The Newsroom

In the Season 1 finale, Mac is agitated by a possibly devastating announcement from gossip columnist Nina Howard. Meanwhile, Sloan ponders a new job opportunity; Neal's Internet alias could avert a catastrophe; and Will, Mac and Charlie confront Leona and Reese during a volatile lunch meeting.

The staff puts on a mock debate for two Republican Party officials; a power outage energizes Mac's thought process; Charlie appraises an intelligence-agency insider's authenticity; Lisa does an on-air interview; Neal poses as an Internet troll.

The ratings for "News Night" make a huge decline after it attaches littleimportanceto a pair of great stories, and Will and Mac must find a way to bring enough viewers back to justify the network's quest to air a Republican debate. Meanwhile, Will considers writers for an all-access profile; Sloan is upset by the lack of coverage of a financial story; and Charlie learns a National Security Agency whistle-blower's identity.

While the staff is busy celebrating their one-year anniversary party,Charlie gets an anonymous tip about an upcoming televised speech by the president, prompting the "News Night" staff to switch gears and focus on what it could possibly be.

Sloan subs for Elliot and takes over the ten o'clock show dealing with the Japanese nuclear crisis following the March 2011 earthquake, but her harsh tone may ruin her credibility. Meanwhile, Will sees a therapist to try and fix his insomnia.

Two uprisings occur simultaneously and the news crew does their best to report on both equally. First, the ousting of President Mubarak in Egypt, then unrest in Wisconsin in response to the governor's call for budget cuts.

Maggie gets pressure from Don to set Jim up with her roommate, while Neal gives his Bigfoot theories to anyone willing to listen. After a confrontation with a gossip columnist on New Year's Eve, Will becomes fodder for the tabloids, threatening the integrity of the news investigation.

With Mac taking full control of the show, she attempts to launch version 2.0 of the nightly news. While she battles to get an on-air economist to help host the segment, Charlie says no to Reese and Will's secret meetings. Also, Maggie miscues during the broadcast causing problems for Jeff.

After his breakdown, Will McAvoy, the most popular news anchor in the U.S., returns to work to find out things have massively changed. Most of his staff have left the show and his boss has hired a brilliant new executive producer, MacKenzie MacHale, his ex-girlfriend. MacKenzie comes in with one mission - change the show from a pandering, ratings driven news program to a truth driven, ethical and fair news report reminiscent of the original news programs. First up, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.