The West Wing

[Dalty]

I have just discovered that every single episode of The West Wing is on Sky Catch-Up. Game on!

I may be some time.....

[omicron]

netflix has them all streaming too. I spent a large part of this winter plowing through the episodes.

[neglet]

I checked all these DVDs out from my library a couple years back. It was awesome not having to wait for the resolutions to those awful season-ending cliffhangers. Good show, and you only wish politics worked that way.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I've never seen a full episode of West Wing. I've seen parts of three or four. I've seen all of Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Sports Night started weak and ended strong. A lot of that is probably the fault of the odd mix of laugh track and walk-and-talk. It doesn't quite work. Sorkin knew it didn't work. ABC strong-armed him into laugh-tracking at the start, loosened their grip as the first season progressed, then finally let him have his way for the second season. Anyway, the cast was good, the drama was decent (if a little pushy), and the comedy was pretty solid.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip started strong, got weak, then got stronger toward the end. It seemed like maybe the writers' and performers' interest began to wain after it became clear that there wouldn't be a second season. NBC asked for some extra episodes following the initial thirteen-episode order, then asked for some more, then sort of said, "To hell with it. Let's try a full season. Maybe people will start watching, and we'll think about a second season." Maybe things felt like they were picking back up toward the end because all were making a real go for a second season. (That may not be how it went down, but that's how I remember it.)

I remember there being episodes just past the middle of Studio 60's one-and-only season where major cast members were absent. I remember articles assuring people that so-and-so hadn't bailed and that they only weren't there because they were only signed for X number of episodes for the season. My guess is that the leads were constantly having to redraw contracts because of the way NBC was approaching ordering more shows.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I think some viewers were also confused about which show was 30 Rock and which show was Studio 60.

This 30 Rock promo plays on the confusion:

[Dalty]

I also like The Newsroom.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I've only seen that one Network-like clip from the first episode that everybody shared.

[Dalty]

Well worth a watch. Man of your talents should be able to find it!