West Wrong

Here’s a return to blogging form. For suggested viewing during my treatments and convalescence, my buddy Bismo recommended The West Wing, a show that — gasp! — I’d never watched.

I’ve seen the first episode, and I thought it was a classic example of “trying too hard.” As a political soap opera, the writing is gimmicky, with some silly, overwrought “film school” dialog. The first three scenes in this video are examples from S1 E1, ending with Tim “Jonny Quest” Matheson getting chewed out. The chief of staff can get away with treating the VP this way? Well, probably during Trump’s administration.

Introducing so many characters must have been a challenge, but it’s nonetheless paced much too quickly. The overuse of “walking with the camera” direction is very annoying. Maybe they thought that tours of their impressive sets would help to sell the series. It’s made worse by having way too many extras rushing back and forth in obviously choreographed timing. Seriously, there are that many people packed into the White House, running around every second of the day? The private lives and work lives of West Wing’s characters are, of course, mashed together. But every TV series does that, so I’ll give it a pass on that count. What’s up with the incongruous “you’re in a magical place” music? It reminds me of the superb series Brideshead Revisited, where the music is perfectly complementary.

West Wing’s pilot episode improves during the moments when it slows down, like in the scenes above, and when Martin Sheen’s character is introduced. Suddenly it’s less hectic and becomes more watchable. Which I suppose was the idea, highlighting how everything stops and everybody shuts up when the president walks in the room. All of the praise for the series must be deserved, so it must have found its footing, and I’ll keep watching. It’s now on the MAX streaming service.

In another TV matter, Verizon says they’re sending me a new DVR and, maybe, a router too, that I don’t want or need. Everything is exactly as I want it already, but I must install the new gear within 20 days to avoid losing television service. Which means losing all of the TCM recordings in HD I have on the old DVR. This could be when I finally drop cable TV and lose access to Watch TCM. I’m not feeling well enough to deal with it on such short notice.