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View Poll Results: How do you feel about season 5 (the current one)?
It sucks, just like all the others. 5 25.00%
Much worse than previous seasons. 6 30.00%
Good, but not as good as before. 5 25.00%
Great - on par with previous seasons. 3 15.00%
Excellent - the show is only getting better! 1 5.00%
Voters: 20. You may not vote on this poll

 
 
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Old 04-15-2004, 12:16 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Rate current season of West Wing

For some reason I never watched West Wing on NBC. But a few months ago I started watching the reruns on Bravo. Right now I'm nearing the end of the fourth season (that's last year's), and I have to say the show has been pretty solid throughout.

But I've heard from some friends that the current season isn't nearly as good. Can people please give me their assessment of this season in relation to previous seasons? Please don't post anything that would be a spoiler to somebody who hasn't seen any of this season's episodes yet.
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Old 04-15-2004, 04:39 PM   #2 (permalink)
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I love WW, and I watch the current season, and they're trying, but it's not the same. I was sad when Lowe left the show, and everyone said Sorkin's departure was the death knell. The dialogue isn't as sharp, the situations are tense but in an uncomfortable way, and the last episode I watched resorted to a gimic, which was boring.
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Old 04-16-2004, 09:56 PM   #3 (permalink)
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It's manufactured "tense."

The neat thing about the show (I watch it religiously on Bravo) when Sorkin was writing the dialogue was quick and witty and the drama was simply folded in. You hardly noticed your emotions were being manipulated It wasn't in your face tension for tensions' sake. That's probably a piss-poor way to describe it, but what can you do?

Lowe left leaving a big ass gaping hole that they tried to fill. Just when the replacement character was starting to come round they relegate him to a background player.

This last season is filled with stupid camera angles, uncomfortable silence and, like Kadath mentioned, played out gimmicks.

The guy left to fill Sorkin's shoes producer wise, John Wells does a couple of shows for NBC; Third Watch and ER. That's sort of what the West Wing has turned into. This mush of trite drama inducing crap that plagues television. Instead of relying on good writing to bring folks around (a la Aaron Sorkin) they've resorted to forced melodrama (ER had a helicoptor crash and a tank "problem;" Third Watch consistently kills off cast members to boost ratings)

I know I'm ranting, but this season is such a let down from the previous. There are good parts in the latest season to be sure, but nothing compared to the stuff of the last couple of years.
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Last edited by guthmund; 04-16-2004 at 10:00 PM..
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Old 04-17-2004, 07:48 AM   #4 (permalink)
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I think it's been better, more drama, and I haven't really noticed the disappearance of Aaron Sorkin's dialogue.
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Old 12-11-2004, 04:56 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Just wanted to say that I'm dl'ing the irst and second seasons..the first was great , the second's ok, but I GUARANTEE that the third will have a laugh track...

Ok, wait,that was Sorkin's other show, Sports Night, wasn't it.

Or maybe I'm just seeing a pattern here...Anyone else ever watch sports night? remember when they started the laugh track on that show?
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Old 12-11-2004, 11:22 PM   #6 (permalink)
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The most recent episode (on the plane to China) was one of the strongest of the season, and of perhaps several seasons. I think this season has been quite good. But I cannot recall many, if any, times I've watched an episode and thought, "I wish I had that hour (42 minutes) back."
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Old 12-15-2004, 06:41 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyRoyale
Or maybe I'm just seeing a pattern here...Anyone else ever watch sports night? remember when they started the laugh track on that show?
Sports Night, I still contend, was the best written show on television,and it deserved more than 2 seasons. When they released the DVD I was in heaven... But the laugh track on season 1 is sooooo damned annoying... the DVD would be so much better without it.

This season's West Wing.. eh - -kinda sucks - it's no where near the quality it's been in season's past. The dialog isn't there... the story lines aren't there...
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Old 12-15-2004, 07:23 PM   #8 (permalink)
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The episodes this fifth season have been touch and go. I think most viewers will agree that it's not nearly the same quality as when Sorkin and Schlamme were there. I wish NBC would pay or give whatever those guys asked and bring them back, but the studio is a dinosaur, and they're just trampling to death what was once a brilliant piece of entertainment.

Putting Donna in the hospital was desperate. Killing off Fitzwallace was grasping at straws. This ER guy is no Sorkin. I bet the ratings reflect that.

When you have something working really well, don't you do whatever it takes to keep your aces in their darn places? I mean, they should have just canceled the show when Sorkin left. But they should have kept him and Schlamme until season seven, which should have been Bartlet's last term. Sheesh. It wasn't broke, and they "fixed" it. The NBC heads should find new work.

Now we're looking at Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits. Please. You have to bring in someone with the same caliber, the same momentum as Martin Sheen. Alda ain't it. Neither is Smits.

And I totally agree, there was a huge hole after Rob Lowe's departure. man, it used to be a great show. Now it's just a show trying to be great, not even.

I'm impressed with how well the cast is doing given with what they have to work with in the current writing....good work....

You know, it's like John Spencer's character talked about in tonight's episode. It's just time to move on. Bummer.

/rant
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Old 12-15-2004, 08:45 PM   #9 (permalink)
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I actually like the idea of Jimmy Smits as President. You have to go in a completely different direction from Bartlet with the next president. I just can't cope with the idea of Alan Alda. I hate that old man, although his turn on ER as a great surgeon losing his mind to Alzheimer's was really very good.
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Old 12-15-2004, 08:52 PM   #10 (permalink)
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I cant quite figure out if they are setting up Josh for season 8 of the West Wing, with Jimmy Smits as president... Or is he leaving the show, only to become a parttimer. But I like the connection between the two characters... I keep hoping it will get better... and the past two weeks it's shown improvement.
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Old 12-16-2004, 11:14 AM   #11 (permalink)
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I also hope for Jimmy Smits for president. I far prefer his style.
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Old 12-16-2004, 05:23 PM   #12 (permalink)
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Smits for pres. could be good but I sort of like Alan Alda, dunno. I do hope Josh stays though, I like him.
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