The Newsroom: Season 02 (1997)

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The first thirteen episodes of the satirical Canadian series The Newsroom were originally telecast as two separate "seasons" on CBC, with the last seven half-hours comprising Season Two (they have since been released on DVD as "The Complete First Season"). TV news director George Findlay (played by series creator-writer Ken Finkleman) continues resorting to the sleaziest methods possible to advance himself professionally and obtain high ratings during his second season on the air. Offering token opposition to George's cutthroat tactics are his new boss Nancy Trimbell (Nancy Beatty), and regional programming head Gillian Soros (Elisa Moolecherry), whose tireless efforts to find a "Canadian" angle on each and every news story that crosses her desk reaches hitherto unscaled heights of absurdity. Also added to the cast is Karen Hines as Karen Mitchell, the latest in a long line of beleaguered news-segment producers, and Pamela Sinha as on-air reporter Rani Sandhu. In the first of the seven new episodes, George exhibits more paranoia than usual after being besieged by bizarre voice mails, and being left couch-less by an unknown furniture thief. Shortly thereafter, the series is plunged into a three-part story arc wherein a nearby nuclear meltdown throws George's staff into a panic--and keeps our "hero" up nights trying to figure out how to make a nuclear expert seem interesting on TV. Elsewhere, thickheaded news anchor Jim Walcott (Peter Keleghan) runs for political office, an ambition all but thwarted by his so-called campaign manager George before being stopped literally dead in its tracks by a totally unanticipated act of violence. The Canadian-based guest stars this season are certainly an eclectic mix, including movie director David Cronenberg, newspaper columnists Linda McQuaig and Jeffrey Simpson, Conservative commentator Hugh Segal, hockey player Eddie Shack, novelist John Haslett Cuff, and TV producer Pamela Wallin ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi