New West Wing: Regime Change

By Sam Cross
Staff Writer

The West Wing returned to television last Wednesday, fresh from its fourth Emmy but bereft of its creator and chief writer, Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin was responsible for the dramatic arc of the show’s first five years and also for the intellectual, heavily allusive banter of its characters. The question, now that Sorkin has left, is whether or not the show is capable of maintaining its tone and complexity.

The show’s new creative director, John Wells (who has been involved in a non-writing capacity with the show since its inception) seems eager to prove that The West Wing can remain relevant in today’s political climate. Witness, for example, the dramatic resignation of President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) in the face of his daughter’s kidnapping and his temporary replacement by the massive, stereotypically republican John Goodman.

Goodman barrels his way through the first episode like a vigorous human tank, spouting political improprieties crude enough to redden the sensitive ears of the show’s regular cast (advisors to the recently departed Bartlett). However, pains have been taken to lend Goodman’s character some depth. We are clearly supposed to sit up and consider the unthinking liberal bias we feel along with the old staff toward Goodman as he capably, if jingoistically, answers questions at a press conference.

This is probably for the best. Especially of late, The West Wing had resorted too often to ironic, superior eyebrow raising at the conservative policies of the never-mentioned but always incorporeally-present President Bush. While the Goodman character is open, by virtue of his immurement in heavy Southern-Republican cliché, to even more easy ridicule than Bush is, he is at least a present opponent. Wells has retained at least one outspoken conservative critic as a consultant for the show.

Unfortunately, Sorkin’s abdication of his role is felt heavily in the new flatness of the dialogue. While I was often tired by Sorkin’s smugly elaborate, unrealistic banter, I won’t deny that it was entertaining. It definitely did a good job of flattering arrogant, marginally involved armchair political critics such as myself into thinking that people like us were smart enough to run the country, and quick enough on the verbal uptake to confound easily the backward political ambitions of any conservative opponents that might crop up.

While Wells, who wrote this season’s first episode, has obviously strived to replicate Sorkin’s fast-paced style, the result is usually not comparable to earlier episodes, and is sometimes embarrassingly unsuccessful. If I can’t watch my favorite arrogant-intellectual avatars engage in the kind of offhand allusion to political history that I’m sure I could if given the opportunity, I’m especially uncongenial to verbal buffoonery on their part. This was my reaction to an unfortunate exchange in the first episode on the perils of mentioning recession.

The actors, however, continue to deliver excellent performances, especially Allison Janney as White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg. While Richard Schiff, as a supposedly brilliant presidential speechwriter, looks occasionally embarrassed by the lines Wells has given him to spit out, the overall effect is that of a team of talented individuals pulling together ably in the face of an executive crisis.

This, of course, is what the first episode of the new season is mostly about. It’s heavy on serious presidential goings-on, worries about the sanctity of the presidency, the appropriate response to terrorism, and the functioning of our government in a time of crisis. Wells and company wouldn’t have twisted things more topically if they had dramatized an invasion of Iraq.

To his credit, Wells handles this official mucking about proficiently; the swelling, somber music that rises up from time to time to ensure our serious emotional investment only rarely strikes a discordant, kitschy note. Things do get slightly out of hand as we’re treated to a montage of gifts and cards left for the kidnapped daughter of President Bartlett, but Sorkin himself was hardly innocent of wallowing from time to time in heavy melodrama. The fact that the scene and an ensuing somber Eucharist rely for most of their punch on the events of 9/11 is unfortunate but excusable. It would, after all be irresponsible for a show about the chief executive not to address these issues; erring on the side of seriousness is no great sin.

The show’s national plotline charges ahead as enthusiastically as its new President, and so manages to absorb its dialogic lapses in a national-security fueled rush. If the interstices between the flashing tactical maps and grim talk of bombing are somewhat tired, I’m still willing to allow the new writing team time to produce something a little more convincing in terms of interpersonal dynamics. I would hope, however, that for all its increased emphasis on relevancy, the show doesn’t descend into melodramatic unbelievability.

Watching Bartlett squabble with his wife over whether or not she should have been in on the decision to assassinate a foreign diplomat and whether or not the assassination caused the kidnapping of her daughter begins to strain my capacity for disbelief. Although the show’s new willingness to grapple with very current issues is refreshing, it has historically derived a great deal of its basic believability from its repartee; shifting back into a less fraught, more episodic atmosphere will be the real challenge of the coming weeks for “The West Wing.”

All this aside, though, The West Wing still does a spectacular job of bringing its viewers a compelling vision of American leadership. Martin Sheen’s beleaguered Bartlett has never seemed quite so human as he does now; he manages quite affectingly to be both a distraught father and a near-despairing temporary ex-president. Moments like these have transferred well into the new season, and not just because of the prowess of the show’s actors. I’m willing to play along with the supposedly edgy focus on current events, if it means I’ll get to keep enjoying scenes, and eventually plotlines, that maintain this quality.