Farewell to ‘The West Wing’
Wednesday, January 25th, 2006
It was announced today that the American Political drama NBCs ‘The West Wing’ will be taken off the air after its steady decline in viewers from 17.2 million at its peak to around 8 million since the departure of writer Aaron Sorkin at the end of the forth season. The final episode will screen on May 14 and marks the end of an era for all involved with the show and viewers worldwide.
John Spencer, who played the key role of White House chief of staff Leo McGarry died of a heart attack on December 16th, however the decision to axe the show had been made shortly before then. Ever since Sorkins departure from the show, I noticed John Wells seemed to struggle with the direction it was headed. After dealing with the plot written by Aaron Sorkin in which the presidents daughter is kidnapped, John Wells (ER) is left with a very intense storyline to continue with, but after that the show seemed to begin to struggle with washouts like ‘Access’
which I think would have to mark an all time low in the gradual worsening of episodes. I think most viewers would agree that ‘The West Wing’ was truly in its prime in the first, second third and forth seasons although a frantic attempt has been made in the 6th and 7th seasons to revive the show with a lot of out of the West Wing action on the campaign trails of 7 candidates to replace the term limited President Josiah Bartlet.
It has been a great show and the search for a brilliantly acted, witty, moving and informative drama on American politics is sure to continue for a very long time before anything like ‘The West Wing’ screens again.