I’m not into Shetland Season 6 as much as I was into Season 3, 4, or 5. Not sure why. 
Anyone feels the same?
I’ve binge-watched an Aussie show, The Newsreader. It was compelling and deeply affecting.
(@abasket: Perhaps as a counter point to The Morning Show?)
It takes place in 1986 Melbourne, before cable news. It’s a big city but, I don’t know whether it’s due to the time period decor/objects or to the fact that really was Australia back then but it feels like national big names working in a provincial town. Was Melbourne provincial?
I have a sense they’re trying to not be the BBC and have their own style, but they still seem focused on what’s happening in Britain. The lack of technology is a huge impediment especially when you live 10,000 miles from where “big news” happens (there are big stories in Australia too, but you clearly understand they’re not big worldwide: the woman accused of killing her baby when she said it was snatched by a dingo, a police station that is firebombed). They’re trying to be their own thing, not BBC redux, but to me it looks “local news” even though it clearly is national-level, so that it ends up being telling about the era and Australia trying to find its place in the world.
In terms of period drama it looks very “real”.
Journalists from the times say it’s quite accurate, one went on to explain that in Melbourne the newsroom was super advanced compared to his hometown paper because they had electric typewriters.
Second, the characters: Helen Norville (Anna Torv) is the glamorous star news anchor whom everyone around her considers “difficult” because she insists on pitching stories like interviewing a family about AIDS’ impact rather than covering the new Butterfly Dome at the zoo, or interviewing aboriginal elders about their view of the Haley comet rather than children at a picnic on the same topic. She’s shown to be volatile but also a highly strung incredible professional, who neverthelesse takes abuse on a daily basis and we’re clearly supposed to think she’s unstable for crying after being berated, slighted, undermined and insulted all day long and without the men in charge having a clue that’s what’s they’re doing. (Summary of dialogue - Editor in Chief: “Some viewers called to complain you looked fat, so lay off the biscuits and if you’re pregnant let us know so we can give you a day off.” Helen storms out and goes to scream in her lounge. Everybody seems to believe Helen is a drama queen. – Process the “day off” comment.) Except of course it’s “normal” and she’s tolerated because she’s a huge star, but apparently in the 80s Australian TV was a man’s world and a woman was supposed to feel lucky to be allowed to “read the news” (hence the title: The Newsreader, which is equivalent to News Anchor.) It was the beginning of women having a role in newsrooms but apparently just the beginning.
(Spoiler:
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Helen’s also probably bipolar, except at the time, in Australia at least, no one had any word for it, let alone herself, no diagnostic or no treatment, and she tries to self medicate the best she can. The abusive work environment doesn’t help.)
The second main character is Dale, a young, ambitious (but not shark/ruthless) producer who came from a small town, wants to do live reporting and some day be a newsreader. He’s a long way off 
A 21st century viewer can also pick up early on that he’s locked deep inside a closet.
Other important characters are Noelene, daughter of Korean immigrants who’s very aware of her place in the pecking order, Rob who covers sport news, Geoff THE big journalist who became famous reporting on Vietnam and was the big newsreader until Helen came along.
Dale and Helen end up using each other/helping each other as they cover the big news from January to April 1986.
There’ll be a second season
There was some criticism on making the newsroom “too diverse” in that there’s Noelene (daughter of Korean immigrants) and a guy of Greek descent, and apparently in the 80s there might have been one behind the scenes but not two “non white/British descent” people hired.