0:00 Get ready...


0:02 It is the morning of April 17th in Manhattan (more on the date later). We are looking west from the corner of 42nd Street and 2nd Ave. Commuters hurry to work on this bright spring morning, the Callery pear trees are in bloom. For some reason there seems to be a big hill after 3rd Ave. Compare with the actual intersection:


Where's that hill?


0:05 Looking up a skyscraper. The ACN offices we presume.


0:08 A woman in a leather jacked with a chunky ring on her middle finger holds her coffee and waits for the light to change.


0:10 The Brooklyn Bridge… for some reason.


0:12 The N Train heads away from Manhattan… for some reason.


0:14 A subway train rushes by. Note, the train appears to be much emptier than any New York train is at peak rush hour. It would appear that it is now the early afternoon.


0:15 It's 8:13 (AM, we assume) according to ACN's clock wall. We can make out GMT, POTUS, ISLAMABAD and BAGHDAD. Having a POTUS clock seems really unnecessary and pretentious. But it's their clock wall.


0:16 An ACN staffer speed reads the August 25th, 2011 New York Times with a highlighter. She has highlighted passages from a stories about uncertainty in the middle east in the wake of the Arab Spring, New Jersey court procedure and Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple. The highlights appear to be made for visual appeal rather than content.

Complicating the narrative here is the fact that this paper must about a year old due to the fact that on the desk is the March 2013 issue of Le Monde diplomatique. Why bother to speed read what must be a nearly year and a half old news paper?


0:19 A morning editorial meeting. Staffers discuss the show over uneaten breakfast pastries.


0:21 An explosion!


0:22 Fire rains down around the site of the explosion. It's the only light in the darkness. I guess it is night now. This could possibly be based on the West Fertilizer Company Explosion which took place on April 17th at 7:50pm CDT in West, Texas. An April 17th date would match up with the blooming trees we saw in the very first shot, and is after the dates of all the newspapers we have seen.


0:23 The explosion appears on a screen. This disaster is being recorded and broadcast.


0:24 The explosion is reflected in the eyeball of an ACN Staffer. This is the first part of the news gathering process: seeing the news with your eye.


0:25 The explosion goes to the top of the broadcast. Sorry Geithner!


0:28 Somehow another ACN staffer sees the explosion just by swiping the main navigation button on her BlackBerry. BlackBerrys do not work like this.


0:29 This is BIG NEWS! Got to tell someone. She pushes away from her desk in her rolly office chair.


0:30 In her rush she spills her coffee on a New York Times article about the Antwerp diamond industry from November 6th, 2012. Again, based on the previously seen Le Monde diplomatique this newspaper must be nearly six months old. Perhaps she is doing research for a story on the diamond industry and doesn't like reading things online.


0:31 We watch the coffee soak into an article about charter schools in Georgia from the previous day.


0:32 The staffer has rushed to News Night anchor Will McAvoy's office.


0:33 Breaking News: "HUNDREDS FEARED DEAD; FIRST RESPONDERS UNABLE TO REACH BUILDING"


0:34 Furiously typing up a hot take.


0:36 An old newsman with wrinkled hands watches the activity in the Newsroom.


0:37 Getting ready to go on the air.


0:38 Everyone knows that paperclips are vital to any news gathering operation.


0:39 Unspooling some satisfyingly thick cables.


0:40 We can see the teleprompter from which Will reads the news. This complicates things. The teleprompter reads: "...RICHTER SCALE AND REPORTS ARE COMING IN ON A NUMBER OF CASUALTIES. TONIGHT" The implication would be that the explosion and the earthquake are linked. If this is the case the explosion seen earlier would not be the West Fertilizer Company explosion which had no link to seismic activity. Perhaps this is a different, earthquake related explosion which exists only in the Newsroom timeline.


0:41 Some papers, a nice break in the action.


0:42 Time to press the 'Will' button!


0:44 A producer looks as Will prepares for the open of the newscast. Long time watchers of these opening credits will see a familiar site to the right (it's those clocks!)


0:47 The camera approaches.


0:48 Will adjusts a dark blue tie with blue and white stripes (remember this). It's go time.


0:49 A lot of graphics.


0:53 We pan across the brushed metal chrome of the desk. Will appears to have switched ties, it is now purple.


0:55 Countdown to live. "We're on in three…" We can vaguely see the tie.


0:57 Time to flip the news switch.


0:58 The newscast begins with Will offering self-righteous earthquake commentary. Also, he seems to have changed ties again. The tie is now black and white.


1:00 Credits over, now it's time for people to react to events in the near past with remarkable prescience and quote their resumes to each other .