The creator of the Jeff Daniels-starring series also clears out reports that he fired the writing staff, saying, 'A couple of staffing changes were made..., but the writing staff hasn't been fired.'
- Aug 2, 2012
AceShowbiz - Being a new hit on HBO, "The Newsroom" has also received criticisms regarding its portrayal of the female characters as weak-willed and silly. At the Television Critics Association's summer press tour on Wednesday, August 1, Aaron Sorkin responded to this opinion.
"I completely respect that opinion, but I one hundred percent disagree with it," he said. "The female characters are the equals of the men ... and we plainly see them being good at their jobs." Supporting the series creator, lead actor Jeff Daniels stated, "One of the things I like about Aaron's writing is all of his characters, men and women, have flaws. They all have flaws."
Sorkin then added, "I disagree about the asymmetry [of the character flaws] -- what Jeff said is one hundred percent right. We present Will's mission to civilize as something everyone rolls their eyes at and something that always blows up in his face. Hubris in this show is always punished. Men and women screw up in the same way."
Sorkin also denied rumors which surfaced in July about him firing the show's writing staff. Calling it "an un-sourced and untrue story," he explained, "A couple of staffing changes were made that included promoting our two writer's assistants to story editors, but the writing staff hasn't been fired -- I'm looking forward to coming back to work with them soon."
On report that he dated one of the staff writers, Corinne Kinsbury, the Oscar and Emmy-winning writer claimed that it was wrong. "She was identified as my ex-girlfriend -- she is not," so he stressed.
Responding to negative reviews on the show, Sorkin admitted, "For sure we all know that there were critics who did not enjoy watching the first 4 episodes -- and there were critics that did." He went on defending his writings, "I want to make a clear distinction between me and the characters that are in the show. I -- most of the time -- write about things I don't know much about. The political opinions that I have are at the level of sophistication of a person who has a BFA in musical theater."
While the first season of "Newsroom" is yet to end until the end of August, Sorkin has informed fans about when they can expect to watch second season. "Season 2 will be back on the air in June [2013]," he said, adding that the show would always be about 12-18 months behind the current news cycle.
