I have an obsession with the West Wing. You can stream it on Netflix and I truly recommend that you do. If you like House of Cards, The West Wing is up your alley and WAY more believable. The Writers’ Room of House of Cards has explained it like this: “The West Wing was what we hoped politics would become. House of Cards is what we fear it could be.”
Do you like the Newsroom? Fantastic, the West Wing has all that fantastic dialogue, only it touches on real political issues that are still relevant today. Aaron Sorkin wrote the first four (and the best four) seasons of the West Wing. The characters he established have remained poignant 10 years later. I was young when the show initially aired, but my parents were huge fans. As a result, I was aware of the plot lines and avidly watched seasons 6 and 7 from 2004 to 2006 (two of the three seasons not written by Sorkin). Unfortunately at the time, I was in high school and few of my friends supported my interest in real elections, let alone those by fictional characters.
Last year, the show was not on Netflix. I felt an overwhelming urge to re-watch the series and downloaded it. I finished the series just as it surfaced on Netflix. Since that time, I have watched the series the whole way through another 2 times, and individual episodes countless times (or you can buy the episodes on Amazon). My favorite, without a doubt, is Celestial Navigation, in which C.J., the press secretary, has to have an emergency root canal, and Josh Lyman, Deputy Chief of Staff, does the press briefing, accidentally creating a secret plan for inflation. The show is smart, but it understands that the general population may not understand everything they discuss. So Sorkin capitalized on “walk and talks” where the characters would cover the important topics and break them down so every viewer would understand what was happening.
Sorkin’s story creates characters that you love, and hate, and love to hate. And so many actors and actresses have cameos on the show. For instance Clark Gregg, who played Agent Mike Casper (Some have speculated that Casper was Coulson’s previous identity).
But in all honesty folks, the West Wing is a show I return to again and again, Each time I watch I catch a new reference or new joke that I didn’t catch in previous viewings. It is able to capture current events 10 years down the road, a feat that not many dramas are able to do.
If you are looking for similar shows, I recommend any Sorkin shows, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Sports Night, or The Newsroom (which is also on HBOGo).
