Monday, April 5, 2010

The West Wing - season 1

"Lady, the God you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud." -Josh Lyman, White House Deputy Chief of Staff

The West Wing main cast

The first season of The West Wing is a stunning display of television at its best. OK. So Mandy Hampton wasn't the most interesting character ever made for television, but hey; At least they got a lot right. The casting came very close to a home run. Add the ability to make politic interesting, add the walk-and-talk, add characters with layers and humanity in both their shortcomings and their emotions, and you come close to summing up the first season of The West Wing. Of course you'll still be way short, as its strength is the complexity and that's not something you sum up in a couple of short lines.

New drama doesn't get much better than this. It's filled with passion and yet manages to use wit, relations and human reactions to drive the stories forward. They never bash their view to death with repetitions, but we're never in any doubt on were they stand. The first season of The West Wing is close to perfection in script writing and character building. Managing to keep the smaller episode stories interesting as they went along was the icing on the cake making it an instant success.

Who knew politic could be so interesting prior to The West Wing?

And between all these political victories and losses, it's all those small moments I'll always remember the most from the first season of The West Wing. Moments reminding us also the people with the most powerful jobs in the US are people who gets touched by others in so many ways.

The first season of The West Wing is nothing short of excellent entertainment. I've got no problem recommending it strongly if you have yet to get acquainted with the White House senior staff, and if you are familiar with them this might maybe serve you as a reminder to say hello to an old friend.

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