Fire, Noise & Information

Day 2 - Favourite Drama

THE WEST WING

My knowledge of the American political system far outstrips my understanding of UK politics. This is due to a number of things: the nature of how the respective systems have evolved, time spent studying them, my personal engagement with a number of different issues, but more than anything, it’s because I fucking love The West Wing, and following seven seasons of drama, intrigue and character growth is better than any political textbook.

I can still remember discovering The West Wing. The first episode I saw was “Evidence Of Things Not Seen”, which remains a favourite of mine, and from there, I was hooked. I watched the rest of Season 4 as it unfolded, finishing with that brutal cliffhanger of an ending, and then promptly went out and bought Seasons 1-6. Why not 7? ‘Cos it wasn’t out yet.

The West Wing combines many things I love – an appreciation of people doing their job really well, people in nice suits, an artful juxtaposition of the hilarious and the tragic, an often perfect deployment of soundtrack, Allison Janney – I could go on. But one thing towers above the rest – it is not ashamed to be idealistic. So much of modern culture is that of the snarky, sneering voice, dealing in the humour of discomfort or the tortured antihero who revels in violence and decadence. The West Wing is a counterpoint to all that. It shows people doing good because they feel a genuine drive to improve people’s lives, and doing it in an unglamourous, often harshly-criticized environment where their failures are public and their successes are often claimed by others. I realize that real politics is closer to the backstabbing, cuss-heavy world of The Thick Of It, which I also enjoy, but the idea that there are people out there like this (and I’m sure that there are, I hope I’m one of them) is more than just encouraging, it’s uplifting. Showing their battles, their bravery and determination, their wit and their passion, especially at the time, when the prevailing political attitude on both sides of the pond seemed to be one of willful ignorance and backhanded compromises, was essential.

Of course, as much as I loved the ideas behind the show, I loved the characters. From top to bottom, core cast to one-shot special guests, the acting was of the highest standard, and when the show wanted to break your heart or make you punch the air, it could with a power that surpassed any show on TV. Of particular note are CJ Cregg and Donna Moss, who, through the course of the show’s run, both have arcs that number among my favourite across any medium. The West Wing manages to stretch me intellectually, touch me emotionally and remain a comfortable old friend I return to again and again.

So I Watched The Newsroom…

It’s 3AM, so this might not be the most coherent piece of criticism.

I’m a fan of Sorkin’s work. I’m not a fan of him, but thinking an artist is an asshole shouldn’t mean you can’t enjoy their art, and finding aspects of a show problematic doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy others. I love Sports Night, for all its flaws, and I worship The West Wing. Studio 60… had a brilliant pilot but tried too hard to force politics into a show about comedy sketches, and the humour, both on and off the show-within-a-show, was weak.

The Newsroom had me hopeful - the political aspects of Sorkin’s work would be easier to integrate, and the cast included Dev Patel and Alison Pill, both of whom are great. Having watched the first episode, I’m really not sure. Most of the coverage I’ve seen has touched on Sorkin’s hilariously douchey interview with Sarah Nicole Prickett, which goes a long way to demonstrate why he’s such an ass, but frankly, there’s enough wrong with the show to provide plentiful criticism without pivoting to that. This fantastic post over on Hello, Tailor details a lot of them, and covers a lot of the ground I will - I highly recommend going to read it.

The main problem with The Newsroom is Jeff Daniel’s Will McAvoy. Sorkin’s protagonists have always had flaws, and often skirted close to being insufferable arses, but it’s gotten worse as his career has progressed, and Will McAvoy is so far from the charm of Casey McCall and Josh Lyman it’s ridiculous. Beyond an impressive ability to vamp a live news broadcast, he lacks any redeeming qualities. He belittles his staff, he refuses to acknowledge constructive criticism, he resorts to some hi-larious racism to identify his one Indian staffer. The fact that he finally manages to learn the name of his assistant is presented as some major emotional note, when clearly this is what human beings do all the time.

He speaks of the past as some glorious time when everything was better (which it arguably may have been in terms of television news, but certainly wasn’t in terms of society) but then doesn’t appear to hold himself to those values he champions. He clearly has no sense of humour about himself. There is nothing likeable about him, yet he is presented as a Great Man who will Fix The World (and of course it has to be a Man who will fix the world).

The show around Will was much better - the characters weren’t nearly as well developed as those in The West Wing, Sports Night or Studio 60… pilots, but they had potential. However, the fact that they will remain tethered to the black hole that is Will McAvoy may well render the show unwatchable. I’ll be back for the next episode, because it’s the kind of show I could enjoy, but unless the main character spends the next episode apologising for everything he did in this one, it’s going to be a tricky one to keep coming back to.

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