The West Wing Season That Never Was
The West Wing was one of the very best TV shows ever made. It took a realistic, yet optimistic look at American politics, and brought the ‘walk ’n talk’ to unparalleled heights of excellence.
When The West Wing ended after 7 seasons, I was very sad to see a show of such amazing caliber go off the air. Especially since I felt that it ended prematurely. There was at least one more season of quality stories that could be told. So, to both honor the series and to offer a smidgen of hope that it can be reborn, I present the West Wing season-that-never-was:
Before I get into the synopsis, let me say when I feel this season needs to take place. Sure, we could look into the new Santos administration, but I feel that there was plenty of untapped potential in the original cast, whom, in my opinion, is the greatest ensemble ever to grace the small screen. So, this season-that-never-was will take place during the classic years of the Bartlet administration. The perfect place would be when creator Aaron Sorkin left after season 4, especially since season 5 is generally considered to blow.
I wrote some synopsizes to many possible episode ideas. Here are some of them:
- Zoey, the President’s daughter, has been captured by terrorists. President Bartlet goes undercover to rescue her, but is discovered by the cell. Now he and the terrorist leader must battle it out in a caged knife-fight in which there could only be ONE survivor. To make matters even more intense, if the President loses, the terrorist becomes the new leader of the free world!
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Needless to say, she’ll have a rolling pin with her at all times… President Bartlet’s mother-in-law is coming to visit, and we all know that means trouble! It seems that Abbey’s mother always thought of the President as a good-for-nothing slug-about and that her daughter could’ve done better – no matter what President Bartlet does to please her. It’s just the President’s luck when the country is placed in a national crisis with an impending transportation strike. To make matters worse, his mother-in-law took the bus to get to the White House, and won’t be leaving until the mess is sorted out!