Best New Summer TV Shows

While dodging the West Nile Virus and avoiding the Texas heat, my #2 and I have been spending plenty of time in front of the boob tube catching up on all of our DVR recordings. Watching hours of Real Housewives of just about anywhere, Million Dollar Listing on either coast, Dance Moms (can that witch on wheels really dance?), Toddlers and Tiaras, Honey boo boo (yes, even that train wreck).  Don't judge me...#2 is a bad influence on me.

Anyway, I have two (2) nominees for Best New Show of the Summer.  Both are on HBO, but I'm sure they're also available on Netflix.

First Nominee:

If you haven't seen "The Newsroom," it takes place in a cable channel newsroom (duh). Basically, it is about a news anchor (Jeff Daniels) that struggles to report the news with integrity as opposed to  catering to sensationalism. The writing is unbelievably sharp and the dialogue quick and precise.  It makes me wish every clever word came out of my mouth.

Aaron Sorkin's writing genius is so unique and the tempo of the script is his trademark. (He wrote The West Wing.)  Sorkin uses actual news events and incorporates them into his script.

  

Along with using compelling story lines, Sorkin is a master at  creating a very complicated relationship between the anchor and his producer.

 

 

Can you spell sexual chemistry?  These two are going to blow out a fuse on my TV.

 

Sam Waterson plays the cable news show's Managing Director.  I could watch this man read a telephone book.

 

 

 



The entire cast is great.  Not only are they great actors, but they are believable and likable characters.

*****

 

Second Nominee:

 

 

Congrats JLD for breaking the Seinfeld "curse." This is a political satire that gets more entertaining with every episode.  It is a fictional account of Selina Meyer, a woman who finds herself in the office of Vice President of the U.S.  She realizes immediately that the job specifications are nothing like what she had anticipated.



Vice President Meyer is wound tighter than a top, making more blunders and creating more awkward moments than Larry David.

 

The cast is great - really depicts the incompetency and egos of a real-life political staff!