Sorkin’S ‘The Newsroom’ Renewed Despite Mixed Reviews

Aaron Sorkin’s latest drama ‘The Newsroom’ has been renewed for a second season by HBO, despite earning average reviews for its first couple of episodes. It seems the network was happy enough with the solid viewing figures of the show’s premiere, and decided to renew it for a second season.

The show follows Jeff Daniels’ character Will MCAvoy, a news anchor who attempts to make a hard hitting daily show. It boasts a stellar cast including Emily Mortimer and Jane Fonda and opened to 2.1 million viewers, behind only ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ for Hbo’s drama launches since 2008. The show has also gained a huge amount of media attention, given that it was rumoured Keith Olbermann was the inspiration behind Daniels’ character. Sorkin denied the claims, telling the Hollywood Reporter, “This is meant to be an idealistic, romantic, swashbuckling, sometimes comedic but very optimistic, upward-looking look at a group of people who are often looked at cynically”. Reviews of the show have been decidedly mixed, though some critics appeared to be unfairly comparing the show to Sorkin’s magnum opus ‘The West Wing’. Brian Lowry of Variety wrote, “The Newsroom essentially presents viewers with two options: Lament how the series doesn't match the lofty crests of Sorkin's finest work, or admire the show's ambitions and embrace of serious ideas, and grudgingly roll with its uneven tides”.

Elsewhere at Hbo, vampire-favourite ‘True Blood’ has been renewed and will return in 2013 for its sixth season.