Dec 31, 2007

Last post of 2007

No talk of resolutions. No year-end recap of the prior 12 months. Nothing but The West Wing.
I love/loved that show! It's funny because my two all-time favorite television shows have to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The West Wing. The funny part is that I largely ignored them both when they were first aired I became a fan of both shows in syndication.

Buffy became a part of my life after it was all said and done. The series had been cancelled and it was airing in syndication on the FX Network a couple of times a day. I happened upon an episode one day and got hooked. Then I found out that the entire 7 seasons were going to run in sequence starting that very week. At the time I was DVR-less, so I ran out to the store and bought a whole shitload of videotapes. I would spend a few minutes each week programming my VCR to tape the entire series in order for some reason or another. Still got those tapes too! Just ask Slyde. He borrowed my bag o' Buffy, as I like to call the shopping bag that I keep all the tapes in, a little over a year ago and he enjoyed some low-def hi-quality TV over the next few months.

It was a similar story with The West Wing. I didn't actually keep all the tapes, but I would record the 5 or 10 (I can't remember) episodes that Bravo would air during the week for pure weekend viewing pleasure. I got into this one during Season 5 of 7, so I wasn't able to watch the entire series as quickly as I did with Buffy, but it was close.

Honestly, I think I may have loved The West Wing even more than, gasp, Buffy. Sacrilege, I know. But I really got into the former in a weird way. I've watched episodes over and over in replays and I just love them each and every time. The writing is incredible, especially in the Aaron Sorkin years. And the story arch over the seven years was just fantastic. Made me want to work at the White House. Well, not the current White House.

Anyway, I bring this up because I was talking to Gia about this show just last week. She was interested in seeing it, so we rented the first season from NetFlix. Tonight we sat down and watched the entire first DVD which contains the first 8 episodes from the first season. ALL IN A ROW!

It was awesome! Gia is hooked. I can't wait for the next DVD to come in the mail. I'm becoming a fan all over again! Good times.

That being said, I want to wish all of you out there a Very Happy New Year! Enjoy!

3 comments:

elizabeth said...

Happy New Year Earl!

Bruce Johnson said...

I watched the West Wing for the first season and found it fascinating, but it went down hill from there. Originally, it was just to be about the White House staff and not focus on the president, but that obviously changed.

Can't understand Netflix, seems so time consuming. I have a DVD recorder and just records stuff from Turner Classic Movies and HBO.

Verdant Earl said...

Liz - you too!

Lotus - Sorkin originally asked Sheen to appear in only about 4 episodes a year as he was going to focus on the staff. That changed after his performance in the first episode. Sorkin just had too much "presidential" material left over after penning "The American President".

And NetFlix is surprisingly simple. Very, very easy to use and not time consuming at all.