Wednesday 7 December 2022

Rewatchable TV December: The West Wing

Well, to close this down, it's the series I never should have loved. A show about a Democrat President in the White House? And he's a great President, despite flaws? Get outta here! Liberal wish fulfillment!

And yet it turned out to be one of the best things on TV. And I've watched the whole thing several times, and once more at the start of the first lockdowm. It's true comfort tv, with a superb cast, snappy writing, nail-biting cliffhangers and above all, music choices that were spot on. 

The children's choir singing 'The Little Drummer Boy' as Toby & Mrs Landingham attend the funeral of a homeless veteran, Jeff Buckley's haunting 'Hallelujah' as CJ gets some awful news, 'In A New York Minute' as Josh wrestles with another 'Big Block Of Cheese Day', and of course, this one:

 

There's quite a few new series that will - I suspect - be watched again; a lot of Disney's short Marvels, 'Game of Thrones', etc. But this will always have a special place in my heart.

5 comments:

rhoda klapp said...

How well do you think Jed Bartlett would do in the 2024 primaries? I don't reckon he'd get a look-in.

Anonymous said...

If only the real politicians were that good...

Anonymous said...

It's a superb drama, although it waekens in Season 7. I too have watched it sevewral times. The scripts of each episode are sharp and pacy, and the overarching stucture and story lines of each series, and series of series, is excellent. For example- how the writers got the story up to the events leading to the prominent role of the Speaker of the House (2 different Speakers).
The political and moral choices are fascinating, particularly the use of violence. When and why is it OK to bomb other countries, or assassinate one of the nation's enemies?
And the acting throughout is top class.
For purposes of appreciating the drama it shouldn't matter that Bartlett is a liberal.

James Strong

Scrobs. said...

Anything like 'Washington behind closed doors'?

Robert Vaughan was just fantastic in that one!

JuliaM said...

"How well do you think Jed Bartlett would do in the 2024 primaries? I don't reckon he'd get a look-in."

Well, quite! The political situation across the pond often seems even worse than ours, lately...

"It's a superb drama, although it waekens in Season 7."

I think 6 seasons would have been better, and the sad death of John Spencer was a blow it was hard to recover from. But I very much doubt we'll ever see its like again, so future re-watches will have to suffice.

"Anything like 'Washington behind closed doors'?

Robert Vaughan was just fantastic in that one!"


I don't think I've ever seen that!