THE NEWSROOM brought me five years backwards

Here is the thing: if you have just finished the first season of a newly-discovered, dearly-loved television series about your interest, how would you start writing about it?

I don’t know.

What I know is that this is the least I can do to give justice to THE NEWSROOM, an HBO series written and created by Academy- award winning writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network).  Newsroom presents the lives of American news personnel producing a prime time newscast in a fictitious Atlantis Cable Network (ACN), who also deal with the stresses of balancing corporate and citizen interest with their profession, as well as facing their personal ordeals- love included.

In newsroom I met Will McAvoy and MacKenzie (Will and Mac). The former is the anchor and managing director while the latter is the executive producer of News Night. They are past lovers; ‘past’ because she cheated on him. Yes, she did and he has not really gotten over it. Mac is irresistibly charming and is a dignified woman. Losing her in reality would be a big deal. Will, on the other hand, is a deemed egocentric boss but is a gentleman and was a loving partner to Mac. I know their love story may have excited you, but let me tell you now- there is more in season 2. Meaning, nothing life-changing and love-changing was shot yet.

I also met some of the characters whom I already admire and secretly wish my teammates would be like- professionally speaking. They are Maggie (associate producer), Don (executive producer; formerly from Will’s team), and Jim (senior producer).

Meanwhile, in the story, they are in a love triangle. Don and Maggie are living-in partners while Jim had a crush on Maggie. Since Jim is a shy, nice guy who respects boundaries, he opted to date Maggie’s flatmate, instead. Yeah, it hurts because Jim is a good guy while Don is... a guy.

Normal audience/ fan reaction to this: when will Jim and Maggie be together? I do not know. Maybe Aaron does not know it yet, too. Let us just hope that the 2^nd season will be nicer to hopeless romantics.

Meanwhile, let me commend the writer and creative team of The Newsroom for coming up with a lot of subplots in the story while being able to return to the main plot every ending. There are as many twists and turns in each episode as chaperoned by heavy, lengthy dialogues. If you have watched the movie The Social Network, you can relate and be tolerant to this style as popularized by the scribe.

Upon finishing the first episode, I was back to being this high school -news writer wannabe wishing to be included in a team composed of highly determined, competitive and principled young men ready to risk all so that the public may know the truth via news reporting.

But that was then. Priorities have changed and God is in control of my future now. I may not be in a newsroom yet but I am surely trying my best to be a highly determined, competitive (only to myself) and principled young man wherever I am, in whatever task I have to perform.

I know that if it is for me, in time it will be. But for now, I also know that I have to wake up each morning and not expect flowers blooming outside my window and birds chirping as a way to say ‘hello’. I have to set my priorities right, first.

If first-time employees get to choose their teams, I would surely pick one like the News Night staff. I do not care about working late as long as it pays off. I do not care about not taking a rest as long as the pain is worth it. (Redundant, I know; just for emphasis). And I don’t care if I would put up a fight with my teammates as long as it’s for the good of our beloved job- beloved dreams- beloved passion.

God knows I want a career perfectly suited for me. But since I have not chanced upon it yet, I am remaining indebted to my academic and professional mentors who guided me in my short 21 years of journey through life and career. And I will remain one, most especially if I am already doing a job for a life, and not just a living.

*Sigh.

See, I thought I was writing about how I loved Newsroom being a 10-episode series but turns out I am conducting positioning assessment. Pardon me for opting to go this track in this blog. But as I always am, let me thank you for sharing part in my dream through reading this.

As how one of my wallpapers would put it: I am an idealist, I don’t know where I am going, but I’m on my way.

Trust me, with God’s providence, I always know.

Back to what I really was supposed to write

 In Newsroom, you also get to know Charlie (news division president; fully supportive of his righteous team), Sloan (anchor, economist; fiercely in pursuit of news credibility), and Neal (IT staff, blogger; highly reliable), among others.

Let me warn you though, there are certain episodes/lines which may have been written to highlight the magnificence of America as a nation (e.g. when U.S. special forces killed Bin Laden) and if you cannot take this ‘hail to the land of the brave and free’ subtle context, just let it pass- like what I did. Besides, it’s fiction. They maybe based from what or what did not happen in the US for year 2011; but it remains a fiction- a work of art.

Some contexts may have been realigned and/ or overemphasized, but for television- it is highly entertaining. And that, my friend, should be enough.

#must watch