The main goal of a pilot episode to any show is to keep the audience wanting to come back. It’s to make viewers realize that this is a show to be reckoned with. In essence, a pilot show is your elevator pitch to the world. And I honestly believe that in the history of television no show had a better elevator pitch than The Newsroom. Jeff Daniels’ three minute rant on why America is not the greatest country in the world remains, to this day, my favorite three minutes from any pilot episode of any show ever.
Brilliantly written by Aaron Sorkin and incredibly well delivered by Jeff Daniels, we see that America isn’t what it “used to be.” We see that America isn’t quite the country we make it out to be. It’s one of the most honest, gutsy, and poignant speeches about our own country ever broadcast.
In case you never had a chance to see it, here it is. While I think The Newsroom could have been a better show overall, nothing competes with this speech. It’s spot on.
P.S. fast forward to 3:50 to get to the speech:
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