The West Wing... worth watching?

[ForFuckSteak]

It's available on All 4 free of charge so I'll get the shitty ads but ER was worth it, I'm hoping this is too? Need a new series to binge on and never seen a single episode!

And for those of you who came to it first time on streaming and didn't have to wait 9 months to see the new series, imagine the wait between the end of season 1 cliffhanger and season 2 coming out 😵

My late wife introduced me to it, easily best TV I’ve ever seen. Not watched it since she died, might have to give it a go again

I am a big fan of both WW and ER. They've got to be in the top 20 Tv series of all time.

But I do think WW has dated a bit more. But at the time the dialogue and camera work broke new (tv) ground - speed of delivery and expectation that viewers wanted a bit more meat on their storyline.

The characters are imperfect (particularly Bartlett) and annoying but I think that is a good part of characterisation.

This is worth a read

www.empireonline.com/west-wing/

absolutely

I'm currently rewatching er. Love it too.

West wing, in my opinion is just as good. I don't think one is better than the other they are just different.

Have you seen House?

This x 1,000,000.

I said to DH the other day when we were lookingf or something to watch how I wished I could wipe it from my mind and watch again for the for the first time.

Ooh there is a podcast?!

Well I know what I’ll be watching for the next few weeks!
what a glowing recommendation from so many 🤩

Ooh my prime version says it’s free with ads?? 😫😫

It's absolutely BRILLIANT.

And I love ER, but west wing is just a level up.

But OP it is important to note that Mandy (VERY annoying character) doesn't last long). So if you hate her that's ok.

I want to watch it again for the first time.

As soon as I have finished ER (again) I will be starting on WW.

'If You were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for red lights.'

Listened to an old Desert Island Discs with David Tennant - surely one of our best actors. His luxury item choice was the West Wing box set: he said it was the best TV ever made (apart from Doctor Who, but he had to say that). I think I agree.

I've never seen it either - will give it a go

Yeah it's BRILLIANT. It's an episode by episode podcast and one of the hosts is Joshua Malina who is very funny but also obviously knows the ins and outs behind the scenes. The other host is Hrishikesh Hirway who hosts another podcast and is a WW super fan. They're brilliant together and they get all the cast and crew on for interviews.

My son, now 18, has watched the whole thing without any encouragement. It’s brilliant.

If you like watching Martin Sheen making a stirring yet humble speech while staring off into the middle distance, you’ll love it. He does it at least twice an episode.

I just watched it for the first time a couple of months ago, I'm just pay season 5. I love it!

What I loved was it started was pre-internet - they still use paper reports and have real meetings and talk on telephones.

And all the cast look like normal people, not instagram-face painted over their face and fillers and botox. Real people with all their quirks.

I started watching a few episodes but it hasn't gripped me yet. I haven't given up on it yet though.
I was too young when it first came out.

Oh god it’s amazing. Am on my 8th cycle of watching. Enjoy!!!

But he’s also frequently less than admirable. He’s brusque, dismissive, intellectually-elitist and arrogant, can be a terrible bore, makes dubious decisions, not a great father to one of his adult children, conceals something key about himself (trying to avoid spoilers) from the electorate when it has a huge impact on his presidency etc etc — I don’t think the writing shies away from that.

Exactly. He's pointing out the ridiculousness of the religious woman and mocking her. He isn't proclaiming.

I've watched it 4 times. My 5th time will come.

"But he’s also frequently less than admirable. He’s brusque, dismissive, intellectually-elitist and arrogant, can be a terrible bore, makes dubious decisions, not a great father to one of his adult children, conceals something key about himself (trying to avoid spoilers) from the electorate when it has a huge impact on his presidency etc etc — I don’t think the writing shies away from that."

I agree. It's why I like it so much, he's not portrayed as this amazing president, but as a human who doesn't always make the best decisions and it shows him struggling with some of the decisions he has to make in office.

Yes, brilliant series. The only thing is it makes you sad about real life - Donald Trump v Alan Alda anyone? DH, who is not a fan, is terribly impressed with my grasp of American politics - gained solely through the West Wing

I agree. It's why I like it so much, he's not portrayed as this amazing president, but as a human who doesn't always make the best decisions and it shows him struggling with some of the decisions he has to make in office.

I agree, and this is also why I like it. The President and his team are all incredibly sharp, intellectual minds, all there on merit, but that doesn’t mean they are perfect people who don't make mistakes, they aren't people who have curated themselves into robots devoid of any individuality.

"Sensitivity readers" would make all those characters impossible to write today!

All of them (apart from CJ interestingly) are flawed - it’s what makes the characters so rounded and watchable. I want to be in their gang.