The West Wing (1999)

Without a shadow of a doubt, THE finest political TV drama ever to come out of a studio! Despite its rather liberal happy-clappy perspective with most of its secondary storylines, TWW is exceptionally well-written and very rarely fails to deliver some rather thought-provoking episodes. I have had many boxset marathons with this show over the years, and I must admit my adulation for certain seasons has changed somewhat in that time. Back then I adored the first 4 seasons, while dismissing season 5 outright, and only having a grudging respect for seasons 6 & 7. But these days I much prefer 6&7 over 1, 3 and 4. No idea why but there you go! As for the acting, well other than Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe and John Spencer the first few seasons were a cast of relative unknowns, but come the middle of S1 it doesn't matter because the likes of Alison Janey's CJ, Bradley Whitford's wonderful Josh Lyman and Richard Schiff's brooding Toby Ziegler play their roles exceptionally well. Of course the greatest aspect of this show is the writing, especially for the first four seasons when Aaron Sorkin was directly involved. And even after he left under a cloud the writing for season 5 and beyond was still very good, if a little uneven. It has been awhile since I last picked up on this show. So come the winter months I might just snuggle down and enjoy the walk & talk with these guys once again.