Well, we saw the debut of the first Aaron Sorkin-less “West Wing” last night.
Although the show no longer feels like a rat-a-tat-tat dialogue 1930’s-esque film, it’s still a good drama. The continuation of the search for the President’s daughter, the growing strain on the President’s family (including the arrival of one of his never-before-seen elder daughters), and the grudging acknowledgment amongst the staff that fill-in president Walken came across in his first news conference as “presidential” (and the devastating observation that Sheen’s Bartlett seemed “so small”) made for compelling viewing.
I’ve never understood, though, the criticism over the show being “too liberal.” The series was obviously Sorkin’s idealized Democratic White House. Yes, it didn’t bear resemblance to reality. So what? “Marcus Welby” and many other medical series portrayed idealized versions of doctors that bore no resemblance to typical overworked doctors normally encountered in our day to day lives. John McClane of the “Die Hard” films is a super-cop. Rambo is a super-soldier. But, what? We draw the line at presenting a “super-Democrat commander-in-chief”–tough minded, literate, knowledgable, confident, eloquent. That’s just too over the top for people to accept, and Sorkin is lambasted for it? Sorry. Just not seeing it.
PAD
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The first season of The West Wing finally comes out on DVD in November. It’s a four disc set and the extras look pretty okay. It’s going on to my horrifically long DVD wish list for Christmas/birthday.
I am mildly annoyed that Season 4 of Babylon 5 won’t come out until January, 2004. Then again, got to spend that Christmas money on something.
As for the season premier of West Wing, myself and the fiance liked it. Obviously the snappy banter is reduced, but if you can’t do it well, move on and find something you can do well that people like.
A better indication of the show’s future will happen once Wells clears the last of Sorkin’s subplots of the plate in the next 5-6 episodes. Then we’ll have a better idea of the future of the show.
Cheers…
_craig
Sorkin has always maintained that “The West Wing” was a love letter to those who pursue public service. Yes, it’s idealistic, yes, it’s liberal, and Lord almighty if only we had people as dedicated and idealistic as those characters in the White House, Democrat or Replican, it doesn’t matter.
I’m going to miss Sorkin’s dialog; he and Joss Whedon were two of the best in the business. This is one of my favorite passages, from Season 1’s “Lies, Ðámņ Lies and Statistics”:
BARTLET
You know what we’re doing here, right?
LOBELL
We’re going to talk about soft money.
BARTLET
We’re going to do more than talk about it.
LOBELL
Okay.
BARTLET
We agree on nothing, Max.
LOBELL
Yes, sir.
BARTLET
Education, guns, drugs, school prayer, gays, defense spending, taxes, you name it, we disagree.
LOBELL
You know why?
BARTLET
‘Cause I’m a lily-livered, bleeding-heart, liberal, egg head, communist.
LOBELL
Yes, sir. And I’m a gun-totin’, redneck son-of-a-bìŧçh.
BARTLET
Yes, you are.
LOBELL
We agree on that.
BARTLET
We also agree on campaign finance.
LOBELL
Yes, sir.
BARTLET
Max, can I count on your support to confirm my candidates?
LOBELL
And what do I get in exchange?
BARTLET
[beat] The thanks of a grateful President.
LOBELL
Good answer, sir.
BARTLET
[to Toby] Go.
Toby leaves.
BARTLET
[to Lobell] Thank you.
They shake hands.
JSM
Rob posted:
For the person who asked about the music at the end (ah… let’s scroll up and look… SCampa…), that was a Dead Can Dance tune. At the moment, I can’t remember which one, but it was definitely DCD.
I think the song’s title is “Sanvean”, for what it’s worth…
I disagree with the people who say this episode was good. I have just started watching the show on the Bravo re-runs, and tried to watch the first episode of the new season.
And it was horrid compared to those.
The heart of the show has been cut out and is lying on the floor, dying. First, all of the intelligent characters who had crackling dialogue are gone, replaced by bland pod people who say nothing. CJ wandered around, looking lost, maybe looking for her character. Josh was relegated to such deathless dialogue as “He looks Presidential”, and NO ONE banters anymore.
John Goodman was a human cartoon, a gruff bully who we are supposed to respect, and even does the old “gag” of having a cute dog that leaves a mess of hair everywhere and is used so his senior staff can be relegated to taking the dog out for a bathroom break. His staff has no personality, no dialgou and exists just to have more people walking silently through what used to a be a building filled with activity and discussion.
My question is, if the new team wanted to make all of the long running characters on the show look stupid and powerless, why take over the show? Why not let it end and then start their own “White House” drama with the same cardboard stiffs we get in all the other bad dramas.
I’ll go back to Bravo for the re-runs. I can do without this new writing team who seem to be scared of inspiring us with a President and instead just want to give us a Tam Clancy novel written by Tucker Carlson.