I watch things

[next_to_normal]

So I saw Much Ado About Nothing yesterday! I liked it. It didn't knock my socks off or revolutionize Shakespeare or anything, but it definitely feels quite a bit like you are watching a home movie from one of Joss' dinner parties where they all got together and acted stuff out, which is weird and fun. Much Ado is one of those Shakespeare plays that somehow managed to escape me, despite having taken an entire course on Shakespeare in college. Which means I'd never actually read it, never seen it performed, nor watched any of the prior movie versions (er, are there any others besides the Branagh one?), so I'm probably the worst person to offer critical analysis beyond "oooh shiny," lol. Does anyone else have ~thoughts? Other than, obviously, that Amy Acker is the best and should always do physical comedy.

I also started watching The Newsroom this weekend. I KNOW. I watched the pilot waaay back when it first aired, but wasn't that impressed and didn't have HBO and couldn't be bothered to watch the rest of it. I love Sports Night and The West Wing, but The Newsroom had a little too much bad!Sorkin and not enough good!Sorkin. And after I tortured myself watching the entire run of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (OMG SO MUCH BAD!SORKIN. THIS IS ACTUALLY THE WORST SORKIN), I figured I was better off just pulling out my TWW DVDs when I needed a fix.

But then all of season 1 was available for free through On Demand this weekend. I've only made it through 5 or 6 episodes, but I'd say it is definitely not as bad as Studio 60? Which is damning with faint praise, I know, lol, but that was kind of what I was expecting, based on everyone's reactions. It helps that I actually agree with a lot of the criticism Sorkin is leveling at the cable news industry and our media consumption. I just frequently find the way he chooses to deliver his message to be obnoxious, and thus far it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em (to borrow one of Sorkin's favorite phrases) whether one of those things will outweigh the other on any given episode. I don't hate it enough to hate-watch it, but I don't love it, either. And those occasional glimpses of good!Sorkin are really tempting.

I will say this, though: GOOD GOD but he is terrible at writing romantic comedy. JUST STOP. PLEASE. I BEG YOU. Seriously, how is this the same guy who wrote The American President? And Jed and Abbey Bartlet? Once again, there's nothing as insufferable as the truly loathsome Danny/Jordan "romance," but I kind of start twitching every time the Don/Maggie/Jim nonsense comes up, or when Mac apologizes for cheating on Will for the billionth time.

Comments

[deird1]

My main thoughts? Nathan Fillion is a GENIUS. I have never seen anyone play Dogberry that well.

Most actors seem to approach Dogberry as A Set Of Funny Lines That Will Get Me Laughs. And forget to make him an actual character. Seeing this version was the first time I'd seen anyone give him a personality - and, because of that, it was also the first time that I'd realised Shakespeare is deliberately making him use the wrong words ("suspect" instead of "respect") rather than me just not understanding him because of the Shakespearean vocabulary...

[jae]

Yeah, I don't think The Newsroom is a very good show, but I'm still planning to watch season two, which means it can't be that bad.

-J

[pocochina]

I'd say it is definitely not as bad as Studio 60?

HAHAHAHA, BURN.