[Mb-hair] NYTimes.com Article: ' West Wing' : Is It Facing a Struggle to Survive?

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'West Wing': Is It Facing a Struggle to Survive?

August 12, 2004
 By BERNARD WEINRAUB 



 

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11 - "The West Wing," the award-winning
NBC drama series about a fictional White House, is
struggling to revive its ratings and its creative dynamism
in the coming season after two faltering years. But it may
be too late. 

With the nation focused on presidential politics, the
creators of "The West Wing" are plainly trying to tap into
real events to restore the series, which enters its sixth
season on Oct. 20 in its usual slot at 9 p.m. Wednesdays.
But the show, which has won four consecutive Emmy Awards as
the outstanding drama series and was nominated for 12 Emmys
this year despite its critical and audience slide, seems to
be teetering on the edge of cancellation next season unless
ratings pick up. 

Once lavishly praised for its serious content - some
critics said too serious - and its exploration of the
tensions and compromises in a liberal White House, "The
West Wing" was a Top 10 show with 17.1 million viewers in
2001-2. The next year the audience dropped to 13.4 million,
partly because of rivalry from reality shows like "The
Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" on ABC. (The slide in the
18-to-49 demographic was especially severe.) Last year the
total viewer average fell to 11.7 million. But critics said
the series had also lost its way - its plots and characters
had sometimes turned far-fetched. 

Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment,
acknowledged to television critics and reporters in July
that "The West Wing" was "ratings challenged last year."
Speaking of the fictional Democratic president, Josiah
Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen), Mr. Reilly said that "the
Bartlet administration is clearly coming to the end of its
term, and I think that's going to foster some really
interesting developments." Mr. Reilly said the show's
writers were planning to "juice up" the series creatively
but avoided details. 

Mr. Reilly said in an interview that the presidential
election would have an impact on "The West Wing," and would
"certainly set story lines in motion." He said the series
would involve presidential politics and that the evolving
characters in the show would reflect more than the
traditional liberal viewpoints of the Bartlet White House.
He said he hoped the series would be picked up after next
season, depending not only on the ratings but also on its
creative direction. Among the reasons offered for the
show's ratings decline, Mr. Reilly said, was that "The West
Wing" may have seemed out of sync at times with the real
West Wing and the conservatism in the nation. 

"Did the show reflect the real-life shift in the winds?"
Mr. Reilly asked. "That's debatable." 

To reflect the realities of the nation's politics, the
show's producers brought in Kenneth M. Duberstein, once
chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan, as a consultant.


"The West Wing" was created by Aaron Sorkin, who left the
show in May 2003 after declining ratings and budget issues,
along with his partner in the show, Thomas Schlamme, an
executive producer like Mr. Sorkin and the lead director.
In their final season and despite a surprise Emmy for best
drama, the show began to lose viewers and veer into
melodrama. (The president's daughter was abducted by
terrorists.) 

John Wells, an executive producer on "The West Wing" and
one of television's most successful producers of shows like
"E. R.," succeeded Mr. Sorkin. By several accounts one of
Mr. Wells's tasks was to control the show's budget. Mr.
Sorkin had played a role in writing and rewriting almost
every show, sometimes late, and was not seriously engaged
in budget issues. Mr. Sorkin did not respond to a request
for an interview. 

In Mr. Wells's first year the ratings dropped even further.
Instead of the stylized rapid-fire dialogue created by Mr.
Sorkin for White House figures on the edge of personal or
political crises, the series turned contrived and
convoluted, critics said. Some White House staff members,
already smug in the Sorkin years, turned insufferable. The
series, which had confined itself almost entirely to the
White House in its early years, branched out into plots
involving terrorism and foreign intrigue. 

A spokeswoman for Mr. Wells said he would not comment.


Lawrence O'Donnell, a writer-producer on the show in its
early years, who has now returned, and Mr. Reilly said that
in the new season "The West Wing'' would most certainly
involve politics and concern who would succeed President
Bartlet, now winding up his second term in the White House.
It was both fortunate and coincidental, the two said
separately, that events in the "The West Wing" would blur
into the real politics of the nation. 

Mr. O'Donnell said: "In the evolution of the stories,
politics and campaigning has been the arena least explored.
We're trying to rectify that balance." 

He said: "It's a slightly unreal element on the show that
we haven't had the political sharks circling the White
House. That dynamic will now be added." 

Whether the changes will generate higher ratings is
understandably of great concern to NBC, Mr. Wells and his
staff. 

The series, produced by Warner Brothers, is expensive,
costing about $6.5 million an episode. Warner Brothers also
produces "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," "The West
Wing" rivals on ABC. Peter Roth, president of Warner
Brothers Television, declined to discuss "The West Wing." 

Mr. Reilly said that 3 episodes of the new season had been
completed and 9 of 22 had been written. 

Will the real presidential election and its aftermath buoy
the ratings of the fictional politics on "The West Wing"?
Mr. Reilly said, "The election is a catalyst for setting
certain stories in motion." 

"I can't give anything specific this year," he said, "but
there will be tumult in the administration this year." The
Bartlet administration, of course. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/12/arts/television/12wing.html?ex=1093347619&ei=1&en=849cbf392274d964


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