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May 14, 2006
We're smarter, thanks to 'West Wing'
By MARK McGUIRE
Albany Times Union
Television partied in 1999.
That January, "The Sopranos" debuted on HBO. The summer brought ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which jumped-started the reality TV era.
Then came the fall, which gave us "Judging Amy" (CBS), "Third Watch" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC) and "Angel" (WB). Even UPN had a good year, debuting "The Parkers" and "WWF (now WWE) Smackdown!"
Then there was the best new broadcast show of that season, the one that would go on to slay "The Sopranos" at the 2000 Emmys. But the mob drama will survive its rival: "The West Wing" (8 p.m. Sunday, WNYT Ch. 13) wraps up its historic seven-season run this week; it departs among the all-time great dramas.
Smart shows are rare enough; it's even more rare when a drama makes its viewers smarter. The highly lauded drama -- which in recent seasons has faced charges of creative exhaustion -- has the hardware to prove it: 89 Emmy nominations and 24 wins, with one more awards cycle to go.
Martin Sheen was initially supposed to make a mere cameo appearance -- the President wasn't envisioned as a major character; the original "star" was Rob Lowe. Instead, "The West Wing" built the strongest ensemble cast on television, again proven out by Emmys: Allison Janney, John Spencer, Stockard Channing, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff all took home statuettes during the run.
The writing, initially penned to the word by creator Aaron Sorkin, featured smart people saying smart things while walking through narrow hallways. Such scenes, dubbed "the walk and talk," became the series' signature.
It used to be a TV rule: Shows set in the White House were comedies, and not very good ones. "The Powers That Be," "The Farmer's Daughter," "Mr. President" and even the epically bad "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" were just some of the forgettable benchmarks.
Sorkin's creation brought us inside the White House, the most important home office in the world. Turns out its just that: an office, with the same personality clashes that affect us schmoes in the more mundane 9-to-5 world.
But "The West Wing" did something else: It made smart television watchable.
Jason Whitlock, the fine sports columnist for The Kansas City Star, recently penned an ESPN.com column voicing disenchantment with "The Sopranos." "The problem now is I don't want to think this hard to enjoy a television show," he wrote.
"I have to think on my job. ... Doing the work necessary to keep up with 'The Sopranos' isn't real high on a normal man's priority list."
So we should be watching "Yes, Dear" and "According to Jim" and "Ghost Whisperer"? Remove your brain, place on coffee table, sit back and enjoy.
There's a place for mindless TV. There's nothing evil about occasionally zoning out to a "Friends" rerun. (But not "Full House." Never "Full House.")
Still, television isn't merely the "vast wasteland" FCC Chairman Newton Minow described in the early 1960s. (Trivia: He is the inspiration for the name of Gilligan's boat.) It's equally OK, and necessary in some spots, for television to make you think, to make you work, to challenge your beliefs and biases, to make you actually think about your worldview.
"The West Wing" did that. Unfairly dismissed by some as "The Left Wing," the series was able to examine serious issues in a serious manner while retaining its entertainment value.
It also wrapped public service with an ideal of duty -- not a bad idea in a democracy when various institutions are continuously under attack from the left and right.
In defense of Whitlock, here's what I wrote way back in 1999: "Doing an entertainment show on politics, especially a drama, is dicey for another reason: You are going to tick off half the population, or more, based on how you portray the protagonists. A liberal as hero? Same ol' commie Hollywood. A conservative as the ideal? Hand me the remote; let's see what's on PBS. Entertainment is supposed to take our minds off the real world of taxes and economics and Democrats and Republicans and the rest, not get us angrier."
Some shows are the exception. "The West Wing" was exceptional.
Posted by Jo at May 14, 2006 10:48 AM