Jeff Daniels has been glued to a red carpet this week, and not in the desperate reality-star “please look at me” way.
After a mega Westwood premiere 20 years in the making for “Dumb and Dumber To” on Monday, Jeff Daniels had a premiere sequel on his hands.
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Daniels and his colleagues from HBO’s “The Newsroom” celebrated its third and final season with a screening and party at the DGA on Sunset Tuesday night, just as real newsrooms around the country were covering the breaking news of the midterm elections.
“Two completely different guys,” Daniels said referencing his two lead characters and the quick turnaround. “If I think about it too much, I have to go in to therapy.”
No therapy needed for Olivia Munn, Sam Waterston, Alison Pill, Dev Patel, HBO Programming President Mike Lombardo, or the mastermind Aaron Sorkin, who touted “The Newsroom’s” Sunday night return to HBO, leading off with an episode encompassing the Boston Marathon Bombing.
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“If you get an hour once a week on HBO to say whatever you want, the least you can do with the other 23 hours and 6 days is to shut up,” Sorkin deadpanned as he began addressing the packed house before the screening.
Referencing fellow executive producer Alan Poul, Sorkin admitted “Everybody knows that in my case, that title is kind of honorary.” Paul Lieberstein (formerly executive producer and “Toby” on “The Office”) joins the series as an executive producer on these final episodes.
Sorkin, who started as a playwright, also acknowledged his career coming full circle in this series. At age 6, his parents made his first Broadway outing a trip to “Much Ado About Nothing.” Sam Waterston was one of the stars.
“Coming to work with you every day has only made you more of a god to me,” Sorkin said.
“We are so proud that we have been your home for the past three years,” Mike Lombardo told Sorkin publicly. Sorkin had an entire center row of seats blocked off for his crew, right behind Lombardo in the theater.
“I hope looking back, that I can say that this was just the first time I had a show on HBO,” Sorkin followed up. After debuting in the spring of 2012, the series will end with six episodes.
Of note in Lomardbo’s opening remarks, he referenced rivals AMC and Netflix in describing the “rich and crowded television landscape” populated by a litany of “indelible characters” such as “meth dealers” and “murderous politicians”.
In the always rich and lush landscape known as HBO parties, Tuesday night was no exception.
They always go heavy on food and tables for everyone to sit down, not just above-the-line seating.
They used every inch of the DGA lobby on Tuesday night for buffets and bars, with “Garlic Tossed Fries” and other holiday weight-gain kickstarters like Cookie Pie and Mini Hand Pies lurking at the front of the lines.
Just enough to add on pounds on-air, in the field, or behind an anchor’s desk.
“The Newsroom” premieres Sunday, Nov. 9 at 9:00 p.m. on HBO.