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October 19, 2004
'West Wing' staff shake-up is no run-up to old glory
By Bill Goodykoontz
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 20, 2004 12:00 AM
NBC is promising change on The West Wing this season, and the first three episodes deliver.
I'm already changing the channel.
The first three episodes involve a major staff change - what seems at first blush an unwelcome one, I might add - and the domino effect that sets in motion. Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits, representing opposite sides of the political aisle, join the cast in later episodes as possible successors to President Bartlet (Martin Sheen).
In theory that's because The West Wing follows the political cycle, and Bartlet is in the third year of his second term. In actual practice, it's tacit admission that the show as it stood at the end of last season clearly wasn't working anymore, and something had to be done.
It's a sad state of affairs, really. We're less than two weeks away from electing a president, what once would have been the perfect time for The West Wing to kick off a season. If only the show still mattered.
Sadly, it doesn't. What was once the best drama on a broadcast network is no longer destination TV - and, frankly, hasn't been for a while. We're starting the second season of White House life without creator and all-around creative genius Aaron Sorkin, whose grip on the show had already begun to slip by the time of his exit. Judging by the first few episodes of the new season, we're moving even further from the show's glory days.
Last season ER mastermind John Wells took over, so it's probably no surprise that The West Wing is looking more like a political version of County General all the time - right down to the by-now familiar cracked-open chest during open-heart surgery on one of the principals in one of the new episodes. Even at its best, ER got by on pure adrenaline; snappy dialogue was just occasional gravy.
The West Wing, on the other hand, in its first two or three magical seasons served as political wish fulfillment almost solely on the strength of the incredibly dense, intelligent lines Sorkin put into the mouths of his talented cast. Sheen's never been better, Allison Janney is an Emmy magnet and Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford and John Spencer have taken home Emmy hardware as well.
It's still a great cast, bolstered by the addition of Joshua Malina. They just don't have particularly interesting things to say anymore, mostly leaden platitudes and the occasional joke.
When last we saw the show, Donna (Janel Moloney) was - where else? - in surgery after an explosion in the Middle East injured her and killed, among others, the beloved Admiral Fitzwallace (John Amos). The staff wants military revenge, Barlet's pushing peace and everyone's understandably worked up. The disagreements take a heavy toll as the president struggles to arrange negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The staff, meanwhile, flounders without direction, almost comically screwing up assignments. What? Since when have Josh (Whitford) and Toby (Schiff) been such buffoons? In their personal life, sure. But at work? No way. One of the fun things about watching the old West Wing was seeing a form of spin-free politics we wished could exist, no matter what your political stripe - intelligence and conviction carried the day. Amped-up TV tricks weren't needed.
Simply walking and talking rarely made for such good television. And rarely has it been so missed.
Posted by Jo at October 19, 2004 09:52 PM