and we have a busy week for old Chuck. As for the rest of the newsteam, they were getting ready for a mock debate as a precursor to a real debate they want to host. This includes Maggie (Allison Pill) wondering why they can€™t get all up in Michelle Bachmann€™s face (note to people from countries with real political candidates, Bachmann is an insane woman who believes God told her to run for President, but presumably didn€™t tell her to win, since she didn€™t). And in the background we have Sloane (Olivia Munn) trying to get out the news about the debt ceiling crisis (note to people from countries that€oh, just go look it up). Notice, if you will, that I€™m not mentioning any relationship stuff. That€™s because, amazingly, there really wasn€™t any, aside from tension with the whole Will/McKenzie/Brian thing, but that didn€™t get in the way of the actual story. I was pleased by that. I really was pleased with just about everything, honestly. I thought it was fascinating to see Don (Thomas Sadowski) explaining how Nancy Grace covered the Casey Anthony trial and how the media manipulates the story in order to get people to watch what was basically a local news story. I also loved that it tied in with the Anthony Weiner scandal (again, look it up, but avoid Google Image). I was also very pleased by a scene where Charlie confronts Leona (Jane Fonda), the owner of the company and tries to warn her, gently, about the metric tons of crap that€™s going to fall on her and her son. She ignored it, as presumably everyone including Charlie knew that she would, but I liked that he tried. So what did I dislike this week? Not much, really. I could have done without it being a cliffhanger, but I€™m not overly bothered that it was. I also could have done without the way the NSA was being portrayed, but I could deal with that. So basically, I guess I haven€™t any real complaints at all. Two weeks in a row, now. That€™s a good sign!