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This dual level storytelling is something I would discourage inferior writers from attempting. In Sorkin’s hands, the combination is seamless, profound. And this is just the character aspect.

As much as I love Jeff Daniels, the true star of The Newsroom is the breaking story. Thus far, the impacting news events retold with a fact-based narrative of truth include the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the afore-mentioned shooting of Gabby Giffords, the Koch Brothers-funded rise of the Tea Party, Arab Spring and the Fukushima Meltdown. No words I use could describe the flurry of emotions I experience as Sorkin deftly recreates those early moments as journalists come face to face with unimaginable circumstances.

While there is an obvious political slant to the direction, Sorkin strives for more fairness than I had honestly expected of him. He has glove-slapped Obama for lackluster gun policies every bit as hard as he has demolished the Koch Brothers for their cynical manipulation of well-intended voters. In doing so, Sorkin has a distinct point of view and the strongest voice he has ever demonstrated in any of his shows. Ardent supporters of The West Wing may cry foul, yet the statement is true.

Sorkin’s fury with modern journalism is tangible. This rage is the driving force of The Newsroom, the inspiration for the world’s finest poet to direct all his focus. The end result is a tenacious obsession with Sorkin’s favorite subject, the better world we are close to living in if only we would take more time to take stock of our current situations. At his core, Sorkin at least desires to be every bit the optimist that MacKenzie McHale is. The Newsroom is his attempt to reconcile this hope with our reality. Faults and all, the show largely accomplishes this and when it is hitting on all cylinders, The Newsroom is better than anything else on television today. Hopefully, there will be more consistency in later seasons.

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