tavis: good evening, denied a conversation with jeff daniels. a fictional news at the fascinating world. his first star role on a tv series. we are glad you joined us tonight. a conversation with actor jack daniel's, coming up right now. >> every committee has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: pleased to welcome jeff daniels back to this program. the golden globe and tony nominee is starring in his first regular tv series role in the new hbo drama the newsroom. here now are some scenes from " the news room." >> do you want me to live on television? >> your one meeting away from doing the news in 3 dee perry 3d. >> we are not talking about

mackenzie. >> any extra stress at work? >> extra stress? >> >> i am tired of people telling me is they just get over it situation. >> you don't know what it is like in my head. >> in 4, 3, 2. >> we are seeing the influence of creeping islam. >> we were not attacked by muslims, we were attacked by sociopath. name happened's tonight? >> it will not interrupt me again. >> i did not come here for a session. >> i think he did. >> how much do you hate me? >> every second you are not current, a thousand people are changing the channel. that is the business you are in.

>> if she wants me out of this chair, she better bring more than just a couple of guys. tavis: i assume the goal was just to get people talking here. if that was one of the goals, regulations. everybody is talking about this thing. >> they know we are out there. tavis: you made some good choices to do a lot of indie films. that can often lead to critical acclaim, but not everybody sees that work. [laughter]

i saw it so i know to talk about it. but this is being talked about by everybody. how does that feel for you personally? >> well, you are right. la jolla indie scene, a lot of actors go into it because that is where the writing is. that is the lure of those films for me. but the problem with indie films, i was the dog and pony show. i was out there selling it because they just don't have the kind of money that a studio or an hbo can put behind something that they believe in. that is the difference. you want aaron sorkin writing about this country, but you want the distribution behind it. >> let me ask at the start

whether you already tired of the grueling schedule of a show like this. >> is growing at only in that you have to be available to talk about it a lot. what is hard is talking about a piece of -- this show matters. it will provoke people and caused people to talk about that the whole week after it airs on sunday night. i am okay talking about it. you want art to question and provoke and challenge. tavis: i don't think anyone has not agreed with your assessment that the show does matter or that it can matter once it develops over time. when you say the show matters, i wonder what you mean by that? >> we shot 10 episodes. i know where we are going.

what this does to a lot of people out there on the right, on the left, is engage them. many make them talk about the same thing. then there is this whole group of people out there who are no longer engaged, who don't care, who have thrown up their hands about politics, about government, about media, about issues. they are just saying i don't get it. as long as i can watch my sports, i am okay. i think what aaron does so well is, he comes at it from a romantic comedy kind of aspirational, big ideas, smart people trying to do big things and succeeding and failing. that is great storytelling. it's not an accident that the don quixote metaphor is in their. this was never intended to be a documentary. we are fictional, last time i looked. it engages people, brings people around, and gets them talking

about maybe something that have not thought about or avoided thinking about. tavis: so you are not bothered by those with the it is too unrealistic or idealistic? >> no. he is unabashedly saying it is swashbuckling, it is idealistic. >> that is what west wing felt like. it's this kind of grand, big idea. you could almost turn it into a musical. aaron's world is musical theater, and he comes from the kind of aspirational writing style. no, that is kind of what we kind of wanted -- we did a screening in new york for a lot of tv journalists, the who's who on the east coast. we had guys 40 years i have been a producer, and i'll talk to you

after the show. of been a correspondent on '60 minutes, and i'll talk to you after the show. a lot of those guys came up and said i hope the series focuses on the ideals of journalism, that quest, because we fight that fight every day. i said it does, over the 10 episodes, it does. tavis: >> there is a story, you've been doing the media rounds so you probably have not seen this. there was a story today in the new york times. and he takes the series and tries to frame it in a real- world way, so obviously the connection to him is to cnn. he goes into a long story about cnn and tries to draw some parallels. if we really wanted news, if we wanted hard news, he makes the case in the piece and others

have made the case that cnn might be doing a little better. so apparently were the show is taking us, as best i can tell, may not be where americans want to go. do we want real news? >> exactly. and this is not an attack on tv journalism. first of all, the fact that a guy like david carr is writing about it after the fact. tavis: it's a big deal. >> its a big deal. but america has to pay attention. have to wake up, they have to want more information. tavis: but there is no evidence that there is a craving for that. >> know, there's a craving for reality tv, for scandal, and certainly sex sells. and the guys who are in there fighting for those ideals of journalism are saying, i know, but let's do this story about this issue and really try to

