The brief back-and-forth I recently had about shows and their creators (following a great review of the Scrubs premiere) led me to pay a visit to my DVD bookcase. Over the years, my wife and I have assembled quite the collection of TV on DVD, and every few months I cycle back to the beginning and watch every show all over again. Well, since the baby not so much, but let’s just say that I have a fair number of cycles under my belt already.
Anyway, the back-and-forth was about Aaron Sorkin and his behemoth, The West Wing. The gist (if you’re too lazy to have clicked the link above) was that when a creator who is the voice of a show leaves, the tendency is for the quality to go with him or her. I suggested that this curse did not befall The West Wing, and was supported to an extent. Under contention? Season five. (Before I begin; one big mistake that Aaron Sorkin made? Letting Rob Lowe go.)
I know, get to the point. My point is, I decided to look back at season five of The West Wing. Mind you, I haven’t actually re-watched it, so this will be mainly from memory. The idea is not so much to recap, but rather to revisit some of the highlights of what some might have found a sub-par year. Hopefully, at some point, I will have the opportunity to do this show justice. Hey, if a two year-old case can be considered ‘cold’ on Cold Case, then a show that went off the air in 2006 can deserve a retrospective.
Season five opened with the unfortunately chosen premise of a missing first-daughter. Sorkin was no longer around, though he definitely wrote the cliffhanger at the end of season four that got us into the mess. Stockard Channing (playing Abbey Bartlet) was just awful. When the press started discussing the possibility that it was an assassination green-lit by the Bartlet administration that led to Zoey Bartlet’s abduction, Abbey flared up at her husband, President Bartlet (the always super Martin Sheen) and flung such zingers at him like “Your decisions, Jed, not ours.” Because she was elected to be what exactly? Or when she reached the breaking point and was offered some medication, she said she wanted whatever ‘they’ gave her daughter. We could have done without Channing for the season. Fine.
But how about John Goodman as Speaker of the House Glenallen Walken? He was outstanding during his guest spot as acting president, and if not for how much I wanted Bartlet back in office, I would have been happy for Walken to stay. The only other good thing about finding Zoey alive, besides Bartlet resuming office, was the larger profile it gave Dulé Hill. For a little while at least. The fact that the team was off a bit those first few episodes? Their boss had resigned and they were working for a Republican president who they had constantly been battling when he ran the House of Representatives. Understandable, I think.
Billy Bob Russell (Gary Cole is everywhere) may have been a ridiculous choice for vice-president, but his addition to the show was wonderful. He could never fully replace Tim Matheson (as Vice President John Hoynes), who also keeps popping up everywhere these days, but his character’s progression gave us some really great episodes farther down the line. And speaking of episodes: “Han,” the episode about the Korean pianist? Beautiful. So, okay, visiting tornado-ravaged Oklahoma in “Disaster Relief” tanked. But we all know that American presidents and natural disasters don’t mix. “Separation of Powers,” an episode that displayed brilliant dramatic acting by guest Matthew Perry (a precursor to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip?), stands alongside any classic Sorkin-written one. “Shutdown,” and the subsequent face-off between Bartlet and Speaker of the House Jeff Haffley (Steven Culp, another post-Sorkin addition) was brilliant. As was any scene between Toby (Richard Schiff) and Will (Joshua Malina). And on and on. Believe me; I left out a lot.
The finest, most pitch-perfect moment came in episode 17, “The Supremes.” The critical raves went to Glenn Close for her Evelyn Baker Lang, but the props have to go to William Fichtner as Christopher Mulready. Nothing more to say.
Long story short, I’m not trying to rank season five as my favorite, or to belittle Aaron Sorkin’s greatness. Rather, it was Sorkin who assembled this brilliant cast, crew and writers room. How he used them while he was around doesn’t matter as much as what he taught them about his vision before he left. From season five, episode one, on, they delivered.
Sorry to be so brief. Hopefully I can really sink my teeth into the show at a later date. In the meantime, what are some of your favorite moments in West Wing past?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 11, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
Aryeh: Thank you for shining a bigger light on our discussion.
Let me clarify that I think that the West Wing was the best television show ever (I say that without sarcasm or ironic intent). Granted, I’m a product of my time, and can’t compare to things before my memory, but for my dollar, it is the best. Ever. And I enjoyed a lot about Season Five, too.
My point before, however, was that Season Five (and parts of six) stand up as an example that shows who’s voice… DNA basically, are so intertwined with their original showrunner, are in my opinion better of wrapping things up than continuing without its creator.
It took the new team (which I realize included several people who worked on the show from day one, including the brilliant Alex Graves and Christopher Misiano) a long time to get comfortable, especially with the characters.
