Showing posts with label the west wing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the west wing. Show all posts
Will McAvoy on Trump.
Politics It's with some irony that the very people who would be best placed to talk about Trump simply aren't there any more, although Ritchie episodes of The West Wing probably went some way to doing the job. Anyway, here's Will McAvoy from Sorkin's second best series going apeshit about the whole business [via].
As a bonus here's Jon Stewart being constantly interrupted by David Axelrod for an hour or so before the most uncomfortable Q&A moment in history.
Revisiting "The West Wing"
TV Saved for later, this Q&A at the Institute of Politics of Harvard University:"The West Wing's Bradley Whitford ("Josh Lyman") joined moderator Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC host and former writer and executive producer of The West Wing, for a panel discussion on the making of the popular political drama. They were joined by Janel Maloney ("Donna Moss") via video conference and Richard Schiff ("Toby Ziegler") via telephone."
Presidential Health.
Politics If you're still trying to get your head around the rumours that President Bartlett has multiple sclerosis, remember that previous presidents have had their fair share of medical complaints. Pity William Henry Harrison, whose inauguration led to his premature death:
"Desiring to deny his advancing years and to look vigorous and powerful, Harrison refused to wear a winter coat, let alone a hat, during his speech. He followed this exercise in oratory by walking in a long and weather-hampered inaugural parade. Alas, the president contracted a bad cold that advanced into a severe case of pneumonia. Harrison died only 32 days after being sworn in -- the shortest term of presidential office in the history of the United States."We're still awaiting the details of the President's condition but hopefully he'll remain healthy enough to continue his good work in turning around our country. Meanwhile, here's a photo of Nixon jumping.
Bartlett offers Obama some debate prep.
Politics In 2008, Aaron Sorkin scripted an encounter between Jed Bartlett and Barack Obama, the sum total of his advice being "Call them out for being the liars they are..." After Obama's debate performance, Sorkin's decided that he needs another pep talk:
Unfortunately he also seems have not realised that most of the time people tend to base their opinions on the interpretation of an "expert" rather than their own feelings. Analysts said he tanked so that's become the prevailing narrative. Now he's become Andy Murray. We're willing him to do well in the battle not just with his opponent but himself. We want him to enter the next debate and box Romney in until he becomes as much of an empty shell as those "policies". We'll see.
"And that was quite a display of hard-nosed, fiscal conservatism when he slashed one one-hundredth of 1 percent from the federal budget by canceling “Sesame Street” and “Downton Abbey.” I think we’re halfway home. Mr. President, your prep for the next debate need not consist of anything more than learning to pronounce three words: “Governor, you’re lying.” Let’s replay some of Wednesday night’s more jaw-dropping visits to the Land Where Facts Go to Die. “I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut. I don’t have a tax cut of a scale you’re talking about.”" [via]Having stayed up to watch, I didn't think Obama's performance was that bad. It was annoying that he didn't indeed call Romney on his repetition about the $700 odd billion he isn't literally removing from Medicare or the 47% thing. But I do think he's a clever enough person to know that when Romney had a platform he would spew all of his inconsistent policies and lies in a forum in which they might not have been heard before might pay attention and see them for the empty shell they are.
Unfortunately he also seems have not realised that most of the time people tend to base their opinions on the interpretation of an "expert" rather than their own feelings. Analysts said he tanked so that's become the prevailing narrative. Now he's become Andy Murray. We're willing him to do well in the battle not just with his opponent but himself. We want him to enter the next debate and box Romney in until he becomes as much of an empty shell as those "policies". We'll see.
"the show was more like MAD TV on an off week"
TV This AV Club post about fictional artistic endeavours picks a few easy targets, suggests a couple which I'd disagree with (RENT) but inevitably finds itself on the sunset strip. In Studio 60:
Personally, I accepted them because most of the time these kinds of late night shows tend to be relatively patchy and repetitive anyway (even in the UK). Plus Sarah Poulson's impressions are so uncanny, they are genuinely funny despite their lack of relevance. Also in some episodes, especially later in the season, the sketches aren't supposed to work because the writers have lost the plot.
"In order to justify the show’s hyperbolic take on late-night sketch comedy as the epicenter of America’s perpetually boiling culture war, the show-within-a-show would need to cross-pollinate Saturday Night Live at its zeitgeist-capturing best with the ballsy, timely, politically engaged satire of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Alas, judging by the glimpses of sketches viewers had the misfortune to see, the show was more like MAD TV on an off week, a regrettable collision of shameless mugging, broad comedy, and parodies of celebrities (Holly Hunter, Juliette Lewis) who haven’t been culturally relevant or well-known enough to make for good satirical fodder in decades. Studio 60 had all manner of problems, but setting the bar for its sketches impossibly high certainly didn’t help."Someone in the comments makes the interesting point that if you're with the show by the time the sketches actually appear, somewhere in episode three, your suspension of disbelief accepts that the sketches are brilliant within the diegesis of the show because the characters believe they are. Even though for most of the time they're not.
Personally, I accepted them because most of the time these kinds of late night shows tend to be relatively patchy and repetitive anyway (even in the UK). Plus Sarah Poulson's impressions are so uncanny, they are genuinely funny despite their lack of relevance. Also in some episodes, especially later in the season, the sketches aren't supposed to work because the writers have lost the plot.
The Titlebar Archive:
The West Wing
TV This is the moment in the final episode of The West Wing, Tomorrow, when Donna, Josh and Sam re-enter the White House for the first time, excited and tentatively looking ahead to four more years of challenges. "Home sweet home." Sam says. The theme of renewal seemed apt at the time I posted the image.
"he pandered on the death penalty"
TV Former West Wing writer and producer Lawrence O’Donnell assesses Bartlett's record:
But it's also important to look at Bartlett's fictional presidency in the context of the change in producer five (?) years in to his presidency, a producer who was hell bent on balancing the portrayal of Republicans and decreasing Bartlett's effectiveness. Hello, Season Five.
"O’Donnell’s pessimism was at its apex when he discussed his process behind writing this scene. “When I proposed a death penalty episode…the backstory that I wrote in my head for this president is that he pandered on the death penalty, just like every Democrat who doesn’t believe in it, in order to get elected president. And he was from a state where he never had to use the death penalty anyway.”The comments beneath are relatively coherent too and offer an good outsider perspective. As one of them notes, Obama's big problem has been his inability to communicate what successes he has had with the epic rhetoric we heard in 2008, that we're desperate for him to sound like Bartlett.
But it's also important to look at Bartlett's fictional presidency in the context of the change in producer five (?) years in to his presidency, a producer who was hell bent on balancing the portrayal of Republicans and decreasing Bartlett's effectiveness. Hello, Season Five.
‘What’s a Congress?’
