We're now two episodes into The Newsroom , HBO's newest entry in chatter-inducing Sunday programming. Reviews of the show have been brutal , but asking a media critic to judge this show is like asking a cannibal how his gallbladder tastes. Outside of media circles (amongst the vegans, to continue this overwrought metaphor), the show seems somewhat more widely appreciated. This phenomena fascinates me. We seem to have some sort of uncanny valley relationship to art. If we are extremely close to it -- if the subject matter is about us -- then it is very likely that we find the similarity ugly, a disfigured clone of ourselves. The entertainment landscape is littered with examples of subcultures (professions, geographies, lifestyles) disagreeing with how they are portrayed by mainstream art. 1 It makes you wonder: When does a subculture actually ever like art about itself? 2 The anxiety in appreciating art about oneself probably involves some deep Lacanian mirror stage shit.…