Come listen to a story bout a man named Jed (West Wing)

Member Name: Johnny Phoenix

Product:	West Wing
Date:	08/09/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Provoking, funny, moving, inspiring

Disadvantages: It's all done now.

Introduction
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The planet is overpopulated by people forced to share a world and sometimes it seems easy to believe that the only innovation that we have anymore is finding new ways to hate each other.

I think it was the poet Thomas Gray who said "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis a folly to be wise"

We cannot solve the world's problems - a lifetime is just too short and the problems are too big. If we could enjoy ignorance at least we wouldn't have an obligation to even try to make a start on solving the problems so that our descendants would be working on broken ground.

Alas, we don't have the luxury of ignorance anyway - so we endure.

So if we must endure, it is only natural that we look for things in life to stir our emotions, inspire our minds and tickle our souls. The West Wing will do them all and in any combination.


The West Wing
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This is simply the story of the President of the United States and his staff. Created by Aaron Sorkin, the story was divided into seven fantastic series which were shown from 1999 to 2006.

It is the dramatisation of the fictional administration of President Jed Bartlett (Martin Sheen) and his team of White House staff. The stories that make up their journey are as wide and diverse as life can be.

The series dealt throughout its course with hard hitting storylines of global significance and the personal relationships of the characters, their flaws, their mistakes and their successes.

The West Wing is a series for those that like to be moved, that liked to be inspired. It is for those that would like to believe that if there are fictitious characters that care as much as President Bartlett and his staff do about making the world a better place then maybe there are people in the real world that want to change things for altruistic reasons not for self-promotion or so that history will remember them.

Deconstructing drama is for English literature students and those days are far behind me so I will leave them to talk about metaphors and interpretation. I don't want to deconstruct things anymore I just want to enjoy them and let the metaphors and interpretations pluck away at my subconscious like they were meant to.

This is a series to enjoy and if you take my recommendation unless you are a political savant, don't even try to keep up with it. Sometimes it moves so fast it just washes over you and rather than leaving you frustrated that you could not match tempo with the sometimes furious pace of the political machinations you understand the chaos of the fast moving confusion.

One episode can be how they handle the threat of a terrorist operating on American soil and on another day, they could be fighting fires with political manoeuvrings, re-elections and personal crisis. Most of the time it is all happening simultaneously.

I won't pretend that every episode is fantastic, there are some slow ones here and there but not many and when it's great, it can be funny, thoughtful, provoking, moving and inspiring and it is a joy and a pleasure to watch.

Through the run the company of all of the strong central characters and all the supporting ones as well is something to be enjoyed.

Josiah Bartlett is the President of the United States. Martin Sheen has always been a superb actor but as "Jed" Bartlett he is a mesmerising and unforgettable character. I guarantee that by the end of the first series, you will at least have considered if only for a moment how great a world would be if he really could be the leader.

His aide is a smart young twenty-something Charlie Young played by Dulé Hill.

President Josiah Bartlet: 2,000 environmentalists are going to try to kill me tomorrow night.
Charlie Young: We should go, sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: They're going to come after me with vegan food and pitchforks.
Charlie Young: That doesn't really sound like something people do.
President Josiah Bartlet: Still, I'd like you to get between me and any boiled seaweed you see coming my way.

His long suffering but strong wife, Abigail Bartlett played by Stockard Channing is a perfect match ensuring that she does as much for women's issues as her status will allow.

The great John Spencer is the White House Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry the president's friend, confidant and pit bull all rolled into one fearsome personality. He won an Emmy in 2002 for this role but he should have got it every year.

Bradley Whitford, is also excellent as the Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, A sometimes cocky but completely adept political strategist. He is supported by Janel Maloney as Donnatello Moss who his is aide and there is a nice will they won't they for all you romantics out there.

Toby Zeigler is the Director of Communications, passionate to a fault and probably one of my favourite characters as he is portrayed by Richard Schiff as grumpy as he is brilliant. His forte is being the voice of the president, his speechwriter and sometimes his conscience.

Toby Zeigler: "If we choose someone with vision, someone with guts, someone with gravitas who's connected to other people's lives and cares about making them better. If we choose someone to inspire us then we'll be able to face what comes our way and achieve things we can't imagine yet."

Toby is assisted by Sam Seaborne played by Rob Lowe who probably surprised me the most. I knew Martin Sheen and John Spencer were great actors and when the series first started, I hadn't really seen much of anyone else apart from Rob Lowe and I was concerned that he may be typecast into the smarmy perfect all American boy. Rob Lowe actually stopped this opinion in the very first episode as his character of Sam Seaborn although equally as gifted as his boss Toby in both talent and passion also has vulnerabilities that make him an engaging character. This makes the contrast when he is mad so stark it is a credit to Rob Lowe formidable acting skills that I am sorry that I underrated him for.

Last but not least the Press Secretary for the White House CJ Cregg. Played by Alison Janney, she is the adept lion tamer of the press, quick witted and almost always unshakeable she is the jewel in the crown and my wife's favourite.

In the early series CJ allows Josh to handle the press for just one briefing. If you would like a preview of the class of this show then please enjoy the clip at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii4C3Wlp1lM&fe ature=related

You can get the DVD boxed set of the whole lot now for £49.99 or less which is a bargain beyond belief when you consider that the show won three golden globes and twenty-seven Emmy Award's in it's run.

The individual series 1 - 7 are available from all the usual places for around £15.00 or less and if you see it cheaper buy it.

Summary: A brilliant series well worth the money.