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Elliot Hirsch is a television news anchor. He was the co-anchor to Will McAvoy on News Night. McAvoy campaigned for him to get a lead anchor position and he was assigned to the 10:00 show. Most of McAvoy's staff followed Hirsch to the new time slot, although he protested against them doing so. ("We Just Decided To")

Biography[]

Elliot Hirsch is an anchor at Right Now with Elliot Hirsch in the 10:00 slot. He is Jewish and from Boston. He is a musical fan, especially of Gypsy.

News Night[]

Anchor Will McAvoy shocks the audience at a college debate when he honestly and profanely explains why America is not the greatest country in the world. Recordings of the tirade spread across the internet and McAvoy's public profile is severely damaged. He takes a two week vacation to avoid publicity. Executive producer Don Keefer, Elliot and the majority of his staff eagerly take the opportunity to abandon his 8:00 News Night program for its 10:00 counterpart. Although McAvoy had campaigned for Elliot to get a lead anchor position most of McAvoy's staff followed him to the new time slot, and McAvoy protested against them doing so. ("We Just Decided To")

10:00 Slot[]

112th Congressional Elections[]

In November 2010 Elliot rejoined Will as co-anchor for News Night's election night broadcast. Don became increasingly surly with Elliot during the broadcast due to his positive but superficial commentary on the joy of democracy. Elliot realizes that Don's frustration comes from his personal life and tells him to either make up with Maggie or get over her because his attitude is putting his job at risk. Don opts to reconcile with Maggie. ("The 112th Congress")

Egypt assignment[]

News Night covers civil unrest in Cairo after the Egyption president refuses to leave his post despite losing the election. Elliot travels to Cairo to report from the scene but is forced to remain inside when riots break out. Don Keefer is disappointed that Elliot is not out in the middle of things. Elliot goes to the street to get story updates, but gets beaten with a rock. He returns home battered but alive and is greeted with a warm welcome by the ACN staff.

Don is annoyed when Charlie insists that Elliot take time off to recover, feeling responsible for provoking Elliot into venturing out.

News Night recruits "Amen" as a stringer to get footage of the riots. Amen performs well but then disappears. Elliot helps to located him. The staff discover that he has been taken into custody by the military, who are demanding an extortionate ransom. Will pays for Amen's release. Mac arranges for the staff to each give Will a cheque to contribute, mimicking a scene from one of Will's favorite films, Rudy. ("Amen")

Genoa[]

Elliot was largely uninvolved with the Genoa story until the time fo the third red team meeting when nearly all senior staff were brought in. Once Charlie, Will, and Mack greenlit the story Elliot followed up on News Night's reporting with his show Right Now with Elliot Hirsch. Over the course of an interview with Staff Sergeant Eric Sweeney, Elliot inadvertently drew attention to a passing comment Sweeney made that his Humvee was struck by an IED in Iraq and he, along with two others in his unit, sustained Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs). Fearing this unexpected exposure to the story could be damaging, Elliot followed Don's instructions and immediately tossed to break so they could regroup. Later in a meeting with everyone involved in reporting Genoa, Elliot defended his decision to go to break by saying he suddenly realized he was asking questions he didn't know the answers to about their own story.

In Sloan's deposition by Rebecca and her legal team, Sloan jokingly comments that prior to Elliot's broadcast, he was "the only one who hadn't gotten dirty with Genoa yet, so we dropped dirt on him."

Behind the scenes[]

Elliot is a recurring character in the first season. He is played by guest star David Harbour and debuted in the series pilot "We Just Decided To". His final appearance is in the season three premier "Boston", he isn't featured any subsequent episodes, and as such he is not in the storylines revolving around Will's indictment, Neal's flight to Venezuela, the sale of ACN to Lucas Pruitt or Charlie's passing.

Appearances[]

Season 1
"We Just Decided To" "News Night 2.0" "The 112th Congress" "I'll Try to Fix You" "Amen"
"Bullies" "5/1" "The Blackout Part I: Tragedy Porn" "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" "The Greater Fool"
Season 2
"First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers" "The Genoa Tip" "Willie Pete" "Unintended Consequences" "News Night with Will McAvoy"
"One Step Too Many" "Red Team III" "Election Night, Part I" "Election Night, Part II"
Season 3
"Boston" "Run" "Main Justice" "Contempt" "Oh Shenandoah"
"What Kind of Day Has It Been"
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