One less worthwhile network show left in the otherwise ludicrous wasteland of television: From AP / Yahoo News:
The new president on “The West Wing” will be a real short-timer: NBC announced Sunday it was pulling the plug on the Emmy-winning political drama after seven seasons in May.
NBC, struggling to regain its footing after the worst season in its history, also outlined several midseason schedule changes — including the moves of popular dramas “Law & Order” and “Las Vegas.”
“The West Wing” announcement wasn’t much of a surprise. Although this season’s story line with a presidential campaign involving a Democrat played by Jimmy Smits and Republican portrayed by Alan Alda has been strong critically, ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights.
The decision to cancel it was made before actor John Spencer, who played former presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack Dec. 16, said Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president.
“There’s a point when you look at the ratings and say, it feels like it’s time,” Reilly said.
The series finale will be May 14, preceded by a one-hour retrospective. The campaign to replace the fictional Josiah Bartlet as president will be settled, NBC said.
Producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, who created the show and guided it through its early years, will not be involved in the finale, Reilly said. … Read all
This quote particularly struck me: “At its prime, it also offered NBC two valuable benefits: critical acclaim and the most upscale audience on television, an important drawing point for advertisers.” People like us, who find less and less — really, almost nothing — to watch on network television. And, although I’m sure this is an unpopular view, I was rooting for Alan Alda’s character to win the presidency because it would have taken the show in an entirely new direction, with the Dems fighting on the outside. And Alda is a hell of an actor.
oh yes.. that makes perfect since. Cancel the AWARD WINNING show in order to boost ratings…
How clever!
My daughter has discovered all kinds of knowledge about politics and world problems by watching “West Wing.”
And my brother, with stage 4 metastatic melanoma, got every season through Netflix, and fell in love with the show, looking forward to every episode .. it gave him such a life.
btw, Darcy, who was too little when it was on, is waiting for the DVD of “Hill Street Blues” to come out, and she’s going to watch it. I hope the show captures her interest. it was another exceptionally fine drama, and I knew the main actor, Daniel Travanti, rather well … lovely man.
Ya know . . .I recently tried watching reruns of Hill Street Blues, but they just seemed so dated (as much as I loved the characters). On the other hand – it might provide an excellent history lesson in the way women were portrayed in the 1970s. (Hee! Just thinking of Cagney and Lacey wearing skirts and heels to work.)
Thanks for the WW news. Quite frankly, it’s their own damn fault for switching the effing time. We missed the first episode, and it took us several weeks to remember the new day and time. (7:00 p.m. CST on Sundays is just plain wrong)
Hey – on a completely different note . . . what in heaven’s name has happened to the career of Ron Reagan? I’m sitting here working (just taking a little break at the moment ;^) with Animal Planet in the background. I was intrigued to hear Ron’s voice – and assumed they must be doing a show on the environment or something. Nope – he’s hosting the 2006 AKC National Dog Championship. (Yikes – Best in Show.)
I have been living on WW reruns on Bravo and waiting for new episodes. Though the show lost much of it’s edge and brilliance when Sorkin left, they picked up a bit in season 6 and 7.
This has been my preferred alternate universe since the debacle of the 2000 election. Frankly, Gina Davis doesn’t do it for me.
Long live Pres. Bartlet and the true public servants in his White House who tried to do the right thing for the country week after week. I’d say more, but I need time for this to sink in.
i lost interest in the show a few years ago, but I can’t explain how popular it was among the younger activists that I worked with in 2004.
The show gave a kind of fantasy relief from the harsh reality of BushCo.
And, yes, Alan Alda is a great actor.
Damn – this is bad news.
It’s been interesting watching West Wing and Commander in Chief at the same time. While its nice to see a woman president and I really love Geena Davis, Commander is Chief is so shallow and predictable compared to West Wing. I always loved the nuance of West Wing and how the characters are complex. The only other network show I ever enjoyed as much was China Beach – written and produced by some of the same people.
When you say “people like us,” are you assuming we’re all “upscale”? I make a decent income, but I think a more apt and inclusive term for our type of audience would be “discerning.” But otherwise, the rest of your argument still stands.
“People like us”, i think, is assuming that most of us here are left of center, Drew. MOst of us are self -selecting by the fact that we choose to frequent Boo’s pad here.
Thanks, Syniel. That’s what I meant .. i’m just rather hopelessly inarticulate these days.
You are enviably articulate 99.99% of the time.
Damn straight. I wish I could write as much material of quality as consistently as susan does. My bi-weekly responsibilities for the New Environmentalism diary series are taxing enough.
Anytime! ..and i just wish i were half as articulte as you usually are!
to kill the ratings. Then it’s a cinch to cancel for low ratings.
MSNBC for example took some heat for cancelling its top rated Phil Donahue show due to insubordination.
What Gooserock said.
I’m sure it’s in the Mindless Box Management Handbook somewhere: Move a great show with a loyal following out of its time slot, substitute something else forgettable, watch great show decline in ratings. Soon, soon, say: “Oh, too bad. Ratings are down. Cancel!!!”
Then wonder why overall ad revenues and viewing numbers are down.
Futurama’s execubots episode was a perfect example of how this works.
Most “geek TV” tends to get cancelled the same way. First you move it into a bad time slot, or so that half the shows get cancelled due to sports games. Then you can it for bad ratings.
Wasn’t cancelling the West Wing the whole point of moving it to Sunday nights at 8:00 PM? Just think, they decided to move it to a night when many adults are traveling because of work or visiting relatives. They put it on at a time when adults might be doing those things rather than later, say, at 10:00 PM. They place it directly opposite a program (The Simpsons) which has pretty much owned that time slot for a number of years. They put it into a time slot which might need to compete with the last half of many football games. NBC’s management planned on killing the program this year. It just opens the time slot for another fourth-tier sports program from NBC or another reality program.
So then its down to CSPAN, Link and the Daily Show, eh? Sad days indeed.
There goes the one and only program on network TV that was worth my time. When’s Deadwood gonna start up again?
The only thing positive about this is that it gives me another hour to watch Battlestar Galactica.
(With an 18-month-old, a 7 year-old step-child to return to his other family an hour before airtime, and having to watch BG via videotape from my sister’s – an extra hour is welcome!)