West Wing is back
I don't mean that West Wing is showing new episodes. I don't even mean that they just started a new season. I mean that they seem to have recaptured the magic that made the West Wing one of the best TV shows on the air.

Aaron Sorkin has never had a bad project. He has never made a bad movie or a bad TV show. His stuff is intelligent, literate, funny, powerful, and fast-paced. When he left the show in the last season, the series almost completely fell apart. I know they got one of the original developers of ER to take over for him, but it was clear that the new crew didn't understand the show the way the old crew did. As soon as the new season started, people were acting slow, stupid, and entirely to wrapped up in romantic tangles (there was romance in the first few seasons, but it never got in the way of good story before).

I was thinking that the entire series might have jumped the shark when they recovered Zoe (Sorry, don't want to give any spoilers if you haven't already seen it). I watched the rest of the season just because I was a fan. A fan has to watch the episodes until he can bear it no more. I almost didn't notice that there was a new West Wing episode today, but TiVo is, as always, on the job.

This episode was astonishing. It was elegant, precise, intelligent, sophisticated, sly, and powerful. It was everything the series used to be. God, I hope they don't blow it this season.
- posted by BrandG @ 9:09 PM