Posted on 01/22/2006 11:18:33 AM PST by LdSentinal
NBC Cancels Emmy-Winning 'West Wing' After Seven Seasons, Makes Several Midseason Moves
PASADENA, Calif. Jan 22, 2006 — The new president on "The West Wing" will be a real short-timer: NBC announced Sunday it was pulling the plug on the Emmy-winning political drama after seven seasons in May.
NBC, struggling to regain its footing after the worst season in its history, also outlined several midseason schedule changes including the moves of popular dramas "Law & Order" and "Las Vegas."
"The West Wing" announcement wasn't much of a surprise. Although this season's story line with a presidential campaign involving a Democrat played by Jimmy Smits and Republican portrayed by Alan Alda has been strong critically, ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights.
NBC Cancels 'West Wing' After 7 Seasons Odds-On Oscar Favorites Emerge as Noms Near There She Is
The decision to cancel it was made before actor John Spencer, who played former presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack Dec. 16, said Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president.
"There's a point when you look at the ratings and say, it feels like it's time," Reilly said.
The series finale will be May 14, preceded by a one-hour retrospective. The campaign to replace the fictional Josiah Bartlet as president will be settled, NBC said.
Producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, who created the show and guided it through its early years, will not be involved in the finale, Reilly said.
"The West Wing" won four Emmy Awards for best television drama in a row for its tales of political intrigue. At its prime, it also offered NBC two valuable benefits: critical acclaim and the most upscale audience on television, an important drawing point for advertisers.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
...and it was pretty witty, too...of COURSE it would be a "rouge" (RED) state!!! LOL!!!
I'm with you. I watched all seven seasons. Great TV in terms of politics & dialog. Doesn't mean it wasn't biased, but often I felt Bartlett's stand was really what the GOP would do (ie they had Bartlett do the GOP thing because it was the right thing to do, tee hee).
And it's just TV, after all. As a political junkie, the show just fed into that. Good acting and I especially liked the set and the camera moves, how they'd do long continuous takes without a cut. Pretty innovative for a series.
But that's just me.
Would have been more interesting if the Pres was a serial liar who chased big hair interns and played golf while terrorists plotted against us and deported innocent kids to brutal dictators and had one major hag/witch for a wife... but that would have been too far fetched.
I'm probably in the minority here, too, but I liked The West Wing well enough until the last couple of seasons or so when it became blatantly left wing after Bush got re-elected. Same thing with Law and Order-which often had black and Hispanic murderers in the past. I loved Lenny and miss Jerry Orbach terribly. I hope they get more into the dynamics of the cops vs. the suits with Dennis Farina (who was a cop in real life).
You too huh? LOL! (I also have never watched Oprah, Jerry Springer or The View)
Leo McGarry often sounded like the lone voice of reason on the show and often cut through the ideological BS. And not all of the characters were total liberals like Josh Lyman-Toby was against socialized medicine, CJ supported assassinating terrorists, Donna believed in tax cuts.
"I still can't believe that Law & Order is still on the air after all this time. One would think they'd run out of ideas by now."
Well...I hope they don't cancel it anytime soon. My husband and I have gotten addicted to it now, probably because it's on somewhere on the dial 24/7!
NBC is also moving "Las Vegas" from Monday to Friday starting in March. Donald Trump is changing addresses again, with "The Apprentice" moving to Monday where it will be preceded by the Howie Mandel-hosted game show "Deal or No Deal."
If there are two schedule changes on Friday, then obviously "Book of Daniel" is toast. But you are saying this very Friday is the last episode ?
Yes. Ir was on a limited run and a absolute ratings and revenue failure for NBC.
Believe it or not, here in New Zealand "The West Wing" is bashed as US government propaganda. A lot of people actually think that it is the US Information Service at the State Department who produced the series!
But they shot eight episodes. I count five so far. Apparently they cannot give away commercial time.
I hope someone loses their job over this.
I agree. However, when Lawrence O'Donnell became involved it went in the toilet overnight...
Too bad. There is some decent programming out there. 24 for one.
I loved John Goodman in that roll... too bad Bartlett came back and they removed him from the scene; I suspect the ratings would have risen if he'd remained on the show. Is Goodman a closet conservative?
Good and double good! Book of Daniel only had any watchers because the MSM played it up. No wonder GE wants to jetison NBC and MSNBC.
Whoever is laying out where they place these shows is nuts... moving Apprentice to Monday's -- I assume opposite 24?? Crazy? Not sure moving Vegas to Friday's is smart Ghost Whisperer and SciFi Fridays will trounce it...
Law & Order had something like it in at least one episode, its SVU.
I've never seen "without a trace".
I've gotten really annoyed at the laziness with "ripped from the headlines" stories, but the ratings are still strong for all 3 shows, and the 4th that was cancelled wasn't even doing bad, but it was up against strong competition.
One thing that annoys me, is that former Senator Fred Thompson doesn't do anything to have any parts of the storylines ever changed, when he can, while Sam Waterston does allow his views to be reflected in storylines.
Only 7 seasons? Ha! What a failure of a show.
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