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February 08, 2005
"West Wing" gets a makeover
In a run-up to a presidential election on 'The West Wing,' TV's revered administration tries to regain its momentum
BY NOEL HOLSTON
Newsday
Fellow American television watchers, we have an election on our hands - and a rejuvenated prime-time landmark. "The West Wing" is on the campaign trail and, in large part because of that, on the comeback trail as well.
Recent episodes involving the jockeying among several candidates - most magnetically Democratic Rep. Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) - to succeed President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) have boasted the political intricacy, invigorating pace and snap-crackle dialogue that were hallmarks of the NBC series before the Sept.11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington left it looking disoriented and desperate.
As created in 1999 and largely written by Aaron Sorkin, "The West Wing" thrived in its infancy on its idealistic contrast to the scandal-plagued final months of Bill Clinton's presidency and then to the ugly, disputed election of George W.Bush, whose inarticulateness was magnified by the TV commander in chief's voluble intellect. But once the terrorists struck and Bush began to project unexpected gravity and resolve, almost everything Sorkin attempted seemed hollow, whether it was the preachy geopolitical lesson he dashed off in the aftermath of 9/11 or numerous installments thereafter that plunged "West Wing" characters into contrived crises that seemed melodramatic compared to the nightly news.
Two years later, faced with fan defections, Warner Bros. Television and NBC pushed Sorkin and his closest collaborator, producer-director Thomas Schlamme, out the door. John Wells, a "West Wing" co-executive producer previously more involved with another NBC hit, "ER," was given full command. The 2003-04 season, the series' fifth, was marked by the absence of snappy, zigzag dialogue, which was Sorkin's trademark; an increase in melodramatic plots (contamination scare shuts down the White House!) and hostilities among the long-term characters that seemed to arise out of nowhere. Once-adoring critics, already disenchanted, sniped that "The West Wing" had become a crisis-driven show like "ER," with filibusters replacing defibrillators.
Convincing a cautious cast
At a midseason interview session in January 2004, members of the acting ensemble acknowledged they'd had reservations about the regime change but insisted they were pleasantly surprised.
"Being on a one-hour drama is like being in an acting cult, and it's like [Branch Davidian leader] David Koresh left," said Bradley Whitford, who plays deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman. "And I think all of us really wondered, 'Does the idea hold?' And I think that I do speak for the cast that there was a tremendous sense of relief very early on this season that the idea does hold, the characters hold."
Richard Schiff, sounding as blunt as his character, communications director Toby Ziegler, went further. He suggested that the clock had expired on the series' early "romantic lyricism" and that Sorkin himself, by ending season four with the cliffhanger kidnapping of the president's daughter, Chloe, had set the stage for a needed transition to a more naturalistic, reality-driven show.
"We're now into the inner workings of a White House that was pulled apart at the seams and is struggling to hold itself together," he said.
To many outside observers, however, Wells' stabs at naturalism - and Sorkin's, for that matter - often only underscored what a tricky business it is trying to mirror real-world coups and crises. "The West Wing" didn't become an Emmy-winning hit because it was "ripped from the headlines" like "Law & Order," but because it offered idealists a glimpse of something better. What has finally pulled the show back together is a renewed emphasis on politics and ethics. Well, that plus zippier writing and some inspired cast reinforcements - not just Smits and Alda, but actors such as Patricia Richardson ("Home Improvement") and Stephen Root ("NewsRadio"), cast as key Vinnick aides.
All these ingredients were gloriously present in a recent episode, "King Corn," which Wells wrote. It tracked parallel campaign mornings in Iowa of three candidates: Santos, Vinnick and Bob Russell (Gary Cole), Bartlet's vice president. It was as smart and quick and savvy as "The West Wing" has ever been - which means as good as anything on television, broadcast or cable. And it's pushed "The West Wing" toward what would be, if NBC renews it, the most ambitious, realistic restructuring of a TV hit since "M*A*S*H" rotated Army doctors in and out of Korea: new president, new staff, perhaps even a new party in power.
Plans for new prez, new season
"We're planning on returning next year, primarily being present up until the inauguration of the new president, whoever that might be, and then afterwards a glimpse into what sort of post-White House life that Bartlet might get involved in," Sheen told reporters at a Q&A last month with key "West Wing" figures. He said his preference is "a Jimmy Carter-type of ex-presidency...but we don't know how much of it is going to be attached to the show."
At this writing, NBC has not given a green light to a seventh season. The ratings aren't what they once were. The marvelous "King Corn" episode ran fourth in its time slot, beaten even by the debut of Paris Hilton's "Simple Life 3: Interns."
However, Jeff Zucker, president of the NBC Universal Television Group, pointed out that the series' diminished Nielsens are mitigated by its still having the most upscale, and thus valuable, audience in all of TV. He said NBC is negotiating with Wells, and the network wants the show to return and will renew it if a new license fee - what the network pays the producer - can be worked out. Pruning the cast of long-timers whose salaries have grown with the seasons is another incentive, beyond the creative, to change administrations.
Wells noted that the show is reflecting the historical reality that White House staffs come and go, even when an incumbent is re-elected. He pointed to a recent episode, titled "365 Days," which was "all about that notion of the amount of time that we have left" in the Bartlet administration.
According to Wells' general outline, the remainder of the current season will alternate among episodes set in the Barlet White House, episodes on the campaign trail and episodes that are blends of the two. A Republican convention will take place in episode 21, a Democratic conclave in episode 22, the season finale. The first half of next season will deal with a presidential race. The new "West Wing" president will be sworn in in early January, roughly coinciding with the date when real inaugurations occur.
Wells professed not to know yet who the show's next president will be. "I'm not trying to be coy," he said. "What happens is that we actually watch what's happening between the cast members, the issues that are being presented, what's happening in the country, and try to follow what makes the most story sense."
To a degree, the actors playing the candidates are truly "running" for the office. "What we're looking for always is the alchemy between the actors," Wells said. "It's referred to in writers' rooms as 'writer Darwinism,' where you're interested in the people who give you something interesting and who can play all the different kinds of things and who interact in a way that's fascinating. It's usually [that] you always guess wrong as a writer. You almost always think you know where it's going to go, and it never, ever goes where you think it's going togo."
Next year, the GOP?
If that means installing a Republican administration in a show that many consider fundamentally Democratic, so be it, Wells insisted. "Over the last few years, it has not been so much about Republican or Democrat as it has been about who you actually want to vote for," he said. "To put it into simple terms: the person that you're going to feel more comfortable with if you had him over for dinner in your own home."
Wells also said he and the writers "want to keep in the audience's mind this question of not only who you think would make the best president, but who are the people around that person who would make for the best administration. We're also trying to get kind of behind it and see all the questions that you have to answer for yourself as a candidate. Who are you going to be? What are you willing to sacrifice? What of your integrity? What do you have to do to be politically expedient? The political professionals telling you, 'It doesn't really matter what you say. You're just trying to get the votes and make a difference when you get elected,' is the recurring theme."
Wells is stopping short of making "The West Wing" election interactive ... la "American Idol." Production time lags make that impossible. What viewers can do, however, is cast ballots of a sort with their remotes to push the reinvigorated show's Nielsen numbers up and ensure NBC's renewing it.
With that in mind, vote "West Wing." And, as they say in Chicago, vote often.
Posted by Jo at February 8, 2005 10:12 AM