Aaron Sorkin denies firing entire writing staff for HBO's controversial ... - New York Daily News

John Russo/HBO

Aaron Sorkin's 'Newsroom' received strong ratings in its first season.

BEVERLY HILLS -- In a sometimes tense session with TV critics who gave mixed reviews to his HBO “Newsroom” series, Aaron Sorkin Wednesday said it is “totally untrue” that he fired his entire writing staff.

Or even most of it.

“I love my writing staff,” he said, saying the modest turnover at the end of the first season was routine and some writers had been promoted.

He did say, however, that he is hiring a team of “paid consultants” to work with him and the writing staff for the second season.

They could provide anything from policy insight to office anecdotes, he said. He also said he will identify them once they are all hired.

Meanwhile, however, he declared it particularly untrue that he retained only “Corinne Kinsbury” from the original writing staff. The Daily, which published the original “firing” report, described her as “Sorkin’s ex-girlfriend.”

He said that first of all, “She’s not my ex-girlfriend. I have no ex-girlfriends on the writing staff.”

Second, he said, “She’s a great writer and I would hate for her career to be hindered by the idea she is there for any reason other than merit.”

Third, he said, the report spelled her name wrong, leaving out a “g” in the middle.

Sorkin also said he disagrees “100%” with the suggestions by some critics that he portrays women characters on “Newsroom” in a less flattering way than men.

He said both males and females sometimes look foolish or wrong, because they are complex characters and the show has a strong comic element.

“Once you nail down their character traits â€" that they’re smart, they’re loyal, they care and so on â€" you can have them step on as many banana peels as you want,” he said.

Sorkin acknowledged he had read reviews of the show, some complimentary and some not.

But, he added, “One of the things about working for HBO is that the entire show is filmed and in the can before the first episode airs,” so he couldn’t make adjustments if he wanted to.

Jeff Daniels, who stars in the show as anchorman Will McAvoy, said he has a simpler means of dealing with inaccurate or unflattering media reports: He doesn’t read them.

“No offense,” he said, gesturing to the room, “but I’ve been doing this for 36 years and there’s nothing you can tell me that will help me.”

HBO President of Programming Michael Lombardo had earlier told critics the network loves the show, which got strong ratings and an early renewal for that second season, which will air starting in June 2013.