The final season of The Newsroom, which will air this fall on HBO, is currently filming its last 6 episodes, instead of the usual 10-episode order (season 2 was 9 episodes because of reshoots on the first 3 episodes).
Thus the show's final tally will be 25 episodes - unless Sorkin decides he wants to go for another round, in which case there wouldn't be any contract problems with the cast.
Olivia Munn said :
"It was up to Sorkin, if we were going to do another one, so we were all waiting. HBO still won't let us out of our contracts, really, because they say, “Just in case Sorkin wants to do more, we can’t let anybody go”. But Sorkin writes every single episode, and that’s exhausting and that’s very hard, to always do that. So, he made a decision to do six more and tell that story.
I’m excited, personally, for two reasons. One, it's really exciting to be able to end a show on a high note. It’s exciting because we all get to go off and do other stuff. We get to have this experience, but also go off and do other projects.
And as a friend of Aaron’s, I’m happy that he's not being forced to keep writing something when he’s just exhausted, and he’s got other things that he wants to write. It's so much better that way. I’m happy that we get to do six and end it. I’m sure other people have a different opinion, but I think it's nice."
Collider.
I can certainly understand being exhausted, but he really should have predicted this when he took on the job in the first place. I'm not going to run a marathon and then stop halfway through because of all the running I had to do. When you take on that big responsibility, you need to realize ahead of time what you're getting yourself into so you don't burnout too quickly.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this show. It annoys me that it's ending because Sorkin didn't realize how much work would be involved.
I think he probably didn't expect the very mixed critical reaction the show received for the first season (and the second season wasn't widely acclaimed either overall). The man has always received good press for everything he's done, coming off three films for which his writing was praised (Golden Globe nomination for Charlie Wilson's war, Oscar win for The Social Network, Oscar nomination for Moneyball).
ReplyDeleteAnd The Newsroom didn't get any of that, it was heavily criticized (for how it portrays women, for its didactic nature, etc.), especially compared to his experience on The West Wing paved with positive reviews and Emmy wins. It's not a ratings hit either. Also maybe he got himself in a corner by choosing to follow actual events that occurred in the world in 2011, 2012, etc, instead of coming up with news himself.
And the fact that he's in very high demand in Hollywood (like with David Fincher's biopic on Steve Jobs, if that's still happening) probably has something to do with this small commitment, which he really should have seen coming, I agree, he knew from The West Wing how long it takes to write a season. Really what he could do this season is surround himself with trusted writers and form one in particular to take over as head writer later on, because this show deserves to go on for a few more seasons I think.
Or HBO could hire John Wells as the showrunner of season 4 :D.
I loved the first season, the second.... not so much. I preferred the case-by-the-week rather than one continuous event and I hated how the show took the focus away from doing the news to all this character drama/romance. I hope he ends it well, as I'm waiting to binge-watch the entire second season (I stopped halfway through) when it gets released on Blu-ray. Hopefully I'll like it better the 2nd time around and the 3rd season will be awesome!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I read that it had received mixed reviews, but I only found the reasoning to be because of how it portrayed the women of the show. I love to read reviews, though, do you have any sources I can read, specifically the ones with mixed opinions? :D
ReplyDeleteDamn :( Love the show.
ReplyDeleteBummer but at least we have a season 3
ReplyDeleteI get quality over quantity but this show has so much more to give.
ReplyDeleteI didn't keep track of the reviews I've read, but there's a good website that does episodic reviews and the reviewer had mixed feelings : http://www.avclub.com/tv/the-newsroom/?season=1
ReplyDeleteWell, I am not happy about that. But as long as they can wrap the story up, I'm good.
ReplyDeleteSorkin clearly wants to get rid of the show.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little bit bummed but I trust the brilliancy of the writters to pull off an amazing ending to an amazing show. After watching some very dissapointing series finales I've realized it's all about quality and not quantity.
ReplyDelete