Two of HBO’s most popular series, “The Newsroom” and “Getting On,” are returning with new seasons – “The Newsroom” will see its third and final season beginning next month, while “Getting On” is back for a hilarious second run.
Created by showrunner Aaron Sorkin, “The Newsroom” returns for its six-part, third and final season to follow the members of Atlantis Cable News (ACN) on their quixotic mission to deliver the news well in the face of a fickle audience, corporate mandates, and tangled personal relationships. The six-part second season of “Getting On” looks at the daily lives of hospital staff as they struggle with the darkly comic realities of caring for the elderly.
The final six episodes of “The Newsroom” find Will (Emmy®-winner for his role in the series Jeff Daniels), Mac (Emily Mortimer,), and their staff facing two explosive situations: the possibility of a hostile takeover of the network, and leaked classified government documents that unleash a legal fire storm that threatens to topple more than one professional career. Set against the backdrop of the Boston Marathon bombing, the season opener takes a highly charged look at the core issue of maintaining journalistic integrity in the era of 24-hour news cycles while crowd-sourcing and “citizen journalism” result in the dissemination of misinformation.
New to the cast for Season 3 are B.J. Novak (“The Office”) as Lucas Pruit, a suitor for control of ACN; Kat Dennings (“2 Broke Girls”) as Reese’s half-sister Blair Lansing; Mary McCormack (“The West Wing”) as Molly, an FBI agent and friend of Mac; and Joanna Gleason (“Sensitive Skin”) as Charlie Skinner’s wife, Nancy.
In the second season of “Getting On,” the staff at the Billy Barnes Extended Care unit of Mt. Palms Hospital in Long Beach, California continue to attend to the needs of elderly patients “getting on” in years. In the new episodes, Dr. Jenna James (Laurie Metcalf, “The Big Bang Theory”) is on a research binge, measuring anal-genital distances of her geriatric population, as well as of lab rats, while promoting the ward’s hospice program to bring in extra cash. Facing new responsibilities and added stress, Nurse Didi (Niecy Nash) wants a raise, which ultimately sweeps her up into Dr. James’ mad research world. Meanwhile, Nurse Dawn (Alex Borstein) is spinning toward being the best not-so-good nurse as she continues to try and bag co-worker Patsy (Mel Rodriquez), while Patsy has a new lean, green program to save money and make the ward more energy efficient. Guest stars on the second season include: Betty Buckley (“Pretty Little Liars”); Jayma Mays (“The Millers”); Carrie Preston (HBO’s “True Blood”); and Alia Shawkat (“Arrested Development”).
“The Newsroom” is back on Sunday, November 9th at 9pm, and “Getting On” starts at 10:30pm.
Photo: The Newsroom/HBO Canada