TV Short quote from Steven Moffat on the subject of The West Wing and how it's compelling even if you don't understand everything which is going on -- rather like the mythology in Doctor Who:
But the one I always point to the fact that like Doctor Who, The West Wing changed producers some way into its run and like Doctor Who, it's entirely possible to see the join, the moment when Aaron Sorkin gave way to John Wells, between seasons four and five, just like Davies's version of new Who gave way to Moffat.
The difference is of course that there wasn't the same drop in quality, or at least not quite. But The West Wing did improve immeasurably later in Season Five and onwards when Sorkin's old writing team were given free reign again and the characters all started drifting back into character a bit.
I could offer my theory that Sorkin secretly wrote parts of The West Wing in these later seasons based using some of his storylines in oh so biographical Studio 60 as "evidence" but I can feel my joints starting to ache, so we'll save it for another time. But just watch The Supremes (5.17). It's classic Sorkin.
"I used to love, absolutely love the American show ‘West Wing.’ I never had a clue of what was going on in it because I didn’t understand anything about American politics. They all seemed to understand it, and that was fine by me. They’d walk very fast down long corridors and say really weak stuff and say, ‘We’ve got to do this with Congress and a thing.’ And I’d say, ‘What’s a Congress?’ Then they’d say, ‘We’ve done it. We’ve got an affidavit,’ or something. I’d say, ‘Aha, so relieved.’ ” That, I think, is the way ‘Doctor Who’ can work for anyone because it’s fun. If you don’t understand all of it, join the rest of the audience.”Jeff Hook's article is titled "How “Doctor Who” is like “The West Wing”" and although we could make a list -- and if I wasn't developing a sore throat, snotty nose and sweating -- I would.
But the one I always point to the fact that like Doctor Who, The West Wing changed producers some way into its run and like Doctor Who, it's entirely possible to see the join, the moment when Aaron Sorkin gave way to John Wells, between seasons four and five, just like Davies's version of new Who gave way to Moffat.
The difference is of course that there wasn't the same drop in quality, or at least not quite. But The West Wing did improve immeasurably later in Season Five and onwards when Sorkin's old writing team were given free reign again and the characters all started drifting back into character a bit.
I could offer my theory that Sorkin secretly wrote parts of The West Wing in these later seasons based using some of his storylines in oh so biographical Studio 60 as "evidence" but I can feel my joints starting to ache, so we'll save it for another time. But just watch The Supremes (5.17). It's classic Sorkin.
I’ve just watched the entirety of The West Wing in about two months, probably about one season a week.
"TV I’ve just watched the entirety of The West Wing in about two months, probably about one season a week. I haven’t had time for much else other than the usual and my Lovefilm picks. There’s been a rash of similar statements in some of the blogs I read regularly, mostly I’m guessing because the boxset has been reduced to about fifty pounds everywhere and with the election and a renewed interest in US politics, it’s fun to watch the idealised version which offered so much hope during the darker moments of the past eight years. The show began at the tail end of the Clinton years and perhaps if you squint you can almost pretend the Democrats didn’t leave the White House.
Regularly readers will know that previously I’ve been very harsh on the John Wells era, usually holding it up as an example of what can go wrong when the producer and creator of a show leaves and the remaining production team have to deal with the fall out, desperately trying to recreate the special ingredient that their previous boss took with them. I also usually throw Aaron Sorkin’s name into the list along with Joss Whedon, Steven Moffat and sometimes Amy Sherman-Palladino of Gilmore Girls as peerless writers that much of the rubbish we have to endure can’t be compared to. What I’ve discovered in the past couple of weeks rewatching the Sorkinless years is that the distinction isn’t entirely clear cut. In other words, much to my surprise, I come to praise the Wells era rather to bury it.
I should say before offering this defense of sorts that The West Wing became a different show in those later seasons. I’ve already spoken haphazardly about the shocking difference between the cliffhanger ending of Season Four, in which Barlett’s daughter Zoe is kidnapped then rescued. The first few Wells episodes have more in common with 24 than the show I adored, lacking the poetry, humour and lyricism I'd come to expect. In fact, much of the first half of season five is horrible with episodes such as Constituency of One during which the characters essentially argue for forty minutes and Disaster Relief or the one were Josh notoriously shouts at a building (Congress) as he feels himself being politically sidelined pointing to were many of us might have fallen out of love with the series.
Yet seeing the season in about five days without a week in between to become disgruntled, it’s possible to see that there’s still some gold here. The Supremes about the search and negotiations to fill a spot on the supreme court is amazing and wouldn’t have felt out of place in earlier seasons, with the ultimate plan of action being inspired by Donna’s cats and a string of guest stars including Glenn Close and William Fichtner as judges whose beliefs neatly complement and cancel each other out. Talking Points and CJ’s solution to making the press room interested in a story about the buy out of local news by major corporations and the heartwrenching Gaza or Danna Discovers the Middle Eastern problem.
It’s worth noting that these episodes are written by Deborah Cahn, Eli Attie and Peter Noah who along with a number of others would form a writers room that would cover the bulk of the episodes in the next two seasons. When he took over the role, Wells said he had no intention of even attempting to capture Sorkin’s voice and that’s true – the structure of the episodes is closer to e.r. than in previous years with immigration issues instead of emergency heart surgery with the knock on effect that there’s less stories simply foregrounding character over ongoing story arcs, fewer shows in which characters simply sit around in rooms working their way through a talking point of the week.
To an extent plotting becomes more obviously mechanical with Toby’s leaking of classified information about a secret military space shuttle seeming particularly out of character considering how he railed against Bartlett in earlier years about his own indiscretions. Richard Schiff said that he suspected his character was being sidelined because of his political views and them not fitting in this version of the show (he walked this back a bit later) but it’s probably symptomatic of the show’s change in attitude to political discourse, from being a central plank of the series in the Sorkin years to being a kind of prop to whatever was being discussed that week, the negotiation itself becoming important rather than what’s being negotiated for. That said, the episode in which he’s fired, Here Today, it meticulously written and directed recalling the earlier episode when the MS is finally revealed to the staff.
Yet, the series really becomes sprightly again in the closing two series. It essentially become two programmes, as though someone is running alternate episodes of tv remakes of The American President and The Candidate though there’s more cross-pollinating than I remember with stories in the west wing and on the campaign trail appearing in the same episode. There are also just as many episodes set in the White House as on the road including the really interesting Internal Displacement written by Bradley Whitford (who plays Josh) with CJ negotiating to trying to solve the crisis in Darfur. If there’s one problem with the closing two series its that CJ becomes less fun, more of an exposition machine than she was even as press secretary (something Alison Janney herself identified) but this really plays to the strengths of the character.
