The West Wing ends tonight after seven seasons, two of which were amazing television, plus a few more that ranged from “good” to “less than amazing” to “out of ideas” to “dumbed down to try to appeal to more people”. Still, this season has been one of the best, and so far it’s done a wonderful job of ending the series with good character development for most of the cast.
Notice I didn’t mention politics anywhere in that brief eulogy. As I’ve said before, The West Wing is no more a show about politics than Sports Night was about sports or Star Trek was about science. Sure, you can learn a good bit about those things if you’re paying attention, but you could find better sources if you’re just looking for a lesson. The point of the show has always been its characters and its drama, and on those notes it’s done very well in its closing episodes.
Still, there’s fun in talking about how the holodeck would really work, and there’s fun in comparing the fictional White House to the real one. Turns out that the building itself, like the administration that inhabits it, is actually nicer than its real life counterpart. Here’s a link to the floorplan of the TV version of the West Wing, and here’s how the real life building is laid out. Note that the Vice President’s office is in another part of the building on the show to make room for more of Josh and Leo/CJ’s staff, the press room is much closer to the Oval Office, and the very cool door that the Chief of Staff has to the Oval doesn’t really exist. Such is the price of the quest for knowledge and his bastard son, truth. Next thing you know someone will tell you there’s only one bathroom on the Enterprise.