give the american public more information about something that isn't a scandal, that isn't in the news today and let's just keep flogging a dead horse. so that fight is always going on and the people are really trying to fight the fight. you are right. do people want to hear it? i think aaron's point is you should. you should change your lifestyle little bit and try to be as informed as possible. i think we are guilty of disengaging. tavis: do you think a television show, even a hugely popular television show, can impact real-life discourse about news, how we deliver it, how we digest it? >> it certainly can -- if it does what it did to me in shooting it, i came out of it with a greater appreciation of

all you guys, and then on a cable news guys, the right and left. i have this appreciation for that fighting speculation versus fact and double confirmation of a fact. i know what they are saying in their ear. i know probably what happened at the morning meeting and how there are a lot of these guys who are fighting for that harder story, that more complicated story, and maybe the numbers are telling us we have to stay with the scandal. i have a greater appreciation for everything these guys are doing. this is not an attack, it is more of a tribute to those inside all that who fight the fight every day. tavis: so you know what neil is saying about you right now? >> i do, yes. tavis: i don't wear an earpiece. that was just a joke. [laughter]

i am no casting expert here. i am just a viewer. but when i watched this thing i thought it was brilliantly -- whoever the casting person is, congratulations. brilliantly cast, from the young producers, of list to you, and sam waterston. this guy, he was phenomenal. he is amazing. >> he is. i have known sam since the 1970's, the early 1980's. longevity. the guy has had a career these last decades. when sam was brought in as charlie skinner, my boss, i said that cannot be more perfect. he is so delightful, and the fact that more often than not the character of charlie skinner has probably had a couple of pops before he walked into the newsroom. [laughter] tom sadoski and i just shake our

heads. we have a big argument in the hallway in the pilot, and sam is a part of it. it was tough. i cannot look at sam during the take because he is so good and so funny in that particular scene. tavis: all the critics love jeff daniels and how you are playing this particular character, no matter what they may think of this series. how did this happen for you? >> i had been chasing television for about a year or so. i was getting tired of really working hard on movies that no one would see, eventually, and it was so tough with distribution. there was this whole network think of hbo and others, that's where the writers seem to be. you look at all these shows and that's where the writers are. so i want to be around good writing.

i said, where is the good writing? any good actor will tell you that is where you want to go. all of a sudden, a year ago february, we get wind of this aaron sorkin cable news thing. and we chased it and he was busy winning the oscar for social network, and so in march i met with him and just said aaron, i really want to do this. you look at it, i tell my agent now, it's as if i said a year and a half ago, let's do television. get me aaron sorkin, get me hbo because of the creative freedom. don't go to aaron yet. let's wait for him to win an oscar. [laughter] then go to him, and i need to star in it. get me that. and they did. [laughter]

tavis: use a one of the things you like about hbo is creative freedom. tell me more about that. there is obviously something happening there, given the stuff they keep putting out and the fact that it keeps resonating. >> it is not just hbo, but it's what the best in the business do. i can go back over films i've done, directors like robert altman, jonathan demme, woody, clint eastwood, george clooney. i remember doing clint's movie and then going to george. they hire really good people and then put the men and situation and then stand back. they are in there to guide and help, but let's get the best people we can get, put them in a room, and ask them what they need. that is what hbo does. that is what all those guys do.

let's get really good people and then -- arthur miller said i look forward to seeing what my work inspires in others. when you have that kind of creative home like you do with hbo, that only makes a guy like aaron sorkin want to write better, or meat, act better. to work harder leading up to the day you are shooting. it is very inspiring, and it's an ideal. it's aspirational, god forbid. tavis: speaking of jonathan demme, this friday he is the guest of this program. >> i love jonathan because he could have $100 billion or he could have $100, he would have the same enthusiasm and the same energy towards a film. tavis: i love that aut him. would you say you are a news junkie? >> i think of became a news

junkie are around the 2000 election. i became immersed in the 24/7 of it all through the primaries and things like that. so yes, i m. having done the show now, i can kind of see how they are feeling, how they are kind of waiting for the next breaking news alert. it is different than when we had walter cronkite way back when. now it is all day long. i am a bit of a jaunty, to a point. then i have to sleep. [laughter] isis: i don't know that this ever the case, because he is such a great writer, but when you look at the script and there is something that sorkin has written that you think ought to be changed, how do you say that to aaron sorkin? >> very quietly, and usually through someone else.

