Everybody Loves Live TV
I can't seem to wrap my mind around why people were so excited about the live episode of The West Wing. Yes, it was a fascinating hypothetical; but fascinating hypotheticals does not a drama make. We get the point John, you want to see real debate and real ideas in american politics. So do I. So does everyone.
After trying to subtly bring that point to bear for the first half of this season, we had the point smashed into our brains last sunday. I would give my two front teeth to see a real presidential debate like the one on the west wing. It was engaging, erudite, educational, and fun. It was not however, a good hour of dramatic television. Time magazine called the conflict between Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits something that the old seasons lacked. That may be true, but I don't think the live debate moved that tension forward in any real way.
It was, in the end, the most political of things. It was a stunt for attention. There is a bit of post-modern-life-reflects-art-reflects-life flair in that. While the hype of a live yet scripted show seemed to be droning out any criticism of the show, the fact remained that it wasn't all that good. We didn't leave the hour with any new insight, feelings, or opinions on the characters. Heck, we only got to see two of them. I left that hour feeling disappointed, not only in the show but in the real debates. And if I can both not like the episode, and feel effected by it... well I suppose that's something.
Comments
You know what it is? They're only making us feel worse about our real political situation. Because we'll never see a "debate" like that in reality. The last entertaining thing in a debate was Stockdale in the VP race in '92 asking use "Why am I here?" The Iraq thing, so thinly veiled, really bothered me, too. Iraq is not in the WW world. (Well, the country is, but Bartlet definetely did not invade it.) If they wanted to make a comment on Iraq, they could have done it a much better way. When Smits said "pledge you won't go to war for oil" or something to that effect, all it did was turn it into more of a stunt. Not that I don't agree with the sentiment "Santos" was conveying, obviously.
Remember when they used to do shows that made the census interesting?
Posted by: fat charlie // November 8, 2005 12:52 AM