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May 16, 2006
'West Wing's' absence will leave us a bit less satisfied
By Mary McCarty
Dayton Daily News
Is it possible to miss people you never knew — people who, in any real sense, never existed at all?
After watching Sunday's final episode of The West Wing, I understood that it's more than possible. It was like saying goodbye to a group of intimate friends with whom you won't even have the chance to exchange Christmas cards.
I was smitten with The West Wing from the beginning. I was drawn in by the literate dialogue and clever scripts and the fantasy of a president as endlessly quotable as Josiah "Jeb" Bartlett. But most of all, it was the three-dimensional characters with all their quirks and foibles and complex motivations and the uncanny sense that you've known them all your life.
But surely I understood the difference between fact and fiction. So why was I feeling so anxious and blue before Sunday's final episode?
It didn't help that the commercial breaks were dominated by melodramatic previews for the season finale of ER (a shootem-up in the emergency room. Yeah, right, happens all the time.) "Oh, please, please, don't let anything like this happen to my characters," I pleaded.
That's when I realized it: I had allowed myself to become emotionally involved with a television show. I was going to miss the Sam-and-Diane relationship dance of Josh and Donna, the loving combativeness of the first couple.
I wasn't the only Dayton-area viewer finding myself choked up. "I got a little teary," admitted Macy Janney, who watched her daughter Allison's final West Wing performance on Mother's Day.
Allison Janney, who grew up in Oakwood, rose to fame in the role of C.J. Cregg, Bartlett's press secretary and later chief of staff. Allison didn't give her mother any heads-up about the final episode. "I stopped asking years ago," Macy said.
So she watched with the same suspense as the rest of us. She savored the Hitchcock touch of the cameo appearance by series creator Aaron Sorkin. She appreciated the subtle, naturalistic conclusion to each of these characters' stories. No mass shootings, thank God. "It was bittersweet," Macy said.
She felt proud of what her daughter had accomplished with both this role and with her career, learning to balance her personal life with a role that often demanded 14-hour days. "C.J. was like Allison in her sensitivity, and in being a very caring person, but it was more buried with C.J.," her mother said.
Janney revealed her character's vulnerability more and more as the series progressed. NBC's back-to-back showing of the first and final episodes made it clear how Janney had transformed her ensemble role into the show's emotional centerpiece. Janney did more acting, with fewer words, than any actress I've seen in a long time.
Macy Janney said her daughter will miss the rest of the cast but is looking forward to new acting challenges. "Personally, I'd like to see her back on the stage," she said.
You don't need to be a proud mother to hope you'll see Allison Janney again soon, on any stage or screen.
But I'm still going to miss C.J. terribly. And I refuse to get emotionally involved with another TV show, never ever.
This thing with Boston Legal? Just a flirtation.
These folks aren't real, you know.
Posted by Jo at May 16, 2006 09:12 AM