aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

When The Joe’s Away

(Guest post by Harry from The Kudzu Files)

Joe, preparing to go walkabout, has foolishly left open a window in the cellar - you know, the one behind the large Formosa azalea, which he’s forgotten about because the azalea is overgrown - that window, he has left unlocked.  When that happens, sometimes someone will sneak in.

Me!

And just inside the cellar window, I found a License To Post.  Convenient!  And so, here am I.  What shall I do with this License To Post?  I think.....  West Wing.

I’ve been a devoted West WIng watcher since about midway through the second season, when I decided to set aside my preconceived notion that there was no way you could make a television series about the Presidency, and watch an episode.  The addiction was immediate.  And very soon, Wednesday night became Date Night for my wife and me.  We set every Wednesday night during West Wing as our time.  Friends and family learned soon enough that there was no point calling during WW.  We didn’t answer the phone.  If permanent damage can result from ignoring your child for one hour a week, then our daughter has permanent damage.  Even through seasons 5 and 6, when the writing stumbled, we stayed with the show.  Then came season 7, the current, and last, season.  Whether it was an infusion of old blood, and writers finally hitting their stride, or just better ideas, the result was a markedly better story line.  It helped than Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits were brought in, and having them run against each other to succeed Jed Bartlett in the White House made for a great season.  I haven’t looked at the ratings, but they have to be up.  (OK, I just looked, and according to a blog I hadn’t found previously - West WIng News - they are indeed up.) The writers have done something in this, the final season, that rarely happens in the world of television dramas - they have crafted a scenario that could give West Wing a totally new start, with fresh faces, fresh story lines, fresh everything.  And they didn’t even have to switch Darins to do it.  But I guess it’s too little, too late.  Sunday night is the last episode.  I hate that. And what I hate most is that we’ll probably see it replaced by yet another reality show, something like “Survivor Americal Idol Chef”, in which singing cooks will run around a tropical island trying to set up their portable Viking ranges and produce a seven course meal before another singing chef throws them off the island.

Anyway, Joe, have fun in the Czech Republic.  I’ll set the garbage can in front of that window when I leave.