Jeff Daniels in “The Newsroom” 2012. IMDb photo

When we hear the name Aaron Sorkin, we think of the Broadway play that was written by Sorkin called “A Few Good Men.”

SERIES INFO

“THE NEWSROOM”
Drama
A newsroom undergoes some changes in its workings and morals as a new team is brought in, bringing unexpected results for its existing news anchor.
Rating: Moderate profanity, with mild alcohol, drugs, smoking, frightening and intense scenes.
Creator: Aaron Sorkin
Stars: Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr.
Streaming: HBO

The movie version, starring Jack Nicholson, followed up by winning four Oscars.

Sorkin became one of America’s top writers, a reputation that brought him to television’s “The West Wing,” with Martin Sheen as President Jed Barlett.

You probably know Sorkin for his latest work,  2021’s “‘Being the Ricardos,” and the previous award-winning “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

Since then, he also rewrote and directed “To Kill A Mockingbird,” starring Jeff Daniels, on Broadway in 2019.

Daniels, before “Mockingbird,” back in 2012 starred in a three-season show  called“The Newsroom,” with the marvelous Emily Mortimer (“Mary Poppins Returns”), Tony Award-winner John Gallagher Jr., Olivia Munn (“Iron Man 2”), Sam Waterston, (“Law and Order,” “Grace and Frankie.”)

That’s only part of an amazing cast. Did I forget to mention Jane Fonda, who plays the corporate head of the network?

Here it is again, “The Newsroom,” created and written by Sorkin and now being streamed on HBO, an American political drama television with the same energy as “The West Wing.” The series initially premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012, giving us 25 episodes over three seasons.

We’re happy to see that the show has not only lost none of its energy, but is today as bright, polished and up-to-date as it was in 2012.

It stars Daniels as TV anchor Will McAvoy, who views the super-conservative direction his party has taken in recent years to be appalling, specifically, the Tea Party movement, which he calls the “American Taliban.”

The superb, mostly young and ambitious cast includes Academy Award-nominated Dev Patel, of the Bollywood musical “Slumdog Millionaire” and the two “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” films.

“Newsroom” plays out in the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN), where Daniels and his crew set out to report the news as though it were happening today, including the famous Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

The third season plays out the network’s coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and the 2013 “Whistleblowing” disclosures.

And now those three seasons are back, loaded with personal entanglements like the FBI, death threats, and some touching and humorous romantic glitches, making it, in this crowded season, the best show of the summer.

It’s not surprising that former news anchor Dan Rather, who saw the pilots of all three seasons, said, “This show has the potential to become a classic.”

It has, and it’s back streaming on HBO.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.