Over the past 30 years, PaleyFest has held panel sessions and screenings that connect the worldwide community of television fans with the casts and creators of their favorite TV shows.  One of the drama series celebrated this year were the folks behind HBO’s The Newsroom, and Collider was there to get the updates on Season 2.

After giving a sneak peek at 10 minutes of the first episode of Season 2, airing sometime this summer, creator/writer/executive producer Aaron Sorkin, executive producer Alan Poul and actor Jeff Daniels spoke during the panel about why cable news was the right setting for this show, how much pressure it is to do a Sorkin monologue, how the show has polarized critics, and the unique way in which the show is shot, along with giving tidbits about the news stories they’ll be covering in the second season, more of the Don (Thomas Sadoski) and Sloan (Olivia Munn) relationship, and that Will McAvoy (Daniels) and MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer) possibly getting together won’t kill the show.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Much interest has surrounded Sony’s biopic of the late innovator Steve Jobs, but it now looks like we have a clear idea of what to expect when the film eventually hits theaters.  The Oscar-winning The Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin has been tasked with crafting the screenplay for the adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs, and he previously revealed that his film won’t be a straight biography “because it’s very difficult to shake the cradle-to-grave structure of a biography.”

Many assumed the eschewing of the cradle-to-grave structure meant that Sorkin’s film would focus on a short period of time in Jobs’ life, but now the West Wing creator has revealed that he’s got something wholly unique in mind for the film’s structure: three 30-minute scenes that will play out in real time.  Hit the jump for more. [Update: We've updated the article with video of Sorkin talking about the film.]

We’ve got a couple of TV news-related bits to share this afternoon.  First up, as production on the second season of Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom gears up, two welcome cast additions have been announced.  THR reports that Patton Oswalt and Rosemarie DeWitt (Mad Men) have been set in recurring roles for the show’s second season.  Oswalt wil be playing the new VP of Human Resources at the cable network Atlantic Cable News, while DeWitt is set as a litigator who is brought in to defend the network in a wrongful-termination lawsuit.

Hit the jump for more, including a new trailer and poster for the promising new Kevin Bacon-fronted Fox series The Following.

The HBO drama series The Newsroom, from show creator/executive producer/writer Aaron Sorkin, centers on cable news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), his new executive producer and former girlfriend, MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), his newsroom staff (which includes John Gallagher Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel and Olivia Munn), and their boss (Sam Waterston).  Showing the excitement and exhilaration that comes from getting breaking news on the air, it also illustrates the corporate and commercial obstacles along the way.

While at the HBO portion of the TCA Press Tour, Aaron Sorkin talked about writing for film versus television, addressed the criticism of the series, clearly defining characters so that you can then have them slip on as many banana peels as you want, that his writing staff didn’t really get fired for Season 2, balancing the comedy and drama, his decision to reference actual news events, and how the show will always remind a bit behind, so that it never catches up with current news.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO series The Newsroom is an interesting show.  I’m a self-professed “Sorkin nut,” so I came into the pilot episode with a great sense of excitement.  We’re now four episodes in, and it’s apparent to just about everyone that the series has some major problems.  There’s genuinely a lot to love about The Newsroom, but it’s not exactly gelling as well as Sorkin’s past TV efforts (The West Wing, Sports Night).  It now appears that the Academy Award-winning screenwriter himself is acknowledging that there are some issues with the show, as he has “let go” of most of his writing staff for season two.  Hit the jump for more.

Several weeks ago, Sony Pictures invited us to attend the press junket The Amazing Spider-Man.  The reboot takes a grittier, more realistic approach to Peter Parker’s journey to becoming your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and sees the wall-crawler struggling to come to grips with the mysterious disappearance of his parents.  For more on the film, click here for all of our previous coverage.

During my on-camera interview with Martin Sheen, who plays Uncle Ben, we talked his experience working with Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), the blockbuster feel on set, his thoughts on Spawn, and what it was like being on The West Wing during the Aaron Sorkin years and after Sorkin left the show.  Hit the jump to check out the interview, and click on the corresponding links for my interviews with co-stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans and Denis Leary. The Amazing Spider-Man opens in 3D on July 3rd.

Hot off the one-two punch of The Social Network and Moneyball, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin made his return to television last night with the debut of his new HBO series The Newsroom.  The premiere came with lofty expectations from The West Wing creator, and early screener reactions were passionately mixed-to-positive.  I’m an out and out Sorkin fan and, despite the show’s familiarity to the scribe’s other series (specifically the super similar “stock” characters), I really enjoyed the pilot.  Yes, everyone speaks in eloquent soliloquies with insanely profound and accurate statistical arguments rolling off their tongues as if they were reciting a recipe, but Sorkin’s romanticism and wit is just too damned enticing for me to be bothered.

The pilot sparked quite a bit of lively conversation on Twitter last night, and now HBO has put the full 73-minute episode online for free.  Whether you’re a Sorkin fan or not, I highly suggest you give the pilot a whirl and decide for yourself what you think of the show rather than buying into the pre-lash sight unseen.  Hit the jump to watch, then head to the comments with your reaction.

