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September 24, 2003
'West Wing' returns with new leader
Emmy-winning drama back without creator Sorkin at helm
By Barry Garron
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 — This is not only the fifth season for “The West Wing” but also its first without creator Aaron Sorkin, who dominated writing duties for the show like few other exec producers.
ALSO, THOMAS SCHLAMME, exec producer and the director who established visual style for the show, now serves as consulting producer. They left the show amid glowing comments from NBC and Warner Bros. and an unmonitored record of Sorkin delivering scripts at the last possible minute, a worrisome decline in ratings and fears that stories were starting to go too far afield.
The fourth season also saw the departure of charter cast member Rob Lowe and the arrival of Joshua Malina and Lily Tomlin. Given the large ensemble cast, these changes, while noteworthy, did not significantly affect the tone or the content of the series. Sorkin’s departure was a different matter. His rapid-fire dialogue and thought-provoking themes defined each character and raised the intellectual level of the series above nearly everything else on primetime. More than anyone, he deserves credit for “West Wing’s” four consecutive drama Emmys.
In the season opener, the president’s Democratic staff finds itself serving a new boss, former Speaker of the House Walken, played with vigor and authority by guest star John Goodman. President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) had requested the transfer of power after the abduction of his daughter by terrorists. Walken is a no-nonsense Republican and a decisive Midwesterner with a propensity for shooting straight. (In theory, it is possible for a transition of power across party lines to occur, though in practice only vice presidents have succeeded presidents.) While Bartlet and his wife, Abigail (Stockard Channing), worry about their daughter’s safety, the staff is also concerned about the political implications. Those angles are easy enough to grasp.
Other developments, including the revelation of Bartlet’s role in ordering the assassination of a foreign leader and its possible connection to his daughter’s abduction, will prove more elusive for anyone who hasn’t paid attention last season. Last year, “West Wing” faced unexpectedly strong competition from ABC’s “The Bachelor,” which will not have the benefit of a novelty factor this season. That leaves the door open for a comeback by “West Wing,” but a lot is riding on whether new writers, walking in Sorkin’s footprints, can continue to tell intriguing stories without allowing them to become too complicated or fanciful.
Posted by Jo at September 24, 2003 06:55 PM