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October 23, 2004
Can this show be saved? Yes, because
by Ellen Gray
Philadelphia Daily News
• Change is good, especially when it pumps new blood into a show whose core cast could use some shaking up. And if Alan Alda's not enough to get the show's heart rate up, Jimmy Smits could be.
• "The West Wing's" talky, policy-wonk characters might be more welcome than usual in an election year that's found voters tuning in to presidential debates in greater-than-expected numbers.
• Executive producer John Wells, who also produces NBC's "ER" and "Third Watch," has shown a willingness to make radical changes in order to keep his shows on the air.
• Think what Smits - and his bare behind - did for ABC's "NYPD Blue."
No, because
• Change is bad, at least when it risks losing the heart of a show, which to a lot of "West Wing" viewers means Martin Sheen.
• An already divided electorate, weary of partisan bickering, doesn't want to see more of the same when the news is over, and with a Democrat in "Wing's" fictional White House and Republicans in power on the Hill, there's bound to be plenty of bickering.
• Wells - who replaced "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin - may care more about keeping shows on the air than about the shows themselves (refusing, for instance, to believe that "ER" has become tired).
• Think what the FCC would do if "The West Wing" even thought of baring that particular asset of Smits'.
Posted by Jo at October 23, 2004 08:22 AM