The"new" West Wing-dialogue suffers & the Oval office is now a living room

As my wife and I watched it last night we had several observations about the new Sorkin-less West Wing.

The lighting was really dark. It's always been dark but there were sometimes when you could hardly see anyone on the screen.

It seems to be more character driven. It used to revolve (in my eyes) around the dialogue and banter but last night was full of demonstrative statements not the usual back and forth.

Bartlett's statement about "40% of the people don't pay taxes" seemed to be the opening salvo in the more right pandering West Wing. That is a whole thread (that tax % issue) in and of itself.

There was a scene in the Oval office with Leo and Bartlett with strange profile shots that have not been seen before that I can remember.

The teleprompter thing was so obvious and predictable I groaned when Toby and Will were playfully typing it.

Now my real beef. CJ has never just waltzed into the Oval office and started talking to Bartlett. Now apparently there is an open door that anyone can walk through. The scene at the end where Bartlett was LAYING ON THE COUCH and CJ was talking to him had my eyes rolling. I remember when they used the Oval to persuade a guy to join the Fed. Election Commission through sheer intimidation of being there (with a Marine posted outside) and people were admonished about their conduct in the Oval (Josh flipping out and Sam told not to go in there angry). Now it seems that it will be like the Cosby living room were everything is acted out.

I'll give it more chances but as my wife said "No tears not even welling up".

will come over?

How about CJ saying that she was "disappointed" and then turning her back on the president and walking out?

I think you may be right, it's seeming to head into the predictable TV direction instead of the clever, witty original show it is. They are already starting the romantic subplot with Josh.

Down right distracting. That has been going on for some time now though I expected some friction with Donna at this point.

If Larry starts knocking on the window of the Oval office I'm turning it off. Very funny.

Practically the only ep I saw last season was the cliffhanger, so I came back for the season opener.

When they maintained a high level of tension for almost two hours, and then suddenly "found" Zoey (offscreen), I was too let down to come back.

It was a great show in its prime, but now it's on the wrong side of the shark.

The dialogue and situations are so dark and depressing to be almost unbelieveable. Since when would Bartlett turn away anyone asking for asylum? And the whole vice-president bit...the Republicans get to pick the VP?...give me a break!

The VP thing was actually of Sorkin's doing. "Bingo Bob" was picked on the last Sorkin show.

Peter. What's happening?

:bounce:

that would great.

LOL that made my morning.

Bartlett's statement about "40% of the people don't pay taxes" seemed to be the opening salvo in the more right pandering West Wing. That is a whole thread (that tax % issue) in and of itself.

Taken out of context, it may very well seem so, but the whole sentence had to do with an economic policy that did "nothing to help" those bottom 40% earners who pay no income tax.

In other words, the Bartlet Administration wasn't going to push through a Shrub-like economic policy and leave behind those people who need help the most.

:spank:

Yeah, it was so bad, I thought it was my TV, until I switched around to other channels and saw that they were fine.

I too saw the teleprompter snafu coming froma mile away - -yawn!

I think the decreased formality of the Oval Office may be to re-enforce the current theme: "We're adrift." So that didn't bother me too much.

The writing does stink. It is preachy and not nearly as crisp and witty as last season.

scene could've been intelligent and funny, had they then brough Bartlett in to admonish them. Instead, the Repug VP played it even handed. Bullshit.

but I have to dissent, and admit I'm very hopeful so far. Now, my wife and I both cringed at the set up for the teleprompter thing. Saw it coming a mile away, but I thought they resolved it in a Sorkin-esque manner, with the new VP expressing his amusement and asking for a copy.

And did anyone miss the total slam against Bush Sr.? C.J. said "We shouldn't look like we're ignoring the economy. We don't want to look like one of those Presidents who doesn't know the price of a gallon of milk. We risk being considered 'out of touch'." Turned out few of the staff knew the price of a gallon of milk, but it was a nice sub rosa 'gotcha' to Poppy and his misbegotten progeny.

Agreed, the camera work is suffering in Tommy Schlamme's absence. But man, Mary Louise Parker looked incredible last night! Oooooooooh! I got tingly all over when she was on-camera! And a romance between Josh and her character is much more advisable than one between Josh and Donna.

I'm still holding out hope for a recovery from the departure of Aaron Sorkin. And even the faint hope that he will be invited back to the show. Hope Springs Eternal!

As I said above Mary-Louise Parker was scrumptuous last night. Yum!

Yeah I caught the milk thing I just forgot to put it in the original thread. That was a slam on Poppa for sure.

And I did like the VP coming straight to and at them. Now if he had said, "Mmmmm yeah can I get a copy of that" It would have been over.:bounce:

We're gonna have to move Bartlet into the basement, okey-doke?

....whatever happened to the blond Repuke basement girl from the second season?

CSI Miami I believe.

West Wing has a hard time keeping actors because unless you are the core cast you might only be on every third week or so. John Amos (the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs went to do a UPN or WB show and came back when it was cancelled, Tim Mathesson (sp?) left to do a really stupid show called "Wolf Lake" which lasted about as long as you would think.


That's why when I saw William Devane I thought "perfect match" like with James Brolin semi-retired actors don't mind and can afford not having a steady gig.

BTW-I don't know his name but the former lead singer of "The Tubes" is one of the joint chiefs, he rarely has a line.

..the dialogue seems to be a little less "zippy" but there are still alot of zingers going on. Do you really think that the actors are simply going to become right-wing drones? These are committed professionals and identify with their characters, I hardly believe that someone of Martin Sheen's stature would simply acqueisce...

On another note, I too cringed at the "40% of folks don't pay taxes" but I think that it was out-gunnedd by C.J.'s line about "If we don't let this guy defect I don't know who we are", or how about Josh's line "Everyone looks good in a tuxedo, even a CHIMP looks good in a tux"...Did you miss that? How about C.J.'s reference to King George I and his lack of connection to the common man when she was looking for language about the economy, " It's like not knowing the price of a gallon of milk."....

The lighting was very strange I must admit, and I'm wondering what's going on with Toby, but I think that fears of the best drama on television becoming the "Right-wing" are a little off the mark.

TrueBrit

Seems just a bit too confrontational with the Chief Exec to be believed. Has anyone besides me noticed that the audio appears kind of muffled. Sounds like someone is holding a pillow over the microphones or something. I don't notice that on any other NBC shows.

They seem to have lost direction and I'm not sure if I mean the Bartlet White House or the show itself. Both, probably.

I'm remaing hopeful that it'll turn around.

Personally, I hate the Josh romance with Parker's character. I don't like them together. Now, Josh and Donna I like!

but he couldn't do anything about as sexual harassment issues would come up, actually in that case it might happen. We like seeing the chase not the "kill".