The West Wing (TV Timeout)

I was going to do this a little bit later, but rarely do I finish watching an episode of television and then immediately want to shout from the mountaintops. I have just experienced such an episode, and now that I’m back from shouting from my local mountaintop, I’ve decided to write a blog post.

I was turned on to The West Wing just over a month ago, and in that time I have watched the first two seasons in their entirety. That’s right. I’ve sat down and watched 44 hour long episodes of television in just under a month. That’s not to mention all the other movies and TV shows I’ve seen in this time. May God have mercy on my soul. However, this time has not been wasted as I have witnessed a two season piece of work the likes of which I have rarely seen before.

The West Wing tells the story of the (obviously) fictional Bartlet administration, which began in 1998. Bartlet is a democrat, as is (almost) everyone who works for him, so I don’t know how hardcore conservatives would feel about this show. Open-minded ones should be able to enjoy it as a superb television show, but the others (I’m looking at you, Glenn Beck) might be so distracted by the opinions of the characters.

Well, let’s get down to business.

SEASON 1

Pilots, historically, are never the best episodes of a television series. In most cases they aren’t even particularly good. They are forced with the thankless task of introducing multiple characters as well as the basic premise of their given shows, all while keeping the audience interested in what is going on. Often good pilots lead to series that run out of steam (FlashForward, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) and sometimes subpar pilots lead to a terrific series (The Office, most comedies). The only NETWORK series I can think of that had terrific pilots that led on to terrific series are Arrested Development, Lost, and the subject of today’s discussion: The West Wing. (I emphasize network because most of the best cable series, both basic and subscription, tend to have great pilots.)

The pilot sets the scene for what is going to be the basic plotline for many of the episodes: damage control. Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) wakes up to find out he has accidently slept with a call girl (he didn’t pay), Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) accused God of tax fraud on a TV program the night before, and the man they work for, named POTUS (hint: it's an acronym), has run into a tree while riding his bicycle. Within minutes we are thrust into the world of the White House communications team, along with Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), and C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney), the Press Secretary. One of the first shots inside the White House is an incredibly long tracking shot that goes from conversation to conversation to conversation.

One of the most exciting elements of the show to me is that it is made with an actual identifiable style that sets it apart. Most dramas, even the best ones, are shot in such bland style that simply puts the action on the screen with no other considerations. You don’t see shots like this opening one in The West Wing anymore on television. Within minutes I knew I was watching a television show the likes of which I had not seen before.

As the first season goes on, we go day by day through the lives of these characters, as they spend most of their time defusing various PR disasters, and many other tasks. I submit that many of the episodes could be titled “________ Screws Up”. We get an inside look at the political system, warts and all. An incredibly heartwarming storyline is seen in the episode “Mr. Willis of Ohio”, where we meet Mr. Willis, a man who has temporarily taken over his late wife’s Congressional seat until a replacement is elected. Here is a man who is no more than a normal citizen who ends up getting a say in a vote in the House of Representatives. The ending scene in which Toby watches the vote is something else.

The West Wing at times is incredibly cheesy, but I cannot think of a show that has done cheesy better. Time and again, it works. At the end of the episode “Let Bartlet be Bartlet”, which is one of the weaker entries in the first season, the main characters go around and recite the line “I serve at the pleasure of the President” while the soundtrack gets all inspirational on us. On paper it sounds groan-worthy, but I wanted to go to war for this man.

This show, rightly so, is categorized as a drama, but it can be just as funny, if not funnier, than most network comedies. “The Crackpots and These Women” introduces us to Big Block of Cheese Day, where the characters are forced to sit and listen to ridiculous pitches by various interest groups. The best of these is the group who introduces the idea of a highway exclusively for wolves, which would cost ONLY hundreds of millions of dollars. The single funniest moment in the first season, and probably the series I’ve watched so far, comes in “Celestial Navigation” when Josh gives the press briefing in C.J.’s stead, and sarcastically promises a “secret plan to fight inflation”. The press doesn’t report it as such. The subsequent dressing down of Josh by the president is priceless.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

The season ends on what is one of the more obscene cliffhangers I’ve seen in a television series. The episode is “What Kind of Day Has it Been”, which is a pretty great episode in itself. However, the season ends with a white supremacist group opening fire on the entire cast, and FADE TO BLACK! This is a ratings stunt, make no mistake, but it works, and within minutes I was watching the beginning of season 2.

SEASON 2

So for some obscene reason I have yet to mention one of my favorite characters, Charlie Young. Played by future Psych star Dulé Hill, he does one of the more impressive acting jobs of any of the regular actors. Charlie is the aide of President Bartlet, and is introduced in “A Proportional Response” in the first season. Most of his scenes are spent with Bartlet, who is played by the veteran actor Martin Sheen. The fact that Hill can stand toe to toe with Sheen in nearly every scene is a testament to just how good an actor this kid is. In fact, Charlie is the reason everyone is shot at in the first season’s finale, for he has been dating Bartlet’s daughter Zoey, played by Elisabeth Moss.

One of my few problems with the second season is that Zoey does not appear past “The Midterms”, and her relationship with Charlie was one of my favorite parts of the series up to this point, even with all the baggage it brought. That is a minor quibble in what was a nearly as solid second season. There might have been a few more forgettable episodes in the bunch, but the unforgettable episodes were some of the best the show had ever done.

In fact my two favorite episodes of the series thus far are “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen” and “Two Cathedrals”, the second season’s premiere and finale, respectively. “Two Cathedrals” in particular is one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen.

“Two Gunmen” tells the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and while no one died, both the President and Josh Lyman were hit, Josh much more critically. That’s one story, but the genius of this episode was that much of it is told in flashbacks, going back to the Bartlet campaign and how all of them were recruited.

My favorite episodes of television period come when a show breaks the normal format and tells its story in a different and unique way. A couple examples from this past year on broadcast television are Fringe’s “White Tulip” and Community’s “Modern Warfare”. The West Wing does this several times in the second season, such as the aforementioned “Two Gunmen”, and it comes again later in the terrific “The Stackhouse Filibuster” and, of course, “Two Cathedrals”.

“Two Cathedrals” is the episode I mentioned at the top that made me want to scream from the mountaintops and so on. In the episodes leading up to this one it becomes clear Bartlet will have to finally make public his multiple sclerosis. This brings up all kinds of questions as to his ability to run the country, and whether or not he will seek reelection. Things get even worse when it is discovered the President’s executive secretary Mrs. Landingham was killed in a car accident. This is one of the more heartbreaking moments I’ve witnessed in a television show, as the lovable, defenseless old lady was suddenly taken away from us.

Go ahead. Kill off this woman. I dare you.

In “Two Cathedrals” it is revealed that Mrs. Landingham had known Bartlet since his high school days, which are shown in some pretty incredible flashbacks. There is a funeral service for Mrs. Landingham, after which Bartlet is given time alone in the National Cathedral. Martin Sheen then delivers one of the best monologues you’ll see on television or anywhere. He was nominated for the Best Actor Emmy for this episode, but I’m more shocked he didn’t win. He lost to James Gandolfini for The Sopranos.

The ending of this episode is the most emotionally effected I’ve been by television. By its very nature I believe television is supposed to be a disposable medium, yet The West Wing is a show that defied all of this, and it remains just as resonant today, if not more so. I am just two seasons in, but I’m not sure the show will at any point match the high I have seen. All politicians and potential politicians should be made to watch this show. I’m not even joking when I say it would make the world a better place. It may make you gag to read it, but it’s true.

(That was BY FAR my longest entry yet.)