Around Christmastime one of my friends from school mentioned that I should try watching the West Wing. I am a sucker for TV shows, I hate movies, they are too long, but a tv show is about my attention span. I love that the show resolves itself in 19 or 42 minutes, I love that the characters develop and change over time, and I love that when you watch TV shows on DVD there are no commercials. I do need to say that actually watching TV is hard for me, I can’t just sit and watch a show, so the more appropriate thing to say would be that I love to listen to TV shows. Anyway back to the West Wing. So a friend recommended the show, then Brian’s dad recommended the show (and bought all 7 seasons), and then my grandpa mentioned how much he liked it, so I decided to give it a try. At first I hated it- the characters were pompous, difficult to relate to, and I can only handle so much political drama- but over time it grew on me- I listened to all 7 seasons and it was fantastic! Granted it was better early on before the annoying characters arrived on the scene (Will Bailey- I just wanted to kick that guy), before the original writers left, and before Sam Seaborne left, but all in all it was a fantastic show- I would highly recommend it. I am sure you are asking yourself… “why should I watch that show?” Well here are my top 10 reasons why you should try it
10. Intelligent humor- you cant be an idiot and watch the show. While the show is entirely fictional , the history and humor would not make sense to someone that is not at least slightly informed about current events and US history
9. Mrs. Landingham- I loved this character- she was the president’s personal secretary and she was fantastic, it is worth it just to see her
8. Music- the show’s music is great, really it is beautiful, very presidential
7. escaping to a dream world is a lot more fun than watching the actual news- they solve problems like social security and universal health care on the show…
6. liberal overtones- to be fair I tend to lean towards the left sometimes, I liked the rants on gun control, peaceful resolutions, etc
5. Problems are resolved within 42 minutes of occurring- too bad real life isn’t like that
4. no action, just talking- the show is famous for walking and talking, no one gets tortured, there are no guns, feelings matter
3. Character Development- see point 4, you learn all sorts of things about the characters- so when bad things happen to them you actually care
2. strong, independent female characters- I hate shows where the female characters are shown as dependent and inept, the female characters on this show are shown as smart, well informed, and capable. Can you think of better characters than CJ, Donna, Mrs. Bartlett, Ansley Hayes, or even Debbie. These women hold their own, they have opinions which they articulate, they aren’t floaters, concerned only with their appearance- too bad more female characters aren’t like this
If you haven’t seen the West Wing yet, give it a try- it might take 3-5 episodes before you get on board but it is worth it.
3 comments:
I love your top ten list! Brad and I just watched The Supremes the other night after Sotomayor was confirmed. It's in the 5th season, but Aaron Sorkin came back to write it, so it's really clever. It's the one where they nominate the two extreme ends of the ideological spectrum for justices. I love that Josh comes up with the idea because of Donna's mom's cats. Brilliant!
I love the West Wing! I used to watch it when it first came on television with my grandparents and now, eventually, I'd like to buy the whole set and have a marathon. My favorite episode is the one that they made right after September 11th happened called Isaac and Ishmael.
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