Review of West Wing, The: Season 7

Introduction

Back in the late 90`s if someone had said to you `what do you think about a new series that`s going to follow the adventures of the US Administration?`, most people would have laughed their heads off and either conjured up images of paint drying or Air Force One (and I`m not sure which is the lesser of two evils here…). Hone in a bit and re-ask the same question but focus on White House Staff and people would be seriously questioning your sanity. Politics? Interesting? Maybe, but incredibly dry also.

Well, Aaron Sorkin had a bit of a vision and the long-running series named after part of the White House was it. The West Wing is the portion of the White House that houses the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room and the Situation Room. More importantly, for this series at least, the West Wing is also where all the President`s men (staff referred to as the Executive Office of the President) are employed. Essentially this series follows the Director of Communications, Chief Speechwriters, Press Secretary and Chief of Staff; how they mould Governmental policy and how they then sell it to the man in charge, POTUS.

It still sounds boring, but godammit, Aaron Sorkin (who, remember, wrote the equally mesmerising A Few Good Men) produced some of the funniest and poignant scripts seen on television in the last decade. Whatever he was using for inspiration, it worked. The West Wing was also responsible for the rehousing of Rob Lowe`s acting career, with this series supposed to be a starring role for him. That didn`t quite go to plan as Martin Sheen went from being a glimpse of a President in the most popular unelected President in American history.

Series 7 focuses less of the White House and more on the Presidential Election trail as Bartlett`s party successor Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) goes head to head with Republican Arnie Vinick (Alan Alda). Josh has taken the job of running the Santos campaign, persuading Leo McGarry to run as number 2. Meanwhile Patricia Richardson leaves Tim `The Toolman` Taylor to run the Republican campaign with Ron Silver.

Video

Nice clear, well contrasted picture filmed in widescreen.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack that is well subtitled.

Features

Nothing unless you count the nicely designed booklet containing all the episode synopses.

Conclusion

I remember watching the first series of this and being completely in awe of the quality of the writing and also the foresight of Channel 4 in showing it. The it all went pearshaped with Series 3, which C4 in their infinite wisdom decided to show on fledgling satellite channel E4 first. Then, of course, when it eventually came time to show it on terrestrial TV got hidden in the schedules that time forgot. And now we come to the end run and I`ve missed 4 years of this series. Cheers Channel 4, I never thought I`d say five were a better TV channel, but damn…

This series wraps up the presidential reign of Jed Bartlett (Martin Sheen) by focussing more on the elections that will end with Bartlett and company moving out of the White House forever, with US Presidents only allowed to serve two terms of office (could really have done with THAT rule over here a year or so ago…). Jimmy Smits gets the good looking Democrat nomination, despite the fact that there is some controversy in having a Latino President Elect (despite the description of the American Dream, it would appear that it really isn`t open to all). Alan Alda gets the nod as the Republican candidate and, in a real bi-partisan piece of writing, is actually as likeable a candidate as Smits. It helps that both candidates attempt to run a clean election despite dirty campaigns being written for them.

This series attempts to take you behind the scenes of the US elections and does so in a relatively detailed albeit interesting way. You get to see the issues, understand the reactions and how both the press and campaign staff work. There`s a collective sense of relief when things go your way, and a bottomless pit of optimism when things don`t. The less said about outside influences, even within your own party, the better. You also get a real sense of claustrophobia as you realise just how much work it takes to run in an election of this size and just how little sleep you get (anyone remember Charles Kennedy?) over the period of the election.

Then there`s the aftermath of the election, the staffing of the new administration and what to do next; winner or loser. We see the new President and wife struggling to come to terms with both the political and personal side of victory. The wife suddenly seeing just how much taking the highest office in the US will change their lives. We see campaign staff working closely together forge relationships that may or may not last longer than the election. It`s also nice to see the Josh/Donna thing resolved despite an early knock this season. Nice to see Rob Lowe again as well…

John Spencer sadly passed away during the filming of this final series and Martin Sheen provides a poignant introduction for his friend and colleague at the start of one of the episodes. Spencer is a thoroughly likeable person, both in person when I`ve seen him and in character. The same can be said of the other characters though, and I`m willing to bet that a very large number of Americans wished that the whole of the Bartlett administration were ensconced in the White House for this past year and those preceding it.

I`ve so much to say about this series and it`s inherent quality. There was said to be a dip after creator Sorkin left, but I didn`t feel it here. Despite many new characters, there were also the old stalwarts to make you feel welcome, I felt completely at home as soon as I hit the second episode. At least one TV series went out on a high. Now how many can you say that about?