Due to draconian no-TV-after-six-p.m.-on-a-school-night rules back at the parents' house, I missed most decent shows pre-2003. Therefore, in my adult years, I've become familiar with a bittersweet phenomenon I call: Discovering Really Good Shows on DVD that Have Already Gone Off the Air, Therefore You Must Ration Watching the Episodes Available, Because That's All You Get. It's over.
I first experienced this painful joy while watching the four seasons of Felicity, arguably the greatest show of all time. This was a little different because when I caught on to the show, only the first season was available on DVD, making it impossible for me to overdose. The people at Buena Vista Home Entertainment had my back, and about every nine months they released the next set of episodes until they reached senior year, when Felicity graduated, and then the producers found out the network ordered four more episodes, and they had that awkward time travel plot. JJ Abrams: all about the time travel.
Spoiler alert: Noel (guy in bottom left corner, duh) never has a chance.
Anyway, back to West Wing. This is different because when I started watching it this summer (after catching a couple morning reruns on Bravo), all seven seasons were available on DVD. I could have spent $149.99 to order the whole she-bang from Amazon, and commenced with the nonstop viewing. But I didn't want to breeze through a good thing, because then what would be left for me on the good, unwatched TV frontier? OK, Battlestar Galactica. But after that?! Probably The Wire. OK, but after that, I'm really screwed. Hence, the need for moderation.
That's where the Seattle Public Library comes in. Not only does it allow me to rent shows for free, but because the rest of Seattle is also trying to watch these shows, it takes about three months to get through the holds list. The only problem is that once I get the discs, I only have two weeks to watch the whole season before it's due back, thus causing a mini-overdose. So it's an imperfect system.
On a side note, you may be wondering what makes The West Wing so great. I don't have much to add beyond what you can read reviews posted on Netflix and places like that. The real-life dilemmas, the banter between characters, the Christmas episode where Toby helps a homeless vet and I, someone who rarely cries, just about lost it. All good stuff. However, I will add that CJ Cregg, the press secretary, is one of the coolest female characters in the history of TV. She is smart, witty, assertive, and has a cute thing with Danny the reporter. In short she represents how women have made great strides in the newsroom, once an all-male domain, not only in movies and TV, but also blah blah blah. For background, consult your copy of my college history senior thesis, "Equality in Journalism on Different Deadlines: A Comparison of Women's Place in the Historical and Popular Culture Newsroom." Really. I'll wait.
The only issue I take with the show, and this is probably common, is that Rob Lowe, try as he might, does not come off as sharp as his character is supposed to be. He's just too pretty. It makes for easy viewing though.
Dreamy
So that's about all I have to say about that. Back to Season 2! With any luck I will hold off at least a few weeks before starting Season 3.
