Capital News (April 1990) -- season only, episode? James Morrison guest-starred in this
hour-long newspaper drama. Following a two-hour pilot (directed Mark Tinker) which aired
April 9, ABC yelled "stop the presses!" after only three additional one-hour
episodes, canceling its subscription to this noble effort on April 30th.
Heroic Editor-in-Chief Jonathan "Jo-Jo" Turner (Lloyd Bridges) ran The
Washington Capital with a firm hand, alternately encouraging and admonishing his
dedicated, hard-working reporters. The newsroom was divided into two very different
worlds. Metro, headed by Clay Gibson (Michael Woods), explored the seamy underside of
Washington, America’s "murder and drug capital." National, led by Edison
King (Mark Blum) stalked the corridors of governmental power, uncovering scandals and
abuse.
In the pilot episode, Helen Slater's character, Anne McKenna, arrived at the offices of
the Washington Capital. An eager young reporter, she was assigned to the Metro desk where
she was taken under the wing of hotshot reporter, Redmond Dunne (William Russ). On her
first day on the job she shared a much-coveted byline on the front page by scooping the
competition for a major story. By the second episode, she had entered into a personal
relationship with Dunne.
Other cast included Miles Plato (Kurt Fuller) as a flamboyant syndicated gossip columnist.
Most of the rest of the regular cast (Daniel Roebuck, Jenny Wright, Christian Clemenson,
Wendell Pierce and Chelsea Field) were reporters chasing hot scoops while anguishing about
current journalistic issues such as checkbook journalism and reporter objectivity.
David
Milch, who co-created HILL STREET BLUES and NYPD BLUE, co-created this series with
Christian Williams, who not coincidentally had worked for The Washington Post for 13
years. Although Milch said, "I’ll go to my grave denying that the series is
based on The Washington Post," it seemed otherwise. Bridges looked and acted like the
Post’s legendary editor Ben Bradlee, the giant newsroom looked like that of the Post,
Post staffers were interviewed and their work habits studied in developing the series, and
several of them actually worked behind the scenes on the show.
Guest actors on the four aired episodes included: Walter Addison, Leah Ayres, Lou Beatty,
Jr., Jackie Cooper, Bryan Cranston, James Eckhouse, Andrea Evans, Michael Bryan French,
Ray Girardin, William Glover, Kathryn Harrold, Andreas Katsulas, James Morrison, Beah
Richards, Lee Richardson, Ken Page, Lee Weaver and Noble Willingham.
Synopsized from reviews in THE COMPLETE DIRECTORY TO PRIME TIME NETWORK AND CABLE TV SHOWS
by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, TOTAL TELEVISION by Alex McNeil with additional information
provided by Robert Armin.
Heroic Editor-in-Chief Jonathan "Jo-Jo" Turner (Lloyd Bridges) ran The
Washington Capital with a firm hand, alternately encouraging and admonishing his
dedicated, hard-working reporters. The newsroom was divided into two very different
worlds. Metro, headed by Clay Gibson (Michael Woods), explored the seamy underside of
Washington, America’s "murder and drug capital." National, led by Edison
King (Mark Blum) stalked the corridors of governmental power, uncovering scandals and
abuse. 
In the pilot episode, Helen Slater's character, Anne McKenna, arrived at the offices of
the Washington Capital. An eager young reporter, she was assigned to the Metro desk where
she was taken under the wing of hotshot reporter, Redmond Dunne (William Russ). On her
first day on the job she shared a much-coveted byline on the front page by scooping the
competition for a major story. By the second episode, she had entered into a personal
relationship with Dunne. 
Other cast included Miles Plato (Kurt Fuller) as a flamboyant syndicated gossip columnist.
Most of the rest of the regular cast (Daniel Roebuck, Jenny Wright, Christian Clemenson,
Wendell Pierce and Chelsea Field) were reporters chasing hot scoops while anguishing about
current journalistic issues such as checkbook journalism and reporter objectivity.
David
Milch, who co-created HILL STREET BLUES and NYPD BLUE, co-created this series with
Christian Williams, who not coincidentally had worked for The Washington Post for 13
years. Although Milch said, "I’ll go to my grave denying that the series is
based on The Washington Post," it seemed otherwise. Bridges looked and acted like the
Post’s legendary editor Ben Bradlee, the giant newsroom looked like that of the Post,
Post staffers were interviewed and their work habits studied in developing the series, and
several of them actually worked behind the scenes on the show. 
Guest actors on the four aired episodes included: Walter Addison, Leah Ayres, Lou Beatty,
Jr., Jackie Cooper, Bryan Cranston, James Eckhouse, Andrea Evans, Michael Bryan French,
Ray Girardin, William Glover, Kathryn Harrold, Andreas Katsulas, James Morrison, Beah
Richards, Lee Richardson, Ken Page, Lee Weaver and Noble Willingham. 
Synopsized from reviews in THE COMPLETE DIRECTORY TO PRIME TIME NETWORK AND CABLE TV SHOWS
by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, TOTAL TELEVISION by Alex McNeil with additional information
provided by Robert Armin.
