just started watching The West Wing. first two episodes grabbed me right away.

I had heard this show was good, but I was hesitant to watch it because of my bias towards network TV being lowest common denominator type of stuff. I saw the first two episodes last night and I was hooked.

Great show. Classic Sorkin but not pretentious.

I felt the same way about ER.

If you do watch ER, stop after season eight. The show really goes down hill after season eight.

These days The West Wing feels like a naive third grader's fantasy about "good" Republicans.

Outstanding show.

It takes a bit of a dip when Sorkin leaves, but only slightly - it's still leagues better than most network shows even then.

Two Cathedrals is possibly the best episode of anything ever.

C_Pain posted...

Great show. Classic Sorkin but not pretentious.

i loved Newsroom, so IDK why this took me so long.

BewmHedshot posted...

These days The West Wing feels like a naive third grader's fantasy about "good" Republicans.

yeah I noticed that too. the conservatives on the show so far have been ... mostly reasonable (by today's standards).

TomClark posted...

It takes a bit of a dip when Sorkin leaves,

noted. when does that happen? it does seem quite long with 7 seasons and something like 22 eps / season.

mobilebloechel posted...

Well thats just false.

what great dramas have been on network TV? it seemed like once HBO and cable hit the scene, that's where the quality television came from.

mobilebloechel posted...

I mean you got cop drama like NYPD Blue, law and order, etc

admittedly, I never saw NYPD Blue or Homicide: Life on the Streets and I know both of those were critically acclaimed. L&O was good TV for a while, but really ran itself into the ground.

you are right about the comedy successes, i was specifically focused on dramas but I didn't mention that.

I prefer Green Wing.

Bump been trying to find this show to watch off and on again. Shame it's not on disney plus or netflix

Revisited posted...

Bump been trying to find this show to watch off and on again. Shame it's not on disney plus or netflix

its on Max in the US

TomClark posted...

Outstanding show.

It takes a bit of a dip when Sorkin leaves, but only slightly - it's still leagues better than most network shows even then.

Two Cathedrals is possibly the best episode of anything ever.

Agreed. I love the WW. I even got to watch a few episodes being filmed at locations like the Kennedy Center when I lived in DC. That was super fun.

A lot of it is political fantasy-but we need more shows like it to encourage people toward public service. A job in politics is very rightly considered a cesspool right now (Thanks GOP). I quickly turned away from a career in politics once Newt started laying the groundwork for MAGA in the early 90s. But if we dont start attracting smart, good people to public service, people willing to do the hard work of repairing the system and rejecting the Trump cult, then the only people in Washington will be your Gaetz, and MTG, and Boebert etc. etc.

We need more optimistic media about what can be achieved when honest people with honest disagreements engage in politics. If only Sorkin or someone like him could write it.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

noted. when does that happen? it does seem quite long with 7 seasons and something like 22 eps / season.

Season 5.

John Wells stepped up and did a fine job, though, IMO. The fifth season is undeniably the shakiest (although it's still very very good, the bar was just set super high), but to his credit he seemed to realise fairly early on that just doing what Sorkin was doing but not quite as well wasn't the best strategy, so - and I want to be vague to avoid spoilers for you - made the decision to pivot into a slightly different kind of storyline, and seasons 6 and 7 are back to being vintage TV (it helps that they add Alan Alda to the cast, because that dude cannot fail to absolutely own every second of screen time he's given).

If you like West Wing and The Newsroom, I absolutely recommend Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip - another cracking Sorkin show. It does have the fairly big elephant in the room that it's about a Saturday Night Live expy but the clips we get to see of the show itself are desperately unfunny - like, incredibly so - but ironically outside of the bits that are supposed to be comedy in-universe it's probably his funniest show, and if you're mainly familiar with Matthew Perry as Chandler (and who isn't, let's be honest), then I promise he will really surprise you with just how great his dramatic chops are. He's sharing the lead with Bradley Whitford and Steven Weber, who are no slouches, and honestly he outclasses both of them.

TomClark posted...

John Wells stepped up and did a fine job, though, IMO. The fifth season is undeniably the shakiest (although it's still very very good, the bar was just set super high), but to his credit he seemed to realise fairly early on that just doing what Sorkin was doing but not quite as well wasn't the best strategy, so - and I want to be vague to avoid spoilers for you - made the decision to pivot into a slightly different kind of storyline, and seasons 6 and 7 are back to being vintage TV (it helps that they add Alan Alda to the cast, because that dude cannot fail to absolutely own every second of screen time he's given).

sweet, thanks for the details!

I'll look into Studio 60, thank you for the recommendation.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

its on Max in the US

That's amazing, I just got an offer for Max! If there's a free month I'll watch what I want to watch and then cancel licketysplit

I saw the first season recently and it was rather good and I'll continue at some point. But it's definitely a Sorkin show in the sense that it is idealistic to a fault even when realism would be a better approach and the music constantly tries to manipulate your emotions.