[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Really enjoying S6 of The West Wing.

Leo's heart attack and CJ's elevation to Chief of Staff was powerful stuff.

Also shows how simple it is to write a female character WELL instead of leaning into GRRRL POWER, with CJ getting walked all over by the generals before finding her footing. Particularly with the mirror of Toby being in way over his head as press secretary.

I believe S6 is when I absolutely gave up.

5 was iffy for me; definitely noticed a decline from 4 (and 4 was a decline from 3) but I stopped watching outright in 6th. Not because it was worse than S5 (it probably wasn't) but because it wasn't any better. And 5 burned up the remaining inertia from seasons 2 and 3 (which were damn near perfect television).

I eventually came back and watched 'em all, but it wasn't mandatory viewing for me.

I don't think they realized how important Sam was to the show or how much they would lose by sidelining Leo a bit. Then they tried to course correct putting Leo in the VP slot and trying to get him back in the game a bit over the last couple seasons...and it was too late.

But mostly it just went way up its own ass. Our heroes were just never wrong. They were never human. They became the platonic idea of a Mr. Smith sort of perfectly calibrated moral compass.