A particular weakness in these later series is the new characters. Most of them don’t really have a life outside of their respective stories, we know little of their families, and though that allows for that lovely scene in the first episode set on election night in which Josh realises that he didn’t know that the rest of his staff were boinking one another or that Ronna was gay it’s probably the reason why we’re still so attached to Sorkin’s original creations – though Will is very poorly treated I think, with his sister removed and largely becoming either an adversary for Josh during the primaries or CJ’s whipping boy later on. That said, Kate Harper firmly took over from Ainsley Hayes as the object of my affection, actress Mary McCormack achieving much the same feat she did in Murder One of fleshing out her character, though in the writing there’s the suggestion, in that boozy flashback in the bizarre episode were Leo meets Castro, Ninety Miles Away, that the pre-White House Harper had a very interesting Alias-style undercover career. I don’t think any of the back story for any of the other characters is quite that vivid.
The main problem I had with the ’06 election first time around was just, um, probably that it broke up the original ensemble and was telling a story which fans weren’t expecting. With some distance though, it’s a very good fictionalisation of a presidential campaign and the knowledge that the Democrat Santos was based on the new US presidents adds a whole new texture. Throughout there are scary moments in which life imitates art, and you have to wonder if Obama’s advisors had the series in mind when the financial crisis happened; Barack went to ground and let McCain make a fool of himself just as Santos goes quiet during a nuclear exposition and its Vinick who blinks first. The bravest episodes are probably those which foreground Vinick, whose politics run so counter to what the show is about that sometimes it can be compared to watching a version of Star Wars were Darth Vader is the hero (and I don’t mean The Phantom Menace).
If you’re still an undecided, I’d at the very least watch everything from Election Day onwards. They’re closest to the spirit of the Sorkin years as original characters return for cameos and more in the wake of Leo’s death and a general feeling of the series being put to rest. The exception being The Last Hoorah, that that is still exceptional, one of the few explorations I’ve seen of what happens to the other candidate after a presidential election as Vinick becomes yesterday’s man and goes from having packed schedule to nothing at all. It’s brilliantly carried by Alan Alda, whose mournful gate can’t quite digest that the election is over. Institutional Memory is the best of the bunch as CJ has to decide what happens next and if Danny figures in any of it, with Xander Berkley appearing as a kind of philanthropic Bill Gates.
I said originally of the last episode that it had “the odd nice character moment but no drama” but I’ve now decided that’s probably about right since in reality that’s exactly how final days anywhere turn out to be. And there is drama, in Bartlett’s decision to pardon Toby. This time around, far from being frustrated by the lack of call backs to earlier times, I sobbed, real tears, more than that became disappointed that we wouldn’t get to see the first year of the Santos administration with Josh in Leo’s job and Sam working Josh’s beat. The show didn’t really recreate the magic of those early years, yet it was still miles ahead of many tv dramas, wasn’t afraid to take risks now and then and though it probably failed as much as it succeeded, it could have been much, much worse.
Regularly readers will know that previously I’ve been very harsh on the John Wells era, usually holding it up as an example of what can go wrong when the producer and creator of a show leaves and the remaining production team have to deal with the fall out, desperately trying to recreate the special ingredient that their previous boss took with them. I also usually throw Aaron Sorkin’s name into the list along with Joss Whedon, Steven Moffat and sometimes Amy Sherman-Palladino of Gilmore Girls as peerless writers that much of the rubbish we have to endure can’t be compared to. What I’ve discovered in the past couple of weeks rewatching the Sorkinless years is that the distinction isn’t entirely clear cut. In other words, much to my surprise, I come to praise the Wells era rather to bury it.
I should say before offering this defense of sorts that The West Wing became a different show in those later seasons. I’ve already spoken haphazardly about the shocking difference between the cliffhanger ending of Season Four, in which Barlett’s daughter Zoe is kidnapped then rescued. The first few Wells episodes have more in common with 24 than the show I adored, lacking the poetry, humour and lyricism I'd come to expect. In fact, much of the first half of season five is horrible with episodes such as Constituency of One during which the characters essentially argue for forty minutes and Disaster Relief or the one were Josh notoriously shouts at a building (Congress) as he feels himself being politically sidelined pointing to were many of us might have fallen out of love with the series.
Yet seeing the season in about five days without a week in between to become disgruntled, it’s possible to see that there’s still some gold here. The Supremes about the search and negotiations to fill a spot on the supreme court is amazing and wouldn’t have felt out of place in earlier seasons, with the ultimate plan of action being inspired by Donna’s cats and a string of guest stars including Glenn Close and William Fichtner as judges whose beliefs neatly complement and cancel each other out. Talking Points and CJ’s solution to making the press room interested in a story about the buy out of local news by major corporations and the heartwrenching Gaza or Danna Discovers the Middle Eastern problem.
It’s worth noting that these episodes are written by Deborah Cahn, Eli Attie and Peter Noah who along with a number of others would form a writers room that would cover the bulk of the episodes in the next two seasons. When he took over the role, Wells said he had no intention of even attempting to capture Sorkin’s voice and that’s true – the structure of the episodes is closer to e.r. than in previous years with immigration issues instead of emergency heart surgery with the knock on effect that there’s less stories simply foregrounding character over ongoing story arcs, fewer shows in which characters simply sit around in rooms working their way through a talking point of the week.
To an extent plotting becomes more obviously mechanical with Toby’s leaking of classified information about a secret military space shuttle seeming particularly out of character considering how he railed against Bartlett in earlier years about his own indiscretions. Richard Schiff said that he suspected his character was being sidelined because of his political views and them not fitting in this version of the show (he walked this back a bit later) but it’s probably symptomatic of the show’s change in attitude to political discourse, from being a central plank of the series in the Sorkin years to being a kind of prop to whatever was being discussed that week, the negotiation itself becoming important rather than what’s being negotiated for. That said, the episode in which he’s fired, Here Today, it meticulously written and directed recalling the earlier episode when the MS is finally revealed to the staff.
Yet, the series really becomes sprightly again in the closing two series. It essentially become two programmes, as though someone is running alternate episodes of tv remakes of The American President and The Candidate though there’s more cross-pollinating than I remember with stories in the west wing and on the campaign trail appearing in the same episode. There are also just as many episodes set in the White House as on the road including the really interesting Internal Displacement written by Bradley Whitford (who plays Josh) with CJ negotiating to trying to solve the crisis in Darfur. If there’s one problem with the closing two series its that CJ becomes less fun, more of an exposition machine than she was even as press secretary (something Alison Janney herself identified) but this really plays to the strengths of the character.
A particular weakness in these later series is the new characters. Most of them don’t really have a life outside of their respective stories, we know little of their families, and though that allows for that lovely scene in the first episode set on election night in which Josh realises that he didn’t know that the rest of his staff were boinking one another or that Ronna was gay it’s probably the reason why we’re still so attached to Sorkin’s original creations – though Will is very poorly treated I think, with his sister removed and largely becoming either an adversary for Josh during the primaries or CJ’s whipping boy later on. That said, Kate Harper firmly took over from Ainsley Hayes as the object of my affection, actress Mary McCormack achieving much the same feat she did in Murder One of fleshing out her character, though in the writing there’s the suggestion, in that boozy flashback in the bizarre episode were Leo meets Castro, Ninety Miles Away, that the pre-White House Harper had a very interesting Alias-style undercover career. I don’t think any of the back story for any of the other characters is quite that vivid.
