Prolific showrunner John Wells has opened as much as the general public concerning the impact of Aaron Sorkin leaving The West Wing. The seven-season political thriller first premiered on NBC on September 22, 1999, and ran for seven seasons till concluding in 2006. The sequence was well-regarded by each audiences and critics, and earned 95 Emmy nominations whereas profitable 26.
The West Wing was created by Sorkin, and Wells served as co-showrunner alongside the previous. Wells has served because the showrunner on many beloved sequence, together with ER, Third Watch, Shameless, Animal Kingdom, Maid, and extra. Sorkin is an acclaimed director, author, and playwright who labored on The West Wing up till season 4.
Throughout an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wells mentioned how he and the remainder of the writers’ room handled persevering with the story of The West Wing after Sorkin left the sequence. Wells revealed that it was tough to reside as much as Sorkin’s writing, however he determined that the present should go on, and he did all the things in his energy to proceed to create fascinating tv. Try his feedback beneath:
That was not what I used to be planning to do this 12 months. (Laughs.) Professionally, as a author, that was the toughest factor. It’s not like we didn’t nonetheless have an excellent workers in place, however at that time it was broadly thought of to be the most effective present on tv — although there’s definitely individuals who’d argue for The Sopranos. And I’d argue that for a few of the episodes, for certain. However it was stress. We went again within the writers room, checked out one another, and I mentioned, “Aaron doesn’t have any concept about the place the story goes, so we’re simply going to do the most effective that we will and hope that the viewers would come alongside.” They usually did. I might by no means argue that I wrote an episode nearly as good as Aaron or rose to those self same heights, however I used to be proud that we maintained that present.”
What This Meant For The West Wing
Sorkin’s exit proved to be tough for the writers nonetheless engaged on The West Wing after the present’s fourth season got here to an in depth. Whereas the primary 4 seasons maintain pretty excessive Rotten Tomatoes scores, Season 5 solely acquired a 65% rating, changing into the worst-received season of the sequence till season 6, which pulled in a 63%, barely contemporary rating.
Nonetheless, season 7 got here again with a vengeance. The present’s last season holds an authorized contemporary rating of 95%, making it the second-best-reviewed season of the sequence. So whereas critics felt the present’s high quality was initially hindered by Sorkin’s departure, they believed season 7 rose to the standard of the Sorkin seasons.
Our Take On Nicely’s Ideas About Sorkin Leaving The Present
It’s commendable to ship three extra seasons of a present as a showrunner after the creator leaves, and that is precisely what Wells did. Wells additionally wrote a few of The West Wing‘s finest episodes after Sorkin’s departure, and served as head showrunner, all whereas operating one other sequence, Third Watch, which can also be extraordinarily spectacular.
Whereas Wells could have panicked when Sorkin first left the present, he was in a position to pull it collectively and ship three extra seasons of the beloved present, and all seven seasons of The West Wing are partaking. This reveals nice ability as a artistic that not each particular person in present enterprise possesses.
Supply: THR
The West Wing
9/10
- Launch Date
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1999 – 2006-00-00
- Administrators
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Thomas Schlamme