The Newsroom - Season One

HBO's Sunday night drama "The Newsroom" is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Download, so fans can rewind, replay, and recite the fast-paced Sorkinesque pontifications that are difficult to grasp with regular viewing. And, of course, for new viewers to catch up before the show returns for its long-awaited Season Two premiere on July 14th.

Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom" features the frequently-delightful Jeff Daniels as Anchorman Will McAvoy, the charming Emily Mortimer as his new Executive Producer MacKenzie McHale (also his ex-girlfriend), Sam Waterston as Charlie Skinner, the news-division supervisor, and John Gallagher Jr. (Jim Harper), Alison Pill (Margaret Jordan), Thomas Sadoski (Don Keefer), Dev Patel (Neal Sampat) and Olivia Munn (Sloan Sabbith) as the newsroom's researchers, assistants, bloggers, and such.

For the most part, the show focuses on the principled journalists of the ACN Network pursuing accuracy and superiority over the other news shows, and as the MacKenzie character puts it, "speaking truth to stupid," but the quipping banter with which this important data is delivered isn't always entertaining. At times, it's holier-than-thou, and reminds the viewer that real people do not speak in monologues like Macbeth. However, news junkies and those humans who do speak in a long-winded, quixotic fashion eat this all up, and will want to own these episodes to overanalyze and dissect. And if you simply enjoy intelligent takes on news stories of the past (Season One takes place in 2010), this show provides hours of thought-provoking entertainment.

"The Newsroom: The Complete First Season" box set contains four Blu-ray discs, two, two-sided DVDs, and the code for digital download. The Blu-ray discs contain all the extras. "The Rundown" has Sorkin, the executive producers, and the stars discussing their experiences shooting the first season. "Mission Control" is the behind-the-scenes look at the sets. "Inside the Episodes" provides perspective on each episode from Sorkin. Audio Commentaries and Deleted Scenes are also included.

It's true - "The Newsroom" is full of itself, but it's also full of wit, humor, and purpose, and all this comes to light around episode four. So, split the eighty-buck price tag with some friends and enjoy!

Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Download
http://store.hbo.com
$79.98