Channeling Aaron Sorkin
When writer/creator/hyper-active-kid Aaron Sorkin left “The West Thing,” fans of the show knew this meant bad news. Sorkin was a cery strong personality on the show, the dialogue style unique to him. The complexity and strength of his episodes are above most everything else ever written for television. There’s some real remarkable stuff. So you’d understand the trepidation of a “The West Wing” fan during this period.
We were right. Season five, I believe, was pretty much boring. Maybe one or two good episodes in the entire 22 episode batch. Unispired storyline with none of the inspirational writing. The season finale was actually very strong, ending with that pitch from the mound at Camden Yards. It was a promising ending to a season that had little to show for it.
This current season, season six I believe, has been a rather nice surprise. While the dialogue style hasn’t returned, a good long-term plan with some very interesting dramatic moments is now in place and it’s very enjoyable. I’m starting to see where they are leading to (An Alan Alda/Jimmy Smits show down for President) and I like it a lot. The potential is huge. Where last season it seemed the writers were flailing, hoping someone would come along to save them from their sinking ship, this season seems like the boat is now in stable waters, women wearing barely nothing abound on the promenade and everyone has a Mai Tai in hand.
These past few episodes have been pretty great with some very good scenes for Martin Sheen. This last episode, where President Bartlet has his episode, was particularly good. I’d also like to know a bit more about Penn & Teller’s appearance. How they wrote it in to the script, what input the two of them had in the writing, etc.
If you abandoned “The West Wing” last season, I fully understand why. You might want to think about giving it a second chance this season. You might be surprised.
Oh, and the best line of the season?
Toby – “Oh, did they just burn an American Flag in the White House?”
Josh – “Uh Huh.”
