LTTP: The West Wing

Is The West Wing a new or currently airing show? No, but that doesn't really matter when it comes to television anymore—everyone watches their shows on Hulu, Netflix, or waits for the seasons to hit DVD/Blu-ray nowadays. To the point, The West Wing was/is a fantastic show about politics, but not really, that people uninterested in politics—me, myself, and I—can enjoy.

I never elected to watch—yeah, I just said that—The West Wing when it initially aired because I was relatively young and had no interest in watching a politically-themed show. I still have no interest in politics, but I am older and said to myself, "if Aaron Sorkin can make Facebook interesting, then I bet he can make anything interesting." I can safely say that all my expectations were blown away, though I would assume explosions capable of blowing someone away would not be safe, not safe at all.

My two favorite characters. -- Josh on the right and Donna on the left.

The show gets political and specifically deals with religion more than I would expect—still not that much—but it never feels too preachy, which is an amazing feat. It is hard to describe, but where I find most Oliver Stone projects to be a lecture on what I should believe, I find Sorkin's writing to feature his viewpoint, while not saying, "this is unanimously right and this is obviously wrong." The West Wing really isn't a political show, it just uses the setting as a home for its wonderful characters.

And boy, does it have a fantastic cast of characters. I don't want to start jumping to specifics because it's much better to experience than be told, but just know that Josh is my favorite. I never expected to be drawn into this world as I have become; I am emotionally suckered and find myself on the edge of tears more times than I'll admit. This obviously isn't due to great characters, writing and storytelling, but due to the fact I'm a pussy. Before I go any further, that last sentence was in jest.

At the time of this writing, I have made it through the first season and just a tad of the second. I am madly in love with the series and highly recommend the show to anyone and everyone. I am also extremely happy I didn't watch this when it aired because the season one cliffhanger really takes that term to heart. Tangent: I expect the show to falter after season four from Sorkin's departure, but I could be wrong. I would also be curious as to how high of a kite Sorkin was as he wrote The West Wing, or any of his work for that matter.