The Newsroom (2012–2014): Season 3, Episode 6 - What Kind of Day Has It Been - full transcript
The team looks forward as they mourn the loss of a coworker.
Sync by Diemust44
♪ Eternal Father ♪
♪ Strong to save ♪
♪ Whose arm doth bind
the restless wave ♪
♪ Who bidd'st
the mighty ocean deep ♪
♪ Its own appointed
limits keep ♪
♪ O, hear us
when we cry to Thee ♪
♪ For those in peril
on the sea ♪
♪ O Savior
whose almighty word ♪
♪ The winds and waves
submissive heard... ♪
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.
♪ O sacred spirit ♪
♪ Who did brood... ♪
♪ And gave his light
and life and peace ♪
♪ O hear us
when we cry to Thee... ♪
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!
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.
♪ Amen. ♪
Hey.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Amazing service.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, please help me. I need to fully
understand what's happening right now.
I'm seven weeks pregnant and there's like
a five in nine chance that it's yours.
I don't care if there's no chance it's mine.
It's mine now.
- Couple of questions.
- Give them to me.
Are you feeling all right?
Should you be standing up?
Is it all right for you
to be outdoors?
I feel great and I'm allowed to be
outdoors for the first eight weeks.
- Feels like that was a joke, but I can't tell.
- It was.
Moratorium on jokes for the
next week and seven months.
Have you had an amnio?
In between getting off the
phone and talking to you?
No, I was going to use the
amnio room in the chapel,
but they were out
of really long needles.
What rule did I just
make about jokes?
I don't think you're gonna
be making rules for a while.
Amnio's at 16 weeks.
We do a blood test for Down's at 10 weeks.
- Down's?
- Yeah, there are some scary parts.
But, Billy, my hCG levels
were 220,000, which is good.
- It's a strong pregnancy.
- 220,000 is good?
- It's very good.
- Is there such a thing as 221,000?
This is gonna be
a long seven months.
- No, it's gonna be great. You know why?
- Don't say it.
I'm gonna be
in charge of morale.
Do we know if
it's a boy or a girl?
Yep. There's a good chance it's
gonna be one of those two.
I know.
I can't believe
he's not here for this.
- It was a nice service.
- It was.
- Yeah. I thought you were gonna do the eulogy.
- Yeah.
Yeah, I was.
I asked his brother to do it.
Okay.
Mac, take a ride with me
to the cemetery, will you?
- Sure.
- Mac, Mac, Mac.
Yes?
I think maybe we should just put
you in a hospital bed right now
and hook you up to an epidural.
- Would that be premature?
- Yes.
Okay.
- We're gonna ride with you.
- We?
Hi.
Sure.
That was a nice service.
Episcopalians know
what they're doing.
I thought Will was gonna
give the eulogy, but...
- Pipe down a second.
- Okay.
Terry Smith wants me
to come down
and interview for a field
producer job in DC.
A field producer job in DC.
I know.
How do you know?
I'm the one
who recommended you.
When?
Yesterday.
She called and said,
"Who's ready for a promotion?
Who's the best
you've got?"
I said Gary.
Then Tess.
Kendra, Tamara, then Martin.
And then I said, "But Maggie Jordan
is the sixth best we've got.
You couldn't do any better than Maggie
unless you went with one of the other five."
I'm kidding.
I said,
"You've got to take Maggie."
Well, I have to go down
to DC tomorrow to interview.
You're gonna get it.
- You've got a problem, my friend.
- I know.
"Lucas Pruit Thinks Women
Are Worth Less Than Men."
That's a bullshit headline.
You own a company
called Kwench.
- Yeah.
- K-W-E-N-C-H.
You know that's not how
you spell that word, right?
Kwench makes personalized soft drinks.
It's a personalized word.
I hardly understood
that sentence at all.
- Did you?
- Me?
- Yeah.
- I don't know what I'm doing here.
Valleywag is reporting
pay inequity at Kwench.
How do you know we're
underpaying the women?
How do you know we're
not overpaying the men?
That is definitely
the argument I'd use.
77 cents on the dollar
isn't a job-to-job figure.
It's a specious statistic.
Women leave the workforce at different times.
They also don't
negotiate as hard.
I'm supposed to
volunteer extra money
because I'm playing baseball
and they're playing T-ball?
When you control for
literally everything,
single versus married, whether or not they have kids,
the pay gap doesn't go away.
And most people don't have jobs
where they negotiate their salary.
I still don't know
what I'm doing here
- or what a personalized soft drink is.
- It's a millennial...
You know, the pay gap problem
would probably go away
if it weren't for punch two
of the one-two punch.
Such bullshit, Leona.
Two days ago the story
from Valleywag comes out
saying you pay women
at Kwench less than men.
And then yesterday a story
in The New York Observer
says you hired hookers
for your 35th birthday party.
It didn't say that.
It said I hired models for my party.
- Mm. Any of the models men?
- No.
So you hired young women
to be guests at your party.
- It's not uncommon.
- It's not?
Were these women
given dress codes?
The whole party
had a dress code.
The invitation said
suggested dress.
You got hold of an invitation?
So was the dress code
for these young women
suggested or was it mandatory?
The women
weren't hired for sex.
I don't expect you
to understand this.
They were hired
to be living art.
First of all,
you shouldn't expect anyone to understand that.
Second, you need to know that
every time you try to explain it,
you just make it worse.
So I'm gonna help you today.
You are?
Yeah.
Is it like a can of cola
with your initials on it?
No.
Um... Ahem.
We think you need to know
exactly what happened.
Mm-hmm.
Things were bad
while you were in jail.
Pruit was implementing
his vision for the network
and Charlie had kind of
thrown in the towel.
Thrown in the towel isn't right.
That's not fair.
He'd, you know, given up.
- That's what throwing in the towel means.
- It doesn't matter.
We...
Don, Mac, and myself,
but mostly Don...
had been fighting with Charlie a lot.
On Monday night I did an
interview with this guy Bree,
who had been hired by Pruit to run
ACN Digital while Neal's gone.
Bree is... a dick.
- Yeah, the website is an abomination.
- It is, yes, an abomination.
One part of it in particular,
in fact.
An app that assists
violent criminals.
And Monday night I interviewed
Bree about the app.
Pruit was happy
about this interview
because it would draw
attention to the website
and Charlie was happy about it
because Pruit was happy about it.
But in the interview itself,
I ripped the app apart
and Bree and the network
along with it
and in a manner that made Charlie
angrier than I'd ever seen him in...
ever, really.
And it was a few minutes later
that he had a heart attack.
But there's another part of the story
that Don's going to tell you about
that strongly suggests
it was him and not me
that precipitated the death of our
very close friend and leader.
Do you want to hear Don tell
you that part of the story?
Yes, I do.
Okay.
Excuse me,
are you MacKenzie McHale?
You are.
I recognize you.
- I'm Charlie Skinner.
- Sure, I know.
I called your office,
but you don't work there anymore.
I was able to get in touch
with your friend Jim Harper
and he told me that
at 11:00 AM on a Monday
I could find you at the
Lucky Strike Bowling Lanes.
Then he said,
"Yeah, you heard me right."
And that was pretty much it.
You're serious about bowling?
I just took it up recently.
I bowled a strike once
when I was a little girl
and it seems to me
if you can do it once,
then you should be able
to do it 12 times in a row,
which would be a perfect game.
So that's what
I'm trying to do.
I don't want to stop you.
Go ahead.
- I hooked it.
- A little bit.
You like to drink
in the middle of the day?
I'm still on Afghanistan time,
I'm unemployed,
and I'm in sweatpants at a bowling alley.
I heard you had
some trouble in Fallujah.
That was a long time ago.
Five months.
I got stabbed
in the abdomen.
They sewed me up.
The budget cuts hurt worse.
You're expensive.
You may have priced yourself
out of your own career.
I offered to cut my salary 35%.
I'm not what's expensive
about foreign coverage.
Have you thought about
a studio job again?
I've dreamt about that,
being an EP again.
There was nothing
in Atlanta or New York,
so CNN gave me permission
to explore other options,
and it turns out
I don't have any.
Nothing here in DC, London.
I may be down, but I'm not out.
I'm gonna qualify for the ladies'
professional bowling tour.
I don't think you are.
- Based on one frame?
- Yes.
Well, haters gonna hate.
That's not your first
beer today, is it?
I'm not sure,
but I think the reason
I've been drinking lately
is to numb the feeling
of despair.
If you were thinking clearly, you
probably would have asked me by now
why I came down
to Washington to talk to you.
Hang on.
Yeah, that's for sure
what I would have done.
I want you to take over
News Night.
Hmm?
Excuse me, can you tell me
where Don Keefer's office is?
It's right over there.
You see the name on the door?
Thank you.
Come in.
Good morning. I'm Sloan Sabbith.
I work on dayside.
Yeah, I know you.
Market Rip-off With Sloan Sabbith.
- Wrap-up.
- I'm kidding. It's just what we call...
- Yeah.
- It's not a joke about you or the show.
- I understand.
- It's more about how the banks play it
a little fast and loose
with subprime mortgages.
It's fine.
On dayside we call you
the executive producer of
Train Wreck With Will McAvoy.
