Post by Flamingo on Jan 6, 2004 16:31:05 GMT
First year of 'West Wing' hooks the family
By Lisa Pierot, Special to the Palm Beach Post
Sunday, January 4, 2004
www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/accent_f35fbe351530325b0017.html
"All aboard"...
By the time this column comes out, the New Year will already be under way and so I am not feeling any pressure to write the usual stuff about resolutions (I have none) or reflections on the previous year (You know what that's been like). Having exhausted these trendy topics, there is really only one thing left to write about which I'm sure you have already guessed but just in case, it's The West Wing.
I wasn't tuned in to The West Wing for the first season. I came in late starting with season two. So when I discovered that the entire first season is now out on DVD, I ordered it pronto. It never occurred to me that anyone would be watching it other than me and I had somehow managed to see reruns of the first season anyway but if you are a fan of "Winging It" as we call it in my house, you know that it doesn't matter how many times you watch any particular episode. It will always be thoroughly entertaining.
When my sister Carrie arrived with her three kids a few days before Christmas, I was already in a Zen state of mind having watched the entire DVD set in the solitude of my own living room before school let out for the holidays and company descended. It seemed only natural to try to win over my sister but I was totally unprepared to find every kid in the house racing to find their spots on the couches whenever I announced we were "boarding Air Force One".
But that is exactly what happened. This show is so brilliant in its first season that 13-year-olds like it as much as 9-year-olds and 16-year-olds. To my delight, we were having conversations about how laws are passed, and what the deputy chief of staff does. Nick, my 16-year-old nephew especially loved to repeat the phrase "There are two things you never want people to see how they're made: laws and sausages." It got to the point in my house where if one person was behind an episode or two, the rest of us would re-watch them because we didn't want anyone to miss what had happened.
Then yesterday I had to show the house and my good friend and Realtor, Vivienne, came by early and we had some time to talk. She said, "Lisa, you won't believe what Bob and I have been doing with the little down time that we've had over the holidays." Now I should mention that when her car pulled into the driveway I was watching, (yes, of course) The West Wing. I turned it off reluctantly before she got to the door and I made a note of how perhaps I was neglecting my social life in favor of President Bartlet but I'm just being honest. I really didn't want to turn it off.
So Viv tells me Bob called the other day from some store to tell her that he was holding in his hands the entire first season of The West Wing on DVD. She didn't hesitate when she told him to buy it and bring it home. It would be their Christmas present to each other. And so when all their company left on Christmas night, the two of them curled up with hot cocoa or maybe it was a drink and they put in the DVD and basically did the same thing at their house that we've been doing at mine.
I know it's not my job to tell any of you what to read or watch but you all know that I do it anyway. The West Wing, that first golden season, it's not just good TV, it's mesmerizing TV. It's full of witty banter and humor and information that makes you want to delve into what our government does, or at least, should be doing. It leaves you always with a smile on your face and a hope that perhaps someday, somehow we can have a government run by such people with such virtues and ideals.
I've pretty much given up on Sunday morning politics because I find them utterly depressing and I get mad at so many things. This has been a tough adjustment for me because I love all things political. I like to think that my saving grace has been The West Wing. It hasn't hurt Emily either, who is studying civics this year and now actually understands how a bill is passed, how a Supreme Court justice is nominated and confirmed and just how incredibly slow the wheels of government turn even in a make-believe White House.
So Happy New Year! I have no resolutions but I do have some great advice. Get the first season of The West Wing. We all need to "Wing It" a little more.
Until next week...
By Lisa Pierot, Special to the Palm Beach Post
Sunday, January 4, 2004
www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/accent_f35fbe351530325b0017.html
"All aboard"...
By the time this column comes out, the New Year will already be under way and so I am not feeling any pressure to write the usual stuff about resolutions (I have none) or reflections on the previous year (You know what that's been like). Having exhausted these trendy topics, there is really only one thing left to write about which I'm sure you have already guessed but just in case, it's The West Wing.
I wasn't tuned in to The West Wing for the first season. I came in late starting with season two. So when I discovered that the entire first season is now out on DVD, I ordered it pronto. It never occurred to me that anyone would be watching it other than me and I had somehow managed to see reruns of the first season anyway but if you are a fan of "Winging It" as we call it in my house, you know that it doesn't matter how many times you watch any particular episode. It will always be thoroughly entertaining.
When my sister Carrie arrived with her three kids a few days before Christmas, I was already in a Zen state of mind having watched the entire DVD set in the solitude of my own living room before school let out for the holidays and company descended. It seemed only natural to try to win over my sister but I was totally unprepared to find every kid in the house racing to find their spots on the couches whenever I announced we were "boarding Air Force One".
But that is exactly what happened. This show is so brilliant in its first season that 13-year-olds like it as much as 9-year-olds and 16-year-olds. To my delight, we were having conversations about how laws are passed, and what the deputy chief of staff does. Nick, my 16-year-old nephew especially loved to repeat the phrase "There are two things you never want people to see how they're made: laws and sausages." It got to the point in my house where if one person was behind an episode or two, the rest of us would re-watch them because we didn't want anyone to miss what had happened.
Then yesterday I had to show the house and my good friend and Realtor, Vivienne, came by early and we had some time to talk. She said, "Lisa, you won't believe what Bob and I have been doing with the little down time that we've had over the holidays." Now I should mention that when her car pulled into the driveway I was watching, (yes, of course) The West Wing. I turned it off reluctantly before she got to the door and I made a note of how perhaps I was neglecting my social life in favor of President Bartlet but I'm just being honest. I really didn't want to turn it off.
So Viv tells me Bob called the other day from some store to tell her that he was holding in his hands the entire first season of The West Wing on DVD. She didn't hesitate when she told him to buy it and bring it home. It would be their Christmas present to each other. And so when all their company left on Christmas night, the two of them curled up with hot cocoa or maybe it was a drink and they put in the DVD and basically did the same thing at their house that we've been doing at mine.
I know it's not my job to tell any of you what to read or watch but you all know that I do it anyway. The West Wing, that first golden season, it's not just good TV, it's mesmerizing TV. It's full of witty banter and humor and information that makes you want to delve into what our government does, or at least, should be doing. It leaves you always with a smile on your face and a hope that perhaps someday, somehow we can have a government run by such people with such virtues and ideals.
I've pretty much given up on Sunday morning politics because I find them utterly depressing and I get mad at so many things. This has been a tough adjustment for me because I love all things political. I like to think that my saving grace has been The West Wing. It hasn't hurt Emily either, who is studying civics this year and now actually understands how a bill is passed, how a Supreme Court justice is nominated and confirmed and just how incredibly slow the wheels of government turn even in a make-believe White House.
So Happy New Year! I have no resolutions but I do have some great advice. Get the first season of The West Wing. We all need to "Wing It" a little more.
Until next week...
