Anybody watch Sunday’s live debate on The West Wing?

Who do you think won?

As you probably know, I’m someone that would stand in line to watch The West Wing. I think it is one of the best shows ever produced for prime-time network television. And I think that, even on a bad night (or during a bad season), TWW is still one of the better shows on TV. I was never a Star Trek geek; but I come pretty close to being a TWW wonk.

Anyway, can I tell you that I was a bit disappointed that Santos did not knock it out of the park? If Santos is nine points down (as we saw in the previous episode), I have a hard time seeing how he gets even with this performance. I even told Miss Julie that I actually liked Arnie Vinick’s debate performance better.

Oh, yeah, Vinick was often whiny and annoying and he was a looney tune when he talked about lowering taxes in Africa. But, overall, he seemed nimble, strong and in control. No wonder Leo McGarry warned everyone about how good Vinick is.

Santos also had his moments. He hit all the right liberal notes, including his health care plan (Kennedy’s “Medicare for All”) and his proud defense of liberalism in general. Plus, he looked strong and vigorous. And after all, politics now-days is just TV with the sound turned off, isn’t it? So Santos was ahead on that count.

Now, maybe I’m wrong, but it seems pretty clear that Santos is being set up to win the election. I mean, how else would the producers be able to maintain continuity with even part of the cast if Vinick wins? All the cast members would have to exit. At least if Santos wins, Josh stays around.

That said, something else will have to happen this season to put Santos on track to win the election; IMHO, the debate hasn’t done it.

Of course, maybe the producers have no plans to take it into Season 8. Maybe the ending of the campaign hasn’t even been written yet — Miss Julie said she heard even the actors don’t know how it all turns out. Hmmm. Maybe they’re waiting for the “returns” on this debate. Or maybe it won’t be resolved at all. After all, we did see some ambiguity in the season premiere — in that episode we flash-forwarded three years into the next President’s tenure and we didn’t actually see WHO the new President was. Maybe the season (or the series) ends without closure on that count.

Hoping to score big, the producers had Lawrence O’Donnell write the script — he has written many of the classic episodes from the Aaron Sorkin era. I think they were trying insure that the episode would boost viewership now and for the rest of the season. But judging by the fan reaction on the bulletin boards, the fanatics were somewhat underwhelmed by the episode. The ones who liked it were, like, “enh” and the ones who disliked it, detested it.

What do you think?

P.S. Weird trivia: younger viewers switched allegiance to Vinnick after viewing the show; older viewers stayed with Santos. Go figure.