Posted on 10/25/2002 7:00:19 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
"The West Wing" has been having its problems lately, with ratings down 20 percent overall and even more among young viewers. Industry wags have a bunch of theories for the decline of NBC's White House drama: lackluster plots, no romantic storylines for Rob Lowe's character, competition from other networks, and so on.
Caryn James, the eminent New York Times media critic, even proclaimed Wednesday that " 'The West Wing' jumped the shark."
She's wrong. All those theories are wrong. The ratings aren't down because of plotlines or because the show has jumped the shark. They're down because "The West Wing" has chewed the pigskin, and spit it out. In other words, the ratings are down because the show has been dissing football.
An anti-football White House wouldn't survive in the real world, and Pres. Josiah Bartlet's administration isn't long for the tube unless series creator Aaron Sorkin changes his football-bashing ways.
Sorkin should know better. It's OK to criticize certain aspects of football, as happened often enough on "Sports Night," which was also his baby. But not so often. And not with such broad strokes.
Make no mistake: Bartlet, who attended Notre Dame, likes football. But his staff has been using football as a punching bag. To wit:
In the Oct. 2, episode, Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman and Donna Moss, his assistant, discussed problems that minor college sports have been having. What's the root of those problem?
Donna: It's not the fault of women's sports. It's the fault of football.
Josh: It's the fault of football?
Donna: Yeah.
Josh: Football pays for all the other sports.
Donna: There are 53 players on an NFL team. The University of Colorado has 130, 85 of whom are on full scholarship. I'm all for backups and substitutes but can't the guy who's fourth on the depth chart at right outside linebacker also be the fourth on the depth chart at left outside linebacker? If a college football team cut back to 70 scholarships, they'd still be three deep at every position and have a fourth-string punter and place kicker. 15 scholarships ... that's a wrestling team!
Keep in mind that Donna (whether you agree with her on the above or not) has already proven she knows nothing about the college game, having once lost $100 in a college football pool by betting on Central Indiana State ("The Fighting Okies") against Notre Dame.
In the Oct. 9 episode Bartlet, like so many presidents before him (think Nixon, especially), watched football on TV.
This was a smart move. Sorkin gave us the poor man's version of picture-in-picture, and on a Wednesday night even a snippet of Redskins, Raiders or Saints action would have quickened the pulses of many viewers.
What did we get instead? According to Government Executive Magazine's "West Wing Watch," we got the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Maybe Doug Flutie, if he was watching, kept his eyes peeled for some old buddies. But thousands of viewers immediately switched to "NFL Films Presents: 1977 Buccaneers Yearbook" on ESPN Classic.
(TV junkies with a passion for minutia might have eventually figured out that Bartlet was probably interested in Stampeders long snapper and linebacker Michel Dupuis, who suffers, like Bartlet, from multiple sclerosis. But twitchy remote fingers have no time for such subtleties.)
C.J., Bartlet's press secretary, has also been making her anti-football views known. She notices that the President's watching football, and says, in that C.J. kind of way, "Is it OK that after every play someone requires medical attention?"
A real presidential press secretary would have been fired for making such a remark. The problem isn't that it's false. The problem is that it's anti-football. C.J. should have learned to keep her mouth shut about football after Bartlet made her go on "The Portland Trip," wear a Notre Dame hat, and sing all five verses of the Notre Dame fight song while Air Force One flew over South Bend.
Bartlet's coming up for re-election. He'll win, no doubt. But he could still lose the hearts and minds of even more viewers, unless his underlings get on the (foot)ball.
Will he sweep the Electoral College, or will the Electoral College be abolished in time for his re-election campaign?
Is everything so hip, insider and backstory that they can use this expression stand alone? Anyone willing to tie the kangaroo down on this one?
It is interesting that, in America, the high school experience can permantly scar people psychologically. Many of those who go to Hollywood have bad memeory about football players and cheerleaders. They take their personal hostility toward jocks and babes into movies and TV shows, even giving it an ideological spin, by regarding them as the archetypical "fascists".
From watching their TV shows and movies, one would never guessed that a majority of Americans like football and cheerleaders, despite rotten behaviors of them occasionally.
Reference to when Fonzi jumped the shark on Happy Days. Beginning of the end.
Can I make a bonfire of the tapes?
THAT'S BOLD TALK FOR A ONE-EYED FAT MAN!
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