Great news today from HBO Sorkin fans as the network has announced the return date for his show The Newsroom. Fortunately, our suspicions about the show’s future were unfounded and the date of July 14th will se the show back where it belongs.

Heck, we will admit we were a bit skeptical when the cast for this show was first announced. Jeff Daniels as the conflicted but crusading anchor of a cable news show that suddenly finds a conscience? The guy from Dumb and Dumber? Okay. And let’s not get started on Olivia Munn.

Fortunately, our reservations about Mr. Daniels were completely unfounded and even Munn has started to grow on us, a little. The most important take-away here is that if you not currently watching Sorkin’s The Newsroom, you should be. And now you’ll get a chance when July 24th comes around.

In addition to Daniels and Munn, the show stars Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston, Alison Pill and Terry Chimes. Jane Fonda also appeared in several episodes of the first season, but try not to let that put you off the show. It’s actually quite good casting, truth be told.

It’s nice to see Sorkin back where he belongs, on a network where ratings are less important and he can pretty much say what he wants. Can’t wait.

I don’t think anyone would argue that Aaron Sorkin is an extremely talented writer. His shows, including Sports Night, The West Wing and Studio 60 and movies like the recent The Social Network, have proved this over and over.

Needless to say, we’re big fans. So, when Sorkin takes on a new project, we’re interested. As we told you previously, Sorkin is returning to TV with a new show on HBO. And now, that show’s pilot has a director.

Superbad and Paul helmer Greg Mottola is now set to direct the pilot set behind the scenes of a cable news show. The project centers on news anchor Will McCallister, which Jeff Daniels will most likely play, who has his own cable show, his female executive producer and his staff.

With Sorkin doing a new show, Jeff Daniels starring and now with Mottola’s involvement, we’re even more interested in this show. Come on HBO, get it going and let’s see it soon.

There’s a lot of great writers in Hollywood and Aaron Sorkin is definitely one of them. Responsible for such great shows as Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Sorkin has brought us some incredible television. While his last series, Studio 60 was unfortunately canceled in its first season it thankfully hasn’t deterred Sorkin from returning to television.

So what is Sorkin’s new series going to be about? Well, television seems like a natural choice, “It’s going to be what turns out to be the third in the trilogy of TV shows that take place behind the scenes of a TV show, but this will be a different kind of TV show. That’s all I can let out of the bag right now.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m fully on board for anything Sorkin is doing but do we need another behind the scenes television show? I say this only because I think part of the reason Studio 60 didn’t get any traction is because many TV viewers had a hard time relating to those involved in the entertainment industry. Even I, a Sorkin fanboy, found it difficult to care for actors who, while living a very indulgent lifestyle, waxed poetic about how hard their respective lives were. Furthermore, is Sorkin ready to go head-to-head against 30 Rock again, the show that ultimately beat out Studio 60 in the long run?

Alright, my little rant aside, there’s still some promise here. Sorkin himself states the show “will be different” so maybe he recognizes what went wrong with Studio 60 and will avoid those mistakes in the new show. Only time will tell given he didn’t provide any other details.

There are few television shows that hold my interest past the pilot episode. When they do, they usually get cancelled because most networks can’t seem to identify quality programs without the help of their woefully misguided Neilsen system. In rare instances, such as the Family Guy and Futurama resurrections, a fantastic show gets canceled, then does so well on DVD, the network is forced to place it’s tail squarely between its legs and bring the show back to life. Sports Night was not one of these shows.

The year is 1998. ABC has Home Improvement, NYPD Blue, Ellen, Dharma and Drew. On Tuesday September 22, they premiere a little show-within-a-show called Sports Night.  The ensemble cast includes a few heavyweights, and several actors who earned their street cred long after Sports Night was running on Comedy Central at 3am.

The show centers around the cast and crew of a sports broadcasting program on a cable sports network. The anchors, Casey McCall (Peter Krause, Six Feet Under) and Dan Rydell (Josh Charles, S.W.A.T.) are lovable, damaged sports fans, who, with humility and humor, suffer the outrageous fortune of being immersed in all things sports on a daily basis.

Executive Producer Dana Whittaker (Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives) is the feisty, woman-in-a-man’s-world leader with a heart of gold that keeps the show on track, and with the help of Jeremy Goodwin (Joshua Malina, The West Wing) and Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd, Num3ers) keep the big boss Isaac Jaffe (Robert Guillaume, Benson) happy and the antagonistic network executives at bay.