Looking back: The West Wing vs. The Wire
Lately I’ve completed a re-watch of The Wire, and oddly it makes me want to talk about The West Wing as well. Although The Wire is slightly more recent, I consider them to be in the same era of TV. The 20 or so years since have been much kinder to The Wire, especially compared to The West Wing’s Sorkin years.
I think it’s probably down to The Wire’s almost documentary-level realism, whereas The West Wing is set in a hyperreal parallel universe where everyone is a genius — and talks like it.
When Sorkin is on form he is a brilliant writer, but a largely-unspoken problem with Sorkin is that when he’s bad, he’s terrible. And in some moments, and occasionally whole episodes, The West Wing is now nigh unwatchable.
Issues include:
- Outright sexist storylines and dialogue
- Cringe-worthy dialogue
- Interchangeable characters
- Groaning exposition
- Extremely poor musical choices (which I don’t know for a fact but am absolutely certain are down to Sorkin)
The West Wing is brilliant more often than it’s terrible — and its best episodes fall into the Sorkin years: particularly the double episode that kicks off season 2. But I like the post-Sorkin seasons nearly as much for their more realistic dialogue and story choices. Here the worst episodes are merely dull, and not embarrassing.
I think Sorkin shares a problem with George Lucas in that, too often, they’re surrounded by subordinates who only say yes. Sorkin’s best writing since The West Wing has been for film, not TV. And in film he has had the likes of Danny Boyle and David Fincher to exact high demands and rein in the worst excesses.
Meanwhile, the worst criticisms I can level at The Wire are that every season takes too long to get going. I am not a believer in “watch a few episodes — give it a chance” and instead buy into the Sorkin quote:
Our responsibility [as storytellers] is to captivate you for however long we've asked for your attention.
I do tell people The Wire is worth sticking with, because it’s genuinely worth it. Things that are brilliant:
- The writing
- The acting
- The storytelling
- The dialogue
- The locations
- The music choices (almost always heard in the background, in scene)
What else is there after those?
But I don’t have the patience to stick out the early boring episodes of a new show any more. This may be a learned behaviour in the streaming era when the whole TV business model is to drag out stories for as long as possible to keep the subscriptions ticking along. (That wasn’t a problem created by streaming, of course — looking at you Heroes and Lost). Thank goodness for series like The Bear — the best TV since The Wire (and yes, I rate Breaking Bad extremely highly) — which buck the trend.
To the limited extent that I understood early-20th Century Baltimore (which is not at all), The Wire strikes me as a brilliant portrayal where the city is the star, albeit with a flawless supporting cast. I can’t think of one dud performance, or one over-egged line of dialogue.
I should probably write a post in praise of what The West Wing did well, as it will always be some of my favourite TV. But it doesn’t hold up as one of the very best any more — at least not in sum.