Posted on 12/03/2002 2:42:44 PM PST by GulliverSwift
November 20, 2002
Regime change, anyone?
I'm not talking about Iraq, although its oppressed citizens obviously could use a more benign leader. I'm talking about a changing of the guard on "The West Wing." Maybe the time is opportune.
The defection of viewers from NBC's Wednesday-night White House drama is the talk of the TV industry this fall. Its overall Nielsen numbers are down about 20 percent from last season - 30 percent if you're talking about the important 18-to-49- year-old demographic. One theory - much discussed and at least as persuasive as the notion that viewers are bailing to watch ABC's "The Bachelor" or Fox's "Fastlane" - is that executive producer/head writer Aaron Sorkin has pushed the show into such blatant, in-your-face partisanship that it's alienating some viewers who, because of events of the past year, are feeling generally more conservative and specifically more favorable toward President George W. Bush.
Starting late last season and extending through this fall's election arc, Bush has undergone the video equivalent of being hanged in effigy on "The West Wing." "Saturday Night Live" and the all-but-forgotten Comedy Central sitcom, "That's My Bush," haven't served up a meaner parody of Bush than "The West Wing's" faux-Republican presidential challenger, Robert Ritchie (James Brolin), a Sun Belt governor with the most vacuous look this side of the inbred hillbillies in "Deliverance." Ralph Cifaretto had a fairer chance against Tony Soprano than Ritchie had when he met eloquent Democratic incumbent Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) in the series' big debate episode four weeks ago. Ritchie wasn't on the stump, he was a stump.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
It is very obvious that the liberals lack a 'feed-back' system to measure the degree of success or lack of success in their what they do.
For this reson, they will make the same mistakes an unlimited number of times and still won't admit to being wrong even as they are destroyed by them.
If any of you remember "Super Dave Osborne", attempting his stunts and always failing severly, you then have a good picture of the liberal approach.
They have never dared to look back and see if any of their ideas actually worked because they fear the truth and by ignoring it, maybe it will go away.
BRAVEHEART was about as close as Hollywood will go.
Could that explain why he migrated to Newsday?
Sorkin was also the writer of film "The American President", which had as one of its central issues the title character's noble fight for truth, justice, and draconian gun control.
Here's a post I write back in 1995 when that topic arose:
>}Someone please explain what and why people are talking so much about this
>}movie?? Help me out..... Thanks
>
> It is alleged that this movie makes - gasp, horrors - an
> "anti-gun statement". Heaven forbid.
An "anti-gun statement" is not the problem. Be my guest. Everyone's
entitled to their opinion. Just don't lie your face off while doing it
by utterly misrepresenting the other side.
If I lose a public debate fair and square, so be it. What really
chafes by butt, however, is losing one due to a massive wave of
lies, misleadingly presented truths, and the carrying of primarily
only one side's views. There comes a point when something goes beyond
a personal presentation of ones opinion, and enters the realm of outright
propaganda. When it crosses that line (and of course different people
are going to have a different opinion on where exactly that line is),
then don't be surprised when people react against it.
Let's hear what the screenwriter of "The American President" has to
say:
Aaron Sorkin: "We solicited a lot of material from the
National Rifle Association, and they provided me with utterly
no argument for people to pack weapons at all."
This is either his way of misleadingly saying, "they didn't respond
to my requests in time", or he's lying about what he got. Clearly,
the NRA would have no problem supplying such arguments, as they've
got a mountain of such material. It's one thing if Sorkin didn't
find it convincing -- it's another thing entirely to imply that
the NRA threw up its hands and said, "we can't make such an argument".
Also: "I realized then why we don't see Pat Buchanan and Phil Gramm
and Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich talking about why it's a good idea
that we have guns: There is no intelligent argument on the other
side."
*Excuse* me? If "we" don't see them talking about such things, it's
because "we" haven't been paying attention, Aaron. As for his second
sentence, he again reveals his bias and blinders. There is clearly
intelligent argument on both sides. I'll be the first to admit that
there's some intelligent argument on the anti-gun side (I just wish we
saw more of it around here, as opposed to the variety we usually get.)
Also: "To me, guns have always been an issue with which I find
difficulty seeing both sides."
Gosh, who would have guessed?
Al Gore - Season premiere of Futurama.
She was hired to give the republican views, and she was given an office in the basement (literally.) Actually the White House staff started treating her pretty well, and even showed signs of respecting her.
But on West Wing, there was always at least a slight representation of the conservative view. One of the secretaries, a blond maybe named Donna, once asked her boss (Rob Lowe) why the government needs to tax the people so much. The staffer's response was that people can't be trusted to spend their own money on the right things. He was dead serious.
That pissed me off until later in the show, Donna was going out to get the lunch, and Rob Lowe asked for a salad, and gave Donna a twenty. Donna returned with the salad, and Lowe asked for his change. She told him she was keeping it, because she didn't trust him to spend it on the right things. LOL!
But recent episodes have been nothing more that a 60 minute lecture by the DNC, and there is no question that the West Wing has jumped the shark.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.