"The Newsroom" - beginning Ep.1

After watching that dreadful thing yesterday a few posts back, have been wandering about the net wondering about how the otherwise lovely friendly people that Americans are could have so much hate and ignorance in them about political issues. I don't remember people being like that back in the early '80's when I was there. People were a bit over the top about being an American but it was all good natured. The arrogance and rigidity must've started after that. 

So I was reading this big article from Germany, and in it was a reference to the show airing in the US on HBO called "The Newsroom". This is first 8 minutes of the opening scene of the first show. It's utterly brilliant.


You can read the entire article that led me to it here. 

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, the creator of many legendary television series, has come up with a new, brutal look at America. The 10-part drama, "The Newsroom," tells the story of a cynical news anchor who reinvents himself and vows to do everything right in the future. In the show's brilliant premiere, he is asked at a panel discussion to describe why America is the greatest country in the world. After a few tired jokes, the truth comes gushing out of him. "There's absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world," he ways. "We're seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined." more