Aaron Sorkin: Dan Rather 'No Longer on Television'

Aaron Sorkin’s HBO Cable News Series To Be Called ‘Newsroom’, TV Newser reports. How fictional is it? This fictional:

Former “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather and current CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton get name-checked by Sorkin in the script, an effort to drive home the realism of the series. In one scene, a talented young producer that was brought over to UBS from CNN realizes that his new job may not be as secure as he thought it was. “Okay, I’m calling Jim Walton and begging for a job,” he quips.

In another scene McCallister responds to pressure from his boss, UBS News president Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston)

Will: Charlie, I can’t go after Halliburton and miss.

Charlie: Oh report the goddam news, Will.

Will: You remember a guy named Dan Rather?

Charlie: Dan got it right.

Will: He’s no longer on television.

But he is! Just no longer at CBS — he’s on cable, as is…Aaron Sorkin’s show.

And if “Dan got it right,” that must be news to the Thornburgh Report.