| ||||
 Arts & EntertainmentBooks Comics Health & Body Media Mothers Who Think News People Politics2000 Technology - Free Software Project Travel & Food  Columnists
- - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - Also Today For a full list of today's Salon Arts & Entertainment stories, go to the
Arts & Entertainment home page. - - - - - - - - - - - - Search Salon - - - - - - - - - - - - Salon Columnists - - - - - - - - - - - - Recently in Salon Arts & Entertainment Music Review Movie Review Movie Review Movie Review Complete archives for Arts & Entertainment - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
... but I play one on TV | page 1, 2
Still, "The West Wing" sucks you in with its swiftly paced multiple story lines ("ER" creator John Wells is an executive producer), awesome cast and (most of the time) piquant and punchy dialogue. Rather than focusing on Bartlet, "The West Wing" is really about the people in his orbit, the ones who whisper in his ear, advise him, humor him and nudge him toward positions they want him to take. As communications director Ziegler sees it, his job is to prevent Bartlet's "demons" from overtaking his "better angels." (I'm sure Ed Meese and Ollie North felt the same way.) But even if you don’t work in the Oval Office, the "West Wing" staffers have the kind of career problems you can relate to. Schiff's fuzzy-bearded Ziegler might be too uncompromising and outspoken for his own good; Bartlet is pissed off at him much of the time. Janney's nurturing yet acerbic Cregg works so hard at being a team player, she has no life outside the office. Whitford's seemingly nonchalant Lyman is really a bundle of nerves consumed with fear about losing his job. Bartlet's haggard chief of staff, Leo McGarry (played by John Spencer from "L.A. Law," who bears a passing resemblance to former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry -- or, rather, what McCurry might look like today if he hadn't quit when he did), is a recovering alcoholic whose wife has left him because he's married to his job. By throwing a spotlight on the presidential posse, Sorkin makes a point worth remembering next November. Sure, we get to vote for our presidents. But we can only hope they hire the right people. Watching Sheen's eccentric performance on "The West Wing" and Alan Alda's assured one in his current five-episode guest stint on "ER," you can't help thinking that their roles should have been reversed. Alda would surely make a more even-keeled president. And Sheen's advanced case of windbagitis might work better in Alda's role on "ER"; Alda's supposed to be playing a brilliant emergency medicine trailblazer, but he shuffles around so modestly, he might be mistaken for Marcus Welby. Alda plays new attending physician Dr. Gabe Lawrence, a former med school mentor of Dr. Kerry Weaver. Lawrence's affable, avuncular manner captivates everybody except for Mark Greene, who sees him as a threat to his turf. Alas, the hints of forgetfulness and brief flashes of sudden bad temper Lawrence displayed in the Oct. 14 and 21 episodes are slated to blossom into some dire condition and ... oh, well, another short-timer bites the dust. But Alda fits so snugly into the cast and gives the show such a jolt of personality, it's a shame he's going to be pushed out the revolving door. He's in his element here; after all, "ER" is basically "M*A*S*H" stretched out to an hour with a domestic battlefield (the health care crisis) instead of a foreign one. And his Lawrence fills the moral authority void "ER" has had since, well, forever. He'd be a great chief of staff at County General, a central voice of reason, sanity and all that is good and right, much like Capt. Frank Furillo on "Hill Street Blues," Dr. Donald Westphal on "St. Elsewhere" and, OK, Hawkeye Pierce on "M*A*S*H." Oh, how I long to see Lawrence level that smarmy little pretender to the throne, chief of staff Robert Romano, with a withering squint and a lethal dose of sarcasm. "ER" has always been a bit of a blur, and it's not because of its huge cast or manic pacing. The show has never really let any single character lead; doctors who show ambition, confidence and take-charge attitudes are always being punished and humbled by fate. Which is absurd, because these are doctors, they're supposed to take charge. The show has come into focus around Alda these past couple of weeks, and viewers have sat up and noticed; the ratings, merely great last season, jumped back up to monsterland since Alda has come on board. I, for one, wish he could stay. Or better yet, challenge President Sheen for the Democratic nomination in 2000.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About the writer Table Talk Sound off - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Search Salon | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
