I plowed through the first season of the West Wing (22 hour long episodes) in 6 days. Would have been a little faster if I didn't have to wait a day for disc three to arrive. It's great, compelling tv--honestly, I can't say enough good things about it.
Once I finish TWW, I'm going to go back and rewatch Sports Night in order, this fresh off of lamenting about the cancellation of Studio 60.
What is interesting is that there are some strange things, simply because this season was filmed in 1999:
- They have cell phones, but they also use these things called "pagers"
- While they do have continuing issues, for the most part, especially compared to S60, the story lines are often contained in one episode. The popularity of long story arcs is relatively recent but it's a little odd to see that near the end of an episode the President is praying for the safe return of a solider, and to not have that storyline continue in the next episode. But it still works.
- The White House staff has a low approval rating despite working diligently and with the best interest of the people. That doesn't quite sync up with the reason the current administration has a low approval rating.
- How the world has changed...the President said in response to a solider downed in Iraq, "If we don't get him back safely, I'm invading Baghdad" -- it might have been a powerful threat in 1999, but in 2007 it hits a little to close to home as a poor reason to start a war.
SPOILERS!!!!
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