The New York Times‘ David Itzkoff caught up with Aaron Sorkin ahead of the June 24 premiere of “The Newsroom” on HBO. As we’ve been documenting here over the last several months, Sorkin has drawn from real cable news channels — specifically MSNBC — to craft his drama. Itzkoff writes Sorkin, “was embedded at MSNBC’s incarnation of ‘Countdown With Keith Olbermann‘ during the BP oil spill in 2010…”

Mr. Olbermann, a longtime friend of Mr. Sorkin’s, said there were other parallels between his MSNBC tenure and events in the “Newsroom” pilot, as when [anchor Will] McAvoy [played by Jeff Daniels, right] returns from hiatus to discover that his backup host has been given his own show. (Mr. Olbermann declined to provide further details, but his onetime backup host Lawrence O’Donnell was given his own MSNBC show in September 2010.) Mr. Sorkin also hired Margaret Judson, an assistant of Mr. Olbermann’s, to act on “The Newsroom.”

Itzkoff also reveals Thomas Matthews, son of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews plays a newsroom staffer on “The Newsroom.”

Much more in Itzkoff’s piece, set to run in Sunday’s paper. Go here to read through.