I used to like this show a good bit, despite a wide range of flaws. But had to stop watching it in the early 5th season due to a conflict with my schedule.
Anyways, I’ve recently tried to get back into the show and see there’s an election going on. Since I’m so far out of the loop I was wondering:
-Is this show realistically going to write Martin Sheen out, which would have to be the ultimate result?
-The Democratic candidate (Matt Santos) is a lock, right? I mean, all of the show’s major protagonists are democrats. The only reason this is a question is because Alan Alda is actually a credited cast member, and his character isn’t just a caricature like Bartlet’s last opponent (Gov. Ritchie) was. Plus, in the episode I watched today Toby and Josh get in to an argument that I think ultimately resolves with Josh seemingly convinced that Matt Santos isn’t “presidential material.”
Yes to number one. And now it seems safe to say yes to number two as well. For a brief moment of time, there was some minimal suspense — and some signs that the show was returning to its prior glory. But that, too, seems vapid now. It has become as preachy and predictable as it was last season.
This used to be one of my all time favorite shows, but I believe one of the main writers left, and the show, regrettably, has lost its edge.
Senator Vinnick (Alda) supposedly had a 9+ point lead in the polls, then they had the big ‘live’ debate.
In real life I think that debate would have killed any chance Santos (Smits) had to win. He proposed extending Medicaid (or was it Medicare) coverage to every citizen. (Ask Hillary about universal health care).
Of course Martin Sheen is out ( the 22nd amendment takes care of that) and Toby should be off to federal prison for leaking national security secrets.
You would have to assume CJ is out, but isn’t she the one that was winning the Emmy’s? I guess Leo, Josh, Donna and the little blond with the annoying voice will be the only holdovers.
The show getting moved to Sunday nights should indicate that the network and advertisers realize the run is about over.
I’ve been reading Vinick may win and the writers will just use that as an excuse to end the show.
In all honesty I think overall the West Wing was a very solid show, some of the later episodes lost a lot of their feel. Seasons 1-4 were very enjoyable to me. I personally was never that big a fan of Sam and didn’t mind him leaving (I’m not a big fan of extreme idealists that don’t believe in compromise, plus it’s a very unrealistic portrayal of what a political insider would act like.) Sorkin leaving did hurt the show, however.
That’s a bit of an exaggeration. As Martin Hyde, almost all of the characters familiar to the audience are Democrats, so switching to a Republican administration would be like creating a new show with a completely new cast.
re: the quality of the show, I think in addition to missing Aaron Sorkin’s writing, the ideas in place have just gotten… less original, less well handled, since he left. For the first four seasons, they would go at all sort of things in all sorts of ways, and though it was a Democratic administration, they were humans, and they fought with judgments and ideas as actual people do. It was realistic, even though it often had little to do with the politics that were going on in reality while the shows were airing… and when it DID resemble what we were dealing with, it did so without condescending.
There have been far too many times in the seasons since where I have gotten vibes along the lines of “Ha! We are presenting you with a situation that bears resemblance to something occurring in Real Life, except in our world, Democrats are running everything and things Are Done Right! Go Democrats!”. And when they avoid that, it’s generally towards “stuff so ridiculous that it doesn’t really resemble anything realistically possible”.
I guess for the first four seasons, it was a show that you could think about, that you HAD to think about… and since, it’s just been escapism in the same class as almost all of the other stuff on TV. Not that this is a bad thing (I love watching Grey’s Anatomy, for instance, which is that and then some)… I just think that it was something special before Sorkin left, and it isn’t, not anymore. There’s no way the current show could produce something like Two Cathedrals, not even close.
The first four seasons of the West Wing were by far the besting writing I think Sorkin has ever done.
Some TWW fans have actually pushed for the show to be cancelled since Sorkin left, or have said the show is unwatchable. I don’t agree with that, I think the show changed dramatically to an almost different form of show, and I see a lot in similar with E.R. after John Wells took over (which I guess only makes sense.)
The first four seasons was truly unique television while the last few seasons I’ve see put TWW in the category of a lot of other television dramas out there (L&O, E.R., etc) not “great television” but still fairly entertaining. And the fact that it’s pretty much the only show in town when it comes to political drama, if you like that genre you pretty much have to tune in.
