The third and final season of Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama “The Newsroom” will only run six episodes, and at least one of those episodes will deal with the Boston Marathon Bombing, according to a new trailer.
While the Boston-specific material in the trailer only lasts 30 seconds, we still get a pretty good idea of how Sorkin’s ripped-from-the-headlines show will deal with the horrific event and the subsequent media maelstrom, thanks to one of lead anchor Will McAvoy’s (Jeff Daniels) signature tirades.
“Two times in 24 hours law enforcement had to publicly disclose information because either a paper or website put someone’s life in danger,” McAvoy yells, destroying young Neal’s (Dev Patel) assertion that social media will solve the crime. “He’s hiding in a boat in someone’s backyard! I’d like confirmation on that before I say it on TV!”
While it appears some of the show’s problems remain — namely its comical histrionics and awkward shoehorning of romantic subplots into the main plotlines — at the very least, Sorkin is taking stories with a strong media component with the Boston Bombing and a plot that involves the leaking of government documents, a la Edward Snowden. And a six-episode run won’t leave much room for superfluous stories.
The only question remaining is whether Boston viewers are ready to re-live a fictionalized version of that frightening day. But given the continued coverage of the Bombing trials, the events of April 18, 2013 have never really left our collective minds.
