West Wing

[atpeacewithme]

No thread for arguably the best television drama ever? Yikes! So I stopped watching after Season Four (I couldn't bear to see how marred the show would be post-Sorkin). But I am sad to see one of the show that produced moments that would make you cry out loud, "that was frickin incredible" and burst into applause in your empty living room is over.

[december]

I loved this show so much, but honestly the best seasons were 1 and 2. It would have been a show a lot better on HBO where Sorkin could do what David Chase did with the Sopranos and take extended breaks, just so he could write.

It did have one of the best casts on TV though the amount of times they hit it out the park or saved the writing/direction with their acting is too many to count.

[Peggy Lane]

I loved, loved, loved this show for so long, but it really lost something even before Sorkin left, IMO. I was still near tears Sunday night when it went off, and I haven't watched regularly in years. I think it was the packing of Bartlett posessions, with Zoe's picture going flying into the box that got me.

[atpeacewithme]

Good point about HBO. I never thought about it, but you're right - if it had been on HBO the show would probably been even more heart-stopping. But I guess the audience would have been smaller.

What does bother me is the way they treated some of their long-standing characters after awhile. Leo was the soul of that show. The nerve center. When they scaled back his role, the show suffered. And why was Toby treated with such disdain in the last season? Sure he wasn't a dazzler like Josh, but his quiet wit would just send shivers down your spine. Suddenly he disappeared from the show. After the lung incident, Josh Lyman became the star of the show. This ok because he had all the standard features of a protagonist -- but there was something ultimately empty about him.

CJ and Toby should have gotten together. No, they should have had an affair that goes sour. As I suspect all things with Toby eventually do.