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November 07, 2005
'West Wing' rivals come off badly
by Doug Elfman
Chicago Sun-Times
Sunday night's live episode of "The West Wing" stunk so bad, the stench may have polluted everything it touched, including my ability to write about it. It was P.U. stinky, like a baby's diaper or a dog's breath.
It wasn't even an episode as much as it was an "event"; that's the word NBC employed in commercials. The show's two candidates for president, Sen. Arnold Vinick (R-Alan Alda) and Rep. Matt Santos (D-Jimmy Smits) debated live for an hour, answering questions from an actual newsie, Forrest Sawyer.
Making matters worse, the NBC News logo was pasted on the bottom of the TV screen, a slip of NBC's separation of fact and fantasy. Then again, before the show, NBC News aired a laughable undercover-camera investigation on "Dateline" about how people can buy more than two beers at sporting events. So I'm not sure the logo debacle is worse.
Sunday's event may have seemed like a good idea to someone at the network, because NBC moved "The West Wing" to Sundays this season and lost confused viewers. Unfortunately, "The Debate" was an artistic shot to both feet of a fairly intriguing **1/2 season.
The actors looked like anything but well-rehearsed candidates. They moved awkwardly. They stumbled over dialogue. Camera operators were seen walking around. And a camera view from behind the studio audience made it look as though this were a set and not a town hall.
Even the strongest thing about "The West Wing" normally -- its fanciful version of politics -- seemed unbelievable. This season, Alda has done a great job of selling a fairy tale, that his Republican Vinick is an abortion-rights supporter who privately refers to anti-abortion-rights forces as "religious nuts" that want to "enact their version of Leviticus into law."
But in this debate, the issue wasn't even raised. Say what?
There was one good speech liberals everywhere have been waiting decades for a real presidential candidate to make. After Vinick sneered about liberals, Santos responded that liberals ended segregation, won for women and African-Americans the right to vote, created Social Security, Medicare, the Voting Rights Act and the Clean Water Act.
"What did conservatives do? They opposed every single one of those things," Santos said.
Conservatives complain "The West Wing" is liberal, yet Alda and the script writers have turned Vinick into a mostly sensible, likable and presidential wannabe. But on Sunday, Vinick seemed like a crotchety Bob Dole, high on several pots of coffee and frothing to drill for oil in Alaska: "I'm sure it's a beautiful place. ... Clap if you've been to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." Uh, it's called a refuge because it's reserved for non-people.
And Santos came across like Bill Clinton on two pots of coffee, openly eager to raise some taxes.
Before this episode, both men seemed to be viable candidates in a fictional world. On Friday, a real Zogby poll showed "West Wing" viewers were inclined to vote for Santos over Vinick, 59 percent to 29 percent.
Now, though, it's easier to imagine swing viewers voting for someone not on the "West Wing" ticket: the woman president played by Geena Davis on ABC's new "Commander in Chief."
Posted by Jo at November 7, 2005 07:44 PM