Jeff Daniels and the entire cast started their third and final season of the HBO television show Newsroom this past Sunday. While the ending of the show is bittersweet for Jeff Daniels, who portrayed the star anchor of a cable-news network on the show, critics initially gave the show mixed reviews and the viewer rate began to decline by the first season. The second season received stronger reviews and the viewer rate rose again, but it failed to gain the popularity of network peers such as Six Feet Under. With that, HBO granted Newsroom a third and final season, which is much different from a cancellation. Alan Poul, the creator of both Newsroom and Six Feet Under, stated that, “We wanted to go out this way. And I think we’re going out as strong as we’ve ever been.”

The final season covers the difficulties with reporting on the Boston Marathon bombings, a key character dealing with the possibility of a professional fall from grace and a looming hostile takeover of the network.

Jeff Daniels stated that his time on Newsroom has given him a greater appreciation of the everyday challenges of journalists stating that, “It’s so difficult now with Twitter, with Facebook. When news breaks, a lot of people go there instead of waiting for journalists to tell you what’s really going on or what’s true.” Co-star Oliva Munn feels that the show has inspired a new wave of journalists by giving an inside look of the news anchor and the columnist behind the breaking story.