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August 13, 2004
It's hail to the chief (and farewell, too?) on 'The West Wi
BY PHIL ROSENTHAL
Chicago Sun-Times
There need to be changes in the White House, nearly everyone connected with the current administration agrees.
The question is whether this president -- Martin Sheen's fictional Jed Bartlet -- will get to complete his second term or get booted after this TV season, a year shy of the next inauguration in the parallel universe of NBC's "The West Wing."
NBC Entertainment boss Kevin Reilly readily admits the series "was ratings-challenged last year" and said executive producer John Wells, who took over when creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme exited a year ago, "is not in denial about it."
But what Reilly and Wells may not fully acknowledge is that, from a quality standpoint, the show is a mess, no matter what Emmy voters apparently thought in giving the series -- winner of Best Drama Series awards in each of its first four years -- a dozen nominations this past season, including yet another dubious nod in the Best Drama category.
Making conservatives less demonic and more intelligent was a plus, but overall the show was dumbed down, a fact only made more obvious when compared with the nightly cable reruns of the Sorkin/Schlamme episodes on NBC-owned Bravo.
Of the many low points, the absolute nadir may well have been when Mrs. Bartlet (Stockard Channing) did a public service announcement with "Sesame Street" Muppets Big Bird and Elmo in order for the fictional first lady -- and by extension the series -- to win over the masses through a softer image.
It was two things the series never was under Sorkin -- cynical and, even worse, just plain stupid.
"We're going to try to juice up that show creatively this year," said Reilly. "All I can tell you is it's not going to be business as usual. The one little hint I could say is that the Bartlet administration is clearly coming to the end of its term, and I think that's going to foster some really interesting developments."
Viewers won't get to vote on how interesting those developments are until Oct. 20. Unlike most NBC series, which will be launched right after the Olympics and the Republican convention, "The West Wing" won't begin its sixth season till then to avoid a conflict with one of the real-life presidential debates.
One thing we know: John Goodman, who breathed a little life into the series (despite an over-the-top plot twist Sorkin set in motion on his way out the door) as a temporary Republican president, says he has not been approached yet about any future guest shots.
Schlamme, who calls his "West Wing" time "the four best years professionally of my life," said he knew that "it was going to be a completely different show" without Sorkin and him. "For me to judge whether it's better or worse or whether I like it or I don't like it is disingenuous," he said.
The director, who's working on a promising series for the WB this fall called "Jack & Bobby" about two young contemporary brothers, one of whom will grow up to be president in 35 years or so, is among those who would not be shocked if "The West Wing" went away after this season.
"If I read the tea leaves, I would think that also [and] that makes me really sad because I think there will never be another show like that," he said. "But I also feel like we all did the best work we could and if that's the way it will come to an end, that's it. It might not, either. You never know."
Cast member Richard Schiff recently told the Associated Press, "I honestly don't think it's the last year, but maybe the year after that ... [and] that'd be fine by me."
Schlamme and Sorkin plan to collaborate again on "The Farnsworth Invention," a film for New Line Cinema that Sorkin has written. It's about the patent fight between Philo T. Farnsworth, the Mormon youth whose creation was the key to TV's development, and David Sarnoff, the older Jewish immigrant who managed to see that Farnsworth never profited from it.
"It's about inventions and corporations and greed and capitalism," Schlamme said. "In the movie, even though Philo loses the patent and he never made any money off of television, in some ways he's the winner. He still was the inventor. He knows that. His soul knows that.
"It's basically Aaron writing: 'You can't stop me from writing. You can take it. You can do something else with it. But I own the writing. I own the invention.' It's a great story."
To survive, that's what "The West Wing" needs: a great story.
Posted by Jo at August 13, 2004 12:29 PM