Letters to the Editor

• All Good Things Must Come To An End

  [Read the article: Will you miss "The West Wing"?]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  I am a college political science professor who has been unabashedly addicted to "The West Wing" since its beginning. I have used "WW" in my course on the American presidency with great success, as my students have enjoyed making both comparisons and contrasts between the presidency as depicted on the show versus the presidency as operationalized in real life. Despite its fictional license (e.g., consistently quick-witted dialogue, the collapse of complex world events into a 1-hour television show, etc.), "WW" regularly managed to do something that the vast majority of television shows today do not: it provided a vehicle for civic engagement. Whether its audience agreed or disagreed with the show's politics, the larger point for which, as a political science professor, I am inordinately grateful, is that "WW" stimulated political discourse among the mass population, many of whom are largely disconnected from politics. As a result of the show, some people found a reason to reengage in civic life, which for me constitutes a major way in which the show has contributed so tremendously both to our popular and political cultures.

  While I will deeply miss "WW" because I think that no other politically-oriented television show will ever hold a candle to its outstanding content and writing, I share the views of others on this list who feel that the show has come to an organic conclusion. Even before the recent death of John Spencer, I felt that it was time for the show to end because I do not think that its transition from the Bartlett administration to either a Santos or a Vinick administration would have retained its core audience, and I would rather see the show end on a critical high note than disintegrate into television oblivion. Even though it means losing one of my dearest television shows, I always liked the idea that the show would end with the Bartlett administration's two terms because this is what the Constitution requires; alluding to the future, as this season's premiere episode aptly did, is enough to let those of us who love the show as much as I do know that all of its central characters move on and succeed.

  Thank you to all of the cast and crew of "The West Wing" for providing a television experience that has been unequivocally educational, enlightening, and uplifting while also marvelously entertaining. Though your absence will be marked, television history is forever bettered by your presence.

  Permalink Wednesday, January 25, 2006 09:43 AM