It's not as clever
as Market Rip-off
'cause it doesn't have the same
alliterative relationship to the...
You know what?
How can I help you?
Friday night you had
Rothstein on.
It was right after the totally newsworthy
segment on the season finale of 24.
It was the series finale.
And do you have a problem with Jack Bauer?
I've got a problem
with Jake Rothstein
and now I've got a problem
with Will McAvoy.
Sounds like your problem with
Will started before last night.
It did,
but that's neither here nor there.
Rothstein said it's perfectly
legitimate for their firm,
referring to Goldman,
to have sold off those toxic assets
that were exposing
them to risk.
"The people who bought them from
us should have known better."
- You did that without notes.
- Yeah.
And you know what McAvoy's follow-up was?
"We'll be right back after this."
You'd have liked to have seen
a tougher follow-up.
- Tougher?
- You'd have liked to have seen a tough follow-up.
Or any.
How about this...
Wasn't the twisted brilliance of the
big banks that they managed to conceal
a bunch of subprime mortgages
inside a collection
of other more legitimate
mortgage-backed securities?
- That wasn't a loaded question?
- I'll deload it.
How would these customers know
that these assets were toxic
since the established companies
gave them a triple-A rating?
You have your own show and you're free to
ask your guests any questions you'd like.
And I would have,
but my guest, Jacob Rothstein,
was poached by your booker so your
boss could ask him if he watches 24.
This is one of the people who caused the
crash and is freely roaming the countryside.
Sloan, you came down here
and insulted my anchor
and demanded to know why we didn't
prepare a better interview.
Let me add this
to the conversation.
For two years I've been
listening to people like you
say they can't believe no one's been
prosecuted for these Wall Street crimes,
and after two years,
I'm still fuzzy on what crime was committed
and who should be
prosecuted for it.
You're a financial
news reporter
who gets to spend
an hour on one subject
and I'm at least
an average consumer of news
and you have failed to get me to
understand what you've called
the most important story
of the last 10 years.
So after you get done telling me how
badly we did our job last night,
you may want to do an internal
investigation of your own work.
Visit us any time you want.
I have to disclose to you
that I have a previous
relationship with Will McAvoy.
A social relationship.
Romantic.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I do, and it's excruciating.
I know about that
and I couldn't care less.
I've watched tape
and during the short time
you two worked together at CNN,
you were onto something.
You had the beginning
of something good.
Part of the reason was
we had a news director
who was willing to say one segment
for you and one segment for me.
I'm a news director
who's going to say
one hour for you
and nothing for me.
Why?
'Cause what you want and what
I want are the same thing.
I want to do an hour of news
that's a genuine public service.
- That's what I want.
- Something worthy of a great nation.
- Mm-hmm. Yes.
- There was a time when journalism
- wasn't a career, it was a calling.
- No. That's right.
- And you agree?
- We've been agreeing with each other for a little while now.
I'm taking on a job on a new
afternoon talk show called Lunch.
I'm sorry?
I'm executive producing
a new daytime talk show
where five people discuss
the issues of the day
as well as lunch,
which will be prepared before our eyes.
- That's your calling?
- No, it's not my calling.
I'm wearing sweatpants.
I need a job.
I'm offering you a better one.
I'm not sure it's a better one.
I've been watching Will's descent
into complete surrender for years.
You can change that.
Like it's every
little girl's dream
to make a man
better at his job.
You know,
you're not exactly slaying 'em
in the aisles here
at Lucky Strike.
Michael Schumacher
was the Formula 1 champion
for five years in a row.
And I think even the biggest
Michael Schumacher fan
would have to admit that it's because
he was driving the fastest car.
Will may have been at his
best when you were his EP.
But I'd remind you that you were at
your best when he was your anchor.
I'm offering you a fast car.
It's a bit
of a fixer-upper.
All of us are.
What happens to Don Keefer?
He moves to 10:00 where
Elliot Hirsch is taking over.
Don's a smart guy and from
what I hear a good EP.
What makes you think
I'll have better luck
than Don making
your car go fast?
Because Will doesn't care
about impressing Don.
You're not offering me the job in
spite of my history with Will,
you're offering it
to me because of it.
I'm offering it to you
because you're my best hope
of turning our flagship news hour
into something we're proud of.
He hasn't returned
any of my calls
or emails or letters in...
years.
I don't think he's that interested
in what I think of him.
That may be the only thing
he's interested in.
An offer's on the table.
Midterms are in six months
and another presidential
campaign in two years.
Take the offer and you'll have
a chance to frame the debate.
Or pass.
But then you never get to
complain about the news again.
Keep your wrist straight.
Thank you.
There you go, one ticket.
Next.
- McHale.
- McHale.
M-C-H.
There you go.
All set.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Next.
Two tickets.
They're under Jennifer Johnson.
Are you going
to ask a question?
If I can.
You mind if I ask
what you're going to ask?
We were told the questions
weren't going to be screened.
Oh, I don't work here.
I was just...
- I'm curious.
- Oh.
It's a stupid question.
- I'm sure it's not.
- No, it is.
It's just with everything...
We're coming out of school and I'm
looking for a reason to be optimistic,
so I wanted to ask
all three of them
what they think makes America the
greatest country in the world.
You're going to ask that
to all three of them?
Yeah.
If you follow me
when we get inside,
I'll show you the trick to being
the first in line at a microphone.
All right.
- I have a plan, Leona.
- I'm not improvising.
I've been up all night with the most
expensive PR people in New York.
I'm gonna speak to the 10,000 Women
Initiative at the Clinton Foundation.
I'm sponsoring the Matrix Awards for
Women Leadership in Communication.
And Business Insider is gonna do a
profile on me in which I will be likable.
There's something I don't
think you're understanding.
What's that?
You have a PR problem
because you have
an actual problem.
Still don't know why I'm here.
It was a story Charlie wanted
because it was a story Pruit wanted
and I pretended we couldn't
find the Princeton student
so we wouldn't have
to do the segment.
Charlie knew I was lying,
he knew why I was lying.
And I knew he knew
why I was lying.
It was a showdown and he lost.
Yes, he did.
Yeah.
- MacKenzie was not ineffectual.
- No?
- No, she was very much in the fight.
- How so?
She, too,
was beating up Charlie.
Okay, should we go bury him or do you
guys feel like you did that already?
- We should go.
- We should bury him now.
I was expecting more
along the lines of,
"Don't beat yourself up.
Of course it's not your fault."
He can get pretty creative
with revenge.
- Maggie.
- Hey.
I know it's the wrong place,
but congratulations.
I heard they're bringing you down to DC
to interview for a field producer job.
Yeah, tomorrow.
- Good luck. You're gonna get it.
- Thanks.
You want it, right?
Definitely.
Should I care that Jim was the
one who recommended me for it?
You mean because
it takes you out of town?
After three years, we started
dating three days ago.
No. The answer is no.
You shouldn't care.
Right.
What are you smiling about?
This is the stuff that drove
Charlie out of his mind.
He'd appreciate that we're
still doing it at his funeral.
No, he wouldn't.
I know, but...
you know.
Yeah.
All right, yeah,
you, sorority girl.
In case you accidently wander
into a voting booth one day,
there's some things you should
know and one of them is
there is absolutely no evidence
to support the statement
that we're the greatest
country in the world.
And with a straight face
you're gonna tell students
that America is
so star-spangled awesome
that we're the only ones
in the world who have freedom?
If liberals
are so fucking smart,
how come they lose
so goddamn always?
So when you ask what makes us the
greatest country in the world,
I don't know what the fuck
you're talking about.
Yosemite?
My name is Jenna.
I'm a sophomore.
And this is for all three of you.
I thought I saw someone I knew in the
audience and she was prompting me.
I was asked a question
from the audience
and she wrote
an answer down on a pad
and pointed to it
the way a producer would.
But it was a hallucination.
Which I didn't think those really happened,
but they do.
Never doubt them again.
Hmm.
You're not as helpful
as your movie counterparts.
Oui?
You Mr. McAvoy?
Yeah.
Phone call for you.
- Hello?
- I made Charlie give me the number.
- Leona?
- Are you all right?
- Is this Leona?
- Yeah.
- I'm sorry.
- What happened?
I don't know.
You cursed
at a college student.
Yeah, I know this is
embarrassing for you...
I'm not worried
about me, I'm...
You've made a career
out of being likable.
I'd like to make a career
out of doing the news.
Leona?
Who's stopping ya?
We were able to be all these
things and do all these things
because we were informed.
By great men.
Men who were revered.
The first step
to solving a problem is...
Hello?
Charlie?
Speaking.
Who's this?
It's MacKenzie.
- MacKenzie.
- Yeah.
- Look...
- Yes.
- What was that?
- I'm in.
Yeah?
Markets rely on Standard & Poor's
to objectively rate debt.
But the companies that want
a favorable debt rating
are the same companies
that pay Standard & Poor's.
- You follow so far?
- Yeah.
Banks wrote a ton of bad mortgages to
people they knew were going to default.
It's called predatory lending.
Then hid those bad mortgages
inside good mortgages
to shine up the books for S&P,
which gave them triple-A ratings.
