I found a pretty good (not great) price for the complete season of The West Wing on ebay last month and finally got it last week (after the box sat in a post office annex in New Jersey for a couple of weeks for no apparent reason, even though it was going from Vancouver to California). I am now halfway through the second season, and damn if that show is not as good, and sometimes even better, than I remember. I saw every episode of that series as it was aired (except the one where a replacement is named for Leo as Chief of Staff, which I am looking forward to) but I have never watched re-runs on Bravo or anywhere else. This is a lot of fun. I know the quality drops some in the later seasons (particularly after Sorkin leaves) but the last season and half really picked it back up – and even bad TWW is better than most other television programs.
I had in mind the parallels between the last two seasons of TWW and the Obama campaign for several years – but I was not as focused on the parallels between the first year of the Obama administration and the first couple of seasons of the show. But like Obama, the Bartlett administration deals with the nomination of the first Latino to the Supreme Court, racial profiling by the police, Cap and Trade, Health Care Reform, the frustrations of the left wing with a moderate Democratic President (including pressure from the Gay and Lesbian community) which were a particular irritation to both Bartlett and Obama, and a President who smokes 2 cigarettes a day off stage. I am a little fuzzy about the end of season 2, but I now expect an arc about persistent rumors that Bartlett was actually born in Kenya. And of course, Rahm Emmanuel plays a starring role in both administrations. And yes, I have found and now use as the show's opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp6xUuMh5rA (or one of several alternatives - I like the way this one is done, but it would have been better if they had included Hillary Clinton). One thing I had not remembered was a reference to Osma Bin Ladin as a potential terrorist threat by Bartlett’s National Security Advisor Nancy McNally at the beginning of season 2 (this is after the shooting in Rosslyn, but BEFORE the attacks on 9-11), which means the Bartlet Administration was more focused on Al Qaeda in the year before the attacks than the Bush Administration was. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
