For a while now, a TV clip has been doing the rounds in which a disgruntled news anchorman (Jeff Daniels) espouses why America is no longer the greatest country in the world. Sure, it’s a typically overlong speech written by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing etc), the man whose characters mostly tend to be idealistic geniuses who can solve the Enigma Code in the blink of an eyelid. But for once, this three-minute diatribe is right on the money. It’s a brilliantly rhythmical lambasting, and the way it’s gone viral suggests it’s struck a chord across the political spectrum. Why? Because he’s a Republican (you’ll have to see it to appreciate that line). 

The Newsroom suffers from plodding romantic subplots, but delivers thanks to the extreme nature of its subject matter: the real-life world in which we live in. Watch it and be hooked from the cool opening credits.  

Also outgunning fiction is Chinese Murder Mystery (DR2, Mon 23:10), which documents the alleged murder of a British businessman by the wife of a Chinese mayor, which is according to The Guardian “an extraordinary story” that “would be farcical, laughable even, a kind of ‘Chinese Midsomer Murders’, if there weren’t a real human tragedy at its heart”.

Also rather farcical, but without any merits, is Zero Hour (DR3, Thu 21:30), the latest attempt to create the surreal nature of Lost through a mixture of time travel, historical intertwining and general weirdness.  

Elsewhere, this week, Alex Polizzi: The Fixer (SVT2, Mon 18:00) sees the badass broad from The Hotel Inspector dishing out advice to families; we learn why the EU gives special trade privileges in Guatemala’s Sweet Deal (BBC World, Sat 12:30 or Sun 22:30); What If? (BBC World, Sat 16:30 or Sun 19:30) is a bit like Tomorrow’s World, but without the feel-good factor that the future is going to be brilliant; Tsunami: The Survivors’ Stories (SVT1, Tue 22:00) is a riveting account of the killer waves that struck Japan in 2011; and there’s a night of new teenage market series making their debuts on K7 on Saturday including the worryingly named Slutever (K7, Sat 22:50).