Bartlet4America News Archive

Media musings: 'Lyon's' sparkles, 'Wing' flat

By Rob Thomas
The Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Remember when it seemed like Rob Lowe was making a mistake by leaving "The West Wing"?

Lowe's decision last year to leave one of television's best dramas seemed misguided at the time. Yes, the show's ratings have slid somewhat, but that was mostly due to ABC running "The Bachelor" against it. Creatively, the show seemed to have rebounded from a muddled third season, and in fact went on to win its fourth straight Emmy for Best Drama this year.

But, based on viewing both the season premiere of "The West Wing" and the premiere of Lowe's new NBC show, "The Lyon's Den," Lowe's defection is starting to look like smart thinking. Because while "The Lyon's Den" shows some real promise, "The West Wing" showed some real trouble spots.

"The West Wing," which airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays on WMTV/Channel 15, was in the process of wrapping up the cliffhanger from last season, in which President Bartlett's daughter Zoey was kidnapped, and a distraught Bartlett stepped down rather than allow himself to be manipulated by terrorists. Since the vice president had conveniently resigned because of a sex scandal in the previous episode, that left the presidency in the hands of the speaker of the House, a hard-line Republican (John Goodman).

In Wednesday's episode, the Republicans are running the roost in the White House, while the "West Wing" regulars sit nervously on the sidelines and watch as a trigger-happy Goodman blusters his way into a military confrontation with the terrorist-harboring country of Qumar.

Goodman was terrific in his first appearance last year, but this season his performance seems a little crude and overbearing. It's like Walter from "The Big Lebowski" has his finger on the button. The one really nice touch is that Goodman brings a yappy little dog with him into the Oval Office. The mutt scratches at the window and sheds on the antique furniture, a clever if overheated metaphor for how the cast sees the uncouth conservative interlopers.

But all the tense Situation Room scenes and other hyped-up drama can't obscure the fact that there's a gigantic hole in "The West Wing" left by creator Aaron Sorkin and executive producer Thomas Schlamme's departure at the end of last season. Sorkin's dialogue is unlike anything else on television -- funny and perceptive and graceful and, above all, in love with the idea of conversation itself. Even when Sorkin wasn't directly responsible for a "West Wing" script, you could feel his influence upon it.

There was none of that in Wednesday's episode, which was written by the show's new head honcho, executive producer John Wells. The writing was capable enough, but had none of the music of a good Sorkin script. People said what they meant and moved on to the next scene. Perhaps the cast was supposed to be so distraught over Zoey's abduction that they couldn't say anything memorable. We'll see.

Wells has been involved in "The West Wing" from the start, so he knows his way around the show and its characters. But in interviews, he expresses a desire to tinker with the show to attract casual viewers, which usually means big-name guest stars and unbelievable plot twists that play well on commercials. If you want to see a textbook example of a great show that constantly tried to "top" itself and ended up diminishing itself, watch Wells' other show, "E.R."

On Lowe's new show, "The Lyon's Den," which airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on Channel 15, he could be living just down the street from his "West Wing" character, Sam Seaborn. In the new show, he's do-gooder lawyer Jack Turner in Washington, D.C., trying to navigate the world of power politics while helping the downtrodden. In Sunday's episode, for example, he's helping out a Nigerian woman seeking political asylum.

The case-of-the-week legal drama is nothing new on television, and "The Lyon's Den" is head-to-head going against one of the old pros of the genre, ABC's "The Practice." But what makes "The Lyon's Den" different is the ongoing, John Grisham-style story line that will be wrapped around that formula.

In the premiere, Turner's mentor died in an apparent suicide, and he's offered a partnership in the mentor's powerful, shadowy law firm. So, in addition to dealing with the case of the week, Turner will spend the season investigating his mentor's death and fending off the schemes of his corrupt colleagues, including a bitter rival (Kyle Chandler, worlds away from his nice-guy role on "Early Edition") and a scheming assistant (a terrific Frances Fisher).

The show has a great cast of recurring characters -- Rip Torn crackled as Turner's father, a carnivorous U.S. senator who apparently sold his soul in exchange for power, and only regrets not having gotten a better deal.

It's a tricky balance between serial drama and legal drama, but if it works as well as it did in the premiere, "The Lyon's Den" could give an underperforming "West Wing" a scare at the Emmys next year.