Just returned from the Shakespeare on the Rocks production of The Comedy of Errors and I've got the Beethoven going (late string quartets) with a nice stout in front of me. Naturally, then, now is the time to post some comments on the controversial NBC-TV series The West Wing.
[Note: This entry was completed and posted for the first time days later, on September 24, 2003.]
Well, controversial is as controversial does. If you read conservative political web sites at all frequently, you'll encounter plenty of comments on the show's liberal bias. Now, I find the show to be well-written, well-acted, and technically quite good. But do I agree about the bias presented?
Such conservatives really need to get over it. The show is produced by Hollywood types, who, yes, tend to be liberal, so why wouldn't it be at least somewhat left-oriented? It's reasonable to assume that a conservative or communist or Objectivist would present conservative, communist, or Objectivist values, don't you think? Wouldn't you expect that?
But it's more than that, and this goes to content: since the show depicts a liberal Democratic US president and his staff at work, then please tell me, what views should we expect to hear expressed?
That's what I thought.
I find the show to be excellent in general, and the "Isaac and Ishmael" episode particularly so. I do have some problems, though, even with that one: John Spencer's character, Leo McGarry, would NEVER have been interrogating that terror suspect in the White House. Why not? Because he's the frigging White House chief of staff, that's why not, and the Secret Service would never have let him in the room, even to watch, even for a minute.
Yes, yes, I know: that protective detail is for President Bartlet's safety, not for Leo McGarry's. But I also know that if I were the head of that detail, I would not let that day become "the day the chief of staff was murdered in the White House itself." Maybe on your watch, pal. Maybe. Not on mine.
Are there bits and pieces of PC to be had here? Yup--and there were in the "Isaac and Ishmael" episode, too. Pretty minor: you'll find them if you watch it.
The main esthetic problem I have with The West Wing?. All of the men wear their ties too long. Maybe they should be watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy...
Posted by Craig Ceely at September 24, 2003 06:08 PM