Posted on 10/14/2004 10:22:12 AM PDT by ejdrapes
With Bartlet term's end in sight, producer thinks of future LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The prospect of a change in the White House tends to draw a strong reaction, pro or con. Not from "The West Wing" executive producer John Wells, though. He seems unfazed by the coming end of Democratic President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet's tenure -- and maybe even a Republican successor. "We were a year and a half into the administration when we started the show," Wells said of the NBC drama entering its sixth season. "We have term limits in this country and so, on our electoral schedule, Bartlet's second term would end a year from this coming January." That fact foreshadows a hybrid season when "The West Wing" returns Wednesday (October 20, 9 p.m. EDT). Bartlet (Martin Sheen) grapples with his legacy while others fight for the chance to replace him. Among them are contenders played by two familiar actors: Jimmy Smits ("NYPD Blue"), who's a potential Democratic candidate, and Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H") vying for the GOP nomination. Also in the running is Vice President Russell (Gary Cole), with talented staff member Will Bailey (Josh Malina) at his side. Could Wells envision "The West Wing," if re-elected by NBC to a seventh season, with a Republican president? "I really could," he told The Associated Press. "What we've tried to put forward in the Bartlet administration is a Democratic presidency that was a bit of wish-fulfillment of what you'd really want your Democratic president to be. "I don't think there's any reason you wouldn't want to see that show with a Republican."Will 'The West Wing' go Republican?
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
If Gary Cole would be President as the Bill Lumberg character from Office Space, I would watch.
"Ummm, yeah, if you could vote for me, that would be great. MMM-Kay?"
"Moving the subject to me- I only discovered Law and Order about a year ago. I had no idea it has been on for many years. I think I prefer the Law side, though the Order side is good too. Of all the Laws and Orders, I think I like the plain Law and Order best, then SVU, then Criminal Intent... I think there is another Law and Order called Crime and Punishment, but it doesn't seem to be on very often. And as I understand it, there is yet another Law and Order on the way."
I like them all for different reasons. Sometimes the political message is too heavy handed, but I don't mind being annoyed as I talk back to the TV and call them idiots. Ha!
Yes, there is another coming out. I think it has to do with special investigators for district attorneys, but I may be wrong. My one complaint is that NBC repeats them so often. I don't mind repeats, but they don't go back to past seasons, which I would like to see. TNT also shows the older seasons.
Ha. Liberal Republican, maybe. Which is the same as Democrat.
I really could," he told The Associated Press. "What we've tried to put forward in the Bartlet administration is a Democratic presidency that was a bit of wish-fulfillment of what you'd really want your Democratic president to be.
"I don't think there's any reason you wouldn't want to see that show with a Republican."
I can guess. The Republican president gets caught up in a war he can't win and then it is revealed that he has been falsifying intelligence reports and his wife has an affair and his daughter commits suicide on heroin ...
Actually that episode had one of my favorite quotes from the show, the press secretary saying, "Some jobs don't require an army. They require a busboy with a silencer."
Among them are contenders played by two familiar actors: Jimmy Smits ("NYPD Blue"), who's a potential Democratic candidate, and Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H") vying for the GOP nomination.
Thanks for the ping.
The only way they'd put a Republican in this WH is to set him up for "impeachment" dragged out for one or two seasons.
Sorkin must be eating his magic mushrooms again and sipping the Zogby sauce to wash 'em down.
ROFL, where is that from?
Oh, that.....};o)
That's from South Park.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/
Well,maybe I'd watch it,But I'd turn the sound down and change the channel during commercials. ;-)
Alan Alda vying for the Republican position. . .
Ohhhhhh pleeezzzz.... *sigh*
The Make-Believe Rat Leaders and their rating must be doing as poorly as the live Rats and their Rat Gigolo Leader!
And Ah would be shawked if he wuddn't a Suthunah...
I did too. When they began to ignore the young blonde conservative on the show I bailed.
Every now and then, an episode lists as its writer "Lawrence O'Donnell"--yes, the barking moonbat from MSNBC--and you should stay tuned if you do. It will feature some of the most laughably stilted dialogue and left-wing hagiography it is actually laugh-out-loud funny.
No, it won't go Republican. Even if the cast of characters is completely populated with 'Republicans' they will be of two types: raging nutters and RINOs. The leftist underpinnings will not change.
That was either/both "Murder at 1600" and/or "Canadian Bacon."
I watched about 10 minutes of an early episode. That was enough for me. Never again.
The West Wing was written to fictionalize a dream White House where Bill Clinton was unfettered by opposition. The original creative consultants on the show were Dee Dee Myers and Pat Caddell.
Now, however, with Adam Sorkin leaving they replaced him with Lawrence O'Donnell. If you haven't seen O'Donnell on MSNBC lately, he's been a hoot. He was the one who dismissed the CBS-Joe Lockhart connection claiming that "all the media do that [notify campaigns of opposition research]," to which Joe Scarborough retorted "I've never heard of such a thing." Last week, in a debate between O'Donnell and Rich Lowry about the Kerry-Mary Cheney remarks, O'Donnell was trying to get Lowry to admit that he was afraid of the word "lesbian." O'Donnell went so far as to say "Lesbian, lesbian, lesbian. I'm all for lesbian sex. We should have lesbian sex everywhere, all the time." Lowry was trying to make the point that it wasn't Kerry's place to talk about someone else's family, but O'Donnell drowned him out with appeals for more lesbian sex on TV.
So, could Lawrence O'Donnell write a fair West Wing with a Repbublican administration. No way!
-PJ
I agree. Frankly I believe the show is done very well, and the show actually presents conservative issues pretty fairly. The military is portrayed with respect and dignity. There was a time that they had the actress that plays "Callie" on CSI played a rabid conservative as legal advisor to Bartlet. Wow. The character she played was Ann Coulter to the hilt. Very well done. I loved it. It was awesome the way she shredded liberal philosophies with logic. The thing was, they knew who she was at the start, but Bartlet wanted her in his administration: he didn't want to be surrounded with yes men, and valued and respected her intellectual accumen. The other character's pain was quite palpable that she was there. But one thing that was irrefutable was her logic, accumen and intellectual prowess. And that's just what Bartlet wanted advising him.
Moreover, the show has its humorous elements where the writers have fun with certain liberal idiosyncracies. In fact, there was one episode where there was a hostage situation and the FBI was at the scene. This one character was a true dyed in the wool bleeding heart liberal. After everything was said and done, her arguement for compassion swayed the President. People ended up getting killed because of that. The moral of that story was you can't negotiate with nut jobs.
I can't say that I enjoyed John Goodman's character. He played an arrogant pompous jackass. But I only seen the episode when he got sworn in.
I understand that the writers are probably liberals. Nevertheless, given that it could very well be a Republican slam fest, it absolutely is not that. Martin Sheen plays a President that is worthy of respect, and presenting a character in an office with the dignity and honor that it deserves.
If only 5% of the show is accurate with respect to reality, its a fascinating portal into what effictively must be normal day to day organized chaos in the White House.
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