I’ve been DVRing episodes off of Bravo for a while, and I’m hooked. But at some point, I remember the series just devolving into a soap opera mess. I just finished the reelection arc, and think now is a good time to break the addiction. Now’s the time when Donna falls in love with Christian Slater, Bartlet and his wife have a falling out, Sam leaves, Will hires on, and that asshole teacher from “Malcolm in the Middle” takes on a greater role as Speaker (or is it Senate Majority Leader?).
I’d like to keep watching (the writing was just fantastic this last arc) - but don’t want to slug through the horribleness (especially if we’re coming up to the Charlie/Zoe bullshit soap opera). Any recommendations?
I’d have to say the majority of the…fifth? season. The one where Aaron Sorkin left (or was pushed off) and the show just went into a freefall while everyone tried to grab the controls. The show had the fast talking but nothing was being said. Plots that went everywhere and weren’t tight and focused. The lighting guys needed to be fired because you couldn’t see half of what was on screen. It was a mess.
But starting back at season six they reigned it in and focused in on the new election cycle. I wouldn’t say it was as good as the first four to five seasons, but there were moments that gave it a run for its money.
I’m just rewatching the whole thing as well and am up to when Hoynes stirs things up with his upcomming book. I must say that things strated to become less interesting after the re-election - although the 3 or 4 episodes around Zoey’s kidnapping are ok - but season 5 thusfar is just really bad: i only keep watching because The Supremes - whitch is my favourite stand alone episode - is coming up and I want to see it in context.
If i remember correctly season 6 and 7 will be better, but nothing like 20 hours in America or Two cathedrals.
The whole “fall of Leo” storyline that ran through the sixth and seventh season was ultimately pointless. But the sixth and seventh seasons also had the Matt Santos storyline which was pretty good. It brought in new characters and put old characters into new situations. The “who leaked the space shuttle secret?” storyline slowly dragged its way through several episodes but the final climax was one of the best scenes in the entire series. So it’s almost impossible to say which episodes you should watch - there were always a number of parallel stories going on that were a mix of good and bad.
Drop it after Zoe’s kidnapping and pick it back up when Jimmy Smits joins the show. That’s what I did - except for the Gaza episode, I’ve never seen Season 5.