Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Why The West Wing Sucks
Back in the old days (1998), Hollywood presidents were larger than life. They'd pound their fists in the Oval Office and pick up the hot line and shout obscenities at the Kremlin. And we cheered them on.
Then came The West Wing. And although still overly dramatic at times, we got a somewhat more realistic portrayal of the president. A calmer president. One who doesn't slip up or feel threatened by his underlings. Unfortunately, President Bartlett has ruined things for all other Hollywood presidents.
24 premiered tonight, with once-Senator Palmer now the big head-honcho of the good ole' U.S. of A. And he's Old School. He threatens Prime Ministers over the phone, snarls at his staff, and at all times looks like if things go down he's ready to pick up an AK-47 and kick some terrorist butt. But he just doesn't seem "real".
Maybe it's scary that in the pre-West Wing years, we accepted a machine-gun-toting president as "realistic". But today, they're just not fun anymore.
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Back in the old days (1998), Hollywood presidents were larger than life. They'd pound their fists in the Oval Office and pick up the hot line and shout obscenities at the Kremlin. And we cheered them on.
Then came The West Wing. And although still overly dramatic at times, we got a somewhat more realistic portrayal of the president. A calmer president. One who doesn't slip up or feel threatened by his underlings. Unfortunately, President Bartlett has ruined things for all other Hollywood presidents.
24 premiered tonight, with once-Senator Palmer now the big head-honcho of the good ole' U.S. of A. And he's Old School. He threatens Prime Ministers over the phone, snarls at his staff, and at all times looks like if things go down he's ready to pick up an AK-47 and kick some terrorist butt. But he just doesn't seem "real".
Maybe it's scary that in the pre-West Wing years, we accepted a machine-gun-toting president as "realistic". But today, they're just not fun anymore.
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