After debuting to a respectable 2.1 million on-air viewers on HBO last night, the first episode of Aaron Sorkin’s new workplace and political drama The Newsroom is streaming for free at HBO’s website, TV.com, and YouTube.
The Newsroom stars Jeff Daniels as a news anchor on a 24-hour TV news network (think FOX News, CNN, or MSNBC) and the struggles he and his staff face as they try to report the news responsibly in a corporate environment.
Sorkin is famous for creating the TV series Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which all have a similar wit that viewers either love or love to hate. You’ll see no shortage of the same sort of idealized fast-talking those shows are known for in The Newsroom.
The show generated a some buzz on Twitter when it aired last night, but opinions were sharply divided. There were two things people agreed on, though: It’s definitely Sorkinesque, and it tackles some major issues facing the United States media and democracy.
The episode will be available for free online until July 23, at which point HBO will likely go back to its policy of withholding its content from the internet until long after a season finishes airing. Oh, and in a rather silly move on HBO’s part, to watch it at HBO’s website you have to register for a free account on the website.
