Aaron Sorkin's THE NEWSROOM The Complete First Season - HBO Pre-order on Amazon

[bluskies]

James, I am going to buy it at whatever will be on Amazon or at BB (though I wonder if BB will carry it). But it would be nice if they included a special extra: a pick-up-and-throw Blackberry.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

HBO is doing the same thing they did with "Mildred Pierce," throwing in DVDs I don't want as a justification for their extortionate prices.

It's the same thing with every release of theirs now, right?

[scraptor]

Originally Posted by Kristian Idol

Oh, holy crap, two dozen. Here's a few (OT West Wing discussion):

[Show spoiler]- - - -
Celestial Navigation - Supreme Court judge nominee is in jail, C.J. has "woot canaw"! (root canal)
What Kind of Day Has It Been? - First season finale, just makes me tear up at the end fade out.
Two Cathedrals - S2 finale, where President Bartlet is so stressed out that he questions God.
20 Hours in America - S4, Toby and Josh are stuck in the boonies and Toby has to say "I work in the White House" any time he says his name.
Commencement - The President's daughter goes to a club...

The fifth season is almost pointless. The President is ill, and whole episodes were just boring. (Aaron Sorkin had been fired and there was a new show-runner.) I've debated on whether to even keep the DVD.

Seasons 6 & 7 returned to form and I've rewatched them a couple times because Congressman Santos is based on Obama.

Yeah, there was some amazing writing and acting on the show; I was very apolitical before but got hooked.
- - - -

I hated Sorkin's Sports Night (repetitive overly clever dialogue, strong-willed female Producer turned into a 15-year-old in personal life...), but loved West Wing, so blind-buy Newsroom is onto the Wishlist!

And don't fret about your watching patterns - we all have lives. You should watch when you're interested. I'm just about to start the West Wing again myself...

If you hated Dana then I STRONGLY advise you not to blind buy the Newsroom. The female characters except Munn are easily the worst of any Sorkin series to date.

I am a huge WW and SN fan but the Newsroom was barely better than S60, which I couldn't even finish watching. Terrible romantic plots, a pervasive smugness, too much recycling from past Sorkin.... I kept waiting for it to meet the standard set by the very good pilot, but it never did.

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

HBO is doing the same thing they did with "Mildred Pierce," throwing in DVDs I don't want as a justification for their extortionate prices. Why can't they just offer the BD individually for maybe $10 more than the DVD.

The list prices are $60 for DVD and $80 for BD! I know, I know, almost nobody pays MSRP, but my point is that those high prices are the base from which the final price begins. A 10 episode TV series should not be $56 on BD on Amazon right now. It's insane. I can't see it ever getting much lower than $40-$45.

"Mad Men" seasons routinely sell for $10 at holidays on Amazon and can usually be found for around $20. I find it hard to believe that The Newsroom costs THAT much more to produce.

Actually, HBO shows have gone down in price on release day over the years, not up. So, in the end, the included DVDs aren't a justification for anything.

Also, as with every release, you won't have to pay anywhere near what the pre-order price is months before it releases. No reason to complain about the $56 price when you won't be paying anywhere near that much when it matters.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by KilloWertz

Actually, HBO shows have gone down in price on release day over the years, not up. So, in the end, the included DVDs aren't a justification for anything.

Also, as with every release, you won't have to pay anywhere near what the pre-order price is months before it releases. No reason to complain about the $56 price when you won't be paying anywhere near that much when it matters.

True, but as I pointed out, I was actually complaining that I won't be paying $10 to $20 but more like $35 for a show that only has 10 episodes a season when Mad Men, for example, has 13.

[Coasterghost]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

True, but as I pointed out, I was actually complaining that I won't be paying $10 to $20 but more like $35 for a show that only has 10 episodes a season when Mad Men, for example, has 13.

Would you complain if you had to pay for The walking dead season 3 and 3.5 for 20-40 dollar apiece like how syfy did that with ghost hunters many years ago.

