Oy
“The West Wing” is going right, according to this article on CNN.com. Exec producer John Wells sez:
“What we’ve tried to put forward in the Bartlet administration is a Democratic presidency that was a bit of wish-fulfillment of what you’d really want your Democratic president to be.
“I don’t think there’s any reason you wouldn’t want to see that show with a Republican.”
Reading this sent me running to the interview Playboy did with the cast & crew in October 2001 (See? I told you I buy it for the articles). To quote Bradley Whitford, the actor who plays Josh, the closest thing the series has to a lead:
“There is something inherently more heroic about a progressive Democrat than a conservative Republican…If we were a bunch of Republicans, the show would end with swelling music and we’d be jumping up and down and saying ‘Hurrah! We have managed to unprotect the land!’ ‘The tax break came through for the dot-com guys!”
And I thought “Buffy” fans had it rough in that series last days. At least “West Wing” has an obvious demarcation point, though–Aaron Sorkin leaves, and the show falls off a cliff. “Buffy” fans were fooled by the fact that Joss Whedon still put his name on a couple of shows and kept picking up a paycheck…
