Actors: Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Dev Patel and Olivia Munn
Creator: Aaron Sorkin
Number of discs: 6
Rated: Unrated
Studio: HBO Home Video
Release Date: June 11, 2013
Run Time: 725 minutes
Season: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Aaron Sorkin knows how to do political drama, after all he also created the Emmy Award-winning “The West Wing”, which was a pretty well-known show 😉 HBO is really delivering some of the best television shows in the last year or so, along with “Veep” and “Game of Thrones”. “The Newsroom” features an all-star cast lead by Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Dev Patel and Olivia Munn. There is also a fantastic recurring cast including Jane Fonda, Hope Davis, Terry Crews, David Krumholtz, Patton Oswalt and Marcia Gay Harden. There is just so much talent in this show, I don’t know how it doesn’t explode. The show is witty and well-written, thanks to Scott Rudin (“The Social Network”). If you enjoyed the first 10-episode season, you will be happy to know that “The Newsroom” was renewed for a second season, which premieres on July 14, 2013 only on HBO.
Official Premise: HBO presents the new one-hour drama series from the fertile mind of Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and executive produced by Sorkin, Scott Rudin and Alan Poul. Smart, topical, humorous and highly entertaining, The Newsroom takes a behind-the-scenes look at a high-rated cable-news program at the fictional ACN Network, focusing on the on- and off-camera lives of its acerbic anchor (Jeff Daniels), new executive producer (Emily Mortimer), their newsroom staff (John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Olivia Munn, Dev Patel and others) and their news-division boss (Sam Waterston).
HBO gives a whole lot of love to its shows Blu-ray releases. First of all they all come packaged in this beautiful strong box, which is very sharp. It also comes with HBO Select, which offers its viewers the choice of three ways to watch the show – Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy. The digital copy is redeemable via a provider of your choice: iTunes, Vudu or Amazon, as well as an UltraViolet copy through supporting providers. So you are filled with choices here and can watch the show wherever – whenever. The 1080p transfer of the show is very clear and sharp. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track works well with the dialogue and since this is a political drama it is very important for this to work!
The special features are also very impressive, again since HBO treats their shows very well. There is a five audio commentaries track with no only Aaron Sorkin, but also executive producer Alan Poul and cast members Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston, Emily Mortimer and more! This is a great way to get some replay value out of the show. “Mission Control” is a great behind-the-scenes look at the production with the cast and crew. “The Rundown” is a roundtable discussion with Aaron Sorkin, executive producer Alan Poul, co-executive producer Greg Mottola, Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer and Sam Waterston as they discuss the first season. “Inside the Episodes” is an inside perspective on each episodes with Aaron Sorkin. Lastly there are a few Deleted Scenes and Episodic Previews & Recaps, rounding out a great release.
