Nick Wadhams

Why The West Wing? (UPDATED)

A quick follow-up to the last post (and subsequent comment): Why do British people love The West Wing so much?

The thing I forgot to mention previously is that pretty much every person who has said The West Wing is his favorite show is a Brit. Few Americans feel such ardor for Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe. I personally choked on all the saccharine, rah-rah, "THIS is the America we want" baloney, so I would have thought that two of the Nairobi press corps' most wisecracking and Amero-skeptical Brits would surely have despised it.

Yet it is these very gents who love it so! Are they so disappointed with the U.S. in real life that they can't help but be hypnotized by such an absurd fantasy? Fish and chips for thought, I guess.

UPDATE: It turns out I'm not the only one to notice this. See this from The Washington Post in 2006.

TV Watching

Every expat around here seems to have his favorite television series. Some might say The Shield; others prefer Lost. At least several chums suggest The West Wing, which I, in my limited viewing experience, have had trouble abiding because it's just too reasonable, too earnest, too well-scripted for its own good. Seven seasons of so many bon-mots, so many sorrowful looks and such poignancy would be insufferable.

Along with the rest of humanity, I've been entranced by The Wire. We're through season four, with season five awaiting us at the local (pirated) DVD store. Season four had the best individual plot line in the tale of four schoolkids, but overall could not compare with the epic Barksdale family story arc from the first three seasons.

Before delving into season five, we've decided for a little, um, lighter fare: season four of 24. So far, it's the best season yet. No cougar traps, no brothers named Hector and Ramon with horrible accents, fewer plot lines that bubble up and pop in the course of one or two episodes, their only purpose, seemingly, to stall for time.