The main problem I had with the ’06 election first time around was just, um, probably that it broke up the original ensemble and was telling a story which fans weren’t expecting. With some distance though, it’s a very good fictionalisation of a presidential campaign and the knowledge that the Democrat Santos was based on the new US presidents adds a whole new texture. Throughout there are scary moments in which life imitates art, and you have to wonder if Obama’s advisors had the series in mind when the financial crisis happened; Barack went to ground and let McCain make a fool of himself just as Santos goes quiet during a nuclear exposition and its Vinick who blinks first. The bravest episodes are probably those which foreground Vinick, whose politics run so counter to what the show is about that sometimes it can be compared to watching a version of Star Wars were Darth Vader is the hero (and I don’t mean The Phantom Menace).
If you’re still an undecided, I’d at the very least watch everything from Election Day onwards. They’re closest to the spirit of the Sorkin years as original characters return for cameos and more in the wake of Leo’s death and a general feeling of the series being put to rest. The exception being The Last Hoorah, that that is still exceptional, one of the few explorations I’ve seen of what happens to the other candidate after a presidential election as Vinick becomes yesterday’s man and goes from having packed schedule to nothing at all. It’s brilliantly carried by Alan Alda, whose mournful gate can’t quite digest that the election is over. Institutional Memory is the best of the bunch as CJ has to decide what happens next and if Danny figures in any of it, with Xander Berkley appearing as a kind of philanthropic Bill Gates.
I said originally of the last episode that it had “the odd nice character moment but no drama” but I’ve now decided that’s probably about right since in reality that’s exactly how final days anywhere turn out to be. And there is drama, in Bartlett’s decision to pardon Toby. This time around, far from being frustrated by the lack of call backs to earlier times, I sobbed, real tears, more than that became disappointed that we wouldn’t get to see the first year of the Santos administration with Josh in Leo’s job and Sam working Josh’s beat. The show didn’t really recreate the magic of those early years, yet it was still miles ahead of many tv dramas, wasn’t afraid to take risks now and then and though it probably failed as much as it succeeded, it could have been much, much worse.
a grotesque lack of subtext
TV My speedy rewatch of The West Wing has reached the handover between writer Aaron Sorkin to John Wells, the close of season four to the opening of season five. I've not been looking forward to this. It’s a while since I’ve seen these episodes and originally two whole years, just long enough for me to forget how good Sorkin’s writing really was. Having seen them in quick succession, here are some brief remarks.
In Twenty-Five (the last episode of season four) as Bartlett hands the presidency to Walken, I think Sorkin is writing about himself. I think that Zoe symbolises his own problems both personal and with the studio, that effectively he’s the president and that Wells is Walken and he's communicating the off-screen handover. It’s significant that the closing shot is of Bartlett leaving the oval office just as Sorkin writes his final lines for the series.
How clearly you see Wells trying to get to grips with such a complex show and characters as far as we can tell he’s never written for before. 7A WF 83429 looks the same, all of the actors are there, the directing style hasn’t changed much and yet there’s something missing. It’s in small things such as how different characters are referred to both in the first and third person – at one point Leo coldly talks about the kidnapped daughter as ‘Zoe Bartlett’ in the Situation Room when clearly even there, he’s still he calling her Zoe.
It also lacks history and precedent and literature. Episodes in the Sorkin era were thick with characters talking about something which happened to another figure or there’s a quote from literature or philosophy. Some of the first words from Walken’s lips in Twenty-Five are about Franz Ferdinand. It’s always relatively obscure and pertinent. The best Wells can come up with is ‘Cry havok and let slip the dogs of war’ which is sad.
7A WF 83429 is also without a greater theme. Twenty-Five was about Toby realising that he can be a great father by watching the President’s reaction to Zoe’s kidnap; there’s even often a moment usually between Josh and Donna or a flashback structure which iterates what the story is trying to say. There’s none of that in Wells’s script. You detect that what he wanted to do is talk about Jed seeking forgiveness from God. Instead, he simply takes communion, even though you’re dying for a reference back to Two Cathedrals in which the President told God what he thought of the metaphysical being and his policies towards the human race.
Some beats ring true: CJ telling Danny to run the story about the assassination before Walken can get it out there; Ellie comforting her Dad at the kitchen table; Walken’s yappy dog and its effects on CJ's clothing. But overwhelmingly there are scene after scene in which characters blandly say what they mean or nothing at all – there’s a grotesque lack of subtext and I’m already annoyed and I’m only an episode in. It’s going to be a long three seasons. I might wait until the real world US politics have blown over before continuing…
In Twenty-Five (the last episode of season four) as Bartlett hands the presidency to Walken, I think Sorkin is writing about himself. I think that Zoe symbolises his own problems both personal and with the studio, that effectively he’s the president and that Wells is Walken and he's communicating the off-screen handover. It’s significant that the closing shot is of Bartlett leaving the oval office just as Sorkin writes his final lines for the series.
How clearly you see Wells trying to get to grips with such a complex show and characters as far as we can tell he’s never written for before. 7A WF 83429 looks the same, all of the actors are there, the directing style hasn’t changed much and yet there’s something missing. It’s in small things such as how different characters are referred to both in the first and third person – at one point Leo coldly talks about the kidnapped daughter as ‘Zoe Bartlett’ in the Situation Room when clearly even there, he’s still he calling her Zoe.
It also lacks history and precedent and literature. Episodes in the Sorkin era were thick with characters talking about something which happened to another figure or there’s a quote from literature or philosophy. Some of the first words from Walken’s lips in Twenty-Five are about Franz Ferdinand. It’s always relatively obscure and pertinent. The best Wells can come up with is ‘Cry havok and let slip the dogs of war’ which is sad.
7A WF 83429 is also without a greater theme. Twenty-Five was about Toby realising that he can be a great father by watching the President’s reaction to Zoe’s kidnap; there’s even often a moment usually between Josh and Donna or a flashback structure which iterates what the story is trying to say. There’s none of that in Wells’s script. You detect that what he wanted to do is talk about Jed seeking forgiveness from God. Instead, he simply takes communion, even though you’re dying for a reference back to Two Cathedrals in which the President told God what he thought of the metaphysical being and his policies towards the human race.
