Happy Tuesday everybody.
So, it's Tuesday. Not much on my mind yet. I've been working rather steadily until now. I'm taking a short break in order to... well, take a short break.
Anyway, I finished the West Wing season premiere. Wow. What a great show. Totally looking forward to this season. The previous season seemed kind of forced, probably due to the departure of series creator Aaron Sorkin (he actually left 2 seasons ago but season 5 had some good moments as it tried to deal with some of the predicaments Sorkin left behind on his way out).
-SPOILER WARNING. I will talk about stuff that happened last season and this new episode. Please do not read on if you don't want to know. Skip this post. -
Last season, however, the show seemed to struggle to find itself again. It had some very forced moments, like Leo's heart attack and Donna working against Josh and Josh and Toby's fight and CJ getting the CoS job. Fortunately, we're treated, this season, to the election storyline. It's always good to have an election storyline because they are a bunch of things that need to be done that aren't contrived. Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda begin their individual quests for the White House.
Overall, this season opener was very good. There was quite a bit of dramatic tension that's coming out of CJ as the possible leak. It's good to see Oliver Platt back as Babish. I like him and he had good moments with CJ in the episode. Also, Jimmy Smits is an awesome actor. He's just unbelievable in the role of Matthew Santos. He's very commanding and idealistic but not overly so. If he doesn't walk away with an Emmy nomination, I'm going to be very disappointed. (As a side note, Teri Polo looks wonderful. She should be on TV more. Just, you know, in general.)
As for negatives, the teaser before the opening credits was highly disappointing. It was well-written and well-acted but it just didn't belong in the show. First, it puts a deadline on the life of the show after the show. By saying that in 3 years, nobody who's working in the White House now will be working in the White House puts a definite damper on the possibilities of the characters after the show ends (presumably this is the last season). Also, it's almost cliche to start the prologue with "Three Years from Now" and then begin Act 1 with "Three Years Ago." It's effective in certain respects but Aaron Sorkin would never have written that intro and that's the biggest disappointment of them all. Also, the Josh and Donna moment was mixed bag for me. If Donna's going to remain a main character and eventually come to work for Josh, it works well. Josh denies Donna and he must go back to her. If Donna leaves now and never comes back (i.e. Janel Moloney leaves the show) then this was the worst exit I could've imagined for Donna Moss. I hope she comes back. Josh and Donna is one of the best on-going storylines on the show. Finally, it seems that Leo and Charlie have been put aside in favor of Santos and Vinick. I hope that more storyline is found for Leo and Charlie because they're both very good characters and deserve to be involved deeper than they are now.
So, overall, it worked. I enjoyed the episode and can't wait for more. Let's put Santos in office! W00t!
Anyway, I finished the West Wing season premiere. Wow. What a great show. Totally looking forward to this season. The previous season seemed kind of forced, probably due to the departure of series creator Aaron Sorkin (he actually left 2 seasons ago but season 5 had some good moments as it tried to deal with some of the predicaments Sorkin left behind on his way out).
-SPOILER WARNING. I will talk about stuff that happened last season and this new episode. Please do not read on if you don't want to know. Skip this post. -
Last season, however, the show seemed to struggle to find itself again. It had some very forced moments, like Leo's heart attack and Donna working against Josh and Josh and Toby's fight and CJ getting the CoS job. Fortunately, we're treated, this season, to the election storyline. It's always good to have an election storyline because they are a bunch of things that need to be done that aren't contrived. Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda begin their individual quests for the White House.
Overall, this season opener was very good. There was quite a bit of dramatic tension that's coming out of CJ as the possible leak. It's good to see Oliver Platt back as Babish. I like him and he had good moments with CJ in the episode. Also, Jimmy Smits is an awesome actor. He's just unbelievable in the role of Matthew Santos. He's very commanding and idealistic but not overly so. If he doesn't walk away with an Emmy nomination, I'm going to be very disappointed. (As a side note, Teri Polo looks wonderful. She should be on TV more. Just, you know, in general.)
As for negatives, the teaser before the opening credits was highly disappointing. It was well-written and well-acted but it just didn't belong in the show. First, it puts a deadline on the life of the show after the show. By saying that in 3 years, nobody who's working in the White House now will be working in the White House puts a definite damper on the possibilities of the characters after the show ends (presumably this is the last season). Also, it's almost cliche to start the prologue with "Three Years from Now" and then begin Act 1 with "Three Years Ago." It's effective in certain respects but Aaron Sorkin would never have written that intro and that's the biggest disappointment of them all. Also, the Josh and Donna moment was mixed bag for me. If Donna's going to remain a main character and eventually come to work for Josh, it works well. Josh denies Donna and he must go back to her. If Donna leaves now and never comes back (i.e. Janel Moloney leaves the show) then this was the worst exit I could've imagined for Donna Moss. I hope she comes back. Josh and Donna is one of the best on-going storylines on the show. Finally, it seems that Leo and Charlie have been put aside in favor of Santos and Vinick. I hope that more storyline is found for Leo and Charlie because they're both very good characters and deserve to be involved deeper than they are now.
So, overall, it worked. I enjoyed the episode and can't wait for more. Let's put Santos in office! W00t!
posted by Chris "Krang" Yang | 2:32 PM
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