West Wing - The End of an Era
Well I’m sad to say that the finest television show in recent history (if not all time), The West Wing, has reached the end of it’s seven year run in the US. Of course Australian fans will have to wait at least year or two before the finale gets televised here. Of course you can always get hold of the DVDs when they come out - Amazon UK is releasing the Season 7 box set on September 11 this year - my pre-order is already in. But if you can’t wait that long there are other ways of getting the recent episodes to watch, if you know how and where to look…
I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen it, and who probably haven’t seen any of season 7 or even season 6, but I’ll just give a few general comments on the finale. The show bows out in a very graceful, almost subdued fashion, free from much of the hectic, frenetic pace and non-stop drama that has characterised the show. It was a nice end, but felt almost anti-climactic. Now I agree that the end of Bartlet’s Presidency makes a sensible place to finish the show, but they could easily have gone on with it had they wanted to. The recent election campaign has more than adequately built up a range of new and sympathetic characters to staff a new West Wing to make up for those that would be leaving. After a disappointing season 5, the last two seasons have been a welcome return to form for the show. Following the plight of the new President’s administration (I won’t say who won for those Aussie fans who don’t want to know) would have been very interesting to watch. But I guess we’ll just have to leave that to our collective imagination, unless the producers/network have an unlikely change of heart.
TV just won’t be the same without The West Wing. I started watching the new show “Commander in Chief” with Geena Davis earlier this year but gave up on it after a few episodes. It just wasn’t in the same league as The West Wing - more like the White House meets 7th Heaven. All that remains for me on telly at the moment is the Amazing Race - which was in my home town of Perth last week - kinda cool seeing places I know really well featured on a major US TV show! Only one thing for me to do I think, dust off my West Wing Season 1 DVDs and start all over again from the beginning. It’s been a couple of years now since I’ve watched those old episodes so hopefully it will seem fresh again.
Categories : Television, West Wing | 1 Comment
