The Newsroom

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Yes, I definitely understood you.

I'm at a funeral service.

Thank you. No, I called you.

I just meant that that's why...

That's why my voice sounds like this.

That's why I'm being quiet.

Yes, sir. Yes, Catherine. I'm sorry.

Okay.

I need to talk to you.

Everything all right?

Remember the night before you went to prison?

The power was out in the apartment.

Oh, yeah. Definitely.

What?

- What? - You heard me.

No, I didn't. Your mouth was moving, but you didn't make sounds.

That was my doctor on the phone

with the results of a blood test.

Ellen!

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Ellen!

He means you.

Excuse me, sir. Do you mean me?

Who the hell do I mean when I say your name?

I'm Maggie. Margaret. Maggie's fine.

I need Ellen.

Does anyone know someone named...

I don't think there's anyone here named Ellen.

I can't keep track. Karen I think her name is.

I don't think there's anyone named Karen here either.

My assistant. She sits right over there.

- I'm your assistant now. You promoted me last week. - I have no memory of that.

You fired Ellen and then forgot that you did and thought I was Ellen.

- Is this tie all right? - It's very sharp, sir.

I'm not your platoon leader. Please don't call me sir.

- Do you have good taste? - In what?

Clothes. Do people generally say you have good taste?

- Pretty good. - Okay, don't take this the wrong way,

but what you're wearing right now, is that because you like it

or is it because that's all you can afford?

A little of both, I guess. There was a sale at...

Get me some more ties and someone who knows what they're talking about.

Sure.

Don, the storm is now causing record flooding in New England.

- We'll drop that into the copy. - And clear out the block.

- The whole block? - Yeah.

- That means throwing out Moscow. - Remind me.

A pair of suicide bombers attacked two subway stations.

38 dead. Officials think it was Chechen rebels fighting...

Record flooding, FEMA's saying 200,000 people in Rhode Island could be affected.

Yeah, it's raining in Providence. Everyone's gonna be okay.

- You really want the whole block? - Yes.

60 seconds.

They just called 60. You need to clear the studio.

- You asked to see me. - Sorry, tell me your name again.

- Neal Sampat. - Neal, I need the guy who edits our website.

- That's me. - All right.

It's been several days since I asked Don Keefer

to have the website do a poll on Obamacare

so I could do a segment on the poll.

Yeah, Don spoke to me about that and I wasn't sure

what kind of poll question you were looking for.

- Really? - Yeah.

Do you favor Obamacare?

Are you sure that's a good idea?

What's the problem?

For one thing, it hasn't been implemented yet.

I know that.

It's just that polling is a science and this wouldn't be a proper...

What are you talking about?

If you want to spend the money on polling...

Just ask the question, give the answer to graphics.

They'll put it up on the screen, I'll talk about it with a guest.

I'm just trying to protect the integrity of the website.

It's a website. It doesn't have integrity.

You need to clear the studio.

- 10 seconds. - Yeah.

In three, two, one. Roll in.

Good evening. I'm Will McAvoy.

This is News Night for April 2, 2010.

We've got a great show tonight.

You're gonna be happy you landed here.

Record flooding across New England

with Rhode Island hit the hardest.

We're gonna put you right in the eye of the storm.

Three men have been arrested in conjunction

with the New York subway stabbings last weekend.

And we'll be talking to Kiefer Sutherland

about the last season of 24 .

You won't want to miss it. All that coming up after this.

You're watching News Night on ACN, so stick around.

Clear.

Name that tune.

Play a little more.

Tom T. Hall. "That's How I Got to Memphis."

You do play a little guitar on the side.

I do a little news anchoring on the side.

Since when do you listen to country?

My grandson Bo, Katie's oldest, has a garage band.

Ask me what instrument he plays.

- Guitar. - All of them.

Seriously, he's a savant.

You put an instrument in his hands, give him a day, and he can play it.

So I was at their house last weekend

and I wander out to the garage

and see Bo teaching "That's How I Got to Memphis" to his friends.

And I ask him, "What's a kid from New Rochelle

doing singing about Memphis?"

He said, "Memphis is a stand-in

for wherever you are right now.

That it really means that's how I got here."

- Will. - Yeah?

You did a five minute and 20 second block on the weather tonight.

Weather rates.

- I saw you're speaking at Northwestern. - Yeah.

- To journalism students. - Yeah.

Are you going to tell the kids that weather rates?

- What do you want from me? - The news.

I've got the second highest rated newscast on cable.

I don't give a shit.

I know that, Charlie. That's why I have to.

Have you ever thought about having kids?

You mean adopting?

Adopting, abducting.

Meeting somebody, getting married. Whatever it takes.

I haven't considered abducting anyone,

- but I've thought about the others. - And?

Well, first of all, I'm now in my 50s

and I need to consider that I'm gonna die

and will my kid be old enough to handle it when I do?

There's no age at which you're okay with your father dying.

But there's a difference between being an adult

and dropping a piano on a kid.

You don't look to me like you're gonna die anytime soon.

And if you got hit by an ice cream truck,

they'd still have you as a father for a while.

Yeah, I'm not sure that's a prize.

Why?

I've read plenty of experts who say

that whatever undiagnosed shit my father has

can be hereditary.

Your father's an alcoholic, you're not.

I'm talking about...

He's obviously lived his life with some kind of severe depression.

Your depression isn't chemical.

- Who says I'm depressed? - I do.

Will, you're so much better than the show you're doing.

I'm tired of this. It's the second highest...

Highest rated hour of congratulations.

Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square,

Benedict tells tens of thousands of people,

as well as the rest of the world,

about the recent petty gossip...

His words... That he's been subjected to.

That he's been subjected to.

Petty gossip. He's talking about proven allegations

that priests have been raping children

and that bishops, archbishops, cardinals,

and maybe even this pope

have been protecting the children?

No, the priests.

Benedict fails to mention that in his sermon,

which is bad enough, but you failed

to mention that in your report Monday.

And that's inexplicable to me.

Bill Donohue...

Yeah, you don't want the Catholic League mad at you.

Nobody does.

The president in his first visit to Afghanistan

as the president meets with Hamid Karzai.

And then I couldn't believe the words that came out of your mouth next.

"We'll have two top campaign strategists

here in the studio to debate the war right after this."

- They were good guests. - What in the hell are we doing

having two campaign hacks

from the D-triple-C and the RNC on our air

debating America's longest war

when you know as well as I know that they know

exactly as much as what's printed in their talking points?

Who would you have preferred?

Anybody from AEI, Brookings, Heritage, Cato.

Anybody from State or Defense.

Anybody from House or Senate Foreign Relations.

At the very least you could get the guy

who wrote the talking points.

There's a midterm election coming up.

In six months.

So why do you book a red guy and a blue guy?

For the fight.

I'm starting to enjoy our postshow drinks less and less.

- I'll back off. - Thank you.

- For tonight. - I'll take what I can get.

And remember what I said.

You said a lot of things.

Being a father. It lives up to the hype.

Hey.

Yeah. Sorry.

Amazing service.

Thank you. Thank you.