I’m sure it provides a nice warm comfort blanket to a domestic audience.
The final season was absolutely absurd. An inexperienced, non-white, very liberal first-term member of congress being elected president! The only way they could have made it less realistic would have been if they had made him black rather than Hispanic!
I see what you did there… 
According to the producers, if John Spencer (who played Leo) hadn’t died halfway through the final season, the Republican candidate Vilnick (Alan Alda) would have won the election. He was one of the “good” Republicans on the show.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s not entirely true:
Okay, I accept the correction. Still it sounds like they strongly considered having Vinick win after he turned out to be such a great character.
As does all good TV drama, and I am one of the last people here who will step up in defense of TV at all.
I don’t doubt that Clancy readers take his uber-right presentations of government much more seriously than WW watchers did. You’d have to be a heavy soaper to take any of the show for reality.
Mingus Campbell is an economist and a senior politician in the U.K.
Of course, I meant Vince Cable.
I never watch a full episode, but the scenes I saw in passing were always draped in deep dark dramatic shadows. If the lighting in the real White House was as poor, it would explain any lack of productivity- they can’t see what the hell they’re doing.
Nor can they hear anything with than damn ball bouncing off the wall.
Well, to be fair, half the scenes take place between 10 pm and 2 am.
Just have to jump back in and add: the season 2 ender “Two Cathedrals” may be the best hour of TV drama I have ever watched. Certainly in the top five. The last half was as intense, artistic and gripping as 90% of the movies I’d rate as excellent.
…missed edit window grrfuggindammit…
I honestly think that if that were the end of the series I’d walk away grinning.
Cursing God in Latin and grinding your cigarette out on the floor of the cathedral is pretty ballsy.
Michael Douglas was also asked about the difference between playing the President and being the President. He paused to think for a moment and said, “I knew how the script ended.”
Okay, we wrapped up Season 3 last night. I can see the comments about Governor Ritchie being a bit of a stereotyped 'Pubbie from the left-wing view. Still, within the context of the story, Bartlet’s line about “…and that’s when I decided to kick your ass” was pretty good.
Question, though: did Mary-Louise Parker almost ruin the series for you? I don’t recall seeing her in anything before Red, where she was kind of charmingly ditzy. Her character in WW made me want to scream and/or throw things at the TV and/or run away very fast. She’s like… a cat on a combination of speed and catnip, her bullet-hole eyes continually telegraphing I’m going to rip your throat out… I’m going to rip your throat out… She’s intense without any reason to be, trying to get her lines in too fast and too hard and generally being creepy and repulsive.
Mark Harmon I could have watched for another season; M-LP has had two episodes too many.
This thread will be forever incomplete without a link to a a classic West Wing parody sketch.
The announcers voice at the end is as good as the sketch.
Bumped.
The West Wing cast will reunite to benefit Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote: 'The West Wing' cast will reunite to benefit Michelle Obama's When We All Vote | CNN