Then they'd bundle the whole
thing and sell the debt
to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
which is owned by...
- You and me.
- Yes.
And then the banks bet
on those loans defaulting.
Not that much different from
fixing a college basketball game
except a ton of people
wind up broke and homeless.
Those people can't buy
things anymore,
so businesses start going out of
business and more people are broke.
When you start eliminating consumers,
you start eliminating jobs,
which eliminates consumers,
which eliminates jobs,
which eliminates consumers,
and you see where this is going?
I'm no longer the EP
of News Night.
What happened?
Charlie's bringing in a new EP
and I'm moving to 10:00 where
Elliot Hirsch is taking over.
I'm sorry.
Will blew
the Rothstein interview.
He doesn't like to appear rude
except when he's not on TV.
We'd have done everyone a favor if
we had let you keep him as a guest.
Have a good night.
Yeah, you, too.
Service elevator is broken.
That's no problem.
Would it be forward if I asked a man
if he wanted to get a cup of coffee?
I was kind of in his face and then it
turned out he got a demotion, so...
And if he says no, then I've got to
come to work with him every day.
You want coffee?
No.
That's very nice of you.
Listen and watch.
- Hello?
- It's MacKenzie. Let me up.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What happened here?
Most of the furniture
was Audrey's.
Some of it was mine,
but she liked it.
And so you gave away
your furniture?
- Seemed like the least I could do.
- She didn't take it well.
She called me a Lost Boy.
That's Peter Pan, right?
- Yeah.
- Like I'm fighting Indians and pirates?
- Is that what she meant?
- No.
Long-distance relationships
don't ever work, ever.
Do you know one that's worked?
- John and Abigail Adams.
- We don't know that that worked.
They wrote nice letters
for a while,
but they could have
grown distant.
Audrey took a job in Baltimore.
- I know.
- That's a 45-minute drive.
The mileage wasn't
the important thing.
- You wanted to break up with Audrey.
- That was the important thing.
Charlie Skinner wants me to
take over News Night at ACN.
I'm doing it and I want you to come
with me and be our senior producer.
Say that again.
I'm taking over News Night and
I want you to be my second.
What, are you doing cleanup after
what happened at Northwestern?
Actually, I don't think Northwestern
needs to be cleaned up.
No, we're just going
to start over.
What would be your idea
of a good newscast?
One that wasn't required to
care that much about revenues.
Me, too, but that would take a news
director who felt the same way.
Right.
Jim, Charlie Skinner
is on some kind of mission.
He's dead serious.
He messengered a book to me...
It would take more
than a news director.
- Will McAvoy...
- Comes with an audience.
And, trust me,
you have no idea what he can do.
He has a gear
you've never seen.
So what was the book?
The book?
You said Charlie Skinner
was on a mission
and that he messengered
you some book.
Listen up.
In the past, if you came to me
with tips for healthy living,
you might have found something
in the tone of my response that discouraged
you from ever saying that again.
But now I'm issuing
a whole new decree.
I want your health advice.
It's suddenly very important
to me that I live
for a long time.
Jesus!
What happened?
- I'm not sure.
- I have no idea.
Smack me in the face as hard as you can.
- I'm not kidding.
- Why?
- You won't hurt me, I promise you.
- No, I can't.
- I can.
- Do it.
I was wrong.
That hurt.
But do that if you ever see me put
a cigarette in my mouth again.
- Neal's plane landed.
- All right, Neal's plane landed!
- Why suddenly?
- What?
You said it was suddenly very
important that you live a long time.
- Did I?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Oh, my God.
- Hang on.
- Oh, my God.
- What?
- Will!
I think there's a rule about
this and I may have stumbled...
- Are you serious?
- ...into an area where I'm not sure of the law
and I'm gonna get approval
before commenting any further.
This conversation never happened except
for the slap and the cigarettes.
Tess, Tamara, Kendra,
just record right over it in your brain.
Martin doesn't have a clue,
so we're not going to worry about that.
Respect the boss. You know,
employee fear of being punished at work.
- Can I talk to you?
- Sure.
Excuse me.
I've just had a
conversation with someone
I'm only allowed to identify
as a senior member of ACN.
- This person told me...
- Sloan?
A senior member of ACN.
You're standing
in front of a mirror
and 10 feet behind you is Sloan,
who's monitoring the conversation.
You want me to join you?
You told him what I told you?
- It had to be done.
- It so didn't.
You think that because I
recommended you for the job in DC
that I don't care that
you might move to DC?
- I never said that.
- It's easy to interpret as a soft breakup.
- I don't even know what that is.
- He does.
- It's a promotion, Maggie.
- I know.
It's field producing.
It's what you want to do.
- She knows.
- What are you still doing here?
I'm brokering this thing
because we're all
a little tired of you two
missing such easy shots.
Things aren't as complicated
as you make them.
You're dating
my ex-boyfriend, right?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
I wasn't doing you a favor.
I was doing them a favor.
But you didn't even
mention anything like
it'll mean we're not living
in the same city. Bummer.
Really? Bummer was what
you were looking for?
Not bummer. Not...
You know what I'm saying.
- You know what she's saying.
- Sloan.
- Something better than that.
- Can we have a minute?
Yeah.
I don't want this
to get out of hand.
- I recommended you...
- Wait. I...
I don't want this
to get out of hand.
We kissed on the plane
three nights ago.
It's only been three nights.
And, yes, we've slept
together every night since.
We talked about having a night
of celibacy in honor of Charlie,
but then we both made
pretty strong arguments
why he wouldn't have
wanted it that way.
I'm not delusional.
I don't think
this is more than it is.
Don't panic.
And I really appreciate
the recommendation.
So things got rough
Monday night?
Sloan Sabbith conducted an interview
that embarrassed the network.
She tore apart our website.
She tore apart our app.
She tore apart the guy who's running
the website who designed the app.
And she did it with
MacKenzie's approval.
How am I supposed
to not fire them both?
Do you still want me here?
You know,
there were times when I thought
if I was at Charlie
Skinner's funeral,
it'd be because I'd killed him.
If you're not fighting
with your news director,
you're not doing your job.
And if they're not
fighting with you,
they're not doing their job.
Because the truth is,
you don't want the ACN
you think you do.
If you got it,
you'd be like the dog that caught the car.
You want the ACN that makes
as much money as these naive,
financially illiterate
journalists will let you make.
But if I were you,
I would find the one person I know
who will argue with you
until you fire them.
And keep on arguing with you
until security escorts them
from the building.
But what does this have to do
with your current problem?
Yeah.
Do you even know what the
fuck we're talking about?
Not as such, no.
The Hurt Locker.
- Come on.
- The Hurt Locker.
It won Best Picture.
It beat Avatar.
Ugh, Avatar should be second.
The Hurt Locker and
Avatar are both overrated?
Gravity.
Take this down.
Listening to everyone rave about it
beyond the score and visual effects
was like overhearing
an inside joke
that only well-respected movie
critics were really in on.
- Put it up.
- If you say so.
The Descendants.
The problem with The Descendants
is that it sucked.
What just happened?
- What the hell?
- We get hacked?
No, this wasn't a hacker.
Somebody just walked right in.
I shut it down from my phone.
- Are you Neal?
- Yeah.
Welcome back, man.
"The Nine Most Overrated
Movies of All Time."
- We thought it would be fun.
- For who?
For movie fans.
Look, I know this...
And I saw you went all the
way back to The Matrix.
- Yeah.
- 1999.
Yeah.
All time and 14 years
are two different
units of measurement.
But my question
is why is overrated
more fun than, say, underrated?
You embarrass me.
I what?
It took me a long time
to build ACN Digital.
I was laughed at by the
people in this newsroom.
People I respect didn't respect
what I did around here,
but I built this into a tool
that gathered, expanded on,
and disseminated
information that's useful.
I kept telling my
colleagues and my bosses
that the Internet is user
sensitive just like most things.
And I've watched from 1,000 miles
away while you proved that.
You embarrass me.
Build a page that says
the site's down for repair.
- For an hour?
- For a week.
We're gonna rebuild
the whole thing.
I'm sorry about
Charlie Skinner.
Thank you.
What are you doing?
I'm just looking at the
bedroom of a small boy.
We've got to finish the renovation
on the apartment and then sell it.
We need a house with a
pile of leaves in front
on a flat street
where he can ride a bike.
You didn't speak at the burial.
- Yeah.
- You were going to say a few words.
- I know.
- What's going on?
I just don't know what to say.
Every time I think of something,
it's reductive.
Well, I think everyone would like
to hear from you before they leave.
I've put something
aside to give you.
- Mrs. Skinner.
- Nancy.
Nancy.
I have to tell you I may have
contributed to Charlie's heart attack.
I may have caused it.
There was a story Charlie wanted me
to do and I didn't want to do it.
And he got angry and...
Are you talking about
the Princeton student?
Am I... Yeah.
He didn't want to do
that story either.
He was praying you were
gonna fight him on it.
The last seven weeks
were hell for him
since Leona sold
the network to Pruit.
He wasn't angry that
you guys were fighting him.
He was counting on it.
He loved you, Don.
And he was so proud of you.
I doubt you killed him.
