The West Wing

[nothingisasitseems]

Sam Seaborn was my favourite character and I lost touch with the show when he left but there was also the chicken and egg situation. It lost viewers and C4 started moving it about to unsocial time slots, fewer watched etc. If it had continued in its usual slot I probably would have continued to watch.

I eventually caught up with it on DVD when HMV had the whole series on offer and I received it as a Christmas present.

Post-Sorkin was obviously different but I have to say I enjoyed the later Seasons in their own way. It was going to be hard to keep all the actors together for 8 years although they eventually squeezed it into 7. Obviously the last couple were going to concentrate quite heavily on the Presidential election but I enjoyed them and Alda and Smits were excellent in their roles.

In fact the episode which I rewatch the most and others have already mentioned it is from S5 - The Supremes. I like Glenn Close although I was never her biggest fan but she was amazing in that episode, her interviews with Toby and Josh were masterpieces and the whole thing just encapsulated the Series showing how political machinations worked - it was also Josh's finest moment.

Interestingly they must not have wanted to pay a fee but in a later episode when the Chief Justice appeared they introduced her by name but it was somebody completely different!!

Certainly the "second" cast wasn't as strong as the first but Lily Tomlin was almost worth watching on her own. Her first couple of interviews with Bartlett were a hoot and although she might sometimes have been thought disrespectful to the President she almost only had to appear on the screen to have you laughing.

If I am rewatching the whole Series the one episode I fast-forward is The Long Goodbye where CJ goes home - it seems to be out of context with everything else and bores me.

Despite the falling viewing figures at least the Network treated the fans with respect and saw the Series out. I might have liked the final Season a couple of episodes longer and seen some more time devoted to what was happening inside TWW and the first couple of months of the new administration but then the ending with Bartlett flying into the sunset was probably the right one.

One thing which struck a raw note was the library scene at the beginning of the final Season. It really was an odd gathering. Why no Abby, Donna or Debbie? Since he was back and left on amicable terms Sam would have been there but obviously he wasn't on the cast at this stage - maybe they hadn't even decided yet to bring him back.

As far as I'm aware John Spencer was still alive at this stage and also when it was aired so it is really odd that he was missing. Obvious fortuitous for them he wasn't included, I wonder if they had some foreknowledge of what mihgt happen?

But it did destroy the ending to some extent. We knew either Toby was pardoned or turned out not to be the leak and it gave away the path CJ chose. I thought she and Danny were a really odd couple and didn't see much chemistry between them - CJ's best match was Simon Donovan but then I'm a Mark Harmon fan. I don't see how that could have worked into the Series though.

I felt they left a couple of things regarding Sam unfinished. There is no way he would not have been at Leo's funeral if possible. They maybe didn't want to pay him a fee but there could surely have been a line between him and Josh "I was sorry to miss but ..................."

Sams' re-introduction was superb mirroring his initial recruitment by Josh but the glaring omission was ignoring a reunion between him and Toby considering their close relationship during the first four year's of the Bartlett administration and the fact that Toby stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him during the California 49th by-election. I can't decide how the idealistic Sam would have re-acted to Toby's betrayal.

Foreign policy was a big part of the later Seasons but on the whole I preferred it when they stuck to domestics.

The best TV programme ever - after SPOOKS, of course!