I love politics. I hate The West Wing.
Last September's Emmys were supposed to be a showdown between The West Wing and The Sopranos, and as fans of the New Jersey mob drama would have liked, the results were a bloodbath. The battle ended with Wing clipping television's best show in nine of 18 categories.
Wing is like the old shoe of television drama. It's worn, comfortable, cozy, trustworthy and always there for you. It is everything that good television is not. After 50 years of broadcasting, the boys behind the little screen have stalled out. Every plotline in Wing has been done a dozen times by a dozen shows (usually it's a sort of president-themed Law and Order, but without the wit and the intensity of Sam Waterston or Jerry Orbach).
Unlike the real White House, West Wing is a bit short on excitement. The characters hem and haw as they try to hug just one more tree, but
Apparently producer and creator Aaron Sorkin is trying to give America the presidency he thinks it deserves-up front, honest liberals who will bury their political futures before they strike a deal. And while this is certainly a dispatch from reality, it's still boring as hell.
America already has one entertaining White House. I'll still take Bill and Hillary over Martin Sheen and Stockard Channing.
West Wing leaves you feeling badly for the real president, who Sheen's undynamic character is supposedly based on. If he is to be the second coming of Bill Clinton,
With the exception of the stellar-and gorgeous-Allison Janney, the ensemble cast is one large lump of lame. John Spencer is acceptable as the chief of staff, but he played nearly the same character on L.A. Law. The rest of the cast play interchangeable roles, and if you watch Wing on mute, it basically looks like a team of bureaucrats passing notes and making tired faces. Maybe it is realistic.
Wing isn't terrible, just disappointing. While The Sopranos makes you sit on the edge of your chair and Showtime's upcoming Queer as Folk promises to push the envelope right out of the closet, it would seem that a show about the most important institution of them all could be a bit more edgy and a bit less light.
Television might find short-term salvation in this loafer, but it needs some of those Nike spring shoes real fast.
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