What to Watch When Your Brain Hurts and the World Makes You Sad
Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 8:48PM by Deborah Lipp
Professor Spouse and I watch a lot of TV. This is absolutely ridiculous, because our first “OhMyGodWhoIsThisWoman” conversation was about movies. But the fact is, the Professor and I rarely watch movies in the evenings, largely because she is a Professor. She comes home from school either fried, or needing to grade, or both. These conditions aren’t conducive to paying attention to a movie, so we turn on the TV.
Lately, we default to the news, and, while Rachel Maddow is a television hero, sometimes the vileness of the current Presidential race is too much for our brains to process. We often watch great TV, which can be challenging and dark. What do we do when we just can’t face the challenge? The West Wing.
If you aren’t familiar with it, The West Wing was a political drama that ran on NBC from 1999 to 2006, following the presidency of Democrat Jedidiah “Jed” Bartlett (Martin Sheen) and his staff through two terms...
Created by Aaron Sorkin, it won a staggering 24 Emmy awards, including an historic 4 wins for Outstanding Drama Series, as well as acting awards for Allison Janney, Alan Alda, Stockard Channing, and John Spencer (among others) and a Golden Globe for Martin Sheen.
There’s something about watching network television that is strangely soothing. The West Wing is great television, make no mistake. It’s full of trademark Sorkin rapid-fire dialogue and snark, it’s clever, and it’s innovative. But you’ll never mistake it for something made for HBO or AMC. It follows traditional television beats and rhythms, and so it can be blazingly smart, and genuinely moving, without being challenging.
At the same time, it’s politically astute and intelligently liberal. Just as Facebook is always passing around one particular scene from Sorkin’s later show, The Newsroom, it’s hard to discuss gun control without someone quoting West Wing...
...and if you want to slam a Bible-thumper, West Wing is your go to as well.
From the second season forward, the show always incorporated smart, thoughtful members of the opposition: Republicans of integrity, played by such people as Alan Alda, John Goodman, and Matthew Perry. In fact, that’s the hallmark of the show—almost everyone is fundamentally sincere. Sure, they care about getting elected and about the cutthroat world of Washington, but they also care about issues. They believe in what they do.
If politics is getting you down, if the toxic noise of Donald Trump, and the spin machines, and the journalism-as-horse-race-reporting is making your heart ache, I recommend you Netflix an episode of West Wing and watch people of conscience debate issues of importance as if it’s the issues that matter.
Reader Comments (7)
Sports Night >>>>>> The West Wing
The latter caters to Sorkin's worst instincts, imo.
Ahem, Josiah Bartlet.
This was a great show, really my introduction to more sophisticated drama as opposed to episodic cop shows.
Guys, everyone should be watching Braindead on CBS this summer.
We have a lot in common, Deborah. My partner is also college professor who defaults to The West Wing, his all-time favorite TV series, for his viewing pleasure when he comes home from a long day of work. As someone who purposely avoided the drama when it aired on TV, I've only recently come to appreciate it through Netflix binging. It's almost criminal that Martin Sheen's performance doesn't count for one of those many Emmy wins, but Allison Janney as "C.J. Cregg" remains my favorite of the bunch. I don't know if it's because of the show's prescience or the repetitious nature of politics (because we never seem to learn from our mistakes), but it's quite surreal that as a nation we're still grappling with several of the issues which Sorkin and company addressed nearly 20 years ago.
My sister discovered this over the summer and is already blazing through the fifth (sixth?) season. It's become one of her favorite shows (if not her outright fave), for all the reasons you described. That's one of the best ensembles I've ever seen; I agree with practically everything Troy H said, but especially about Martin Sheen not having an Emmy. What the hell? Still, he's as undeniable as everyone and everything else on the show. It's fantastic TV, plain and simple.
The West Wing is my default show for sick days. Watch a couple episodes, take a nap, remember a more innocent time, even if it was a fictional one.
This was a great show, really my introduction to more sophisticated drama as opposed to episodic cop shows.