Agreed. I can't think of a show with a bigger gap in quality between the main character and the rest of the cast. All the women are hysterical and overly emotional, the men all boring and bland. Sam Waterston can hardly speak ffs.
Its in complete contrast to Sorkins' other works, especially the West Wing. I'm going to be as vauge as possible here, but in one of the episodes of the West Wing, a relatively minor character dies in the second season finale. This is a character that wasn't essential to any of the plot lines, yet his or her relationship with Bartlet was a nice touch in the series. The character was endeering, and the death of that character, and its effect on Bartlet, tugged at the heart strings. In another episode, Toby finds out that a homeless Vietnam vet that had his jacket died in a park. He organizes a military funeral. Its a great episode, and shows a side of Toby that wasn't yet really shown; his humanity. Up to that point, the first season had him as a dry, witty and bright aid but overall, human interaction seemed to be a nuisance for him. And yet, in this one episode, Toby, who I found to be a likeable asshole, suddenly became a redeeming character because of his, well, character and morals.
This is the difference between the West Wing and the Newsroom. I didn't care about or, even worse, care for the majority of the characters. And worse, they don't even feel like real people. Nobody gives a shit if Emily Elizabeth and the little guy get together, and nobody cares about Jeff Daniels and his producer. The West Wing had the bullshit love stuff too, but it was more subtle and it didn't have entire plot lines written around it. Some of the scenes about editing on the fly, or the meetings debating whether to run certain stories; that's the stuff that is interesting. Looking at a liberal outsider on Romney's campaign IS interesting. I don't care who Jim wants to have sex with, I really couldn't care any less.
The West Wing was set in rooms and places that the public wasn't supposed to be, and it convinced you that these scenes were a plausible reality with real people. The show also had characters that could be venerated while at the same acted in ways that made them personable and relatable. The Newsroom has about 3 scene an episode that are interesting, and about 15 scenes with whiny, boring characters that nobody could conceiveably care about.
I don't know how Sorkin can write characters that are so layered and nuanced in one show, and characters that are boring and lack depth in another
.
I'm old.
