Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming HBO drama set behind the scenes of a cable news show will follow a talented anchor with both smarts and popularity, but who is a total asshole off-screen—obviously, a work of fiction. Now Deadline reports that Sorkin is close to finding that asshole: Jeff Daniels is said to be in negotiations to take over the lead role of Will McAllister, described as being in the “Anderson Cooper/Brian Williams” mold, but more directly inspired by Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, whom Sorkin shadowed for a while during his research. Strangely enough, it would be Daniels’ first TV role since he turned up on HBO’s Tanner ’88, an obvious spiritual predecessor to the sort of politically minded dramedy that Sorkin’s show aims to be. So that’s sort of too perfect, and would probably cause some sort of cosmic singularity—and between that and the Super Moon, I just don’t know if we can take it.
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