The People of "The Newsroom" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin is a brilliant writer known for fast-paced, intelligent and witty dialogue and nuanced plots. He has worked in television and films, and has done original screenplays as well as script adaptations. He has stated that after "The Newsroom" he will no longer write for television series, because the tight turnaround times prevent him from doing his best work.

Answer: Jeff Daniels

Daniels plays Will McAvoy, a cable news anchor who is torn between wanting to be loved by his audience and wanting to do the best, most incisive and honest news program ever.

Answer: Olivia Munn

Olivia Munn is of Asian-American ethnicity, and was born in Oklahoma City in 1980. She has performed in television and movies, including "Magic Mike", "Iron Man 2", and "Deliver Us from Evil". Her character on "The Newsroom" is a self-described geek who does not appear to be totally aware of how gorgeous she is, but who is fully in touch with her braininess.

Answer: Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda has a recurring role as Leona Lansing, owner of Atlantis World Media, parent company of Atlantis Cable News. Leona is a longtime friend of Charlie Skinner, the President of the News Division. They share a basic view of what a news show should be, but Leona also has board members and fiscal concerns that muddy the waters for her, and she and Charlie (as well as other newsroom staff) have ongoing differences when ACN reports politically controversial information about people on the board.

Answer: Webmaster

Patel plays Neal Sampat, a staffer who maintains News Night's website and writes Will McAvoy's blog. He occasionally develops a passionate interest in a story (or, once, a non-story: "Bigfoot is real"), and he gets into some very serious legal trouble in the third season of the series.

Answer: Will McAvoy

Mackenzie and Will were seriously involved with one another several years before the series' time frame. Their breakup was traumatic for both for different reasons and for much of the time period covered by the show, their past often affects their present interactions.

Answer: Charlie Skinner

Sam Waterston plays Charlie Skinner, President of the News Division and the mediator between the network's owners and the newsroom's staff. The position is fraught with peril from both sides every day, and to say that it's stressful is akin to saying that Chernobyl was an annoyance. Charlie suffers a fatal heart attack at work while mediating between the new owner of ACN, who's portrayed as an insufferable jerk, and the staff, who are used to better management than the new guy is offering.

Answer: Lisa Lambert, Don's girlfriend's roommate

Jim gets fixed up with Lisa, and they begin a relationship, but Jim is never really into it. Lisa is at first portrayed as somewhat shallow and perhaps not the brightest young woman around, but as time goes on and her character is developed she turns out to be a much more three-dimensional, smart and perceptive woman. Still, Jim's heart belongs to another and the relationship never really takes off.

Answer: Maggie

Maggie Jordan is played by Alison Pill, who starts out as a naive but dedicated intern in the newsroom, but who rapidly develops into a valuable member of the newsroom's team. Early in the second season of the show she sells the Executive Producer the idea that she should go to Uganda to cover civil unrest and the American military presence in that country.

At a Ugandan orphanage, she befriends a little boy who is bemused by her white-blond hair; a few hours later. he is shot and killed in her arms while she is trying to get him out of the orphanage, which was attacked in the night.

When she returns home, she hacks off her long blonde hair and dyes what's left an electric shade of red.

Answer: Maggie and Jim

Two sets of characters hold off becoming involved with each other: Maggie and Jim, and Mackenzie and Will. Mackenzie and Will cave and get engaged at the end of the second season, but Maggie and Jim don't formally establish an amorous relationship until nearly the end of the third.