As you've likely heard, The West Wing will be ending its run this year, which makes a certain logical sense what with Jed Bartlett riding off into the sunset and the untimely passing of John Spenser. And I can't say I was too interested in watching a Santos or Vinick administration unfold; as much as I like Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda, I don't think either could match Martin Sheen's performance over the series.
Not that we've gotten to see too much of him this season, what with the focus on the campaign and all. Which is interesting, given how the original idea for the show was going to be light on POTUS and more about his staffers. I think that's what's made this season seem uneven for me - when Danny went off on CJ a couple of episodes ago about how Bartlett was running out the clock, it was hard to say if he was right or not because we'd seen him do precious little of anything. It makes one long for the days when we got a Presidential aside about Assyrian history or Victorian typography or something similarly esoteric.
Many of the articles I read in the wake of this announcement talked about how the show made government cool or brought civics to the masses, etc. I wouldn't go that far. It was entertaining - at times - and instructive on how government probably operates - at time, and with a caveat about the show reflecting the ideology of its creators - but not exactly a treatise on government written for the current generation. More often than not, though, what we got from The West Wing was entertaining and at least a little instructive. That's more than we get from most prime time fare.
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