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2 No vember 9 - 15, 2014 Br ainerd Dispatch By Cassie Dresch TV Media W ill McAvoy is about to sign off for the last time. The quick-wit- ted, brazen managing editor and news anchor of "News Night" at the fictitious Atlantis Cable News chan- nel will see the lights dim in his stu- dio, and fans of HBO's "The News- room" will have to bid him a fond farewell. The third and final season of the topical Aaron Sorkin political drama kicks off with its premiere ep- isode Sunday, Nov. 9, on HBO. There will only be six episodes to conclude this popular series, but Sorkin ("The West Wing," "The So- cial Network," 2010), the show's creator and principal writer, told "Entertainment Weekly" back in September that he's excited with how this last season finishes. "I'm really excited. I do feel it's a really solid season," he said. "I think we're wrapping up a lot of stories in a nice way." The show definitely had a whole host of stories to follow last year. The main arc focused on Operation Genoa, a falsified report about the United States Marine Corps using sarin gas on civilians in Pakistan. (While many aspects of Operation Genoa are fictitious, the plot line is based on an actual scan- dal from 1998 involving CNN and "Time" magazine.) Other stories — of a less newsy nature — that came to light included Will (Jeff Daniels, "Dumb & Dumber," 1994) and MacKenzie's (Emily Mortimer, "Shutter Island," 2010) engage- ment; Maggie's (Alison Pill, "Milk," 2008) recovery after her traumatic experience in Uganda; Jim (John Gallagher Jr., "Olive Kitteridge") and Hallie's (Grace Gummer, "Ex- tant") slowly straining relationship; and Don (Thomas Sadoski, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit") and Sloan's (Olivia Munn, "Perfect Cou- ples") budding romance. Whew! It's a lot to chew on. Of course, the spotlight won't solely be on the personal stories of the char- acters. Like both previous seasons — and since it's expected from a show titled "The Newsroom" — the "News Night" crew will tackle some real-life news stories. One of the ma- jor story arcs for season 3 will be the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and there will also be a plot follow- ing a government whistle-blower, a la Edward Snowden. While "The Newsroom" has re- ceived generally favorable reviews for its first two seasons, Sorkin faced a bit of criticism from quite a few journalists who chastised him for his portrayal of reports, anchors and practically every television broadcaster. "Dramatic tension in 'The Newsroom': missed cue, buggy soundboard, graphics not full screen. Edge of seat. I hope no one's Black- Berry crashes," tweeted Heidi Moore, "The Guard- ian's" U.S. finance and economics editor, after the season 2 premiere. "OK, I've never retracked a spot through speakerphone 90 secs b4 air. Anybody done that? #News- room," Emmy-winning journalist Luke Russert also tweeted, referring to a speakerphone gaffe MacKenzie made in the episode. Sorkin took some time to address these criticisms at the Tribeca Film Festival back in April, explaining that he's still learning how to write "The Newsroom" from a media view- point and even going so far as apol- ogizing for his work. "I think that there's been a terri- ble misunderstanding," he told the crowd. "I did not set the show in the recent past in order to show the pros how it should have been done. ... I wasn't trying to, and I'm not capable of, teaching a profes- sional journalist a lesson. That wasn't my intent and it's never my intent to teach you a lesson or try to persuade you or anything. "I like writing romantically and idealistically," Sorkin added. "I try to balance that with just enough real- ism so that it feels like whatever ro- mantic ideal is in there is some- what attainable." Sorkin has been around the block a few times, and his knack for creating and writing good sto- ries has served him well. The 53-year-old New Yorker has taken home six Primetime Emmy Awards for another political drama of his, "The West Wing," as well as a Golden Globe and an Oscar for his 2010 movie "The Social Network." He also created and wrote the Em- my-winning shows "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "Sports Night" and penned the scripts for the Oscar-nominated movies "A Few Good Men" (1992) and "Moneyball" (2011). "The Newsroom's" lead actor, Jeff Daniels, also has his fair share of awards and nominations. Daniels, who is probably most well known as Harry Dunne from "Dumb & Dumb- er" (1994), took home an Outstand- ing Lead Actor Emmy for his portray- al of Will last year and was nominat- ed again this year. The musician, ac- tor and playwright also has a Tony nomination to his name for the 2009 Broadway play "God of Carnage," as well as four Golden Globe nods, including one for "The Newsroom." When he won his Emmy in 2013, Daniels was initially quite shocked. His first words when he got up to the podium for his acceptance speech were, "Well, crap!" After he left the stage, he explained his reac- tion a little more to reporters. "I've been neutral about this whole thing," he said. "I've been nominated a bunch of times — Google it — enough to kind of not lean toward it, not to hope too much. ... I felt the work stood up to what the other guys were doing, but we're all doing different things. It's anybody's game. I was happy to win, but surprised because it could have been anyone." Ultimately, it was Daniels who took home that Emmy and chal- lenged for another in 2014. With season 3 ready to get underway, he could quite possibly be in the mix again next year. First and foremost, they have to power through the last six episodes. As Will says in a trailer for the upcoming season, "We don't do good TV. We do the news." Thankfully, "The News- room" is good TV on the news. As Will gets ready to sign off for the last time, catch the premiere of the third and final season of "The Newsroom" airing Sunday, Nov. 9, on HBO. Doing the news HBO's 'The Newsroom' gets set to sign off for the fi nal time Cover Story this week John Gallagher Jr. and Emily Mortimer as seen in "The Newsroom" Mon.-Fri, 8:00-5:30, Sat. 9:00-12:00 With coupon. CASH Sales only. No other discounts apply. Pride® Lift Chairs Choice of Style & Color $ 50.00 OFF VALUABLE COUPON Expires 11/30/14 Stop in and see our "NEW" Serta lift chair! 206 W. 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