Thanks to my DVR, I have rediscovered the West Wing. I love this show. I really had forgotten just how much I did until I started watching it again. They show at least two episodes every day on the Bravo channel.
The writing of this show was so great. The cast and their characters were so well developed and it just worked so well. Sometimes I wonder just how accurate things are, but for the most part it looks pretty clear that this is how things work to me.
The story lines are so intriguing, ranging from lighthearted to serious. There are times like when Sam “accidently” slept with the call girl and they all teased him about it for days; when they put the goat in Will’s office; pretty much Donna’s entire career; when CJ and Charley were having their “war” and playing pranks on each other; and just the day to day banter between the characters. Then there are the times like the assassination attempt; determining whether to intervene in another country’s civil unrest; or nuclear accidents. The writing for each of these story lines is just awesome. The characters each played their parts and you get to see how the system is supposed to work from the inside out.
Although I have to admit I got the biggest laugh the other day when I heard a line from one of the early seasons. It was the president and Leo (Chief of Staff) talking about a company run by a friend of theirs that was about to go bankrupt. The president said something to the effect of this – we can’t just go bailing out companies when they are failing. Oh, can you tell that this was an old show! I just burst out loud with laughter. If they only knew then what we know now, they couldn’t have written that line!
What is cool about watching this show this way is that I can tape all week and then watch all the episodes at one time one after the other. It’s like spending a work week at the White House.
Because I have this experience at the White House though, I have found out a few things:
- I find myself fighting the urge to say “Thank you Mr. President” every time I leave a room or say thank you to someone. I think it would be really funny if I did, just to see what their reaction would be.
- In comparison to running the country, my job isn’t really as stressful as I thought it was.
Just had to share my thoughts on it.
