 |
West Wings Lights! Cameras! Action! Scandal!By Rick Horowitz So I'm sitting over bagels and coffee with my friend the TV critic -- this is a couple of years ago -- and she's giving me the inside word. I never get the inside word, so I'm paying close attention. She's just back from California, where the networks have been showing off their wares for the new season, and she caught a show out there she's convinced has the stuff to go all the way. It's about the president -- a fictional president -- and the president's staff, and all the little dramas and intrigues that go on behind the scenes in the West Wing of the White House. That's what it's called, in fact: "The West Wing." It's smart, she says. It's sophisticated. It's funny. It's got the kind of edgy writing you don't often see on TV. She thinks this one is going somewhere. I smile. I nod. I'm glad to get the inside word -- but I don't believe a word of it. She may know her TV, I'm thinking to myself, but I know my politics. And the last thing the American public wants right now, with the actual president and the actual White House stuck in scandal day after day, month after month, is to spend time with another president and another White House. The only place this show is going -- I know this in my gut -- is straight down the toilet. So tell me: Have I got my finger on the pulse of the nation, or what? I might as well have my finger up my nose, for all the good it does me. Turns out another president, and another White House, were exactly what the public wanted. It wasn't more of the same, though; that was the key. It was the antidote. Which is to say, the anti-Clinton. President Josiah Bartlet was spotless, where President Bill Clinton was...stained. Bartlet was pragmatic but honest, clever but not too clever, idealistic and earnest almost to the edge of preachy. (And sometimes over the edge.) Were plenty of people sick to death of the artful dodges and moral shortcuts of the real-life chief exec? No problem! Here was a president they could be proud of, a president who would never do anything that was ethically questionable. Until now. President Bartlet is in trouble. Big trouble. Seems he ran for president, and was planning to run again, without ever letting the voters know he has a serious health problem: a case of multiple sclerosis diagnosed years earlier. He's had occasional "episodes," even fainting spells, since he's been in office, and that's not good. Presidents are expected to take all sorts of positions -- but horizontal isn't one of them, not during working hours. Here's the thing: Only a tiny number of people have been aware of the president's secret, but the number has been growing lately, growing beyond anyone's ability to sit on the story much longer, even if everyone who knew about it were inclined to sit on it, which they're most definitely not. They're going to have to go public; they understand that now. It won't be pretty. It might even be impeachable. And speaking of impeachable, guess who was back in Washington and back in the news the other day? It was President Clinton, having dinner at a high-priced Italian restaurant with Martin Sheen, the actor who plays President Bartlet, and with other members of the "West Wing" cast and former White House aides. I'm sure some of them have met before, but this particular encounter must have been especially pleasant for Clinton, assuming he's been keeping track of story lines in the alternate universe. After all, if even a fantasy president has feet of clay... But what about the rest of the public? Will all those non-presidential viewers out there stand for scandal? It's not kinky sex, or shady money, but it's not trivial either -- keeping vital information from the voters. Will they sympathize, or turn away in disgust? Or might there even be a little ripple of excitement that'll keep them absolutely glued to their seats all through sweeps month? With Clinton gone, the White House seems normal again. Excruciatingly, yawningly normal. So could a scandal-plagued president be just what the doctor ordered? Could Josiah Bartlet suddenly become the anti-Bush? You're asking me?! Posted 5/5/01. "Rick's"
could be just what your doctor ordered -- get your fresh stuff
right here twice every week!
|
  |
Rick Horowitz
