How many times can you fall in love with a TV series? Well, there are five TV shows that I consider to be the greatest gifts celluloid has given to humanity: Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Star Trek-Deep Space Nine, and The West Wing.
I fall in love with these shows over and over, and today, it’s once again with The West Wing — easily one of the best American television programs of the last 25 years. I picked up the season two box set and devoured the first 4 episodes. I plan to spend the rest of today dipping in and out, reliving wonderful, passionate, funny, poignant moments.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a quote from Keith Topping’s excellent episode guide, Inside Bartlet’s White House (which you MUST buy!) — he’s far more articulate than I can ever be:
“Witty, inventive, experimental, influential. By its very nature, the series focuses on the great issues of the day. Stuff that, however spasmodically, affects the lives of every person who watches TV no matter where in the world they are — racial awareness, drugs, gun control, homophobia, education, health, the economy, war. All within the context of a story about a group of extremely clever and idealistic people who work for a man who wants to make the world a better place. It’s about the jaded politics of compromise versus the politics of idealism and how, even in an imperfect world, the latter isn’t automatically squashed by the former.”
If you haven’t become addicted to this show…well, I simply don’t understand why you CAN’T be addicted to this show! It’s brilliant! It will make your heart soar. It will make you weep like a baby. It will make you laugh until you hyperventilate. And it will make you believe that people CAN make a difference in the life of their nation, no matter where they live. Go and watch it…and fall in love.