[gettodamoofies]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

True, but as I pointed out, I was actually complaining that I won't be paying $10 to $20 but more like $35 for a show that only has 10 episodes a season when Mad Men, for example, has 13.

I think you're re-writing history there. Mad Men has never been $10 to $20 ON RELEASE on Amazon which is what you're comparing here. You need to compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges.

According to price tracking Mad Men Season 5 was $29.99 on release and has never been lower than $24.99 since release 4 months ago. Mad Men Season 4 was $29.99 also on release and took 6 months to go sub-$25. According to price tracking here season three was around $32.50 on release and season two was around $29 on release.

So, considering most HBO shows have been going for $35 on release week that means you're paying about $5 more. Considering the premium HBO shows have often attracted and the general high quality of the discs I don't think a $5 jump is too bad - it's certainly the smallest the price difference between HBO shows and series from other studios has ever been. Factor in the classy DigiPaks usually associated with HBO shows instead of the standard cases and the inclusion of the DVD and Digital Copies and I think that it's a damn good deal on release. Even if you're not a fan of the DVDs and Digital Copies the above info makes it pretty clear you'd have a hard time proving that their inclusion is the reason the price is "higher".

As for the number of episodes you also need to consider that traditionally HBO shows run longer than other shows. Generally the first episodes (and sometimes the last) run around 70 mins and the rest around 52-55 mins. Mad Men is usually around 45-48 from what I recall. That means an extra 7 or so mins on the regular episodes and about 22 on the first episode. That's a minimum of another 85 mins or basically two episodes of Mad Men so in reality it's less than an hour of content difference.

The fact is that HBO shows have never had a lower price than now and the price difference between HBO and other shows has never been smaller so if anything you're getting the best prices and more value for money with HBO shows than ever before. If you think $35 is too much for a season of TV on release week fair enough but that doesn't mean it's not a good price and good value for money - it may just not be worth that to you. Thinking of how much a season of a show like The X-Files or the Star Trek series went for on DVD when originally released makes this a steal. Hell, Star Trek: TNG is going for almost twice as much on Blu-ray when it's released! 10 hours of movie-quality content provided on three different formats in classy packaging for $35 on release day sounds pretty good to me...

[bluskies]

There is a live Paleyfest event tonight of The Newsroom creator and cast starting around 7:35 pm PST and it is goingto be streamed live over Livestream.com. Here's a link and you can probably figure out the way to join livestream.com (it doesn't cost anything.) I am currently watching the livestream of Once Upon A Time event and the video and audio are good.

http://new.livestream.com/paleycenter

[bluskies]

I just got back from the event and it was great.

It will be on Hulu tomorrow.

One thing that they didn't show on the webcast was a 10-minute clip we got to see from the first episode of the second season, which takes place one week after the American Taliban broadcast, and the reaction to it.

After the interviews, all the cast members were signing autographs. By the time I came down from the balcony, only Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, and one other were left.

And I think Olivia M. made a lot of new fans. She was gracious with everyone and literally crossed the stage from left to right on her knees, signing autographs and taking pictures with her fans. And must have been hard because she was very a short dress that was also very lowcut.





I was standing next to one guy who was aiming his cellphone at her, while video recording her, and asked if she would say hi to his son. She was great and pretended to be cross, saying the son's name and "Where are you?! I've been waiting three hours for you!"

[Javert]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

Aaron Sorkin was recently interviewed as part of The Daily Beast and Newsweek’s ‘Hero Summit’. In the interview, Sork let slip the entire timeline for the second season of The Newsroom. As we recently reported, the season 2 story will open in roughly September 2011. Now, in an answer about The Newsroom possibly covering the recent General Petraeus scandal, Sorkin says:

Unfortunately season 2 of The Newsroom, which began shooting this week – our timeline literally ends the day before the Petraeus story broke, and I can’t include it.

