Don Keefer

Don Keefer runs the 10pm show at ACN, a fast-talking executive producer who prides himself on competence even when his program is the also-ran to Will McAvoy's newly serious News Night. He's dating Maggie, sparring with Jim Harper over both ratings and her attention, and defending his choices with a debater's confidence that outpaces his self-awareness.

Sorkin writes him as the guy the story initially frames as the obstacle, then keeps letting him surprise you with actual principle under the bluster. Thomas Sadoski plays the rapid-fire arrogance so convincingly that his quieter moments of decency land harder — you don't expect them, and neither, it seems, does Don.