Sometimes you rediscover something you loved in an unexpected way. That has happened this Christmas holiday with our older daughter Reilly home from college.
After one-and-a-half years, she came home in November for a six-week hiatus, a long break that is part of a trimester system where she goes to school. With all three of our kids, it’s clear they need a break when classes are done.
You can see the fatigue and stress. With finals over, they can relax and seep into our couch, take naps, read whatever they want, veg in front of the TV.
I think that is something eliminated by most students in college: Watching TV. So, when Reilly comes home and becomes addicted to a show, catching up all at once in this condensed period she has while not cracking the books, it isn’t a surprise. It makes sense to enjoy some down time with a program that is fun.
When “West Wing” was running on TV in the 1990s, it was an award-winning series. Year after year, it won prizes for writing, acting, “Best Drama,” and who knows what else. All I can remember is it was repeatedly critically acclaimed.
As an occasional watcher, I appreciated the plots, context and how well Washington, D.C. culture was captured (we were living in the D.C. area at the time). At the same time, because I wasn’t addicted, I didn’t watch the show week after week after week. Instead, I would catch it here and there, enjoying the story line, but not mesmerized.
Reilly changed that. She started NetFlixing it as her school year wound down, and continued once she got home. Seeing her parked in the easy chair, feet cocooned in a quilt over our roaming radiator, was too comforting to pass up, so I joined her one evening after I’d been standing, getting drawn into the plot of the episode she was watching.
Ultimately, nothing matters regarding specifics about political issues or what the final “solution” is on West Wing. That’s because the show is about the tension involved in crises-oriented events and how the characters interact in during times of high stress on an international stage.
Yes, there is humor. Yes, there is great dialogue. And yes, you become engrossed in important issues of the day.
The show gives you more that all that. Watching it today puts the 2013 political dialogue in context. The positioning and posturing from the 1990s isn’t necessarily different from today. What is different is the number of tools available to shout out your view. He who controls the dialogue controls the outcome.
Other things stand out. The show is thoughtful. It takes time to flush out opinions, giving context, developing incredibly extenuating circumstances and showing the humanity of those involved as they agonize over making hard decisions that affect millions of people in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
Sitting in the room with the cold outside, blankets pulled up on the easy chair, the screen flickering, Reilly and I laugh, give knowing glances to each other and shout and occasional “WHOA” as a twist of events throws the plot out the window. You have to challenge yourself because the show challenges you.
That’s great TV. We need more of it today.
What do you believe? Are you willing to listen intently to someone who has a strongly divergent opinion from you on the “issue thermometer?” In real life, we want to tune out people who don’t look at things the way we do.
On the West Wing, you are forced to confront yourself, your biases, and the incompleteness of your views. It’s fabulous stuff. And you learn just a little more about the world in every episode.
After one-and-a-half years, she came home in November for a six-week hiatus, a long break that is part of a trimester system where she goes to school. With all three of our kids, it’s clear they need a break when classes are done.
You can see the fatigue and stress. With finals over, they can relax and seep into our couch, take naps, read whatever they want, veg in front of the TV.
I think that is something eliminated by most students in college: Watching TV. So, when Reilly comes home and becomes addicted to a show, catching up all at once in this condensed period she has while not cracking the books, it isn’t a surprise. It makes sense to enjoy some down time with a program that is fun.
When “West Wing” was running on TV in the 1990s, it was an award-winning series. Year after year, it won prizes for writing, acting, “Best Drama,” and who knows what else. All I can remember is it was repeatedly critically acclaimed.
As an occasional watcher, I appreciated the plots, context and how well Washington, D.C. culture was captured (we were living in the D.C. area at the time). At the same time, because I wasn’t addicted, I didn’t watch the show week after week after week. Instead, I would catch it here and there, enjoying the story line, but not mesmerized.
Reilly changed that. She started NetFlixing it as her school year wound down, and continued once she got home. Seeing her parked in the easy chair, feet cocooned in a quilt over our roaming radiator, was too comforting to pass up, so I joined her one evening after I’d been standing, getting drawn into the plot of the episode she was watching.
Ultimately, nothing matters regarding specifics about political issues or what the final “solution” is on West Wing. That’s because the show is about the tension involved in crises-oriented events and how the characters interact in during times of high stress on an international stage.
Yes, there is humor. Yes, there is great dialogue. And yes, you become engrossed in important issues of the day.
The show gives you more that all that. Watching it today puts the 2013 political dialogue in context. The positioning and posturing from the 1990s isn’t necessarily different from today. What is different is the number of tools available to shout out your view. He who controls the dialogue controls the outcome.
Other things stand out. The show is thoughtful. It takes time to flush out opinions, giving context, developing incredibly extenuating circumstances and showing the humanity of those involved as they agonize over making hard decisions that affect millions of people in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
Sitting in the room with the cold outside, blankets pulled up on the easy chair, the screen flickering, Reilly and I laugh, give knowing glances to each other and shout and occasional “WHOA” as a twist of events throws the plot out the window. You have to challenge yourself because the show challenges you.
That’s great TV. We need more of it today.
What do you believe? Are you willing to listen intently to someone who has a strongly divergent opinion from you on the “issue thermometer?” In real life, we want to tune out people who don’t look at things the way we do.
On the West Wing, you are forced to confront yourself, your biases, and the incompleteness of your views. It’s fabulous stuff. And you learn just a little more about the world in every episode.