The West Wing Review

The pitch is a workplace drama set in the west wing of a White House nobody voted for, and Aaron Sorkin turns it into the most quotable network series of its era. Reviewers treated the first four seasons as a corrective to a decade of cynicism about public service, and the trade record agrees: four consecutive wins for outstanding drama series and an Emmy haul that tied the record for a drama and held that tie for years afterward.

Thomas Schlamme's direction is the other half of the idea. The walk and talk keeps a show about memos and vote counts physically in motion, and the camera treats a corridor the way other dramas treat a car chase. Martin Sheen plays Bartlet as a decent man with a temper and a secret, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff and John Spencer give the staff distinct rhythms rather than interchangeable wit, and Stockard Channing keeps the domestic scenes from turning into homework.

The objections are fair and mostly concern the second half. Sorkin leaves after the fourth season and the fifth is visibly lost, trading argument for plot mechanics and speeches for sentiment. Even at its best the series flatters its own characters, handing the opposition weak positions so the staff can win the scene, and critics on both sides of the aisle said so. It recovers for the Santos and Vinick campaign, which is the last stretch worth the original run. Nobody has matched the sound of it since.