The West Wing: The Complete First Season - One of the Series' Best Seasons

One of my favorite shows while it was on television was The West Wing. The first season was one of the best, and I can remember looking forward to Wednesday nights quite a bit. Fortunately, I can now relive those moments as the series has been released on DVD.

This Emmy-Award winning series is set in the White House with a Democratic President. It shows how the White House functions as well as the Office of the President and what all those staff people actually do. There was definitely more focus on the staff in the first season, as the original intent was to have the President actually seeming like more of a supporting role at times.

The West Wing shows how crisis big and large affect the everyday operation and must be dealt with in a way that doesn't offend people, and it seems everything has the potential to offend someone. In one episode they can be dealing with a truckers strike, a hurricane, a standoff in Idaho, and a state dinner.

What made The West Wing so much fun to watch was the snappy dialogue that wasn't dumbed down. My parents never watched the show because they couldn't follow it as the conversations come at you very fast. At the same time, the show was topical and kept current. The scripts talked about other leaders such as Castro.

In this vein, The West Wing tackled topical issues, such as the role of religion and values. Many times after something was in the public forums, it was brought up on the show with a different spin or examined from a different perspective. In some ways, the show was more effective at making a point and making people think outside the box than the media was.

I also found I had to pay attention to the show, and missing an episode proved difficult. Many times something which happened as a small part of one episode was suddenly brought to the forefront later that season, or sometimes even a few seasons down the road.

At times The West Wing showed how the people in this country get forgotten with all of the "major" things that go on. One particularly touching event was in the Christmas episode In Excelsis Deo where Toby Ziegler is called to the Mall when his business card is found in the pocket of a homeless veteran who died. It turns out Toby had donated his coat, and the business card was left there in error. However, this leads Toby on a quest to learn about the man and find if there is anyone to notify about the death. It's one human being's life that touches a busy staffer and humbles him more than all of the crisis he deals with.

The casting and how the characters were written went a long way to the show’s success.

Regular Cast:

President Bartlet (Martin Sheen)
Leo McGarry (John Spencer) - Chief of Staff
Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) - Deputy Chief of Staff
Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) - Josh's Secretary
C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) - Press Secretary
Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) - Communications Director
Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) - Deputy Communications Director
Charlie Young (Dule Hill) - Personal Aide to the President
Mandy Hampton (Moira Kelly) - Media Consultant

Recurring Cast:

Zoey Bartlet (Elisabeth Moss) - President’s daughter
Abigail Bartlett (Stockard Channing) - Presiden’t wife
Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten) - President's Secretary
Vice President Hoynes (Tim Matheson)
General Fitzwallace (John Amos) - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Danny Concannon (Timothy Busfield) - Reporter
Margaret Hooper (NiCole Robinson) - Leo’s Secretary

The characters were full and multi-dimensional with details about them revealed slowly throughout the season and the series. It was several episodes in before Leo was revealed as a recovering alcoholic. This is built on throughout the season and in later seasons as well.

The cast was tweaked a bit during and after this season. Some staffers disappeared. Most of these were minor with the exception of Mandy Hampton who just never quite fit in right.

All of this builds to a great season finale. There were hints at what manifested here coming throughout the last half of the season, but it’s pulled off remarkably well to give the show suspense and keep me anxious for the second season.

The DVD has a whole disc filled with extras. There are good featurettes as well as details on various aspects of making the series and a set of bloopers and deleted scenes. It's a definite plus, especially compared to DVD sets that contain little to no extra features.

I can’t recommend the first season of The West Wing highly enough. It’s a show that isn’t afraid to take chances while entertaining. Some of the best moments are the comic ones sprinkled generously throughout the season. It comes off well balanced with both comedy and drama, although the awards it would get are in the drama category. It deserved it. I doubt there will ever be another show on television that works as well as this one did.

Set Details:

Disc 1, Side A

Pilot Episode (with commentary by Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
A proportional Response
Five Votes Down

Disc 1, Side B

The Crackpots and These Women
Mr. Willis of Ohio
The State Dinner
Enemies

Disc 2, Side A

The Short List
In Excelsis Deo (with commentary by Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, and Alex Graves)
Lord John Marbury
He Shall, from Time to Time

Disc 2, Side B

Take Out the Trash Day
Take This Sabbath Day (with commentary by Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme)
Celestial Navigation (with commentary by Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme)

20 Hours in L.A.

Disc 3, Side A

The White House Pro-Am
Six Meetings Before Lunch
Let Barlet Be Bartlet

Disc 3, Side B

Mandatory Minimums
Lies, Damn Lies and Scandals
What Kind of Day Has It Been (with commentary by Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme)

Disc 4, Side A

Bonus Material:

The Primaries
The Inauguration
Capital Beat
Sheet Music
Deleted Scenes
Gag Order
West Wing Suite
Off The Record

Easter Egg - Press left arrow, then right arrow. A star appears on the bottom and click on that. It's just an interview with the head security guard of the set for the show, but it's humorous.


© 2008 Patti Aliventi