I just got done watching the West Wing. Ugh. I really enjoy the show, but this season it has strayed from what were somewhat realistic stories. This is starting to drive me crazy. Why? Well, I work in government and I see what goes on and the tensions between issues and how some issues are so complex, no one can agree on starting point, let alone on a common ground.
However, in the West Wing earlier this season, one aide to the President, was able to solve social security in a twenty four hour period. Yeah. Sure. Are we really that cynical that we think the Congress or the President simply don’t want to fix it? Or tonight’s episode where they appointed two Supreme Court Justices that were on the extreme edges of the political spectrum, both liberal and conservative, and they were assured confirmation.
What’s wrong with presenting these complex issues for what they are: hard and almost impossible to resolve in a way that makes either side happy. The West Wing’s previous seasons were written that way. (I know that Aaron Sorkin, the original writer, left this season, so maybe that is the whole problem.)
This is similar to how computers are depicted in movies and TV. My favorite example was when Commodore VIC 20s/64s were the mainframe computers in the 80’s classic move, War Games. Yeah sure. And you can beat the all powerful Defense Department computer by playing Tic-Tac-Toe. Sure. Easy as that.