The Petraeus scandal broke on November 9, 2012, which means season 2 of The Newsroom is set to cover roughly September 2011 – November 8, 2012. We know it will begin with Occupy Wall Street, and will presumably wrap up following the recent election in America.

It would have been crazy to see what Sorkin would've done with Newtown. It might now be the Season 3 premiere.

[bluskies]

Originally Posted by Javert

It would have been crazy to see what Sorkin would've done with Newtown. It might now be the Season 3 premiere.

Sorkin talked about it tonight but he is very hesitant to do an episode on it because he feels he isn't sure he could do it right, and also not look like he was cashing in on it.

[Youre My Boy Blu!]

I liked the way this series started off, Jeff Daniels' character going off on that college student on the real status of America was pretty strong. However, the characters lacked an old wooden ship from the civil war era. As the show progressed, I found myself cringing as the pacing of rapid-fire dialogue and dramatic pauses became too predictable. Did this show get the green light for a second season?

[Arlington]

Originally Posted by Youre My Boy Blu!

Did this show get the green light for a second season?

I think it's scheduled to return in June.

[Coasterghost]

Originally Posted by Arlington

I think it's scheduled to return in June.

The Show was greenlit last year and will come back this June. A day after the second episode aired, HBO renewed the series for a second season. Season 2 Episode 1 is titled First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers and Episode 2 is entitled The Genoa Tip. Season 2 is reported to be 12 episodes.

[Coasterghost]

Originally Posted by Javert

It would have been crazy to see what Sorkin would've done with Newtown. It might now be the Season 3 premiere.

No, we’ll never make up news. We’ll always be roughly the same distance behind. Season 2 will be back on the air again in June, and I’m just now beginning to map out, in my head, where we’re gonna be. We’ll always be anywhere between 9 and 18 months behind. - Aaron Sorkin at the HBO portion of the TCA Press Tour. Just think, He can do Aurora, CO.

According to Seattlepi.com, they put into their article "In addition to the presidential election, Sorkin revealed during the panel that The Newsroom will also cover the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the Trayvon Martin case and the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act. Although he said on the red carpet that Hurricane Sandy would also be addressed as a big factor complicating the team's election coverage, he is unsure whether the show will address the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Conn. "If the only ways I could think of a story would reduce it, I wouldn't do it," Sorkin said. "Looking down the calendar at Sandy Hook, that's my fear there. ... You really don't want to do a disservice to that story."

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainme...#ixzz2PFzqYkUU

[Adam4Rizzel]

Originally Posted by Coasterghost

No, we’ll never make up news. We’ll always be roughly the same distance behind. Season 2 will be back on the air again in June, and I’m just now beginning to map out, in my head, where we’re gonna be. We’ll always be anywhere between 9 and 18 months behind. - Aaron Sorkin at the HBO portion of the TCA Press Tour. Just think, He can do Aurora, CO.

I'd imagine that possibly Season 2 will end on a Newtown cliffhanger. But on the other hand, Sorkin appeared very distressed during the PaleyFest panel because he wanted to cover it without over-dramatizing it or undermining the event's importance.

[Coasterghost]

Originally Posted by Adam4Rizzel

I'd imagine that possibly Season 2 will end on a Newtown cliffhanger. But on the other hand, Sorkin appeared very distressed during the PaleyFest panel because he wanted to cover it without over-dramatizing it or undermining the event's importance.

I don't think it will end on that cliffhanger, look what he said about it "Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Conn. "If the only ways I could think of a story would reduce it, I wouldn't do it," Sorkin said. "Looking down the calendar at Sandy Hook, that's my fear there. ... You really don't want to do a disservice to that story."

[RandyK]

Watched the first episode over the weekend and absolutely loved it. Will try to watch all of the first season on HBOGo when I order it. If I don't, I'll def order this BD.

[Coasterghost]

The Newsroom Facebook put this up on Friday

[bluskies]

Review of the Blu is up on Highdefdigest.com

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/7679/newsroom_s1.html