the west wing

The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast from 1999 to 2006. It was produced/written by Sorkin (for the first four seasons) and also produced by Thomas Schlamme. After season four it was produced by John Wells. The series is set in the West Wing of the White House, the location of the Oval Office and offices of presidential senior staff, during the fictional Democratic administration of Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen).

The West Wing was produced by Warner Bros. Television. It first aired on NBC in 1999, and has been broadcast by many networks in dozens of other countries. The series ended its seven-year run on May 14, 2006.

The show received positive reviews from critics, political science professors, and former White House staffers. In total, The West Wing won two Golden Globe Awards and 26 Emmy Awards, a tie with Hill Street Blues for the most Emmy Awards ever won by a television drama series. Included in this record-equalling haul were four straight awards for Outstanding Drama Series (2000–2003). The show's popularity waned in later years, but it remained popular among high-income viewers, a key demographic for the show and its advertisers.

Plot

The West Wing, like many serial dramas, stretches storylines over several episodes or entire seasons. In addition to these larger storylines, each episode also contains smaller arcs which usually begin and end within an episode. Plot synopses, both for individual episodes and overall seasons, are included with a list of The West Wing episodes.

Most episodes follow President Bartlet and his staff through particular legislative or political issues. Plots can range from behind-closed-doors negotiating with Congress ("Five Votes Down") to personal issues like sex ("Pilot", "Take Out The Trash Day") and personal drug use (a major plotline throughout the first and second seasons). The typical episode loosely follows the president and his staff through their day, generally following several plots connected by some idea or theme. A large, fully connected set of the White House allows the producers to create shots with very few cuts and long, continuous master shots of staff members walking and talking through the hallways. These "walks-and-talks" became a trademark of the show.

In the first season, the administration is in the middle of its first year and is still having trouble settling in and making progress on legislative issues. The second season brings scandal as the White House is rocked by allegations of criminal conduct and the president must decide whether he will run for a second term. The third and fourth seasons take an in-depth look at the campaign trail and the specter of both foreign and domestic terrorism. In the fifth season, the president begins to encounter more issues on the foreign front, while at home he must face off with the newly elected Speaker of the House over the future of the federal budget. The sixth season chronicles the quest to replace Bartlet in the next election, following the primary campaign of several candidates from both parties. In the seventh season, the president must face a leak of confidential information from inside the White House, while the Democratic and Republican candidates battle to replace him in the general election.

**wikipedia.org