Some beats ring true: CJ telling Danny to run the story about the assassination before Walken can get it out there; Ellie comforting her Dad at the kitchen table; Walken’s yappy dog and its effects on CJ's clothing. But overwhelmingly there are scene after scene in which characters blandly say what they mean or nothing at all – there’s a grotesque lack of subtext and I’m already annoyed and I’m only an episode in. It’s going to be a long three seasons. I might wait until the real world US politics have blown over before continuing…
to an extent
That Day It's my birthday today, and I've nothing very profound to say on the subject, other than when I first woke up this morning I had a panic attack of sorts when watching a news report about the lonely elderly. The reasons:
(a) I looked at that woman, sitting alone at home, the most exciting thing to look forward to being the mail and hoping that I'll never be like that.
(b) Even though to an extent, right now, I do feel a bit lonely.
(c) At 34, I'll be forty in six years, fifty in sixteen years, sixty in twenty-six years and seventy when I've lived almost as many years as I have already.
(d) I don't feel like my situation's change much overall since I was in my early twenties.
(e) I still need to do something.
In other words, I'm Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally during the crying scene. Which is disturbing. Unless I can trade Billy Crystal for Mary-Louise Parker.
Update Good god that's a depressing post. I've actually had a very good day. Was given a boxset of swing music (Frank, Billie, Nat, Dean, Bing, Ella, Louis and the like) and loads of chocolate, watched some more of The West Wing, went to the Waitrose in Formby and bought some nice coffee, muesli and pasta, had chinese/indian for tea and just saw Tom Baker going quietly even more insane on Have I Got News For You. I'm ok really.
(a) I looked at that woman, sitting alone at home, the most exciting thing to look forward to being the mail and hoping that I'll never be like that.
(b) Even though to an extent, right now, I do feel a bit lonely.
(c) At 34, I'll be forty in six years, fifty in sixteen years, sixty in twenty-six years and seventy when I've lived almost as many years as I have already.
(d) I don't feel like my situation's change much overall since I was in my early twenties.
(e) I still need to do something.
In other words, I'm Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally during the crying scene. Which is disturbing. Unless I can trade Billy Crystal for Mary-Louise Parker.
Update Good god that's a depressing post. I've actually had a very good day. Was given a boxset of swing music (Frank, Billie, Nat, Dean, Bing, Ella, Louis and the like) and loads of chocolate, watched some more of The West Wing, went to the Waitrose in Formby and bought some nice coffee, muesli and pasta, had chinese/indian for tea and just saw Tom Baker going quietly even more insane on Have I Got News For You. I'm ok really.
Nothing Lasts Forever.
Life Five things which happened this evening:
(1) I was in tears again at the close of The West Wing episode, 18th and Potomac, the one in which Mrs. Landingham died. I've seen the episode a few times now and this is the first time I've noticed the shot of Leo through the doors of the Oval Office in which the glass warps his face so that it looks like a Francis Bacon painting, as though to show the emotions he can't himself express because he has to break the news to his best friend and President.
(2) I was prompted by a question on Twitter to note: "BBC3 is adults making tv for an age group who are too busy having a life to watch."
(3) I realised that it's over two years since I was properly in love with someone.
(4) I realised that these are currently some of my favourite song lyrics. They're by Norah Jones and written in the aftermath of the 2004 US election. My Dear Country:
"'Twas Halloween and the ghosts were out,
And everywhere they'd go, they shout,
And though I covered my eyes I knew,
They'd go away.
But fear's the only thing I saw,
And three days later 'twas clear to all,
That nothing is as scary as election day.
But the day after is darker,
And darker and darker it goes,
Who knows, maybe the plans will change,
Who knows, maybe he's not deranged.
The news men know what they know, but they,
Know even less than what they say,
And I don't know who I can trust,
For they come what may.
'cause we believed in our candidate,
But even more it's the one we hate,
I needed someone I could shake,
On election day.
But the day after is darker,
And deeper and deeper we go,
Who knows, maybe it's all a dream,
Who knows if I'll wake up and scream.
I love the things that you've given me,
I cherish you my dear country,
But sometimes I don't understand,
The way we play.
I love the things that you've given me,
And most of all that I am free,
To have a song that I can sing,
On election day."
(5) I realised that nothing lasts forever.
(1) I was in tears again at the close of The West Wing episode, 18th and Potomac, the one in which Mrs. Landingham died. I've seen the episode a few times now and this is the first time I've noticed the shot of Leo through the doors of the Oval Office in which the glass warps his face so that it looks like a Francis Bacon painting, as though to show the emotions he can't himself express because he has to break the news to his best friend and President.
(2) I was prompted by a question on Twitter to note: "BBC3 is adults making tv for an age group who are too busy having a life to watch."
(3) I realised that it's over two years since I was properly in love with someone.
(4) I realised that these are currently some of my favourite song lyrics. They're by Norah Jones and written in the aftermath of the 2004 US election. My Dear Country:
"'Twas Halloween and the ghosts were out,
And everywhere they'd go, they shout,
And though I covered my eyes I knew,
They'd go away.
But fear's the only thing I saw,
And three days later 'twas clear to all,
That nothing is as scary as election day.
But the day after is darker,
And darker and darker it goes,
Who knows, maybe the plans will change,
Who knows, maybe he's not deranged.
The news men know what they know, but they,
Know even less than what they say,
And I don't know who I can trust,
For they come what may.
'cause we believed in our candidate,
But even more it's the one we hate,
I needed someone I could shake,
On election day.
But the day after is darker,
And deeper and deeper we go,
Who knows, maybe it's all a dream,
Who knows if I'll wake up and scream.
I love the things that you've given me,
I cherish you my dear country,
But sometimes I don't understand,
The way we play.
I love the things that you've given me,
And most of all that I am free,
To have a song that I can sing,
On election day."
(5) I realised that nothing lasts forever.
Emily Procter love
About Paul beat me to the punch with this hilarious review of tonight's episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures so my slightly more boring reflection isn't up yet. In the mean time, here's the original opening, or more accurately the paragraphs which I dumped on the grounds that it's irrelevant and I realised I was in the grip of both Emily Procter love and some box set mania (current on episode seven of season two):
"My favourite (well one of my favourite) mid-stream television character introductions is from The West Wing, when Ainsley Hayes, a less conservative Republican than most of the right wingers which appeared in the Aaron Sorkin years, verbally beat up Sam Seaborne on television before being asked to serve at the pleasure of the President. What makes her first appearance work so well, during the episode, In The White House, is that despite listing at length all the ideological problems she has with that fictional administration and liberals in general, we care more for her than we ever did for the Mandy character who slowly disappeared over the course of the first season.... at which point I realised I wasn't going to be talking about clowns or the new Rani any time soon and decided to start over...
