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"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"...

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Ratings for "The West Wing (news - web sites)" have tumbled this fall -- but that's not all bad news for the folks at NBC or the show's producer, Warner Bros. TV. For NBC, the weakening of an anchor show is hardly a cause for celebration, particularly given the so-so performance of its new comedies and the potential exit of "Friends" this May. Yet the timing of "West Wing's" decline is actually perfect for NBC, since the network is just a few months away from starting talks with Warner Bros. over extending the Emmy-winning White House drama's...

Jay Leno ( news - Y! TV) and David Letterman ( news - Y! TV) still will be able to joke about federal political candidates in the weeks before an election. The Federal Election Commission ( news - web sites) says comments like theirs are not covered by the new campaign finance law. The law, which takes effect Nov. 6, prohibits special interest groups from airing ads identifying federal candidates within one month of a primary or two months of a general election. In its first vote spelling out how those restrictions will be applied, the FEC agreed 6-0 on...

Just six weeks or so before a real mid-term election, NBC’s The West Wing returned to the air Wednesday night with its fictional “President Bartlet” campaigning for re-election six weeks before a presidential vote. West Wing creator/writer Aaron Sorkin who has Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, facing off against a dumb Republican Governor from the South, used NBC’s prime time to advance the liberal agenda.      The September 25 episode opened with a campaign rally set at an Indiana farm. Bartlet proclaimed: “We need to find energy alternatives....The Republicans are busy. They’re trying to convince us that they care about...

<p>MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) -- The actor who plays the U.S. president on NBC's "The West Wing" will lend some star power to Janet Reno's bid to unseat Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose own campaign is getting a little help from the real U.S. president.</p>

BARBRA'S VERKLEMPT: What if liberal songstress Barbra Streisand became a Republican First Lady? You can imagine that while watching The West Wing's season finale on May 22 — when her hubby, James Brolin, is introduced as President Martin Sheen's GOP opponent in the next big election. While NBC won't confirm that he'll recur on the show next season, sources say it's highly likely.

Tonight on West Wing there was a threat on the WH. Bartlett refused to go into the bunker saying he would lose his ability to direct those who could not go. In an earlier scene he said that it would send the wrong message.

TAMPA - The other U.S. president - Martin Sheen, a k a President Josiah Bartlet on the popular ``The West Wing '' television drama - is getting into real Florida politics. He'll be here in June to campaign for Janet Reno for governor, making stops in Miami, Orlando and maybe Tampa, the campaign announced Tuesday. For thousands of fans, one question must be answered immediately. No, there are no plans for Sheen to be joined by other cast members like tough-love dispensing press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) or heartthrob speechwriter Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe). But political observers are...

ANOTHER RIGHT-WING SETBACKIt's pilot time in Hollywood, as networks begin planning next season's prime-time schedule. So what happened to the supposedly "hot" Washington, D.C.-based drama that was going to feature conservatives and Republicans in a somewhat more positive light? This time last year, word was spreading in the conservative community that ABC and parent company Disney were seeking writers for a show that would provide ideological balance to NBC's liberal-minded "West Wing." The show would be set on Capitol Hill and would feature Republicans and conservatives doing the good work of the American people. "It was going to be the...

<p>Hoping to be heard, activists are lobbying 'The West Wing'</p> <p>Even as advocates for a ban on land mines lobbied the Bush administration, they were looking for help from another US president.</p> <p>So they approached NBC's ''The West Wing'' hoping to get the land mine issue written into the show. As it happens, that was already in the works. Tonight the show tackles the subject as President Josiah Bartlet's White House reportedly tries to dissuade a poet laureate, played by actress Laura Dern, from criticizing the US failure to back a land mines treaty.</p>