NBC has cancelled

POSTED BY: Skywalken
UPDATED: Monday, January 30, 2006 11:47
VIEWED: 7016
PAGE 1 of 3

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE

SKYWALKEN

Sunday, January 22, 2006 8:38 PM

NBC has finally axed that left-wing piece of garbage, The West Wing.

Check out this link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006
012200429_pf.html

Here is the above article:

Quote:
NBC Cancels 'West Wing' After 7 Seasons

By DAVID BAUDER
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 22, 2006; 1:56 PM

PASADENA, Calif. -- The new president on "The West Wing" will be a real short-timer: NBC announced Sunday it was pulling the plug on the Emmy-winning political drama after seven seasons in May.

NBC, struggling to regain its footing after the worst season in its history, also outlined several midseason schedule changes _ including the moves of popular dramas "Law & Order" and "Las Vegas."

"The West Wing" announcement wasn't much of a surprise. Although this season's story line with a presidential campaign involving a Democrat played by Jimmy Smits and Republican portrayed by Alan Alda has been strong critically, ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights.

The decision to cancel it was made before actor John Spencer, who played former presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack Dec. 16, said Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president.

"There's a point when you look at the ratings and say, it feels like it's time," Reilly said.

The series finale will be May 14, preceded by a one-hour retrospective. The campaign to replace the fictional Josiah Bartlet as president will be settled, NBC said.

Producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, who created the show and guided it through its early years, will not be involved in the finale, Reilly said.

"The West Wing" won four Emmy Awards for best television drama in a row for its tales of political intrigue. At its prime, it also offered NBC two valuable benefits: critical acclaim and the most upscale audience on television, an important drawing point for advertisers.

NBC's revamped schedule offered veteran "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf good and bad news. NBC is putting Wolf's new drama "Conviction," about young prosecutors in New York, on Friday's schedule starting March 3. But it is moving "Law & Order" up an hour to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET _ competing directly with ABC's blockbuster "Lost."

NBC is also moving "Las Vegas" from Monday to Friday starting in March. Donald Trump is changing addresses again, with "The Apprentice" moving to Monday where it will be preceded by the Howie Mandel-hosted game show "Deal or No Deal."

The network has two more midseason shows: "Heist," a cops-and-robbers drama from the director of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," and "Teachers," a comedy about a high school English teacher.

"The Office" will go off the air at the end of March so star Steve Carell can film a movie, Reilly said. He said he also hasn't figured out what to do with the ill-fated "Friends" spinoff "Joey," which has 12 new episodes done but no place on the schedule.

"NBC is stable and our vital signs are encouraging," Reilly said. "Most predictions were that we were going to go from bad to worse this year, and that hasn't happened."

MOHRSTOUTBEARD

Sunday, January 22, 2006 9:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skywalken:
. . .that left-wing piece of garbage. . .

Now, now, play nice. . .

------------------
"Remember, there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over."

KHYRON

Sunday, January 22, 2006 11:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skywalken:
Quote:
... ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights.

...

"There's a point when you look at the ratings and say, it feels like it's time," Reilly said.

Right, so after NBC messes around with the show's time slot, the ratings fall ... which then means that the show has to go. Huh. I guess moving it back to the previous time slot, where the show had success, didn't occur to them. Looks like NBC executives are taking advice from Fox executives on how to f*** around with intelligent shows these days. It's a miracle that the show made it to 7 seasons anyway, considering the fact that shows with brains are usually the first to fall to the whims of network executives.

SIMONWHO

Sunday, January 22, 2006 11:04 PM

I believe you mean the highly acclaimed, multi-emmy awarding winning The West Wing.

Of course, it does feature an American President who is both highly intelligent and devout Christian (hence his desire for peaceful resolution to conflicts) so I can see how some people think it more unrealistic than say Firefly or He-Man.

Still, time to call it a day.

KHYRON

Sunday, January 22, 2006 11:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SimonWho:
... and devout Christian (hence his desire for peaceful resolution to conflicts) ...

Wait, now I'm confused. I thought being Christian means making it clear to everybody that doesn't conform to your beliefs how much God hates non-Christians for their evil ways, and that if one is a Christian president it's one's moral duty to do likewise to other countries (using force if necessary). ESPECIALLY if those heathen countries happen to have a bit of oil, which was clearly meant to be used by Christians, otherwise God wouldn't have created the SUV.

So you're saying that the president on the show was Christian and wanted PEACEFUL resolutions to conflicts!? No wonder the show's being cancelled, who could relate to that sort of highly stylised nonsensical fiction.

DREAMTROVE

Monday, January 23, 2006 2:29 AM

I think television is so left wing extreme that it requires grading on a curve. I only saw the west wing a couple of times but it seemed fairly moderate to me, sort of a 'go mod dems' not really a 'raise upo the red flag' sort of perspective. Frankly, television ticks me off a lot more when it weaves it's radical left perspective into shows that pertain to be about real life but are really about a candy fiction pretending to be real life. If a show is about politics, at least it's out in the open. Every time a subject like this comes up, I'm profoundly reminded how we on the right need to have our own entertainment companies, with our own shows. A political drama set in the middle of the 20th century say, pitting the dems and the gop against each other in, oh, just pick any decade :)

But also, people that attack the GOP presently have a point. We need to put our shop in order.

RUE

Monday, January 23, 2006 3:07 AM

Quote:
pertain (sic) to be about real life but are really about a candy fiction pretending to be real life

OOC, which shows are those?

Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

LITTLEALBATROSS

Monday, January 23, 2006 6:49 AM

Sad to see it go, but it's probably time - 7 years is long in tv-land. Plus, IIRC the ratings were dropping even before the move to Sunday.

At least they will have time to wrap it up. Many deserving shows don't get that chance.

HERO

Monday, January 23, 2006 7:33 PM

Maybe the SciFi Channel will pick West Wing up. I mean a show about an honost democrats...that could fit in perfectly with the Friday night lineup, right between the guys who go through the stargate to save earth...and the other guys who go through the other stargate for similar reasons. Maybe as a mid-season replacement to Battlestar Galactica (which sometimes makes me think 'West Wing is space')...

I mean its a great show, West Wing is. Right now the pro-life conservative Democrat is about to win the election over the pro-choice liberal Republican...science fiction at its finest.

Say what you want, the live debate episode was really good.

H

DC4BS

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 2:58 AM

I'll miss it. I have DVD set1-5 and every episode since recorded. But it is definately time to let it go.

Throwing a nuke plant meltdown into the storyline cause they have simply run out of good plot ideas... Doesn't jump the shark but... Shiesh!

If Vinick wins, it's a completely different show. Even if Santos wins, hardly anyone could believably carry over so it would be a mostly different cast then as well. Johns death simply reduces that list of potential continuity characters even further. How many fans would really stick with a show that changed so drasticaly after fading for the previous season? No matter how you slice it, it was done this year and could have probably exited more gracefully at the end of last year.

But I do agree. The live debate was some mighty fine TV and almost justifies season 7 all by itself.

------------------------------------------
dc4bs

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE