The fictionalized White House drama won a record nine Emmys, including best drama series. That's more than "Hill Street Blues" won, more than "L.A. Law," more than "ER," more than any show, ever. Misguided pundits kept trying to spin this year's Emmys as a showdown between "The West Wing" and "The Sopranos," but the truth is, "The Sopranos" didn't have a spectacular season and "The West Wing," in its debut year, did. Ever since the Emmy campaign season began in July, "The West Wing" has had the Big Mo, which was why, in the drama categories at least, the Emmys had all the suspense of last month's political conventions.

"The West Wing" (and its wonderful winning supporting actors Richard Schiff and Allison Janney) deserved the trophies, don't get me wrong. This is an ambitious, impeccably acted, grown-up serial, and it's a heap of fun, too. But its triumph is as much a triumph of old-school network TV as it is a personal triumph for creator/writer Aaron Sorkin. "The West Wing" is a staunchly traditional ensemble workplace drama in the Steven Bochco-David E. Kelley mold, and its decisive win restores sagging NBC's luster as the network of high-quality dramas.

The win also strikes a blow for fictional TV as a whole; during the telecast, you could practically smell the anti-reality TV resentment in the air, from the audience's applause when host Garry Shandling mentioned that he hated reality shows to a gooey midshow salute to the richness of this season's "storytelling."

(Of course, that didn't stop the producers from opening the show with a very funny "Survivor" parody in which a disheveled Shandling, Arsenio Hall, Craig Kilborn, Andy Richter and Cheri Oteri -- doing a dead-on impression of Susan's "I would leave you to the vultures" speech -- gathered at tribal council, complete with Jeff Probst and flaming tiki torches, to cast their votes for who would be booted off the island to host the Emmys.)

But network storytelling (as opposed to cable, where "The Sopranos" airs) does truly need a buzz show to draw viewers back into the fold. And it isn't hard to see why "West Wing" is the TV industry's nominee of choice. Beneath its prickly characters and dense Capitol Hill backstairs maneuverings, "West Wing" mirrors the sort of warm fuzziness America seems to be looking for from its pols this year. Yes, Sorkin writes some great, witty back and forth for his characters, but he also has a cornball streak a mile wide.

"West Wing" captured the hearts of the Academy (and viewers) because, in contrast to the dark worldview of "The Sopranos" (and fellow nominees "The Practice," "ER" and "Law & Order"), "West Wing" dares to be optimistic and idealistic. It says that politicians do care, problems do get fixed, America is the greatest darned country on God's green earth. And, most of all, "West Wing" lets Democrats feel good about themselves, their party and the positive accomplishments of the past eight years by offering up a wholesome Clinton surrogate Democratic president. If "West Wing" were a bumper sticker, it would say, "Don't blame me, I voted for Martin Sheen."

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