That had to be hard
to say to me
and I appreciate it,
but I don't care.
I care what you did for him
while he was alive.
Anyway, this is silly,
but I want you to have it.
Thank you.
- Excuse me.
- Sure.
- How you doing?
- My grandfather died.
Well, you know, kid, I'm sorry,
but I've got my own problems.
My best friend died.
Wait a second.
You think there's a chance we're
talking about the same person?
You know we are.
Where's your brother Bo?
He's probably in the garage.
He's always there.
He's got a band.
- Would you take me to him?
- Sure.
- Bo.
- Hey. Hello.
The place looks great.
Thanks.
We're pretty good.
Not great, but maybe one day.
Yeah?
You mind?
No.
That's right,
you play guitar on the side.
I'm a news anchor on the side.
Listen,
can I ask you something?
Sure.
Was he...
Between the time
he had the heart attack
and the time he died,
do you think he would have
been in a lot of pain?
You know, that's exactly the kind
of question he'd have asked.
They'd have sedated him.
You think he was scared?
I wasn't there.
When it happened,
I wasn't there.
I know a song you like.
♪ If you love somebody enough ♪
♪ You follow wherever they go ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ If you love somebody enough ♪
♪ You'll go where
your heart wants to go ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got
to Memphis... ♪
- Can you play that thing?
- Yeah.
Go to the five.
♪ I know if you'd seen her,
you'd tell me ♪
♪ 'Cause you are my friend ♪
♪ I've got to find her ♪
♪ Find out the trouble
she's in... ♪
Jim Harper's here.
♪ If you tell me
she's not here ♪
♪ I'll follow the trail
of her tears ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ She would get mad
and she used to say ♪
♪ She'd go back
to Memphis someday ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis... ♪
♪ I haven't eaten a bite ♪
♪ I haven't slept
three days or nights ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how
I got to Memphis... ♪
Here comes a fancy solo.
Hit it! Go!
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, damn.
Oh, that's sweet.
- Whoo!
- Thank you.
♪ I've got to find her ♪
♪ And tell her
that I love her so ♪
♪ I'll never rest ♪
♪ Till I find out
why she had to go... ♪
- ♪ Thank you for your precious time... ♪
- Whoo!
♪ Please forgive me
if I start to cry ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how
I got to Memphis. ♪
Will, MacKenzie says it's time
to head back to the studio.
Thank you.
I know your parents'
divorce has been tough.
I know you talked to your
grandfather about it a lot.
I'd be good at that, too.
Or if you just want
to play music.
Thanks.
Come on, Ned.
- Wonderful service.
- It was, wasn't it?
- I'm so glad you came.
- Oh, God...
There he is.
Will.
By any chance,
did you tell anyone about the pregnancy?
No, absolutely not.
You're not supposed to do that
- till after the first semester.
- Trimester.
Tess, Kendra, Tamara,
and Martin tricked me into telling them.
Congratulations, you guys.
That's gonna be
one good-looking kid.
And then they might
have told some people.
- Will, could I have a word?
- Yeah.
You know what I always thought
would be fun if I was a parent?
You teach your kid something
wrong like wood comes from birds
and you see how long
you can keep it going.
They're all grown up
and at a dinner party
and people are admiring
the table and your kid says,
"It took a lot of sparrows
to make that table."
But people have
different parenting styles.
There's no right way
or wrong way.
Maybe there's a wrong way.
- What was that?
- We should go to the car.
You're not going
to be reductive.
- Are you sure you don't want to say anything?
- Yeah, I'm good.
Okay.
Excuse me!
Excuse me.
Excuse me, everybody.
- Shh, shh, shh.
- I just want to say... People...
I've been trying to piece together
what happened last Monday night.
People have been
giving me their accounts.
Seems everyone feels
responsible for Charlie dying
and, of course, that's ridiculous.
It was Sloan.
Charlie Skinner was crazy.
He identified with Don Quixote,
an old man with dementia who
thought he could save the world
from an epidemic of incivility
simply by acting like a knight.
His religion was decency.
And he spent a lifetime
fighting its enemies.
I wish he could be here
to learn the name of his
successor like I just did.
Our new boss,
the new president of ACN,
is MacKenzie McHale.
So this fight
is just getting started.
'Cause he taught the rest
of us to be crazy, too.
You were a man, Charlie.
You were a great, big man.
Let's go through the
rundown in five minutes.
Come in.
- You wanted to see me?
- I'm promoting you.
You're taking over as executive producer
of News Night starting Monday.
Mac, I think you should
offer it to Don.
It was his job and I think
he's earned it back.
I offered it to him.
He wants to stay at 10:00.
He said he's onto something,
he and Elliot, and he wants to keep going.
And he said he likes
having the last word.
No, it's yours, Jim.
ACN's flagship show.
I won't let you down.
You never have.
- Cancel the interview in DC.
- Why?
I'm the new EP of News Night
and my first move is making
you senior producer.
Seriously?
Yeah.
Congratulations!
- That's sensational.
- Thank you.
I...
I...
I'm incredibly flattered,
but I'm going to interview
for the other job.
Why?
I want to be a field producer.
It's DC.
I'll be in line for the White House.
Is this because I
recommended you for the job
- and then wasn't upset enough that you...
- No.
Then why wouldn't you want
to be senior producer?
I want to be a field producer.
It's DC.
I'll be in line for the White House.
- Did you not hear me the first time?
- Fine.
- Fine?
- It was a big deal.
I don't care
how many days it's been
and I'm not delusional either.
It is more than it is.
It is to me, too.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I just said those things.
You'll stay in New York?
No.
I'm going to interview
for the job in DC.
You know why?
I'll take the last plane every
Friday night after the show
and then the first plane
back on Mondays.
Or sometimes I could
come to New York.
Or meet in the middle
of New Jersey.
- That's right.
- Yeah.
Have you had a lot of
long-distance relationships?
- Yes.
- Have any of them worked?
No.
Then why is this
going to be different?
I wasn't in love with them.
Wait, what?
You turned down News Night?
Yeah.
I figured why do a broadcast
with 1.1 million viewers
when I can do one for 287,000 and
make less money at the same time?
- Yeah, why do you do that?
- It's getting better.
It's getting good.
It's been good for a long time.
Next quarter it'll be 288,000.
You'll see.
So we're all landing
on our feet.
Mm-hmm.
Except for you killing Charlie.
Don't even...
That's not funny.
Doesn't it bother anyone
that after the life he led,
he literally died fighting for
something he didn't believe in?
When Pruit tried
to fire you and Mac,
we saw what Charlie
believed in in a hurry.
I just miss him.
Hey.
Nancy gave me something
she wanted you to have.
- What is it?
- I don't know.
Okay, I need a list of all the
routes to the closest hospitals.
- Why?
- Safety counts.
Someone could hit their head.
I want a list of the 10
best OB-GYNs in the world.
Why is that?
'Cause if a woman hits her head,
I think she'd feel more comfortable...
- That's not the way it works.
- We'll do more later.
I'm gonna need
some answers to questions
like why does water come out of a faucet,
but I'll make a list.
Congratulations.
- You told her I was pregnant?
- You're pregnant?
She was congratulating
you on the job.
- Damn it.
- Please don't mention it to anyone.
- Everyone knows.
- Okay.
It was the Kwench story
and the models at the party.
Leona convinced him to give a
woman a high-level promotion.
Yeah, that's probably right,
but who cares?
What does it matter how you got the job?
You have the job.
You're gonna get to do the job.
That's a really big deal.
It's gonna be harder than it was
for Charlie with Reese and Leona.
It's gonna be a fight with Pruit
every day and over big things.
I have faith.
Why?
There's a hole
in the side of the boat.
That hole is never
going to be fixed
and it's never going away
and you can't get a new boat.
This is your boat.
What you have to do
is bail water out
faster than it's coming in.
Also, I have to not die.
That's crucial.
It's always gonna be something
with you, isn't it?
You know what, kiddo?
In the old days
of about 10 minutes ago,
we did the news well.
You know how?
We just decided to.
60 seconds.
Stand by, camera one.
- We've got Julie online.
- The shot's clean.
Tape, cue the VO
on A-2 before sound.
- No, I'm saying it wasn't.
- It wasn't verifiable.
I appreciate that.
Don.
Mandela's been put
on life support.
- Can you put together your notes for me?
- Yeah.
Military court of appeals ruled
that he was improperly denied
a lawyer when he was
initially questioned.
That's what I was looking for.
You know what?
Can we check this number in G4-A?
I think it's supposed
to be 14 million.
14,000 would be ridiculous.
Hey, it's Jim in New York.
Can you hear me?
All right, he wants to ask you about
the mood of the leadership, but...
- Mac, they're already walking it back...
- Low interest rates.
It's a big part of the story.
What are you
gonna ask me about?
- Low interest rates.
- What?
- Low interest rates.
- Do you want a card?
It can be in a special color.
The court said that the...
That the supporters of Prop 8
had no standing to challenge
the lower court.
"Has no standing"
is how it reads in the ruling.
That's a legal distinction.
Yeah, I'm gonna look
at it again in the break.
10 seconds.
- Just those three...
- New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
- Good show, everybody.
