By ALEX PECHA
Politics sucks, it just does. You need look no further than the Government Shutdown to see that as a fact. Despite that however many TV shows and movies over the years have used politics as the backdrop for dramas, comedies, and anything in between. Some of these shows are good, some are not so good. The show I’m talking about today, The West Wing, certainly falls under the “good” category.
Unlike the Dresden Files, which I reviewed last time, The West Wing actually had a very successful run for 8 seasons, running from 1999 through 2006. Well what made it so successful? And why had I only heard its name in whispers and references until the all-knowing Netflix shot it at me and said “Watch this now”? Well, let’s take a look.
Full disclosure however, I will only be reviewing the first season as I’m not magic and can’t watch 8 seasons worth of 156 episodes overnight. So if the show decides to go into full on crazy and boring town in season 6 I can’t really tell you. First season only, keep that in mind.
The West Wing follows a fictional recently elected Democratic president and his top staff as they try to run the United States of America, this includes everything you’d expect; including trying pass bills, deal in international diplomacy, and deal with the various scandals that inevitably emerge.
President Joisah “Jed” Bartlet (Martin Sheen) has been in office for about a year when the show starts, he is aided by his Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), the Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman (Bradley Whitford), the White House Press Secretary Claudia Jean “C.J.” Cregg (Allison Janney), the Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) and the Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe).
That seems like a lot of characters and names to take in. Well it is, and I did not even touch the iceberg of secondary characters, these are all primary characters that appear in every episode.
That is the first thing you will notice about The West Wing, there are a lot of characters. You have the main characters mentioned above as well as people like the president’s aide, the first lady, various secretaries and many others who make appearances almost every episode.
This overabundance of characters is both the shows strength and weakness. The strength is obvious, having a huge group of people in a show with fleshed out personalities makes the show come alive; it makes the show feel like an actual family of coworkers.
However even in the first season the weakness is equally as obvious, certain characters get thrown to the rear, sometimes to never reappear. For example: a character named Mandy showed up rather early in the first season and got added to the primary cast, yet she shows up less and less as the series goes on, and as far as I can tell gets completely dropped as of the second season. If you like Mandy, you get shafted when she is literally poofed out of existence, and I could easily see this happening again with other characters they might try to introduce in the series.
As for the rest of the shows writing, you would be wrong to call it anything less of good, and it wouldn’t be wrong to call it great. The shows great writing is partially thanks to Aaron Sorkin, the shows lead writer and creator.
You might recognize some of his other work, which includes The Social Network, Charlie Wilson’s War, and The Newsroom. The show manages to balance the politics of running the White House with the sobering realities of running a country and even manages to throw in some well written and timed humor.
The show never feels like it’s wasting its time and fills every second with detail and complicated plots and characters. While this might make it extremely hard to multitask with or even stop watching it makes for some great watching.
However, the show (at least in its first season) is old. The first season was made in 1999, 14 years ago now. So some details like cell phones that flip and only make calls or a lack of the war on terror might make it seem a bit dated.
Despite this however it also manages to still capture the idea of party politics and government squabbling, making it an odd mix of both relatable and anachronistic.
The characters in the show are extremely well written, even though there is a ton of them. From the charismatic and idealistic President Bartlet to the grumpy and misanthropic Toby Ziegler, all the characters are individuals with their own drives and ideals.
Despite probably being confused exactly who is who for a while you’ll find yourself getting attached to the very extended family that inhabits the West Wing of the White House. The only character that again feels underrepresented and underwritten is Mandy, who disappointingly disappears anyway.
Of course characters can only be as good as the actors that play them, which is good because the actors here are all good at what they do.
The stand out is Martin Sheen as President Bartlet, Sheen brings an energy and charisma to the character that you don’t see too often, and he’s just a simple delight to watch. I would be remise though to not mention John Spencer as White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, John captures the image of the aging but still invested Chief of Staff extremely well and you can’t help but like his almost fatherly nature towards the rest of the cast.
If I have one large complaint it would be the huge (And I can’t stress the word huge enough) cliff hanger at the end of the season. While it is Netflix and you can wait 20 seconds to watch the next season I personally always feel like huge cliffhangers at the end of seasons are cop out for more views, but that may just be me.
Overall The West Wing is an extremely well written and acted political show that delights nearly every second you watch it, whether it be due to the hard-hitting moments it can throw at you.
Or the light hearted humor that is often delivered you will be enjoying your glimpse into this President’s office quite a bit. And while I might have some complaints I can’t help but feel like I’m nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking. The bottom line is if you enjoy political shows or even just good character drama you owe yourself to check out The West Wing on Netflix.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch some more West Wing.
