As per this Hollywood Reporter article, The West Wing has been cancelled and the final episode will be May 14th.
Sorry to see it go, but to be honest, it hasn’t been the same since Sorkin left and other writers took over. Still, even at its worst, it was a hell of a lot better than a lot of other shows still on the air.
Well, now the suspense is back on.
With no need to keep continuity between previous seasons and next season, the writers can have Vinick win. It’ll make the last few episodes more interesting, I think.
Does that mean they filmed enough episodes to keep Leo McGarry around, or will they have to deal with John Spencer’s death after all?
I think Spencer is in one or two more. Reports I read when he died said that he was in four more epsidoes.
Are we going to use this as the discussion thread for last night’s episode? 'Cause I got a bone to pick with the writers on the way they handled to workers in the radiation area.
Found the other thread.
I am really going to miss this show. I was really looking forward to a whole new cast. Now what other show is going to have the walk-and-talks?
Well, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM features stop-and-chats.
The most outrageous bit about the announcement is that they plan to have a retrospective show just before the final episode – and that Adam Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme will not take part. :rolleyes:
Unreal that they wouldn’t have the creators involved in a retrospective of the show. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that if Schlamme and Sorkin hadn’t had their hands in the first four seasons, the show would never have gotten anywhere near as far as it has. I lost interest after Season 4 - I tried to give it a fair shot after Sorkin’s departure, but it just didn’t do it for me anymore.
(I resisted the urge to say “Huh? The show was cancelled after the fourth season!” 
)
Sorkin & Schlamme’s new show, maybe.
I was sorry to hear the news, but not too surprised. Ratings have been dropping for awhile, and the move to Sunday night hurt, too. Although I’ve always enjoyed the show, the presidential election plotline just doesn’t seem to have hooked viewers.
My dream for the finale: Leo McGarry dies just after hearing that he’s been elected Vice President, capping a lifetime of public service. President-elect Santos plans to pick a new Veep under the 25th Amendment. Josh becomes White House chief of staff, Donna becomes the First Lady’s chief of staff, Will Bailey remains WH spokesman and hooks up with Kate, and CJ goes off to marital bliss with the guy from “30-Something.” The last show is about Santos’s inauguration, and we get to see his inaugural address in its entirety. The last scene has Santos bidding farewell to Jed Bartlet, sitting down at his Oval Office desk and just savoring the moment.
Forgot to add: On January 20, Bartlet reluctantly decides not to sign a pardon for Toby on his way out the door.
I have only watched a very few episodes, as will be obvious. The last one I saw was where they were all at Camp David and trying to work out a Palestinian/Israeli peace deal. IIRC Leo McGarry’s character got fired and he walked into the woods and died and everyone left Camp David without him. It was the last episode I watched, so it’s a surprise to me they had this dilemma.
I meant he had a heart attack and looked like he died.
Is it possible that Sorkin and Schlamme didn’t want to take part in the retrospective?
I suppose it’s possible, but they were willing to do commentaries on the DVDs (or at least for Seasons 1 & 2, the only ones I’ve watched on DVD) so it doesn’t appear that they’ve totally disowned West Wing…
Here’s another article with more info.
Warning: the article I’ve linked to contains spoilers about upcoming episodes.
He didn’t. He recovered and now CJ is Chief of Staff.
I know…I know…it’s part of the reason I gave up.
Except isn’t the election within a few weeks? Like sometime in January or February in show time? So May would be well after the election, wouldn’t it?
That’s hard to say. Here we are in late January, and in “West Wing World” it seems to be mid-September or so. They could easily stretch out the passage of time on the show and have WWW November be in “Real World” May. It also looks like they might be laying the groundwork for a Florida 2000 style post-election fracas.
We shall see.
The fella over at Slate seems to think TWW is an ideal candidate to try out making a TV show totally pay-per-view. It could solve some problems with shows that have a decent-sized audience, but not spectacular (and too intelligent to be effectively advertised to), so are always in danger of cancellation.