- Yeah, hang on a second.
In three, two, roll in.
Good evening.
♪ Eternal Father ♪
♪ Strong to save ♪
♪ Whose arm doth bind
the restless wave ♪
♪ Who bidd'st
the mighty ocean deep ♪
♪ Its own appointed
limits keep ♪
♪ O, hear us
when we cry to Thee ♪
♪ For those in peril
on the sea ♪
♪ O Savior
whose almighty word ♪
♪ The winds and waves
submissive heard... ♪
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.
♪ O sacred spirit ♪
♪ Who did brood... ♪
♪ And gave his light
and life and peace ♪
♪ O hear us
when we cry to Thee... ♪
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!
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.
♪ Amen. ♪
Hey.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Amazing service.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, please help me. I need to fully
understand what's happening right now.
I'm seven weeks pregnant and there's like
a five in nine chance that it's yours.
I don't care if there's no chance it's mine.
It's mine now.
- Couple of questions.
- Give them to me.
Are you feeling all right?
Should you be standing up?
Is it all right for you
to be outdoors?
I feel great and I'm allowed to be
outdoors for the first eight weeks.
- Feels like that was a joke, but I can't tell.
- It was.
Moratorium on jokes for the
next week and seven months.
Have you had an amnio?
In between getting off the
phone and talking to you?
No, I was going to use the
amnio room in the chapel,
but they were out
of really long needles.
What rule did I just
make about jokes?
I don't think you're gonna
be making rules for a while.
Amnio's at 16 weeks.
We do a blood test for Down's at 10 weeks.
- Down's?
- Yeah, there are some scary parts.
But, Billy, my hCG levels
were 220,000, which is good.
- It's a strong pregnancy.
- 220,000 is good?
- It's very good.
- Is there such a thing as 221,000?
This is gonna be
a long seven months.
- No, it's gonna be great. You know why?
- Don't say it.
I'm gonna be
in charge of morale.
Do we know if
it's a boy or a girl?
Yep. There's a good chance it's
gonna be one of those two.
I know.
I can't believe
he's not here for this.
- It was a nice service.
- It was.
- Yeah. I thought you were gonna do the eulogy.
- Yeah.
Yeah, I was.
I asked his brother to do it.
Okay.
Mac, take a ride with me
to the cemetery, will you?
- Sure.
- Mac, Mac, Mac.
Yes?
I think maybe we should just put
you in a hospital bed right now
and hook you up to an epidural.
- Would that be premature?
- Yes.
Okay.
- We're gonna ride with you.
- We?
Hi.
Sure.
That was a nice service.
Episcopalians know
what they're doing.
I thought Will was gonna
give the eulogy, but...
- Pipe down a second.
- Okay.
Terry Smith wants me
to come down
and interview for a field
producer job in DC.
A field producer job in DC.
I know.
How do you know?
I'm the one
who recommended you.
When?
Yesterday.
She called and said,
"Who's ready for a promotion?
Who's the best
you've got?"
I said Gary.
Then Tess.
Kendra, Tamara, then Martin.
And then I said, "But Maggie Jordan
is the sixth best we've got.
You couldn't do any better than Maggie
unless you went with one of the other five."
I'm kidding.
I said,
"You've got to take Maggie."
Well, I have to go down
to DC tomorrow to interview.
You're gonna get it.
- You've got a problem, my friend.
- I know.
"Lucas Pruit Thinks Women
Are Worth Less Than Men."
That's a bullshit headline.
You own a company
called Kwench.
- Yeah.
- K-W-E-N-C-H.
You know that's not how
you spell that word, right?
Kwench makes personalized soft drinks.
It's a personalized word.
I hardly understood
that sentence at all.
- Did you?
- Me?
- Yeah.
- I don't know what I'm doing here.
Valleywag is reporting
pay inequity at Kwench.
How do you know we're
underpaying the women?
How do you know we're
not overpaying the men?
That is definitely
the argument I'd use.
77 cents on the dollar
isn't a job-to-job figure.
It's a specious statistic.
Women leave the workforce at different times.
They also don't
negotiate as hard.
I'm supposed to
volunteer extra money
because I'm playing baseball
and they're playing T-ball?
When you control for
literally everything,
single versus married, whether or not they have kids,
the pay gap doesn't go away.
And most people don't have jobs
where they negotiate their salary.
I still don't know
what I'm doing here
- or what a personalized soft drink is.
- It's a millennial...
You know, the pay gap problem
would probably go away
if it weren't for punch two
of the one-two punch.
Such bullshit, Leona.
Two days ago the story
from Valleywag comes out
saying you pay women
at Kwench less than men.
And then yesterday a story
in The New York Observer
says you hired hookers
for your 35th birthday party.
It didn't say that.
It said I hired models for my party.
- Mm. Any of the models men?
- No.
So you hired young women
to be guests at your party.
- It's not uncommon.
- It's not?
Were these women
given dress codes?
The whole party
had a dress code.
The invitation said
suggested dress.
You got hold of an invitation?
So was the dress code
for these young women
suggested or was it mandatory?
The women
weren't hired for sex.
I don't expect you
to understand this.
They were hired
to be living art.
First of all,
you shouldn't expect anyone to understand that.
Second, you need to know that
every time you try to explain it,
you just make it worse.
So I'm gonna help you today.
You are?
Yeah.
Is it like a can of cola
with your initials on it?
No.
Um... Ahem.
We think you need to know
exactly what happened.
Mm-hmm.
Things were bad
while you were in jail.
Pruit was implementing
his vision for the network
and Charlie had kind of
thrown in the towel.
Thrown in the towel isn't right.
That's not fair.
He'd, you know, given up.
- That's what throwing in the towel means.
- It doesn't matter.
We...
Don, Mac, and myself,
but mostly Don...
had been fighting with Charlie a lot.
On Monday night I did an
interview with this guy Bree,
who had been hired by Pruit to run
ACN Digital while Neal's gone.
Bree is... a dick.
- Yeah, the website is an abomination.
- It is, yes, an abomination.
One part of it in particular,
in fact.
An app that assists
violent criminals.
And Monday night I interviewed
Bree about the app.
Pruit was happy
about this interview
because it would draw
attention to the website
and Charlie was happy about it
because Pruit was happy about it.
But in the interview itself,
I ripped the app apart
and Bree and the network
along with it
and in a manner that made Charlie
angrier than I'd ever seen him in...
ever, really.
And it was a few minutes later
that he had a heart attack.
But there's another part of the story
that Don's going to tell you about
that strongly suggests
it was him and not me
that precipitated the death of our
very close friend and leader.
Do you want to hear Don tell
you that part of the story?
Yes, I do.
Okay.
Excuse me,
are you MacKenzie McHale?
You are.
I recognize you.
- I'm Charlie Skinner.
- Sure, I know.
I called your office,
but you don't work there anymore.
I was able to get in touch
with your friend Jim Harper
and he told me that
at 11:00 AM on a Monday
I could find you at the
Lucky Strike Bowling Lanes.
Then he said,
"Yeah, you heard me right."
And that was pretty much it.
You're serious about bowling?
I just took it up recently.
I bowled a strike once
when I was a little girl
and it seems to me
if you can do it once,
then you should be able
to do it 12 times in a row,
which would be a perfect game.
So that's what
I'm trying to do.
I don't want to stop you.
Go ahead.
- I hooked it.
- A little bit.
You like to drink
in the middle of the day?
I'm still on Afghanistan time,
I'm unemployed,
and I'm in sweatpants at a bowling alley.
I heard you had
some trouble in Fallujah.
That was a long time ago.
Five months.
I got stabbed
in the abdomen.
They sewed me up.
The budget cuts hurt worse.
You're expensive.
You may have priced yourself
out of your own career.
I offered to cut my salary 35%.
I'm not what's expensive
about foreign coverage.
Have you thought about
a studio job again?
I've dreamt about that,
being an EP again.
There was nothing
in Atlanta or New York,
so CNN gave me permission
to explore other options,
and it turns out
I don't have any.
Nothing here in DC, London.
I may be down, but I'm not out.
I'm gonna qualify for the ladies'
professional bowling tour.
I don't think you are.
- Based on one frame?
- Yes.
Well, haters gonna hate.
That's not your first
beer today, is it?
I'm not sure,
but I think the reason
I've been drinking lately
is to numb the feeling
of despair.
If you were thinking clearly, you
probably would have asked me by now
why I came down
to Washington to talk to you.
Hang on.
Yeah, that's for sure
what I would have done.
I want you to take over
News Night.
Hmm?
Excuse me, can you tell me
where Don Keefer's office is?
It's right over there.
You see the name on the door?
Thank you.
Come in.
Good morning. I'm Sloan Sabbith.
I work on dayside.
Yeah, I know you.
Market Rip-off With Sloan Sabbith.
- Wrap-up.
- I'm kidding. It's just what we call...
- Yeah.
- It's not a joke about you or the show.
- I understand.
- It's more about how the banks play it
a little fast and loose
with subprime mortgages.
It's fine.
On dayside we call you
the executive producer of
Train Wreck With Will McAvoy.
It's not as clever
as Market Rip-off
'cause it doesn't have the same
alliterative relationship to the...
