YESTERDAY my Communication Skills class started their second round of impromptu activities: news-casting.  The initial response was not positive.  It never has been, really.  Yet I persist in keeping it as an assignment.  There’s something challenging about it.  Really, there are many things challenging about it.  Speaking “off the cuff.”  Having a decent amount of background knowledge about the world beyond your Facebook news-feed.  Being able to connect the dots that many of us take for granted.

I wish I could go back in time and show my class the premiere episode of HBO’s The Newsroom.  Granted, I wish the language of the episode was a little more private-school appropriate, too.  I finally caught the episode last night, and it was amazing.  True and very true: it’s an Aaron Sorkin show through and through.  There wasn’t an awful lot of walking, but there was a copious amount of talking.  And it was brilliant.  The show, which follows the reinvigoration of a news program and its news anchor, presents the best of what news can be.  I’m old enough that I had a time where the world news was important to me, that I had an opinion on who was a better world news anchor, even.  I miss that kind of thing, honestly.  This show reminds me why.  Sure, people in real life don’t talk from a Sorkin script (which is so unfortunate!), but it’s good to see some dialogue that elevates more than deflates.

Reviews of the show have been interesting.  The premiere pulled in over 2 million viewers, which isn’t bad for scripted cable.  Critics, of course, have not been kind.  Their criticisms are mostly based on predictable Sorkinisms, which I understand.  I’ve seen every TV show the guy has made, a good number of them multiple times.  And while he has his faults, the joys of watching his scripts brought to life outweigh any negatives.

If you get a chance, check out the pilot episode.  It’s available free for a while online.  You can check it out over at YouTube or view it as a podcast through iTunes.  Be warned: the language can get a little rough.

I do hope my students get a taste of the rush of reporting the news, even if it’s just through a simple impromptu activity.  And I hope The Newsroom is around for a good time to come.

(Photo courtesy of tv.nytimes.com)