Dan Rather has been reviewing The Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin’s cable news drama, over at Gawker for a few weeks now, and the longtime CBS anchor has mostly liked what he’s seen. (“There is a newsroom authenticity to what’s presented and much that gets to the heart of modern American journalism’s problems.â€) But Dan Rather is not the only bona fide newsperson with an HBO subscription! And now it is New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson’s turn to weigh in. Her thoughts? “It’s like a fantasy,†she tells A.O. Scott around the two-minute mark of this video. “It’s an idyllic version of how a moodier day newsroom might operate.†She defers to Times critic Alessandra Stanley for a bit, and then goes for the good stuff:
“Parts of it to me seemed implausible and a little too earnest. Because it asks a lot for people, going back, really, to Ace in the Hole, up through Network — it’s hard to close your eyes and pretend that we can go back to once upon a time.â€
In conclusion, Jill Abramson didn’t buy that “my sister works at Halliburton†plot, either.