You know what?
How can I help you?
Friday night you had
Rothstein on.
It was right after the totally newsworthy
segment on the season finale of 24.
It was the series finale.
And do you have a problem with Jack Bauer?
I've got a problem
with Jake Rothstein
and now I've got a problem
with Will McAvoy.
Sounds like your problem with
Will started before last night.
It did,
but that's neither here nor there.
Rothstein said it's perfectly
legitimate for their firm,
referring to Goldman,
to have sold off those toxic assets
that were exposing
them to risk.
"The people who bought them from
us should have known better."
- You did that without notes.
- Yeah.
And you know what McAvoy's follow-up was?
"We'll be right back after this."
You'd have liked to have seen
a tougher follow-up.
- Tougher?
- You'd have liked to have seen a tough follow-up.
Or any.
How about this...
Wasn't the twisted brilliance of the
big banks that they managed to conceal
a bunch of subprime mortgages
inside a collection
of other more legitimate
mortgage-backed securities?
- That wasn't a loaded question?
- I'll deload it.
How would these customers know
that these assets were toxic
since the established companies
gave them a triple-A rating?
You have your own show and you're free to
ask your guests any questions you'd like.
And I would have,
but my guest, Jacob Rothstein,
was poached by your booker so your
boss could ask him if he watches 24.
This is one of the people who caused the
crash and is freely roaming the countryside.
Sloan, you came down here
and insulted my anchor
and demanded to know why we didn't
prepare a better interview.
Let me add this
to the conversation.
For two years I've been
listening to people like you
say they can't believe no one's been
prosecuted for these Wall Street crimes,
and after two years,
I'm still fuzzy on what crime was committed
and who should be
prosecuted for it.
You're a financial
news reporter
who gets to spend
an hour on one subject
and I'm at least
an average consumer of news
and you have failed to get me to
understand what you've called
the most important story
of the last 10 years.
So after you get done telling me how
badly we did our job last night,
you may want to do an internal
investigation of your own work.
Visit us any time you want.
I have to disclose to you
that I have a previous
relationship with Will McAvoy.
A social relationship.
Romantic.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I do, and it's excruciating.
I know about that
and I couldn't care less.
I've watched tape
and during the short time
you two worked together at CNN,
you were onto something.
You had the beginning
of something good.
Part of the reason was
we had a news director
who was willing to say one segment
for you and one segment for me.
I'm a news director
who's going to say
one hour for you
and nothing for me.
Why?
'Cause what you want and what
I want are the same thing.
I want to do an hour of news
that's a genuine public service.
- That's what I want.
- Something worthy of a great nation.
- Mm-hmm. Yes.
- There was a time when journalism
- wasn't a career, it was a calling.
- No. That's right.
- And you agree?
- We've been agreeing with each other for a little while now.
I'm taking on a job on a new
afternoon talk show called Lunch.
I'm sorry?
I'm executive producing
a new daytime talk show
where five people discuss
the issues of the day
as well as lunch,
which will be prepared before our eyes.
- That's your calling?
- No, it's not my calling.
I'm wearing sweatpants.
I need a job.
I'm offering you a better one.
I'm not sure it's a better one.
I've been watching Will's descent
into complete surrender for years.
You can change that.
Like it's every
little girl's dream
to make a man
better at his job.
You know,
you're not exactly slaying 'em
in the aisles here
at Lucky Strike.
Michael Schumacher
was the Formula 1 champion
for five years in a row.
And I think even the biggest
Michael Schumacher fan
would have to admit that it's because
he was driving the fastest car.
Will may have been at his
best when you were his EP.
But I'd remind you that you were at
your best when he was your anchor.
I'm offering you a fast car.
It's a bit
of a fixer-upper.
All of us are.
What happens to Don Keefer?
He moves to 10:00 where
Elliot Hirsch is taking over.
Don's a smart guy and from
what I hear a good EP.
What makes you think
I'll have better luck
than Don making
your car go fast?
Because Will doesn't care
about impressing Don.
You're not offering me the job in
spite of my history with Will,
you're offering it
to me because of it.
I'm offering it to you
because you're my best hope
of turning our flagship news hour
into something we're proud of.
He hasn't returned
any of my calls
or emails or letters in...
years.
I don't think he's that interested
in what I think of him.
That may be the only thing
he's interested in.
An offer's on the table.
Midterms are in six months
and another presidential
campaign in two years.
Take the offer and you'll have
a chance to frame the debate.
Or pass.
But then you never get to
complain about the news again.
Keep your wrist straight.
Thank you.
There you go, one ticket.
Next.
- McHale.
- McHale.
M-C-H.
There you go.
All set.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Next.
Two tickets.
They're under Jennifer Johnson.
Are you going
to ask a question?
If I can.
You mind if I ask
what you're going to ask?
We were told the questions
weren't going to be screened.
Oh, I don't work here.
I was just...
- I'm curious.
- Oh.
It's a stupid question.
- I'm sure it's not.
- No, it is.
It's just with everything...
We're coming out of school and I'm
looking for a reason to be optimistic,
so I wanted to ask
all three of them
what they think makes America the
greatest country in the world.
You're going to ask that
to all three of them?
Yeah.
If you follow me
when we get inside,
I'll show you the trick to being
the first in line at a microphone.
All right.
- I have a plan, Leona.
- I'm not improvising.
I've been up all night with the most
expensive PR people in New York.
I'm gonna speak to the 10,000 Women
Initiative at the Clinton Foundation.
I'm sponsoring the Matrix Awards for
Women Leadership in Communication.
And Business Insider is gonna do a
profile on me in which I will be likable.
There's something I don't
think you're understanding.
What's that?
You have a PR problem
because you have
an actual problem.
Still don't know why I'm here.
It was a story Charlie wanted
because it was a story Pruit wanted
and I pretended we couldn't
find the Princeton student
so we wouldn't have
to do the segment.
Charlie knew I was lying,
he knew why I was lying.
And I knew he knew
why I was lying.
It was a showdown and he lost.
Yes, he did.
Yeah.
- MacKenzie was not ineffectual.
- No?
- No, she was very much in the fight.
- How so?
She, too,
was beating up Charlie.
Okay, should we go bury him or do you
guys feel like you did that already?
- We should go.
- We should bury him now.
I was expecting more
along the lines of,
"Don't beat yourself up.
Of course it's not your fault."
He can get pretty creative
with revenge.
- Maggie.
- Hey.
I know it's the wrong place,
but congratulations.
I heard they're bringing you down to DC
to interview for a field producer job.
Yeah, tomorrow.
- Good luck. You're gonna get it.
- Thanks.
You want it, right?
Definitely.
Should I care that Jim was the
one who recommended me for it?
You mean because
it takes you out of town?
After three years, we started
dating three days ago.
No. The answer is no.
You shouldn't care.
Right.
What are you smiling about?
This is the stuff that drove
Charlie out of his mind.
He'd appreciate that we're
still doing it at his funeral.
No, he wouldn't.
I know, but...
you know.
Yeah.
All right, yeah,
you, sorority girl.
In case you accidently wander
into a voting booth one day,
there's some things you should
know and one of them is
there is absolutely no evidence
to support the statement
that we're the greatest
country in the world.
And with a straight face
you're gonna tell students
that America is
so star-spangled awesome
that we're the only ones
in the world who have freedom?
If liberals
are so fucking smart,
how come they lose
so goddamn always?
So when you ask what makes us the
greatest country in the world,
I don't know what the fuck
you're talking about.
Yosemite?
My name is Jenna.
I'm a sophomore.
And this is for all three of you.
I thought I saw someone I knew in the
audience and she was prompting me.
I was asked a question
from the audience
and she wrote
an answer down on a pad
and pointed to it
the way a producer would.
But it was a hallucination.
Which I didn't think those really happened,
but they do.
Never doubt them again.
Hmm.
You're not as helpful
as your movie counterparts.
Oui?
You Mr. McAvoy?
Yeah.
Phone call for you.
- Hello?
- I made Charlie give me the number.
- Leona?
- Are you all right?
- Is this Leona?
- Yeah.
- I'm sorry.
- What happened?
I don't know.
You cursed
at a college student.
Yeah, I know this is
embarrassing for you...
I'm not worried
about me, I'm...
You've made a career
out of being likable.
I'd like to make a career
out of doing the news.
Leona?
Who's stopping ya?
We were able to be all these
things and do all these things
because we were informed.
By great men.
Men who were revered.
The first step
to solving a problem is...
Hello?
Charlie?
Speaking.
Who's this?
It's MacKenzie.
- MacKenzie.
- Yeah.
- Look...
- Yes.
- What was that?
- I'm in.
Yeah?
Markets rely on Standard & Poor's
to objectively rate debt.
But the companies that want
a favorable debt rating
are the same companies
that pay Standard & Poor's.
- You follow so far?
- Yeah.
Banks wrote a ton of bad mortgages to
people they knew were going to default.
It's called predatory lending.
Then hid those bad mortgages
inside good mortgages
to shine up the books for S&P,
which gave them triple-A ratings.
Then they'd bundle the whole
thing and sell the debt
to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
which is owned by...
- You and me.
- Yes.
