With Washington, D.C. all abuzz over the issue of leaks-and-punishment, Sunday night's The West Wing episode was all the richer. In this parallel universe of politics, the Democrats are in the White House and the leak that's been occupying their attention has been the one where somebody shot off his or her big mouth about the military having a super-secret space shuttle all its own.
Turns out that President Bartlett's press secretary Toby Ziegler was the leaker. He admitted it straight out to Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg on Sunday's episode. That set in motion a chain of events that led, within both a literal and episodic hour, to Toby being interviewed by White House counsel, having armed guards posted while his office was torn apart, being fired by an extremely angry President, threatened with six years in jail and being summarily escorted out of the West Wing to a waiting car for his last ride off the grounds. I liked this episode so much I just watched it a second time on my TiVO on Monday night. Aaron Sorkin's wonderful creation seems to have found its footing under its new caretaker John Wells. I know both these writers and their creative voices are the reason the show worked originally and still works today.
Anyway, back to Sunday night. What was great about the outing of Toby episode was the reality and drama inherent in simply dealing with this revelation and watching Toby being stripped, bit-by-bit, of his authority, his friends and his dignity. Yes, he had done it to himself, but the sheer business-like procedure of how his betrayal was handled, well, that was incredibly well-written and dramatic. Part of it comes from harvesting all the feelings about that character over the many successful seasons and, thus, appreciating his fall. In truth, it was much more powerful than if they'd decided to kill the character. This "crash-and-burn" as Bartlett called it was worse.
Of course, the Democrats are in the White House in that other parallel universe of politics over at Commander-in-Chief on ABC. This show is doing very well for that network in the ratings war but, so far for me, it's just not as satisfying as The West Wing. The difference is that The West Wing goes for a sense of reality, playing the subtleties and nuance, letting characters be seriously flawed and still good or well-intentioned but still off-the-mark. Commander-in-Chief seems to be all about black-and-white, good guys and bad guys. Here's an example. Tonight's episode about terrorism has President Allen taking a stand against torture and in the context of the episode you know that she is right and her attorney general who she fires for getting the truth out of terrorist by any means necessary is Ashcroft-style wrong. Even though both The West Wing and Commander-in-Chief share a strong liberal point-of-view, it is the The West Wing that is willing to dabble in the shades of grey that make it so thoughtful and compelling.
Now that Steven Bochco is coming aboard as the Executive Producer of Commander-in-Chief, though, I'm hoping he'll smarten it up a bit more. I'd like to see Geena Davis's character not quite so holy and I'd definitely like to see Donald Sutherland's character be as politically astute as he's supposed to be and, frankly, less of a cardboard villain and more of a man who seriously has the country's best interests at heart. It would be nice to see those two characters simply disagree honestly about tactics and be political competitors without Davis being right and Sutherland being so arch and wrong -- sort of like Hillary Clinton and Newt Gingrich sharing the same microphone from time to time.
Ratings be damned... I'm just more intrigued to see how President Smits or President Alda will handle the Oval Office than President Davis. Both Smits and Alda play characters that seem to be principled from time-to-time but also can access the killer instinct needed to actually get elected president in this country. Show me the last really nice guy who got the most votes.
The West Wing is Emmy-quality drama that makes you think. Commander-in-Chief is, so far, just a conventional TV show. As the sun begins to set on the Bartlett Administration, I'm hoping that Steven Bochco can kick the Allen Administration in the ass and get it running smoothly. If anybody can, the man behind Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue and Over There can probably get the job done.
Shades of grey. That's politics, baby. Bring some of that, Madam President, and you might just get re-elected.
