I am going on a trip in a few days so I am downloading lots of episodes of West Wing to watch on my way. I don’t know what it is about that show that makes me feel so good. It can distract me from the fact that I am on a treadmill running painfully to nowhere. It can distract me from the fact that I am sitting in an airport for hours waiting for a connection that may or may not happen. And most importantly, it can distract me from the fact that the airplane I am on is 30,000 feet above an ocean and I am powerless to keep it there.
I each of the characters, flaws and all. I love the snappy dialog which is so great you don’t really even need to see the picture. This is handy on the treadmill when I refuse to wear my glasses and can’t really make out the tiny screen on my iPod. I love the behind the scenes look at the White House, helping me understand that Rahm Emmanuel is Leo McGarry and somehow that makes everything clearer.
I was not a West Wing watcher the first time around. I am a Johnny-come-lately who discovered it on Bravo channel reruns one summer. The cool thing about that was that it was on daily and so I could speed through years of story lines, especially when they did a marathon. For now, I am thoroughly satisfied to take it one episode at a time, free from commercial interruption. I will watch each crisis diverted with confidence in Jed Bartlett and his team of goofy, well-meaning idealists.
Sometimes fantasy exceeds reality.