And then the banks bet
on those loans defaulting.
Not that much different from
fixing a college basketball game
except a ton of people
wind up broke and homeless.
Those people can't buy
things anymore,
so businesses start going out of
business and more people are broke.
When you start eliminating consumers,
you start eliminating jobs,
which eliminates consumers,
which eliminates jobs,
which eliminates consumers,
and you see where this is going?
I'm no longer the EP
of News Night.
What happened?
Charlie's bringing in a new EP
and I'm moving to 10:00 where
Elliot Hirsch is taking over.
I'm sorry.
Will blew
the Rothstein interview.
He doesn't like to appear rude
except when he's not on TV.
We'd have done everyone a favor if
we had let you keep him as a guest.
Have a good night.
Yeah, you, too.
Service elevator is broken.
That's no problem.
Would it be forward if I asked a man
if he wanted to get a cup of coffee?
I was kind of in his face and then it
turned out he got a demotion, so...
And if he says no, then I've got to
come to work with him every day.
You want coffee?
No.
That's very nice of you.
Listen and watch.
- Hello?
- It's MacKenzie. Let me up.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What happened here?
Most of the furniture
was Audrey's.
Some of it was mine,
but she liked it.
And so you gave away
your furniture?
- Seemed like the least I could do.
- She didn't take it well.
She called me a Lost Boy.
That's Peter Pan, right?
- Yeah.
- Like I'm fighting Indians and pirates?
- Is that what she meant?
- No.
Long-distance relationships
don't ever work, ever.
Do you know one that's worked?
- John and Abigail Adams.
- We don't know that that worked.
They wrote nice letters
for a while,
but they could have
grown distant.
Audrey took a job in Baltimore.
- I know.
- That's a 45-minute drive.
The mileage wasn't
the important thing.
- You wanted to break up with Audrey.
- That was the important thing.
Charlie Skinner wants me to
take over News Night at ACN.
I'm doing it and I want you to come
with me and be our senior producer.
Say that again.
I'm taking over News Night and
I want you to be my second.
What, are you doing cleanup after
what happened at Northwestern?
Actually, I don't think Northwestern
needs to be cleaned up.
No, we're just going
to start over.
What would be your idea
of a good newscast?
One that wasn't required to
care that much about revenues.
Me, too, but that would take a news
director who felt the same way.
Right.
Jim, Charlie Skinner
is on some kind of mission.
He's dead serious.
He messengered a book to me...
It would take more
than a news director.
- Will McAvoy...
- Comes with an audience.
And, trust me,
you have no idea what he can do.
He has a gear
you've never seen.
So what was the book?
The book?
You said Charlie Skinner
was on a mission
and that he messengered
you some book.
Listen up.
In the past, if you came to me
with tips for healthy living,
you might have found something
in the tone of my response that discouraged
you from ever saying that again.
But now I'm issuing
a whole new decree.
I want your health advice.
It's suddenly very important
to me that I live
for a long time.
Jesus!
What happened?
- I'm not sure.
- I have no idea.
Smack me in the face as hard as you can.
- I'm not kidding.
- Why?
- You won't hurt me, I promise you.
- No, I can't.
- I can.
- Do it.
I was wrong.
That hurt.
But do that if you ever see me put
a cigarette in my mouth again.
- Neal's plane landed.
- All right, Neal's plane landed!
- Why suddenly?
- What?
You said it was suddenly very
important that you live a long time.
- Did I?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Oh, my God.
- Hang on.
- Oh, my God.
- What?
- Will!
I think there's a rule about
this and I may have stumbled...
- Are you serious?
- ...into an area where I'm not sure of the law
and I'm gonna get approval
before commenting any further.
This conversation never happened except
for the slap and the cigarettes.
Tess, Tamara, Kendra,
just record right over it in your brain.
Martin doesn't have a clue,
so we're not going to worry about that.
Respect the boss. You know,
employee fear of being punished at work.
- Can I talk to you?
- Sure.
Excuse me.
I've just had a
conversation with someone
I'm only allowed to identify
as a senior member of ACN.
- This person told me...
- Sloan?
A senior member of ACN.
You're standing
in front of a mirror
and 10 feet behind you is Sloan,
who's monitoring the conversation.
You want me to join you?
You told him what I told you?
- It had to be done.
- It so didn't.
You think that because I
recommended you for the job in DC
that I don't care that
you might move to DC?
- I never said that.
- It's easy to interpret as a soft breakup.
- I don't even know what that is.
- He does.
- It's a promotion, Maggie.
- I know.
It's field producing.
It's what you want to do.
- She knows.
- What are you still doing here?
I'm brokering this thing
because we're all
a little tired of you two
missing such easy shots.
Things aren't as complicated
as you make them.
You're dating
my ex-boyfriend, right?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
I wasn't doing you a favor.
I was doing them a favor.
But you didn't even
mention anything like
it'll mean we're not living
in the same city. Bummer.
Really? Bummer was what
you were looking for?
Not bummer. Not...
You know what I'm saying.
- You know what she's saying.
- Sloan.
- Something better than that.
- Can we have a minute?
Yeah.
I don't want this
to get out of hand.
- I recommended you...
- Wait. I...
I don't want this
to get out of hand.
We kissed on the plane
three nights ago.
It's only been three nights.
And, yes, we've slept
together every night since.
We talked about having a night
of celibacy in honor of Charlie,
but then we both made
pretty strong arguments
why he wouldn't have
wanted it that way.
I'm not delusional.
I don't think
this is more than it is.
Don't panic.
And I really appreciate
the recommendation.
So things got rough
Monday night?
Sloan Sabbith conducted an interview
that embarrassed the network.
She tore apart our website.
She tore apart our app.
She tore apart the guy who's running
the website who designed the app.
And she did it with
MacKenzie's approval.
How am I supposed
to not fire them both?
Do you still want me here?
You know,
there were times when I thought
if I was at Charlie
Skinner's funeral,
it'd be because I'd killed him.
If you're not fighting
with your news director,
you're not doing your job.
And if they're not
fighting with you,
they're not doing their job.
Because the truth is,
you don't want the ACN
you think you do.
If you got it,
you'd be like the dog that caught the car.
You want the ACN that makes
as much money as these naive,
financially illiterate
journalists will let you make.
But if I were you,
I would find the one person I know
who will argue with you
until you fire them.
And keep on arguing with you
until security escorts them
from the building.
But what does this have to do
with your current problem?
Yeah.
Do you even know what the
fuck we're talking about?
Not as such, no.
The Hurt Locker.
- Come on.
- The Hurt Locker.
It won Best Picture.
It beat Avatar.
Ugh, Avatar should be second.
The Hurt Locker and
Avatar are both overrated?
Gravity.
Take this down.
Listening to everyone rave about it
beyond the score and visual effects
was like overhearing
an inside joke
that only well-respected movie
critics were really in on.
- Put it up.
- If you say so.
The Descendants.
The problem with The Descendants
is that it sucked.
What just happened?
- What the hell?
- We get hacked?
No, this wasn't a hacker.
Somebody just walked right in.
I shut it down from my phone.
- Are you Neal?
- Yeah.
Welcome back, man.
"The Nine Most Overrated
Movies of All Time."
- We thought it would be fun.
- For who?
For movie fans.
Look, I know this...
And I saw you went all the
way back to The Matrix.
- Yeah.
- 1999.
Yeah.
All time and 14 years
are two different
units of measurement.
But my question
is why is overrated
more fun than, say, underrated?
You embarrass me.
I what?
It took me a long time
to build ACN Digital.
I was laughed at by the
people in this newsroom.
People I respect didn't respect
what I did around here,
but I built this into a tool
that gathered, expanded on,
and disseminated
information that's useful.
I kept telling my
colleagues and my bosses
that the Internet is user
sensitive just like most things.
And I've watched from 1,000 miles
away while you proved that.
You embarrass me.
Build a page that says
the site's down for repair.
- For an hour?
- For a week.
We're gonna rebuild
the whole thing.
I'm sorry about
Charlie Skinner.
Thank you.
What are you doing?
I'm just looking at the
bedroom of a small boy.
We've got to finish the renovation
on the apartment and then sell it.
We need a house with a
pile of leaves in front
on a flat street
where he can ride a bike.
You didn't speak at the burial.
- Yeah.
- You were going to say a few words.
- I know.
- What's going on?
I just don't know what to say.
Every time I think of something,
it's reductive.
Well, I think everyone would like
to hear from you before they leave.
I've put something
aside to give you.
- Mrs. Skinner.
- Nancy.
Nancy.
I have to tell you I may have
contributed to Charlie's heart attack.
I may have caused it.
There was a story Charlie wanted me
to do and I didn't want to do it.
And he got angry and...
Are you talking about
the Princeton student?
Am I... Yeah.
He didn't want to do
that story either.
He was praying you were
gonna fight him on it.
The last seven weeks
were hell for him
since Leona sold
the network to Pruit.
He wasn't angry that
you guys were fighting him.
He was counting on it.
He loved you, Don.
And he was so proud of you.
I doubt you killed him.
That had to be hard
to say to me
and I appreciate it,
but I don't care.
I care what you did for him
while he was alive.
Anyway, this is silly,
but I want you to have it.