Last night was the premiere of Aaron Sorkin‘s new HBO series, The Newsroom.  The show felt like Sorkin² in terms of the dialogue, the big soaring speeches, and the important parables.  It also felt like a bit of a retread as it quickly became apparent to Sorkin fans that he was reusing characters from his previous series’, specifically Sports Night and The West Wing.  Obviously, this comparison is based off only one episode, and perhaps The Newsroom will evolve to where these new characters will actually feel new.

Hit the jump to see how Sorkin’s new characters compare to his old ones.

The first official poster has been released for Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO drama, The Newsroom. The series stars Jeff Daniels as the primary anchor of a failing 24-hour news network who is ready to break the monotony of cable news and go back to the roots of informing his audience. We already saw his character have a fantastic (and much publicized) outburst in the first trailer.  Then, The Newsroom followed up with a series of additional trailers that developed a bit more of the storyline and also introduced us to the rest of the cast:  such as Daniels’ character’s new executive producer (Emily Mortimer), his newsroom staff (John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn) and their boss (Sam Waterston).  Now, we have the first look at the official poster (in addition to some shorter trailers, in case you’ve missed the previous ones).  Hit the jump to check out the slick official poster for HBO’s The Newsroom, which debuts Sunday, June 24th at 10PM.

Score one more for Sony’s Steve Jobs biopic.  The studio announced earlier this week that Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) will be penning an adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs—giving the project a major leg-up in contrast to the Ashton Kutcher-fronted indie biopic Jobs—and now the production has the involvement of a key Apple player.  Moreover, Sorkin revealed that the film won’t be the standard biopic that some are expecting:

“I know so little about what I am going to write. I know what I am not going to write. It can’t be a straight ahead biography because it’s very difficult to shake the cradle-to-grave structure of a biography.”

Hit the jump for more, including the nature of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s involvement on the project.

f

Earlier reports have been confirmed that Oscar-winning screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network), will adapt the Steve Jobs biography for Sony Pictures.  The Walter Isaacson-penned biography, titled simply, “Steve Jobs,” came out a few weeks after the business mogul’s death last October; reports quickly started circulating that Sony was courting Sorkin to adapt it.  While the rumors that Noah Wyle and George Clooney are in the running to portray Jobs have not been confirmed, Sorkin is officially attached.  Also, please keep in mind that this is not the Ashton Kutcher indie biopic, Jobs, which was scripted by Matt Whiteley. Hit the jump for more on Sorkin and the Steve Jobs biopic.

A new trailer for Oscar-winning screenwriter and The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin’s latest series, The Newsroom, has gone online.  This builds on the basic set-up introduced in the previous two trailers gets a bit more into what the plot may look like in the first few episodes beyond the pilot.  Jeff Daniels stars as the primary anchor of a floundering 24-hour news network who’s ready to break the monotony of lazy and gutless cable news.  I’m a self-professed Sorkin nut so I may be a bit biased, but I really like what we’ve seen from the series thus far.  My only concern is that the show could become too much of a soapbox for Sorkin’s worldviews a la Studio 60, but hopefully his knack for snappy dialogue and romantic characters reigns the preach-factor in a bit.  Moreover, this new trailer has 100% more David Krumholtz which is almost never a bad thing.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer (complete with Dave Krumholtz cameo!), and count down the days until The Newsroom premieres on June 24th on HBO.  The show also stars Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston, Jane Fonda, Alison Pill, Olivia Munn and Dev Patel.

A new trailer for Aaron Sorkin‘s upcoming HBO series The Newsroom has gone online.  The first trailer played to the dramatic aspects of the series, but the new one hits on Sorkin’s whip-smart dialogue almost to the point of self-parody (when Alison Pill‘s character talks about mixing up Georgia the state with Georgia the country, I could easily hear the dialogue coming out of Donna Moss’ mouth).  The new trailer also does a better job of laying out the plot and establishing the different characters and their relationships.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The show stars Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr., Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, and Sam Waterston.  The Newsroom premieres June 24th at 10/9c.

Right about now, HBO subscribers are probably in a high over the debut of the second season of Game of Thrones or the impending summer return of season five of True Blood. But there is a new series on the premium network you should keep an eye on. It seems that Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) has a lot of venting to do and he gets everything off his chest in this brilliant first trailer for the new HBO drama, The Newsroom. Starring Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston and Emily Mortimer, The Newsroom keeps a familiar politico-centric feel to Sorkin’s The West Wing but now features a newsroom setting replacing the White House. In this first trailer, nationally recognized news anchor Will McAvoy (Daniels) loses his objectivity (and possibly his audience) when responding to a question from the crowd at a college panel. Daniels immediately won me over by saying everything a rational and informed human being should say in spite of the political backlash it was bound to incur. Hit the jump to check it out.

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.