West Wing, RIP

[troy]

Well, the retrospective is officially dead:

NBC is a bunch of cheap bastards

[Holland Oates]

Between this and the crappy John Spencer send-off, a black eye in the show's final season. Hopefully they pull off a great finale, but their recent track record doesn't give me much hope.

[troy]

I agree. Some people liked the Spencer episode; I thought it blew. It actually helps me, my feeling that two out of three episodes are poorly written and saved only by the acting. I don't get as mad at the developments I think are ridiculous, like the Toby thing, and I won't get mad if all the story lines are not wrapped up (like Toby's). It's like fan fiction written by someone rich enough to actually produce the episodes he wrote. Doesn't make it the West Wing.

[Joe]

Just a thought, but I think an interesting conclusion would be to show everyone ten years from now. I think it would be more interesting to see that rather than what I expect will be a pretty bland Inauguration Day.

Incidentally in 1989 I joined the masses attending Bush's inauguration. I'm no fan of Bush but it was an interesting experience that I would encourage anyone to do at least once.

[Sully]

First off, seeing a West Wing thread this morning, well, I can't even properly explain. Sure, the finale is five days away, but I have a West Wing thread on my message board. How freaking cool is that?

OK, what NBC and Wells have done to this show is sad. Overall, I must say, this wasn't a bad season. I liked how Election Day was handled, but the following episode, Leo's funeral, was a waste. The crap about him telling people lies all the time was completely out of character, too.

I have low expectations for this week. Wells himself wrote it. Deborah Cahn wrote last week's, which in many ways I didn't mind. I really don't care if Josh and Donna end up together, this show was certainly never about romance for me, I hate that crap in TV and movies, but I'd like to see a few final scenes between the old crew, maybe one last Oval Office send off with Sam, Toby, Josh and CJ, as the President tells Toby he's giving him a pardon.

Joe -- They kind of did that in the season-opener, when they're at the opening of Bartlet's library two, three years from now.

[troy]

I wouldn't be dreading the Wells-penned finale, for the reason I mentioned above, except for last week's episode, where they rushed through so much just to try to get everything resolved.

I'm setting my standards low. I'll be happy to see everyone and hopefully resolve the shuttle leak story.

[Holland Oates]

Seems odd that everybody getting laid has been part of the show in the last few episodes. There was always the sexual tension between Josh/Donna and CJ/Danny, but it is a drastic move to see them in bed together. Plus Will's relationshp with what's her name.

I don't have a problem with any of it, it just seems strange to have it all in the last few weeks after nothing in all the previous years.

[troy]

Sorkin has said he doesn't do that stuff well. But Wells, with the series cancelled, clearly wanted to give the viewership what he believed it wanted. He just wasn't very subtle about it.

Do you ever check out the boards at televisionwithoutpity? There are a LOT of people who were totally fulfilled about Josh and Donna hooking up, and couldn't care less who wrote it and how realistic it seemed.

[Joe]

Sheriff - Yeah, they could just expand on that episode a bit.

Oh, regarding the stuff they said about Leo, I've been wondering if the lies "Leo" would tell were actually stuff that John Spencer would do and if it was meant as an homage to Spencer.

[BobP]

Please let the ned with one last Bartlett being Bartlett moment and have him pardon Toby..