Sorkin increases her likeability by having her fall into all the traps and make all the same mistakes most of us would make in her situation such as nervously running her mouth off at a potential new boss and also when she hears something which could be very embarrassing to CJ decides to keep between the two of them. She was also brash, loud, sexy in that way that Anne Coulter could never be, and it’s a shame that when Sorkin left the series follow on producer John Wells didn’t really seem to know what to do with her – she didn’t really fit into the weird vision he had for the show which was to take it out of the geographic location in the title as quickly as possible.
One of the reasons we loved Ainsley was that she was so intelligently played by Emily Procter (who’d later go on to be royally wasted on CSI:Miami trying to coax a reaction from David Caruso) ...."
Go West (Wing)
TV "For a show that had once not merely conceived of but made a thrilling virtue out of the idea of treating a suite of offices as a de facto racetrack, both dialogue and visuals careering round corridors, up and down staircases, even - for a time - in and out of boiler cupboards, it was depressingly astonishing to realise how little of such genius invention survived through to the final episode. [...] In fact, this might well have been the most boring installment of The West Wing ever. For much of the time the experience was akin to watching a politely-staged, everso-earnest documentary on the procedures behind the appointment of a new US President, such was the absence of, well, anything much in the way of pace, imagination, and even a decent plot.' -- Ian Jones
Ian careful lists many of the issues that dogged the programme right through to the final moment when the plane flew into the distance. I keep thinking about that final shot. Surely those final moments should have been about Bartlett and us saying goodbye to the White House for the last time rather than some stock footage from a British Airways commercial? I keep wondering if Sorkin had been working on these last episodes if they would have had a similar flashback structure to those shows which looked at the campaign for the White House (which incidentally said much more about the subject than the whole of the seventh season), instead looking at the first faltering days in office demonstrating how much the administration had changed. But then in Sorkin's version Toby would have actually been in the final episode (what was that about?) and there might have been an explanation for where all the characters who disappeared into the woodwork went -- particularly Mandy -- I'm sure we still don't know if she was shot at the end of season one.
Ian careful lists many of the issues that dogged the programme right through to the final moment when the plane flew into the distance. I keep thinking about that final shot. Surely those final moments should have been about Bartlett and us saying goodbye to the White House for the last time rather than some stock footage from a British Airways commercial? I keep wondering if Sorkin had been working on these last episodes if they would have had a similar flashback structure to those shows which looked at the campaign for the White House (which incidentally said much more about the subject than the whole of the seventh season), instead looking at the first faltering days in office demonstrating how much the administration had changed. But then in Sorkin's version Toby would have actually been in the final episode (what was that about?) and there might have been an explanation for where all the characters who disappeared into the woodwork went -- particularly Mandy -- I'm sure we still don't know if she was shot at the end of season one.
Empty
TV The West Wing completed tonight and the final episode felt like my university dissertation, so much to do, so little time to do it and no guarantee that the finished product was relevant. After seven monumental years of programming there wasn't really a 'right' way of ending the series and although some characters certainly received a decent send off and there were some references to the past it felt like a slightly empty experience. The final episode of any series needs to look to its strengths and underline them, playing through the iconic moments, drawing them out and letting the audience know what they're going to be missing. Joss Whedon understood this, as did the producers of Friends. Hell even Kevin Williamson knew how to end Dawson's Creek.
As scenes drifted by with the odd nice character moments but no drama, it became clear that even writing the final episode of The West Wing, John Wells once again fundamentally misunderstood what Aaron Sorkin was trying to do when he created the series all those years ago. Sorkin was always able to tread the fine line between great dialogue and plotting and would certainly not have provided such a listlessly smooth transition between presidents. Here I was watching our favourite characters watching television sets of the presidential inauguration, passionately hoping that something interesting or surprising would happen -- I even entertained the horrible possibility as Santos stepped out onto the step for the ceremony that someone might take a shot at him. But no.
Instead we had an intermenable couple of minutes listening to some singer accompanying the dismantling of the Bartlett White House, seemingly hundreds of establishing shots of the kind that might fill out an episode that was running under time and no sign of anyone doing anything too controversial. Realistic? Possibly. Entertaining -- well yes in the way that adverts for Wurthers Originals can be. The biggest crime, other than not showing Toby finding out about his pardon, was probably having Josh just sitting around looking stunned and giving him about three lines of dialogue. I know he's had a busy time this year but you need to keep these characters doing something right through to the end -- we didn't even get a final moment of Donna and Josh getting frustrated with each other. It's true what they say -- never will your will they/won't they couples. And what's the point in dragging Sam back if he too just blends in -- again I ask -- realistic? Possibly. Entertaining? No.
Perhaps I'm being too harsh or I have an Aristotlian version of the show running in my head that it's never been. The episode was replete with great kisses to the past -- Mallory with the hint that she should say hello to Sam; Toby's ball. There were some nice Capraesque moments -- such as Santos' new secretary almost breaking down as she looked in the Oval Office and Donna realising how big her office will be and CJ and a passing tourist outside the White House. And the unwrapping of Leo's final present underscored another black hole in the middle of the episode -- john should have been here. Martin Sheen's performance throughout was the real winner (as was the rest of the cast with the material they had) and demonstrated that the real heart of the show was awol for most of the season. The moment when he handed his father's copy of the constitution to the equally awol Charlie tore me apart. And well alright some great dialogue: 'Home sweet home.'
Santos: "There's no 'Ask what your country can do for you'..."
Bartlett: "JFK really screwed us with that one, didn't he?"
But I wanted to the staff dealing with the usual hiccups that must occur in the change over; that final press conference in which Will had to deal with questions about Toby being pardon; the incident room just one more time. But the episode just lacked focus and at the last moment the show metaphorically crashed the bycicle. Shame.
That said, the episode before about CJ deciding what she wanted to do next? Amazing. Good to see her and Toby talking again and Timothy Busefield broke my heart as Danny. Should have got Debora Cahn to write the finale as well. She was there under Sorkin. Might have had an idea about how it works. At least there's Keith's amazing go at the first episode of season eight to keep me company. First scene:
As scenes drifted by with the odd nice character moments but no drama, it became clear that even writing the final episode of The West Wing, John Wells once again fundamentally misunderstood what Aaron Sorkin was trying to do when he created the series all those years ago. Sorkin was always able to tread the fine line between great dialogue and plotting and would certainly not have provided such a listlessly smooth transition between presidents. Here I was watching our favourite characters watching television sets of the presidential inauguration, passionately hoping that something interesting or surprising would happen -- I even entertained the horrible possibility as Santos stepped out onto the step for the ceremony that someone might take a shot at him. But no.
Instead we had an intermenable couple of minutes listening to some singer accompanying the dismantling of the Bartlett White House, seemingly hundreds of establishing shots of the kind that might fill out an episode that was running under time and no sign of anyone doing anything too controversial. Realistic? Possibly. Entertaining -- well yes in the way that adverts for Wurthers Originals can be. The biggest crime, other than not showing Toby finding out about his pardon, was probably having Josh just sitting around looking stunned and giving him about three lines of dialogue. I know he's had a busy time this year but you need to keep these characters doing something right through to the end -- we didn't even get a final moment of Donna and Josh getting frustrated with each other. It's true what they say -- never will your will they/won't they couples. And what's the point in dragging Sam back if he too just blends in -- again I ask -- realistic? Possibly. Entertaining? No.
