Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that the original The West Wing “jumped the shark.”
This is “Just Can’t Jump It,” a feature where we examine shows and whether they “jumped the shark.” Jumped the shark (coined by Jon Hein) means that the show had a specific point in time where, in retrospect, you realize that show was going downhill from there (even if, in some rare occasions, the show later course-corrected). Not every show DOES jump the shark. Some shows just remain good all the way through. And some shows are terrible all the way through. What we’re looking for are moments where a show that you otherwise enjoyed hit a point where it took a noticeable nose dive after that time and if so, what moment was that?
The West Wing was a popular, highly acclaimed drama series that followed the staff of the President of the United States in the West Wing of the White House. Originally meant to be a bit of a starring vehicle for Deputy Communications Director, Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), the show quickly became more of an ensemble, and if anyone was the star, it was Martin Sheen’s President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet (originally, the President was going to be a minor presence on the show, mostly off-camera). Writer/showrunner Aaron Sorkin was HEAVILY involved in the series until leaving after four seasons. The final two seasons focused more and more on the campaign for the NEXT President, between Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda).
So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I don’t think it did.
WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK The argument is that it jumped when Sorkin left, and I will agree that the show went through some serious readjustments when Sorkin left and John Wells took over, but I think Wells adjusted pretty well, especially when he started to trust his other writers and producers under him (especially Lawrence O’Donnell), and, of course, when the Santos/Vinick campaign began, the show was revitalized. However, I don’t think it ever got bad enough to say it jumped. I can see other people reasonably disagreeing, and arguing for a jump and then a return to quality later on.
Let me know what you think in the comments or on social media!
Feel free to e-mail me at brian@poprefs.com for suggestions for shows to do in future installments!
I don’t think it ever jumped the shark, because the final season was probably the best it had been since Sorkin left. I agree that there was a prolonged period of transition and some wonky storytelling (I feel especially they did badly by Will, Toby, and Charlie as the show wore on), but the campaign stuff was excellent.
I’m tempted to say the whole space shuttle/leak storyline was the closest the show came to jumping a shark because of how violently it threw a character under a bus, but to be honest I think the closest it came was the Zoe kidnapping. The show was at its best dealing with “normal” political intrigue and domestic drama, and I think the almost 24-style thriller aspect of the President’s daughter getting kidnapped and him temporarily stepping aside pushed the concept nearly to breaking point. Sorkin’s original ideas for how the story would resolve sound better than what we got, but I still think the whole thing was a mistake.
I really hate the space shuttle stuff though.
Whichever came first: the focus shifting to Santos/Vinick or Bartlet’s MS returning. Goes without saying the first four seasons were the best, but that is true of most shows.
BTW you might want to fix that first sentence:
Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that the original One Day at a Time “jumped the shark.”
The back half of season 6 and season 7 really did have a return to form; the show just suffered from the writers needing to find their own voice after four years of really never writing a single episode themselves.
Thanks, Tim, fixed it. The perils of cut and paste! 🙂
The West Wing is tough one; the first few episodes of season 5 aren’t bad, and the Vinick/Santos campaign storyline was actually pretty good. But just about every story from the White House in the last three seasons was, by and large, completely unwatchable. Just awful. (Especially the Toby space shuttle story.)
Is it possible for only one half of a show to jump the shark? The West Wing was running two separate shows in the end, one of which was good (the campaign), and one of which was well on the other side of the shark.
Will was no Sam, but that was survivable.
Season 5 started bad but improved a lot.
Season 6 & 7 if you only look at adminstration episodes it’s rubbish. But the campaign episodes lift it to heights equaling its early years.