The Newsroom, second espisode...
I'd enjoyed the first episode of The Newsroom enough to look forward to the second episode.
Huh. Not so much now. All the things I was iffy about in the first episode were worse in the second, and the things I'd liked in the first episode weren't in the first. It's an odd combination of clever and asinine. In the first episode I thought the cleverness came to the fore; in the second it merely emphasized how the asinine qualities in contrast.
And I still didn't like most of the characters; exceptions being Sam Waterston as Charlie Skinner, Dev Patel as Neal Sampat, and John Gallagher as Jim Harper - though I have a few reservations about Harper. And none of these are central.
The worst thing? The women are embarrassing. I'm supposed to believe that Mac is a hotshot international journalist when she can't even send e-mail without messing up? And Maggie is a total idiot, the stereotypical earnest klutz, who babbles and simpers and flubs and weeps.
And if one more character said "It's my fault," I was going to growl at them.
What really makes me not want to watch is that it seems to be now more comedy than drama. I hate television comedy.
That being said, there's just enough substance there, just enough to catch the interest, and the occasional clever line, that I think: maybe it'll get better. Maybe this was just a fluke. There might be a good story lurking in there somewhere.
Or maybe not.
I'll try next week, if I can stand the incompetent, dithery women.
Huh. Not so much now. All the things I was iffy about in the first episode were worse in the second, and the things I'd liked in the first episode weren't in the first. It's an odd combination of clever and asinine. In the first episode I thought the cleverness came to the fore; in the second it merely emphasized how the asinine qualities in contrast.
And I still didn't like most of the characters; exceptions being Sam Waterston as Charlie Skinner, Dev Patel as Neal Sampat, and John Gallagher as Jim Harper - though I have a few reservations about Harper. And none of these are central.
The worst thing? The women are embarrassing. I'm supposed to believe that Mac is a hotshot international journalist when she can't even send e-mail without messing up? And Maggie is a total idiot, the stereotypical earnest klutz, who babbles and simpers and flubs and weeps.
And if one more character said "It's my fault," I was going to growl at them.
What really makes me not want to watch is that it seems to be now more comedy than drama. I hate television comedy.
That being said, there's just enough substance there, just enough to catch the interest, and the occasional clever line, that I think: maybe it'll get better. Maybe this was just a fluke. There might be a good story lurking in there somewhere.
Or maybe not.
I'll try next week, if I can stand the incompetent, dithery women.