The West Wing--Third Season
Now available.

I know, I know: The recent presidential election was so depressing that you're almost looking forward to the inauguration, because we'll then be that much closer to the end of the W. era. Since the Electoral College only just voted to reelect that little turd, the disenfranchisement blues have never felt quite so palpable. And while activism, reason, and good old secularity are always good for a wintry chuckle, there's only one real recipe for feeling like the United States Constitution is a living document that inspires our leaders to bring about the better angels of our nature: watching a TV show on DVD. And not just any TV show, but the greatest TV show of all time, The West Wing. Season three--during which the characters, actors, and creator/writer Aaron Sorkin achieved a philosophical and narrative critical mass that sustained the series well into season four, after which it all fell apart, as all things must--is now available on DVD. Beginning with the smartest response to the 9/11 attacks that any group of artists mustered, right through to the heroic finale, WW3 offers a magnitude of drama, comedy, and sentimentality unrivaled in the medium's history. It may be liberal porn, but who needs porn more than liberals nowadays?

Here's what you do: Rent or buy all the discs, go home early, and make yourself comfortable. Then watch all 22 episodes. It might take you a couple of nights, but when you're finished, a minor miracle will have occurred: You'll believe that the Bartlet administration, were it not composed of fictitious geniuses whose every impulse is righteous and whose every quip is barbed and hilarious, would actually stand a fighting chance against the huns who now live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and hence, that representative democracy headed by eloquent statesmen is a desirable goal in today's America. And you're almost guaranteed to cry once per episode, which is always a bonus.