# What happens to West Wing after Bartlett? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549 "2004-04-06T14:24:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/1 "2004-04-06T14:24:05Z")
Does anyone know whether the network intends to extend West Wing past Bartlett? For that matter, is it anything that the producers have planned for? If so, what are the plans? Will any of the cast carry over? Will the new administration be Republican? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/2 "2004-04-06T15:13:17Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > Will the new administration be Republican? What, you think NBC would up and spoil an entire season of campaigning and elections?!? Not to mention the primaries between the former VP and the current VP. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/3 "2004-04-06T15:24:39Z")
You’re assuming that the series will last at least four more years. I find that hard to believe. NBC will add four more Law & Order programs before it continues West Wing with a new cast. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/4 "2004-04-06T16:36:48Z")
Most likely, the show will end with Bartlett leaving office. There’s rarely a reason to keep a show going more than seven years, and WW has been slipping in the ratings. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/5 "2004-04-06T18:47:47Z")
Hopefully, it’s put out of it’s misery by then… ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/6 "2004-04-06T22:35:32Z")
TWoP gave the last episode, “Access” an F. Ouch. They really need to bring Sorkin back. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/7 "2004-04-06T22:59:15Z")
Yes, the last episode sucked the big one, but the show still has its moments. You all seem to be assuming that every season is a year…I don’t recall that being the case. The four years as President could be dragged out to 365 episodes per year, assuming each episode is a day in the life at the White House…so until they feel like cancelling the show, it could theoretically run for decades. If anything causes the show to fail, it would be ratings. However, didn’t it just win the Emmy for Best Drama? So I think there is still some life left in the show - and as someone mentioned, this being an election year, I think the ratings could pick up. Then again - people might be so fed up with Presidential mud slinging by next November they will stop watching anything that has to do with Washington DC. Then again, there could always be a spin-off: After his term ends, Jeb Bartlett finds oil and moves to Beverly Hills and… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/8 "2004-04-06T23:51:13Z")
It’s **Jed** Bartlet, and they most certainly have been treating each season as a year. And “Access” wasn’t an F by any stretch of anyone’s imagination. Some people just don’t know how to watch television. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/9 "2004-04-07T01:29:10Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > And “Access” wasn’t an F by any stretch of anyone’s imagination. Some people just don’t know how to watch television. I find it best to sit or lie on the couch with my face pointing roughly in the direction of the TV, and some munchies on the coffee table. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/10 "2004-04-07T02:46:21Z")
Well, if the munchies are piled so high that they’re obscuring the screen, that’s your trouble right there. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/11 "2004-04-07T03:24:02Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > They really need to bring Sorkin back. A-freakin-men! Call me a purist but I don’t think I’d want to watch a non-Bartlett-administration West Wing. Especially since it wouldn’t be written by Sorkin. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-west-wing-after-bartlett/238549/12 "2004-04-07T04:21:42Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Yes, the last episode sucked the big one, but the show still has its moments. > > You all seem to be assuming that every season is a year…I don’t recall that being the case. The four years as President could be dragged out to 365 episodes per year, assuming each episode is a day in the life at the White House…so until they feel like cancelling the show, it could theoretically run for decades. If anything causes the show to fail, it would be ratings. However, didn’t it just win the Emmy for Best Drama? So I think there is still some life left in the show - and as someone mentioned, this being an election year, I think the ratings could pick up. > Then again - people might be so fed up with Presidential mud slinging by next November they will stop watching anything that has to do with Washington DC. > > Then again, there could always be a spin-off: After his term ends, Jeb Bartlett finds oil and moves to Beverly Hills and… Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Jed Former POTUS never kept a mistress in his bed, Then one day he was being interviewed, When out of the crowd came a girl in the nude, (Naked, that is, bare ass, for all to see) Well the first thing you know old Jed’s a philanderer, Right on a par with Schwarzenegger Decided California is the place he oughta be So he loaded up the truck and he moved to Beverly (Hills that is, naked chicks, no morals) [and that’s all I’ve got at this time of night] Well now it’s time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin They would like to thank you folks for kindly dropping in You’re all invited back again to this locality To have a heaping helping of their hospitality (Beverly Hillbillies, that’s what they call 'em now, Nice folks Y’all come back now, ya hear?)