Perhaps I'm being too harsh or I have an Aristotlian version of the show running in my head that it's never been. The episode was replete with great kisses to the past -- Mallory with the hint that she should say hello to Sam; Toby's ball. There were some nice Capraesque moments -- such as Santos' new secretary almost breaking down as she looked in the Oval Office and Donna realising how big her office will be and CJ and a passing tourist outside the White House. And the unwrapping of Leo's final present underscored another black hole in the middle of the episode -- john should have been here. Martin Sheen's performance throughout was the real winner (as was the rest of the cast with the material they had) and demonstrated that the real heart of the show was awol for most of the season. The moment when he handed his father's copy of the constitution to the equally awol Charlie tore me apart. And well alright some great dialogue: 'Home sweet home.'
Santos: "There's no 'Ask what your country can do for you'..."
Bartlett: "JFK really screwed us with that one, didn't he?"
But I wanted to the staff dealing with the usual hiccups that must occur in the change over; that final press conference in which Will had to deal with questions about Toby being pardon; the incident room just one more time. But the episode just lacked focus and at the last moment the show metaphorically crashed the bycicle. Shame.
That said, the episode before about CJ deciding what she wanted to do next? Amazing. Good to see her and Toby talking again and Timothy Busefield broke my heart as Danny. Should have got Debora Cahn to write the finale as well. She was there under Sorkin. Might have had an idea about how it works. At least there's Keith's amazing go at the first episode of season eight to keep me company. First scene:
INT. WHITE HOUSE FOYERThat's more like it...
JOSH strides in, smiling widely. He's met by MARGARET. They walk and talk?
JOSH
Victory is mine! Bring me all the bagels and muffins in the land!
MARGARET
How often are you going to use that line?
JOSH
Until you bring me all the bagels and muffins in the land?
MARGARET
Sam wants to see you in his office first thing. Lou and Bram are re-drafting The President's speech on Education Reform. And I may be able to rustle up a stale bagel and a half-eaten muffin from the mess.
The TeeVeepedia
TV "The West Wing is a science-fiction television program on NBC, created by Aaron Sorkin. It posits a highly implausible alternate reality in which a wise, well-educated president, selflessly devoted to the public and apparently unbeholden to special interests, leads a passionate and effective Democratic administration. In the realm of bittersweet liberal wish-fulfillment, it ranks second only to The Daily Show. [...] It has been on the air for seven years now. Depending on whom you ask, that may be five years too many."
Welcome to the TeeVeepedia, a world in which Emilio Estevez plays Jack Bauer, Jennifer Garner is really Keri Russell in disguise and Detective John Munch threatens to be in every tv show ever by 2012. See also BBC, old Doctor Who enemy Worf and Star Trek: SVU.
Welcome to the TeeVeepedia, a world in which Emilio Estevez plays Jack Bauer, Jennifer Garner is really Keri Russell in disguise and Detective John Munch threatens to be in every tv show ever by 2012. See also BBC, old Doctor Who enemy Worf and Star Trek: SVU.
Adverts in The West Wing
TV "Last night Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat culture spokesman, said several people had expressed concern to him about adverts on More4, another Channel 4 station. There was a general feeling that the channel was swapped by excessive advertising. "I know people have been concerned about the level of advertising in shows like The West Wing," he said. "The advertising occurs within five or six minutes of the programme starting. It may be channels like More4 are subject to a more relaxed regime but it shouldn't be that relaxed." -- Chris Hastings in The Daily Telegraph
You're not joking. I was watching Friday night's much improved episode of the Wing and the adverts appeared directly after the title sequence and seemed to go one for ever. I ended up recording the rest of it so that I could fast forward. I understand this is the American way but it really breaks up the flow of the drama. Plus they hardly adhere to the US breaks with the ads often cutting into the middle of scenes or transitions to the extent that a musical beat will be broken up with the last few bars being heard after the ads. Terrible. If I wasn't so desperate to see what happens next I'd be waiting for the dvds again. [via]
You're not joking. I was watching Friday night's much improved episode of the Wing and the adverts appeared directly after the title sequence and seemed to go one for ever. I ended up recording the rest of it so that I could fast forward. I understand this is the American way but it really breaks up the flow of the drama. Plus they hardly adhere to the US breaks with the ads often cutting into the middle of scenes or transitions to the extent that a musical beat will be broken up with the last few bars being heard after the ads. Terrible. If I wasn't so desperate to see what happens next I'd be waiting for the dvds again. [via]
The West Wing
TV Somewhere along the line, The West Wing (season seven of which has begun playing on More4) became its own spin-off show. I mean it's set in the same universe and sometimes Josh Lyman from the old show pops up to talk about everyone staying on message and looking pained when his candidate makes another mistake but really this isn't the show I was watching last season (or last week for me) let alone six years ago.
I mean I can understand the problem the show had. Given that a president only has eight years in office and they began a year in, if the show was to have any sustainability at some stage another President was going to be in the White House, and the audience was going to need to empathise with whoever that man might be. Also, there's possibly only so much that can happen in the Oval Office and the corridors leading to it. But really it's getting very confusing.
For the unitiated, rather than watching the campaign from the White House lawn and skipping large chunks as happened when Bartlett was re-elected, the programme is following the Democratic candidate Santos (played by Jimmy Smits), and the Republican Vinick (Alan Alda) on the trail with odd episodes here and there still devoted to shenanigans in the White House. The problem is the two versions of the show don't match, mix, meld. It's like watching (film reference coming) The American President one week and The Candidate another week followed by Tanner '88. Or if you want to really stretch the comparison, Deep Space Nine with the odd episode of Voyager now and then.
Even more strangely (or bravely) some episodes, like tonight's, are from Vinick's point of view. The show's had some criticism in the past for not being too moderate in their characterisation of the Republican. They tend to be portrayed as the nasty men who come along and ruin the plans of the Democrats. Vinick is a fairly moderate Republican, the idea being that he's more incidious because his policies attract both sides of the spectrum It's a smart idea. The problem is because he's a relatively new character and all you're emotional investment is elsewhere you spend much of the episode not caring (and it's worse if you're a democrat I suspect). Often something bad would happen to him and this would be the ad break cliffhanger -- and you're thinking 'But that good for Santos ... so why should I care if something bad happens to Vinick?'
