TV Guide recently reported that the producers of NBC's \The West Wing"" are starting to confront the same decision American voters are considering in real life: Who should the next American president be? The show has been on the air for six seasons now, and did not start at the very beginning of Martin Sheen's fictional administration. This means that it's about time for his second term to come to a close.
So now, as the American people decide between George Bush, John Kerry and the ever-popular Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik, it's time for NBC to find your new fake president, and rumored candidates have so far included veteran actors, such as Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda. But remember, real-life people took Howard Dean seriously as recently as March. So once given the artistic license of fiction, you can't even imagine what people might be willing to accept.
But we can.
Now, Alan Alda is a fine actor with just the right mix of humor, presence and humanity that has made Sheen so well-received by American audiences. That's the problem. Audiences don't want a tired knockoff of their beloved President Bartlett. And Jimmy Smits is a fine actor with solid TV experience, but audiences know him from his big roles in ""L.A. Law"" and ""NYPD Blue."" Americans barely trust governors and senators; since when do they trust cops, lawyers, Californians or New Yorkers?
Some people would point to casting Jimmy Smits as a chance to broaden the horizons of American television with a Hispanic president. But the show has already appointed a Hispanic Supreme Court justice, and this time of change gives them a chance to make an even bolder breakthrough in network television casting. How about Courtney Love? Audiences already tuned in to see a president calmly dealing with the abduction of his daughter. Wouldn't they love to see a president shooting heroin and then hysterically screaming that she doesn't want to lose custody of her children?
Love is notable for her recent legal troubles, but that would make her fit in well with the show. Aside from his time playing the president and his notable movie career, Sheen is famous for having been arrested dozens of times for his passion for protesting. The show's creator and former head writer Aaron Sorkin was famously arrested for carrying several kinds of illegal drugs and its former star Rob Lowe was caught with underage girls. So maybe given the show's successful but legally flexible lineage, the producers should aim for another Hollywood jailbird. Nick Nolte hasn't done much since being caught driving after giving himself GHB. But it is an election year, and that type of scandal may not fly. No, what NBC needs is a candidate who already fosters trust from the American public.
By the time Sheen steps down, there will be a perfect candidate, one whose scandals haven't seemed to sandbag him yet. He might not be the most qualified, but he'll at least come in second. The presidential election will leave one man president, and one unemployed. Why not draft the loser to ""The West Wing""? It may have a substantial impact on the election. Fifty-five percent of people over 18 care enough about actual politics to vote for president, but everyone watches TV. Forty-five percent of American voters are free to vote against the candidate they'd like to see each Wednesday at 10 p.m. eastern, 9 p.m. central.
But NBC's not looking for someone as dignified as a presidential candidate, even one with the dignity of this year's crop. John Wells and his producer cronies have already drained the show of most of the dignity and subtlety it possessed under creator and head writer Aaron Sorkin. After a biological outbreak in the White House, the president allowing an out-of-party house of representative to temporarily take his job and hiring Christian Slater, why not go totally over-the-top in Disney style? No, not the overdrawn, ""Remember the Titans"" Disney style. ""Air Bud""-style casting. Can't you see it now?
""You know, there's no rule in the constitution that says a horse can't be president. And Patches here is 35 and born in Georgia!"" He even could carry the South.
It's been a strange four years for President Bartlett-he's existed in a parallel universe to President Bush, one with a bit more integrity, more compassion, less conservatism. It's not even a knock at Bush. President Bartlett was not just an electable president, but an electable Jesus, as well. It used to be a well-spoken man was the mold of the president.
Now, people look for a candidate who speaks as people actually speak: badly, dumbly, occasionally vulgarly. And studios are yet to greenlight ""Hulk 2."" Who would be tougher on terrorism than a guy who can lift a tank? Who cracks down on nuclear stockpiles better than a guy mutated by gamma radiation? You can't attack his war record. You can't attack his fiscal responsibility-he doesn't even buy shirts. And, while ""Hulk smash steel tariffs"" may upset the labor movement, let's see a teamster complain to a 600-pound green guy.
And with all the changes going on with the show, with the original head writer and producer gone alongside the actor who carried the show, adding the Hulk doesn't seem like a big change. If the president leaves, so does his staff. The new administration will bring unprecedented changes to the show. So why not pick a president who would come with a staff -like Toni Basil, and the cheerleaders who appeared alongside her in the ""Hey Mickey"" video, or the starting line of the Chris Chelios-led Chicago Blackhawks starting line from 1992?
It has to be something. Because, without a package deal, Martin Sheen might have to find novel ways of staying in office. The president can wage three months of war without Congress. Bartlett could easily take over America by then, or all of it that matters (sorry Iowa).
Our advice, or someone else's, ""The West Wing"" is going to be very, very different, very, very soon. And, in an industry founded on constancy, things that suddenly become very different loose their audience quickly.
Maybe the bloody coup led by Sheen isn't such a bad idea. But the Hulk could probably take him.
-Amos Posner and Joe Uchill
