December 2007

Lying On The Beach Talks Fact Vs. Fiction Behind Aaron Sorkin’s Broadway Play “The Farnsworth Invention”. Did Emmy-Award winning scribe Aaron Sorkin stick to the truth or play fast with the facts in his Broadway play, “The Farnsworth Invention” about the invention of TV and the patent war that ensured? Lying on The Beach gets […]

Silicon Valley columnist Vindu Goel recently saw The Farnsworth Invention, and offers some intriguing suggestions why the play is pertinent for today’s tech-revved audiences: Although Sorkin’s fictionalized account distorts some important historical facts – shame on him – it’s great fun to watch. (Imagine the witty dialogue of "West Wing" coming out of the mouths

One writer puts The Farnsworth Invention on his "best" side of his best/worst 2007 theater ledger: 8. The Farnsworth Invention Okay. Historical liberties aside, Aaron Sorkin’s play about the patent race on television is both inspiring and compelling. Of course, I can’t help but comment:  if he thought the play was "both inspiring and compelling,"

Link: The Farnsworth Invention, by James E. O’Neal.  Granted, it’s all very "technical," but this might be one of the most comprehensive blog entries I’ve read yet that explains all this teeth-gnashing over a Broadway play: In taking issue with a particular chamber of commerce’s version of the landing of the Mayflower, Will Rogers once

Like me, this blogger came to the show as an avid fan of Aaron Sorkin’s previous work. I, too, always felt a twinge of sadness at the final fade-out of a West Wing episode.  "That’s it?" I’d wonder.  "It’s over?  Now what am I gonna do?"  Turning of the TeeVee was usually the best solution

It never dawned on me that when the David Sarnoff character says in his opening speech that "the ends do justify the means," that he was talking about the play itself…Link: Show Showdown: The Farnsworth Invention. The Farnsworth Invention is a clever, well-written, exciting piece of semi-fiction. Those expecting it to be more are clearly

Now for something completely different. At the heart of this whole "Farnsworth -v- Sarnoff" story is the American patent system, which has changed considerably in the 200+ years since the Constitution first authorized Congress to protect the rights of "authors and inventors."  Now there is legislation brewing that would make the already crippled patent system

Another blogger in the peanut gallery chimes in on  Fact & Fiction. Although I mostly enjoyed Aaron Sorkin’s sweeping saga The Farnsworth Invention, I felt cheated by the denouement, in which small-time inventor Philo Farnsworth squares off against RCA honcho David Sarnoff in a patent lawsuit that would lead to the creation of television. It’s

After devoting a full page-and-half to the other big play that opened the same week — Tracy Letts’ "August: Osage County" — The New Yorker  offers a whole two paragraph’s for Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention.  Here’s one of them:  To enjoy the play’s historical elements, one must push past Sorkin’s shiny competence and search

From last Friday, another item from our friends at the New York Post: Trailing the pack is Aaron Sorkin’s "The Farnsworth Invention," about the battle between Philo Farnsworth, who invented television, and David Sarnoff, who stole the idea. The reviews for the show were mixed, and the box office is taking in less than $50,000