Thank you.
- Excuse me.
- Sure.
- How you doing?
- My grandfather died.
Well, you know, kid, I'm sorry,
but I've got my own problems.
My best friend died.
Wait a second.
You think there's a chance we're
talking about the same person?
You know we are.
Where's your brother Bo?
He's probably in the garage.
He's always there.
He's got a band.
- Would you take me to him?
- Sure.
- Bo.
- Hey. Hello.
The place looks great.
Thanks.
We're pretty good.
Not great, but maybe one day.
Yeah?
You mind?
No.
That's right,
you play guitar on the side.
I'm a news anchor on the side.
Listen,
can I ask you something?
Sure.
Was he...
Between the time
he had the heart attack
and the time he died,
do you think he would have
been in a lot of pain?
You know, that's exactly the kind
of question he'd have asked.
They'd have sedated him.
You think he was scared?
I wasn't there.
When it happened,
I wasn't there.
I know a song you like.
♪ If you love somebody enough ♪
♪ You follow wherever they go ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ If you love somebody enough ♪
♪ You'll go where
your heart wants to go ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got
to Memphis... ♪
- Can you play that thing?
- Yeah.
Go to the five.
♪ I know if you'd seen her,
you'd tell me ♪
♪ 'Cause you are my friend ♪
♪ I've got to find her ♪
♪ Find out the trouble
she's in... ♪
Jim Harper's here.
♪ If you tell me
she's not here ♪
♪ I'll follow the trail
of her tears ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ She would get mad
and she used to say ♪
♪ She'd go back
to Memphis someday ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis... ♪
♪ I haven't eaten a bite ♪
♪ I haven't slept
three days or nights ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how
I got to Memphis... ♪
Here comes a fancy solo.
Hit it! Go!
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, damn.
Oh, that's sweet.
- Whoo!
- Thank you.
♪ I've got to find her ♪
♪ And tell her
that I love her so ♪
♪ I'll never rest ♪
♪ Till I find out
why she had to go... ♪
- ♪ Thank you for your precious time... ♪
- Whoo!
♪ Please forgive me
if I start to cry ♪
♪ That's how I got to Memphis ♪
♪ That's how
I got to Memphis. ♪
Will, MacKenzie says it's time
to head back to the studio.
Thank you.
I know your parents'
divorce has been tough.
I know you talked to your
grandfather about it a lot.
I'd be good at that, too.
Or if you just want
to play music.
Thanks.
Come on, Ned.
- Wonderful service.
- It was, wasn't it?
- I'm so glad you came.
- Oh, God...
There he is.
Will.
By any chance,
did you tell anyone about the pregnancy?
No, absolutely not.
You're not supposed to do that
- till after the first semester.
- Trimester.
Tess, Kendra, Tamara,
and Martin tricked me into telling them.
Congratulations, you guys.
That's gonna be
one good-looking kid.
And then they might
have told some people.
- Will, could I have a word?
- Yeah.
You know what I always thought
would be fun if I was a parent?
You teach your kid something
wrong like wood comes from birds
and you see how long
you can keep it going.
They're all grown up
and at a dinner party
and people are admiring
the table and your kid says,
"It took a lot of sparrows
to make that table."
But people have
different parenting styles.
There's no right way
or wrong way.
Maybe there's a wrong way.
- What was that?
- We should go to the car.
You're not going
to be reductive.
- Are you sure you don't want to say anything?
- Yeah, I'm good.
Okay.
Excuse me!
Excuse me.
Excuse me, everybody.
- Shh, shh, shh.
- I just want to say... People...
I've been trying to piece together
what happened last Monday night.
People have been
giving me their accounts.
Seems everyone feels
responsible for Charlie dying
and, of course, that's ridiculous.
It was Sloan.
Charlie Skinner was crazy.
He identified with Don Quixote,
an old man with dementia who
thought he could save the world
from an epidemic of incivility
simply by acting like a knight.
His religion was decency.
And he spent a lifetime
fighting its enemies.
I wish he could be here
to learn the name of his
successor like I just did.
Our new boss,
the new president of ACN,
is MacKenzie McHale.
So this fight
is just getting started.
'Cause he taught the rest
of us to be crazy, too.
You were a man, Charlie.
You were a great, big man.
Let's go through the
rundown in five minutes.
Come in.
- You wanted to see me?
- I'm promoting you.
You're taking over as executive producer
of News Night starting Monday.
Mac, I think you should
offer it to Don.
It was his job and I think
he's earned it back.
I offered it to him.
He wants to stay at 10:00.
He said he's onto something,
he and Elliot, and he wants to keep going.
And he said he likes
having the last word.
No, it's yours, Jim.
ACN's flagship show.
I won't let you down.
You never have.
- Cancel the interview in DC.
- Why?
I'm the new EP of News Night
and my first move is making
you senior producer.
Seriously?
Yeah.
Congratulations!
- That's sensational.
- Thank you.
I...
I...
I'm incredibly flattered,
but I'm going to interview
for the other job.
Why?
I want to be a field producer.
It's DC.
I'll be in line for the White House.
Is this because I
recommended you for the job
- and then wasn't upset enough that you...
- No.
Then why wouldn't you want
to be senior producer?
I want to be a field producer.
It's DC.
I'll be in line for the White House.
- Did you not hear me the first time?
- Fine.
- Fine?
- It was a big deal.
I don't care
how many days it's been
and I'm not delusional either.
It is more than it is.
It is to me, too.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I just said those things.
You'll stay in New York?
No.
I'm going to interview
for the job in DC.
You know why?
I'll take the last plane every
Friday night after the show
and then the first plane
back on Mondays.
Or sometimes I could
come to New York.
Or meet in the middle
of New Jersey.
- That's right.
- Yeah.
Have you had a lot of
long-distance relationships?
- Yes.
- Have any of them worked?
No.
Then why is this
going to be different?
I wasn't in love with them.
Wait, what?
You turned down News Night?
Yeah.
I figured why do a broadcast
with 1.1 million viewers
when I can do one for 287,000 and
make less money at the same time?
- Yeah, why do you do that?
- It's getting better.
It's getting good.
It's been good for a long time.
Next quarter it'll be 288,000.
You'll see.
So we're all landing
on our feet.
Mm-hmm.
Except for you killing Charlie.
Don't even...
That's not funny.
Doesn't it bother anyone
that after the life he led,
he literally died fighting for
something he didn't believe in?
When Pruit tried
to fire you and Mac,
we saw what Charlie
believed in in a hurry.
I just miss him.
Hey.
Nancy gave me something
she wanted you to have.
- What is it?
- I don't know.
Okay, I need a list of all the
routes to the closest hospitals.
- Why?
- Safety counts.
Someone could hit their head.
I want a list of the 10
best OB-GYNs in the world.
Why is that?
'Cause if a woman hits her head,
I think she'd feel more comfortable...
- That's not the way it works.
- We'll do more later.
I'm gonna need
some answers to questions
like why does water come out of a faucet,
but I'll make a list.
Congratulations.
- You told her I was pregnant?
- You're pregnant?
She was congratulating
you on the job.
- Damn it.
- Please don't mention it to anyone.
- Everyone knows.
- Okay.
It was the Kwench story
and the models at the party.
Leona convinced him to give a
woman a high-level promotion.
Yeah, that's probably right,
but who cares?
What does it matter how you got the job?
You have the job.
You're gonna get to do the job.
That's a really big deal.
It's gonna be harder than it was
for Charlie with Reese and Leona.
It's gonna be a fight with Pruit
every day and over big things.
I have faith.
Why?
There's a hole
in the side of the boat.
That hole is never
going to be fixed
and it's never going away
and you can't get a new boat.
This is your boat.
What you have to do
is bail water out
faster than it's coming in.
Also, I have to not die.
That's crucial.
It's always gonna be something
with you, isn't it?
You know what, kiddo?
In the old days
of about 10 minutes ago,
we did the news well.
You know how?
We just decided to.
60 seconds.
Stand by, camera one.
- We've got Julie online.
- The shot's clean.
Tape, cue the VO
on A-2 before sound.
- No, I'm saying it wasn't.
- It wasn't verifiable.
I appreciate that.
Don.
Mandela's been put
on life support.
- Can you put together your notes for me?
- Yeah.
Military court of appeals ruled
that he was improperly denied
a lawyer when he was
initially questioned.
That's what I was looking for.
You know what?
Can we check this number in G4-A?
I think it's supposed
to be 14 million.
14,000 would be ridiculous.
Hey, it's Jim in New York.
Can you hear me?
All right, he wants to ask you about
the mood of the leadership, but...
- Mac, they're already walking it back...
- Low interest rates.
It's a big part of the story.
What are you
gonna ask me about?
- Low interest rates.
- What?
- Low interest rates.
- Do you want a card?
It can be in a special color.
The court said that the...
That the supporters of Prop 8
had no standing to challenge
the lower court.
"Has no standing"
is how it reads in the ruling.
That's a legal distinction.
Yeah, I'm gonna look
at it again in the break.
10 seconds.
- Just those three...
- New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
- Good show, everybody.
- Yeah, hang on a second.
In three, two, roll in.
Good evening.