Tag Archive for: The West Wing

history of the west wing

The West Wing is one of my all time favorite shows. Every 1-2 years, usually between Thanksgiving and New Years, I will re-watch the entire series. With the exception of a few episodes (OK, maybe an entire season) it is one of the most consistently good dramas in recent history. Empire Magazine put together a complete history of the show, from creation (cleverly entitled The Campaign) it its end (Leaving Office). If you are a fan of The West Wing, you really need to check it out.

Have you noticed how much NBC loves actors from their hit 7 year drama The West Wing? I’ve noticed it in recent years as they have been popping up all over the NBC-owned USA Network since TWW went off the air.

  • Richard Schiff, who played Toby Ziegler on TWW, has appeared in episodes of Monk, Burn Notice, and In Plain Sight.
  • Joshua Malina, who played Will Bailey, has appeared in several episodes of In Plain Sight
  • Dule Hill, who played Charlie Young, is a main character on USA’s psychic detective show Psych.
  • Bradley Whitford, who played Josh Lymon, appeared in an episode of Monk
  • Mark Feuerstein, who played Cliff Calley, now stars in the new series Royal Pains.
  • Mary McCormack, who played Kate Harper, is the star of In Plain Sight.
  • Gary Cole, who played Bob Russell, has appeared on Psych
  • Tim Matheson, who played John Hoynes, appeared on Burn Notice.
  • Kathryn Joosten, who played Dolores Landingham, appeared in two episodes of Monk.

There might even be more, but those are the ones I could come up with.  They are all fine actors and I’m glad to see that NBC recognizes talent and keeps them in mind for future programming, even if for one episode.

I’ve been noticing a lot of similarities between Congressman Matt Santos from TV’s The West Wing and Senator Barack Obama and have been wanting to write about it. The similarities between the two candidates are uncanny. They both have to overcome race issues, take on prominent Democratic frontrunners, and a moderate Republican. Even in the TV show, the Democrats were torn all the way up to the National Convention when Santos was finally declared the official nominee. Is that going to happen with Mr. Obama and Hillary Clinton? Time will tell. My sister sent me a link to this video and I realized I wasn’t just reaching with these thoughts. Santos was based on Obama and his Senate campaign.

If you want to see the similarities between Santos and Obama explained check out this video.

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It was a good one. I was given seasons 4-7 of The West Wing. I love this show so much. It’s such a smart, funny, well-acted show. I also got a bunch of Best Buy gift cards. I spent those today when I went to buy an external hard drive. I got a 500gb MyBook. I reformatted it and partitioned it so both the pc and the Mac can use it. The Mac partition will be used with Time Machine. My Christmas prank on my sister was great. She got me good as well and gave me this really cool picture of the first pitch on opening day of the first Cardinals game at the new Busch Stadium. It’s very cool. Can’t wait to hang it somewhere. My other sister got me a cool Cardinals baseball (well, it was from my nephew) and the Wii Zapper which I am using to play Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 and, of course, Link’s Crossbow Training. It was a great Christmas. I hope everyone else had a great holiday as well.

I was always a fan of the show The West Wing. Being a person with a History degree that wants to teach social studies, this probably comes as no surprise. I thought it was the best show on television when it was on (except maybe for season 4; it was kind of a disappointment). I was sad to see the show end its run and was hoping that it would continue on with a new administration after President Bartlet saw his two terms end. Of course, ratings were down and Aaron Sorkin was no longer writing for the show, so it was time for it to go. I really miss smart TV. In a prime-time that’s filled with game shows and reality shows, a drama like The West Wing was a welcome change. Best Buy recently put all seven seasons of the show on DVD on sale for $14.99 each. How could I pass this up? I bought seasons 1-3 and will hopefully get the next 4 for Christmas (Lisa, Sarah, if you’re reading this, check with mom, she may be planning on buying these, if not, have at them :) ). I would have bought these DVDs a long time ago but they were expensive, at $50 per season, and reruns were on Bravo all the time. Now that reruns are no longer on the network and the price has dropped, I’m immersing myself with one of the all time best dramas that ever appeared on television. Seriously, this is a beautifully crafted show. I think, given a real chance, Sorkin’s follow-up, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip would have been just as good. It’s a shame the network’s no longer like smart shows. *Cue the imagery from Idiocracy*