I so wish Lafayette were doing something (anything) other than being everyone's sassy black gay friend (and occasional caretaker/nanny/babysitter) this year.

Has he not gotten helplessly possessed by someone's ghost and tried to kidnap or kill anyone yet this season?

ONLY THE ONE TIME.

Jason did go in to save Jessica (among others I think, but she was the main impetus), which goes a long way with redemption for me 'cause I still love Jessica.

I miss what Jessica and Hoyt had, before they fucked it up, and I'm glad Hoyt's gone at this point, but I still love Jessica.

ONLY THE ONE TIME.

Ha!

As far as Jessica, I still love that redheaded baby vamp. She's the best thing Bill Compton ever did.

Her dancing in the sun was glorious.

So I finished Orange Is The New Black last night, and I wasn't crazy about the last batch of eps the way I was about the first half of the season. I'm still looking forward to the second season to see where it goes, but something about the last three especially just didn't work for me the way the beginning few did. I think I just got bored of Piper's story and wanted someone else to be the primary POV for a while.

100% agreement with Jessica. I especially didn't like the finale. It felt tacked on.

and that's OK right? I laugh when I'm supposed to laugh. I cry when I'm supposed to cry. It's a familiar fuzzy blanket of a show.

Laga, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to post and run on this...

I like Aaron Sorkin, warts and all. Loved Sports Night and West Wing. I like Newsroom too, in part because of the cast. But even as a big Sorkin fan, I do find myself getting a little eye-rolley just because of how recycled everything about Newsroom is. Like you say, it's a big warm, fuzzy blanky. I laugh when I'm supposed to laugh, I recognize when I'm supposed to cry (one of the warts that bugs me about Sorkin is how manipulative he can be on the cry points. He does it better than most, but still...).

And I'm still watching Newsroom. And enjoying it (though not as much as either WW or SN), even as I find myself ticking off so many of the character and plot moments from where I've seen it before (I know WW *reeeeeally* well).

That's why I say Newsroom is like a Best Of, Double Live... album. Even the best "Best Of" album from the best band there ever was, with the most amazing live performances of all your favorites, is still going to be the worst album that band ever puts out. Because there's nothing new on it. Or maybe one or two new things, from the forthcoming album, or whatever.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Jethro Tull, Bustin' Out. I loved Rush's All the World's a Stage and Exit, Stage Left. But they were still just Best Of, Double Live... albums.

Which I hope is not to rob you of any love for Newsroom (or any particular double live album, for that matter). Most of the things I adore (Star Trek:TNG, X-Files, Buffy, etc...) give me plenty of reason to pick on them, even as I watch, but I don't do it to shows I don't like.

As for Newsroom itself....

I like Mack, although I think her name is one of those ridiculous Sorkin constructs that he tries to pass as a character quirk sometimes. Plus I really like Emily Mortimer as an actor.

I like Will Macavoy... or rather, I don't particularly like Will, but I like not liking him, or rather, I think Jeff Daniels does really great job of selling Will Macavoy. Plus, I adore Jeff Daniels, and he's a Michigan homeboy, so he almost always does right by me.

I like the individual characters of Jim, Don and Maggie, but I have not particularly cared for the Sorkin love-triangle they've been trapped in. And, I don't particularly like Maggie, per se, as she's really SUCH a stock Sorkin character, but I'm growing to like Alison Pill in the role, and think she does a pretty good job trying to overcome the material that's been handed her. (I think Maggie's story is one of the weaker parts of the show, but not for any fault on the actor's part).

I *did* find the Don/Sloan twist on that interesting, and I keep hoping more interesting stuff will come from that, and/or wished they'd done better with the storyline or something.

Sloan Sabbath is probably my favorite character on the show, just because Sloan comes across as... kind of borderline psychotic, almost, I guess? But in a way that's really entertaining to me. (There may be some small part of me that hope it all ultimately ends with Sloan snapping and spree-killing everybody).

I also really like Charlie, but I'll stop and listen to a TDAmeritrade commercial for a second, just because Sam Waterston is their spokesperson.

And I like Neal too, because Dev Patel.

Also, Sorkin's take on issues and events is often where I find myself rolling my eyes, and/or tearing my hair out, and/or wanting to punch him, but that was true of West Wing, too.

And any show without a Dolores Landingham and/or Debbie Fitterer is somehow lacking, but only one show could ever claim either of them, so it's hard to hold that too much over any one show.