A few weeks ago, I posted an episode of the “Naked Lunch” podcast with hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild where their guests were the stars of the comedy movie classic “Airplane!” Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty. At one point, they briefly discuss a fellow named Ken Finkleman, who wrote and directed the sequel to “Airplane!,” and no one in the conversation seems to know anything about him, other than he also did “Grease 2,” and so they all basically dismiss him. They do comment that the ZAZ guys (Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker, who wrote and directed “Airplane!”) didn’t want to be involved with the ‘Airplane!’ sequel and distanced themselves from it. But as I noted at the time, Ken Finkleman was a very talented Canadian filmmaker who, among other things, wrote, directed and starred in an edgy, dark, wonderful comedy series called ‘The Newsroom.’
To be clear, this was not the later HBO series, but rather a dark-comedy series he made in Canada that ran for three seasons here in the U.S. on PBS during 1996-2005. Actually, it was only intended to be on for just one season – as might be clear by the three-part episode “The Meltdown,” right before what was intended to be the series finale. However, it was so popular that the CBC asked for more episodes – which Finkleman finally agreed to after a six-year hiatus (making three other series in the interim, all with the same main character, ‘George Findlay,’ although each with totally different premises.). In between those two seasons, though, Finkleman did make a very quirky two-hour movie, “Escape from the Newsroom.” He subsequently also made a third season, but it was shorter, just six episodes.
Finkleman was asked in an interview about the title, and explained that HBO asked him for permission to re-use his title. He said that since he didn’t plan to revive his series, he gave them permission.) The series was done in a sort of documentary style that predated the original British version of “The Office.” In fact, his show was a sort of a cross between a dark version of “The Office” and HBO’s “The Newsroom. The good news is that much of Finkleman’s “The Newsroom” is available on YouTube. Though in an odd way. Episodes from the first are all there, but each is divided into three segments of around 10 minutes each. However, the Season Two episodes are all “complete,” not split into segments. Unfortunately, I can’t find Season Three, though it’s shorter than the others, only six episodes were made. Hopefully, it will pop up. (It’s available on DVD here, for those interested -- and with a DVD player.)
This is the link to Season One and Season Two. Also, the two-hour movie, “Escape from the Newsroom” is in between them.
To be clear, this “This Newsroom” is not for everyone. It’s dark comedy (since Finkleman’s character is moody, cynical, self-absorbed and often morose) and quirky. But I found it very funny, interesting and thoughtful. And it grows on you the more you know the characters and style. So, it’s worth giving two or three episodes if the first episode doesn’t thrill you. But if it’s not to a person’s taste right off, so be it. I will add, though, that the series has a 7.9 rating on iMDB, so I’m not alone in my high appreciation.
But to give you a taste, here’s the first 10-minute segment of the premiere episode. You can find the concluding segments (and all the others, of course...) at the link above.