Aryeh, you make this point for me… What did you mention as standout moments in S5? Goodman as Walken, Fitchner as Mulready, Close as Baker-Lang, Perry as Quincy. New (or, relatively new, Perry did a couple of episodes in S4) characters played by Guest Stars.
Instead, we had the worst (IMHO) Christmas episode in a show known for its standouts. Disaster Relief with CJ dressing down Bartlet, who basically just takes it. Shutdown finished a storyline that tried way to hard to be ‘ripped from the headlines’ (albeit it several years late) and ended up just making all of the characters look directionless (Except for Josh, but especially Bartlet). The Stormy Present where a usually deft Toby spends 43.5 minutes making fun of old people. An Khe and its horrible characterization of Leo. I’d like to think I’m a pretty smart guy, and it took me four viewings of No Exit to understand if it was a drill, or not, or just a fake drill. Access and its “Flash Back” premise, which feels completely out of date when CJ gets promoted to COS in the S6 opener. (Not to be argumentative, but after Will Bailey went to work for Russell, what conversation did he and Toby have that wasn’t Toby pouting or throwing a hissy fit?)
Again, there was a lot to like about the Post-Sorkin era. You mentioned the Supremes and Separation of Powers. Kate Harper developed into a character I really liked (as long as we don’t speak of 90 Miles Away, which is a rule in my house). I enjoyed the heck out of Gaza, too.
But even when the show got great again (in my eyes, sometime in S6), it wasn’t the same ‘kind’ of show as it was before. The characters had the same names, and (for the most part) did the same jobs, but they didn’t sound the same as before, they didn’t act the same as they did before, they basically WEREN’T the same people they were before (Ask Richard Schiff if he agrees…).
And I think that point carry’s to other shows whose showrunner is so synonymous with the show itself. Back to the original post, I don’t think Scrubs would be the same without Bill Lawrence. In fact, I think it could weather Zach Braff leaving easier than Bill Lawrence leaving. I read somewhere someone calling for Shondra Rhimes ousting from Grey’s, which sounds just as ludicrous to me. Is Grey’s as good as it was in say, S2? Nope, but ask yourself why it was good in S2?
But could Bones go on without Hart Hanson? NCIS without Donald Bellisario? (er… oops) So yes, but in not every case is the showrunner such the “show.”
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m glad you took the chance to elaborate as well :-). We certainly see this differently (in the case of The West Wing), but I’m glad to hear that the show meant as much to you as it did to me. I actually hadn’t seen a single episode before “Gaza”, but at my fiancées behest I started to watch the show from the beginning. For me, since I got as much out of season six as season two (i.e. the same level of enjoyment) and I feel like I got the same thing from the characters (which I do), then to me, the show was true to its intent.
The important thing is that you still enjoyed the final few seasons, albeit for different reasons then the first. I get that. Our brief discussion just led me to think about some of the great things from that season (I could have written it about any of the other ones as well!)
I too was outraged at the way Leo was treated, was insulted by CJ’s promotion (her inability to understand the politics in “Han” should have been enough to disqualify her). Kate Harper, for me, was one of the worst directions the show ever went in. Awful, awful addition. But hey, that’s why we have so many choices on TV. I do, however, love Mary McCormack on In Plain Sight, so there you go.
As far as show-runners leaving? It’s tough for me not to separate the show from the creator, because, for instance, I believe Seinfeld only continued to improve after Larry David left. Not because he left, just because they got better. I guess The West Wing changed, but you could also say that they grew the characters differently. I guess it’s all about your perspective.
In any event, my hope is to give The West Wing its due here at CliqueClack, and to build a loyal legion of Studio 60 fans. If DVDs sales could do it for Family Guy…
I actually just finished doing a watch-through of Studio 60 last night, and again remember what a really good show that it was. Too bad Sorkin spent the entire run insulting half the country, and too much went into the Matt/Harriet stuff (That I still loved, but understand that others didn’t).
Did you, by chance, ever watch the awesome that was Sports Night?
*POST AUTHOR*
Yes, too much Matt/Harriet, too much Danny/Jordan (even though I enjoyed Jordan). The show should have been laser-pointed on Matt and Danny. It may not have bought it more time, but we could have had 22 hours of them before losing the show forever. And maybe some Cal pop-ins.
Never saw Sports Night, unfortunately. One day…
To answer the question you posed at the of the OP. I could spend hours (and hours and hours) sharing my favorite quotes. Its so incredibly difficult to pick just one moment, but in the same exact instance, so easy:
“This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole…”
*POST AUTHOR*
Good choice :)
Stop what you’re doing right now, go to the store, buy Sports Night, and then get back online in 22 hours.