No News on "Newsroom"

Waiting this long to watch your recorded season finale doesn’t even earn you a “spoiler alert.” The question hanging in the air for those who enjoy Aaron Sorkin’s HBO media circus is whether or not the show will be back for a third season.

As the season ender ties up so many plot knots, it’s natural to wonder if the fast-talking characters have finally run out of steam. And it doesn’t help to learn that ratings were down for the sendoff installment.

The official position is that everybody wants a Season 3 but (harrumph) scheduling issues need to be worked out. Don’t hold your breath.

The main problem may be that events keep overtaking the show, i.e., how do you build a whole season around the question of one use of poison gas, when such toxic weapons have been preoccupying the real world for weeks—-and with much more complexity?

Internally, if “Newsroom” does come back, it will require a major retooling of the MacKenzie-Will relationship. Those who remember when the sexual tension went out of the Diane-Sam duet on “Cheers,” the chemistry went away and never came back.

But fans can hope. After two seasons of juggling two men, Maggie Jordan is the only main character left unmated and with ugly short red hair to boot.

If Sorkin and HBO work out their “scheduling” problems, we may get to see it grow back and revert to its normal color and length. That would be nice for her and the rest of us.

One thing is sure: There won’t be any shortage of new political and media issues to bounce off, as those who witnessed last night’s Daily Show takedown of CNN’s coverage of the DC shootings will attest.