I was not as down on the latter days of West Wing as the critics were. I think it was because two actors from two of my favorite shows of all time, Alan Alda (MASH) and Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue) were brought on, and I liked the two characters and their portrayal of them. I was also drawn in to the campaign stuff. I just finished the 6th season DVD’s from NetFlix, and the ending of the 6th Season (the Primaries) sets up the 7th and Final season: The Presidential campaign. As Santos and McGary are announced as the nominated ticket, we see Alda (Vinnick) stand up in front of the TV and turn to his staff and say “OK, let’s go win this thing”. Jimmy Smits and John Spencer were also both on LA Law, another show I watched. Leo was a character I liked a lot. The scenes where he and Bartlett faced off about what the proper response was to be after the attack on the American convoy were excellent, and, ironically, this led to Leo’s heart attack (but was tragically mirrored in real life as John Spencer died of a heart attack in his 50’s in last December, midway through the last season). I’ll miss seeing Jed Bartlett, CJ, Josh, Donna, Charlie, Toby. They also had some great part timers (the Ainsley Hayes character, played by the actress who is now on CSI Miami–can’t recall her name— Timothy Busfield as Danny Concannon who was always sweet on CJ, Cloie Bartlett, the Prez’s daughter, Lily Tomlin as the President’s assistant/secretary, among others).

I have my own copy of Season 2, and I suppose as certain sales come up on the other seasons, I’ll pick up others, so I can revisit some of the highlights and favorite scenes of the 7 years.