"It's nothing like a real broadcast newsroom," critics have moaned. "Sorkin is solving real news events with the luxury of time and hindsight," cried others. And that's not even getting started on those who have already branded him a socialist/liberal/dreamer on the right hand side of the political spectrum.
To say the response to his new show has been split would probably be putting it lightly. The show has already been handed a second series, but the critics have been having a field day, mocking Sorkin's scripts and characterisation, and attacking his portrayal of women. Is the critical mauling fair? Partly.
The Social Network and West Wing scribe has dabbled in similar behind-the-camera concepts in the past - the lost classic or terrible disaster (depending on who you ask) Studio 60 and the short-lived Sports Night - and it is clearly a set-up he finds easy to slip into.
A buzzing newsroom suits the classic Sorkin quickfire dialogue (we even get a little West Wing-esque corridor walk-and-talk), it allows him to dabble in big sweeping themes about the state of the nation, and it also leaves suitable moments for screamed lectures AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT which jolt the viewer into realising that SOMETHING IMPORTANT IS HAPPENING.
Most of the shouting in episode one comes from Jeff Daniels's pompous, desk-thumping, news anchor Will McAvoy, a man who has lost his faith in broadcast news and his country.
After causing a stir and suggesting that the USA isn't the finest Goddamn country in the universe at a university lecture, Will's boss Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston) attempts to grab hold of the dying embers of passion left in his employee and rejigs his news team.
MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer) - an ex-lover of McAvoy and a superstar war journalist - is brought in to replace the whiny, instantly dislikeable Don Keefer (Thomas Sadoski) as exec producer. The love/hate romance, muddled relationship history and shout-offs between McHale and McAvoy looks destined to dominate the storylines.
Elsewhere, we have the cheeky rising star (John Gallagher, Jr's Jim Harper), the talented, attractive but badly treated new starter (Alison Pill as Margaret 'Maggie' Jordan) and a shy geeky kid who works on a blog (Dev Patel as Neal Sampat). The Newsroom won't win any awards for originality.
In fact, it probably won't win any awards full stop. Not if the first episode is anything to go by anyway. This writer's response was more sniggering and amusement than deep emotional stirring or thoughtful contemplation about the fourth estate.
Don't get us wrong, we really enjoyed The Newsroom. What with the shouting, the lecturing, the shouting, the laughable character tropes, yet more shouting, we were never bored. In fact, we're really looking forward to episode two. But Sorkin's desperation to say something serious and make statements are so ham-fisted and hackneyed that it will rub many up the wrong way and leave those that would normally sympathise with him feeling patronised.
With a great cast and a smoothing-down of Sorkin's lenthy shout-offs, there's potential for a decent show to emerge. However, knowing Sorkin and having read reviews of upcoming episodes, we won't be getting our hopes up.
Instead, we're going to settle down and look forward to some soapy will-they-wont-they office romances, a few snort-inducing hip references to blogs and Twitter, and some fantasy journalism that will crack open every case and story with a few quick phone calls. Oh, and some shouting. Lots of shouting.