It's not a problem with Alda's performance. Or in many respects the writing. And Janeane Garofalo (who plays an advisor on the Santos campaign) is still gorgeous (I fell for her in The Truth About Cats and Dogs and before that TV Nation and she's still amazing). It's just that it feels like a completely different show. It breaks the imaginary contract that the programme makers have with the audience that they'll be delivering a certain formula each week. In essentially dumping the format the show began with that contract is broken and the viewer is in the position of watching some programme every other week which doesn't relate to anything much which has happened in the previous six years. Basically the show's called The West Wing -- but tonight there wasn't even a phone call from there.
With this being the last series I'm hoping for something controversial. I want Vinick to win. Dramatically it's a more exciting conclusion. It ties up Bartlett's legacy and it allows the programme makers to describe what happens when an administration with one political leaning has to give way to another, one set of staff giving way to another. It should happen before the end of the series and the last few episodes should be about the characters we've watched for the past seven years coping with the job and political wilderness.
Indeed dramatically this whole season (and granted I'm only on episode three but you read things) might have been more gratifying if the lense had stayed firmly within the corridors of power watching a campaign in which the Republican are winning and seeing the clock tick away to the moment when their idiology gives way to another and knowing there was nothing they could do about it.
Perhaps next week will be better. But I miss Donna. And Will. I miss CJ being the press secretary. I miss those episodes which were about some obscure bit of constitutionalise which didn't make much sense but were dramatised with passion. When Toby's in his office it still feels like The West Wing but astronauts dying in space stations being saved by military space shuttles really doesn't.
Is Commander In Chief any good?
I mean I can understand the problem the show had. Given that a president only has eight years in office and they began a year in, if the show was to have any sustainability at some stage another President was going to be in the White House, and the audience was going to need to empathise with whoever that man might be. Also, there's possibly only so much that can happen in the Oval Office and the corridors leading to it. But really it's getting very confusing.
For the unitiated, rather than watching the campaign from the White House lawn and skipping large chunks as happened when Bartlett was re-elected, the programme is following the Democratic candidate Santos (played by Jimmy Smits), and the Republican Vinick (Alan Alda) on the trail with odd episodes here and there still devoted to shenanigans in the White House. The problem is the two versions of the show don't match, mix, meld. It's like watching (film reference coming) The American President one week and The Candidate another week followed by Tanner '88. Or if you want to really stretch the comparison, Deep Space Nine with the odd episode of Voyager now and then.
Even more strangely (or bravely) some episodes, like tonight's, are from Vinick's point of view. The show's had some criticism in the past for not being too moderate in their characterisation of the Republican. They tend to be portrayed as the nasty men who come along and ruin the plans of the Democrats. Vinick is a fairly moderate Republican, the idea being that he's more incidious because his policies attract both sides of the spectrum It's a smart idea. The problem is because he's a relatively new character and all you're emotional investment is elsewhere you spend much of the episode not caring (and it's worse if you're a democrat I suspect). Often something bad would happen to him and this would be the ad break cliffhanger -- and you're thinking 'But that good for Santos ... so why should I care if something bad happens to Vinick?'
It's not a problem with Alda's performance. Or in many respects the writing. And Janeane Garofalo (who plays an advisor on the Santos campaign) is still gorgeous (I fell for her in The Truth About Cats and Dogs and before that TV Nation and she's still amazing). It's just that it feels like a completely different show. It breaks the imaginary contract that the programme makers have with the audience that they'll be delivering a certain formula each week. In essentially dumping the format the show began with that contract is broken and the viewer is in the position of watching some programme every other week which doesn't relate to anything much which has happened in the previous six years. Basically the show's called The West Wing -- but tonight there wasn't even a phone call from there.
With this being the last series I'm hoping for something controversial. I want Vinick to win. Dramatically it's a more exciting conclusion. It ties up Bartlett's legacy and it allows the programme makers to describe what happens when an administration with one political leaning has to give way to another, one set of staff giving way to another. It should happen before the end of the series and the last few episodes should be about the characters we've watched for the past seven years coping with the job and political wilderness.
Indeed dramatically this whole season (and granted I'm only on episode three but you read things) might have been more gratifying if the lense had stayed firmly within the corridors of power watching a campaign in which the Republican are winning and seeing the clock tick away to the moment when their idiology gives way to another and knowing there was nothing they could do about it.
Perhaps next week will be better. But I miss Donna. And Will. I miss CJ being the press secretary. I miss those episodes which were about some obscure bit of constitutionalise which didn't make much sense but were dramatised with passion. When Toby's in his office it still feels like The West Wing but astronauts dying in space stations being saved by military space shuttles really doesn't.
Is Commander In Chief any good?
mojo
Life Still here. I'm spliting my time between soul searching, writer's block and marathon viewings of The West Wing which really got its mojo back in the sixth season. I mean a female British Prime Minister, a name check for The Guardian and Christopher Lloyd playing Lawrence Lessig in the same episode?
wing
TV "I've cried many times but the one that always, always gets me is when Donna is trying to have a national holiday named after her high school teacher. Bartlet doesn't do it, obviously, but he does call the teacher in question from the Oval. Donna is there and doesn't know what to say so Bartlett says just tell her where you are. Donna says 'Mrs. (whatever) I'm in the Oval Office with the President of the United States and it's because of you....' " -- Rob Fraser is amongst a raft of posters to The Guardian's Organ Grinder blog remembering their favourite West Wing.
I agree with all of the suggestions. I think the series is best when it's being goofy or ideological or both at the same time. The best episodes are when you've absolutely no idea what the story is because it's about some obscure bit of US politics but it works because the dialogue and characterisation and acting and direction make it so. The problem with the first half of season five is that John Wells found himself trying to work from Sorkin's legacy without really having a clue on what made the show tick. He tried to imprint an e.r. sensibility on the thing, ladling in the soap suds (Ian Jones wrote a really great critique of all this at the time for Off The Telly). Later, there seemed to be a new impetous. I noticed, amongst others, Alexa Junge's name pop up in the credits. She wrote some of the best episodes of Friends and her writing here seemed to recapture some of Sorkin's sprightliness. By the end of the season it felt more like the show I remember. Two seasons to go then (for me at least).
I agree with all of the suggestions. I think the series is best when it's being goofy or ideological or both at the same time. The best episodes are when you've absolutely no idea what the story is because it's about some obscure bit of US politics but it works because the dialogue and characterisation and acting and direction make it so. The problem with the first half of season five is that John Wells found himself trying to work from Sorkin's legacy without really having a clue on what made the show tick. He tried to imprint an e.r. sensibility on the thing, ladling in the soap suds (Ian Jones wrote a really great critique of all this at the time for Off The Telly). Later, there seemed to be a new impetous. I noticed, amongst others, Alexa Junge's name pop up in the credits. She wrote some of the best episodes of Friends and her writing here seemed to recapture some of Sorkin's sprightliness. By the end of the season it felt more like the show I remember. Two seasons to go then (for me at least).
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