Having picked up an Oscar for The Social Network, which effectively revived his career and put him right in the spotlight, it was kind of inevitable that Aaron Sorkin‘s new TV drama was going to be picked up by HBO. The guy was untouchable on TV. He is arguably most well known for The West Wing, which is loved by everyone, so his return to the medium after spending the last few years in movies will be a much publicized affair.
So with that in mind, Sorkin’s drama pilot, tentatively titled More As This Story Develops, has indeed been picked up to series. The pilot is, like most of Sorkin’s work, a behind the scenes glance at a huge organization. This time it focuses on the inner workings of anchoring a late night cable news show and the struggle to bring accurate yet patriotic news to viewers. The main anchor Will McAllister is played by Jeff Daniels, and it will mainly focus on the relationships he has with his producing staff
The show was born out of Sorkin shadowing Keith Olbermann, the former news anchor for MSNBC, as well as his much talked about interest of behind the scenes material. His work ever since Sports Night have been genetically linked by this trend. From The West Wing to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and from Charlie Wilson’s War to The Social Network. He knows this area and he knows how to craft fantastic dialogue and characters without that formula ever getting old.
Yet despite the underlying background of politics in his work, he insists on not knowing that much or caring that much about it. Although his work is underlined with solidly liberal credentials, it is true that the man cares more for character than he does for soapboxing.
Personally, I’ll be fascinated to see how that comes across in his new show, considering all the political opinion involved in creating a cable news show. You only have to look at the debates around Fox News and Olbermann himself to see that political opinion is what drives these shows.
The pilot was directed by Greg Mottola and written by Sorkin, who also executive produced along with Scott Rudin and Alan Poul. No news yet on the run of the shows first season, though Deadline believes that it will be around 10 episodes. The show will debut next year.