By Dustin Rowles | Lists | July 16, 2012 |
By Dustin Rowles | Lists | July 16, 2012 |
Because John Gallagher Is the Most Charmingly Unassuming Dork Since John Krasinski
Because of Will and MacKenzie’s Old-School Comedy of Remarriage Is the Closest Television Gets to His Girl Friday
Smug? Overwritten? Yes. But Also Honest
Because Drunk Sam Waterston is the BEST Sam Waterston
Maggie and Jim are the Most Fun Couple to Ship Since Jeremy and Natalie
Also, Because It Looks Like We Could’ve Started Shipping Them Years Ago
Because I Want to Be Punched in the Face by Alison Pill
Because I Like Being Won Over By Someone Who I Never Thought I Could Appreciate
Because Will McAvoy Is Trying to Rehabilitate the Image of Republicans
“First of all I’m a registered Republican, I only seem liberal because I believe hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure instead of gay marriage…”
Because Don is a fuckin’ NEWSMAN
Because Will McAvoy Is On a Mission to Civilize
“I think people who willfully, purposefully, and gleefully lie to the American people in order to damage someone’s reputation should, like a registered sex offender, be required by law to come with that warning label for the rest of their lives.”
(On a Gossip Columnist) “I’m not putting you down. I’m just saying that what you do is a really bad form of pollution that makes us dumber and meaner and is destroying civilization. I’m saying, with all possible respect, that I would have more respect for you if you were a heroin dealer. And I’m speaking professionally, not personally.”
Because of the Last 10 Minutes of Last Night’s Episode. Yes. it may have been sanctimonious, and yes, it may have been manipulative, and it may have unfairly used a bad Coldplay song. But you know what? I don’t care. It gave a real news story — the shooting of Gabriel Giffords — more humanity than anything on the actual news ever managed to do when she was shot. It also made me feel all the feels that I once associated with the best scenes in West Wing and in the final moments of the Studio 60 pilot and and the bumps and the chills I remember getting Isaac’s speech on the Confederate Flag in Sports Night. I love and appreciate television’s current obsession with anti-heroes, but there’s also something to be said for television with a message, even if that message is heavy handed and comes off sounding like a lecture. It feels good to be inspired by television, and to experience something each week as affirming and rousing as “Newsroom,” by someone who is on a mission to civilize.