[laughter] a lot of layers in between so it cannot be traced back. tavis: right. >> here is the deal, and this comes from having done theater. it speaks also to the cast. they were very smart to cast theater people who could handle that dialogue and know that when the writing comes in, that's what to do. that's what you learn, every word. it is not restrictive, it's very liberating in a way because i don't have to paraphrase or come up with some kind of better joke here like you would if you are on a movie where it's kind of been written by a lot of people, some of whom who are not even writers. aaron will tell you, and rightfully so, if you know your words, you'll be much happier with your performance. so go learn the words. and there is a rhythm to it. like all the great writers all

the way back to shakespeare. once you get aaron going and up to pace, it's almost like music for an actor. you can feel the rhythm of it. i find it a huge relief to just get handed the script, thank you very much, and my job is to throw it against the lens and let him make the decision about whether it is right or wrong. tavis: i don't know if i have talked to any actor who worked with sorkin who has not had something to say about the litany and the massive number of walk and talk scenes. you seem to have mastered that, but what are your thoughts about the walking and talking that sorkin loves so much? >> first of all, being an anger man, i am usually behind the desk, so the walking is done. that is ok. i looked at it as an action sequence, and it is kind of like

a verbal car chase. when you have two or three guys coming from the corner, all talking, overlapping each other, that can be very exciting and compelling. it is word for word. we are not making anything up and when we interrupt, we are coming right in where we are supposed to come in. there is a precision to that that when you do it properly can be very compelling and exciting to watch. it's kind of like an action sequence. [laughter] tavis: this is my word, not yours, but how does the euphoria that i expect your feeling right now compare to the euphoria you get being on the stage? >> it is different. the stage is different because

you have your opening night and should be this wonderful, incredible celebration, but you still have to do it. you still have to kind of show them that this is why we are all celebrating ourselves here. but you've got to deliver the goods, and then you have to deliver them eight times a week to prove them right for eight shows. what i love about this, the whole television series thing is that in the first season we have a 10-hour movie. in my world, it is a 10-hour movie, and that is 10 hours to tell a whole story. it's like chapters of a novel all the way through. so the euphoria of last night's premiere, i was telling my agent today, what is cool is six days from now there is another one. i know what is coming, so is a

cool thing in my world to have a movie opening every seven days. tavis: what is the benchmark of success on this project for you? >> aside from provocative and people talking about things and with each other they have not done so for a long time, that would be the whole general thing. personally as an actor, and this goes every time, you want to do it in a way that is definitive. the biggest compliment an actor can get is, i cannot imagine anyone else in the role. that will take some time over the season and i hope other seasons. i cannot imagine anyone else doing what marty sheen did in west wing. they are definitive. you eliminate anyone else, and that is tough to do in a very

competitive business with a lot of great actors out there. if i started to hear that from peers down the road, i would be very happy. tavis: speaking of peers and those with a long track record, you have a few years under your belt in this business. i was just reading in our research for this conversation last night that next year, 30 years since "terms"? when is the last time you saw that? >> i have not seen that in years. in the movie of mine that comes out, i say oh great, that is terrific, and i usually leave the room. the kids say dad, you were young. tavis: speaking of the kids, who

raised in michigan, have you heard anything from the guys at the lumberyard yet about the premiere? >> no. my dad and brother run a lumber company in michigan. i used to work there in the summers. i would deliver cement, drywall, things with wood. i am the oldest son. you would think that i would be taken the business over, but there is absolutely nothing that stop. i cannot tell you how they built that. i don't know, i don't care. [laughter] that became very evident. when i said i think i am going to move to new york and be an actor, dad was like, good. tavis: it worked out extremely well. the new show is called a news

room starring jeff daniels on hbo on sundays. i cannot wait until this weekend to see what the episode will bring. you have one fan. that is our show for tonight. as always, thanks for watching. until next time, keep the faith. >> i am taking medicine for vertigo. >> he just walked into his office. >> i get that there are moments when i am not the easiest guy to work with. >> i thought this would be a good time to get a couple of things straight. >> don't talk to me unless you absolutely have to. >> what is coming? >> hang on. will somebody hit him with a stun gun?

>> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with -- environmental advocate erin brockovich on her new documentary. that is next time. we will see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. >> be more. pbs. pbs.