The Debate

I almost never rate ten, on the principle that nothing is perfect, but this has to be one of my exceptions. This was a brilliant piece of television for its time, and nearly two decades later still is. With only two actors and a professional TV anchor really involved, it was essentially a fifty minute dialogue between the Santos and Vinick characters, a massive task for Smits and Alda. They rose to the challenge admirably - as another reviewer has suggested, we lost sight of the fact that it was scripted. This may have been helped by the fact that (in my understanding) it was indeed at least partly improvised. Even more kudos to the actors! What we saw was two honourable men, representing possibly the best of the two sides of the polarised US political system, presenting their ideas in a clear, logical fashion. I found myself caught up, waving at the screen and saying "Oh, come on, pull him up on that! You can't let him get away with that!". I found myself sympathising with much of what both were saying. And I found myself saddened by the thought that this maybe could not happen today. The events of the last decade have further increased the polarisation of the US, politically, socially, economically, ethically, technically, and probably a few other "...ally"s. But this episode still holds up the banner of hope and possibility. Long may it wave!

I'm watching this in 2022 ...so many years later and it could easily be an interview that was done yesterday.

It's impressive and sad at the same time as it implies not much progress has been made in real life.

The same issues are still being tackled but I am sure this episode brought us all closer to lasting solutions - or much deeper understandings of many of the global problems.

Production-wise it was really easy to forget you were still watching a work of fiction ...both the main actors were excellent in grabbing your attention and hold it till the end.

Only reason I didn't give it a 10 is I would've liked to see some shots of nervous aides freaking out at off-book points.

I'm watching the West Wing for the first time in 2023.

I hadn't realised initially that this episode had been broadcast live. Straight away I was really impressed by the realistic nature of dialogue - the slight stumbling over lines and the pauses while they were thinking of where they were going with their arguments. Both parties were so animated and so committed to their respective viewpoints. Alan Alda in particular was absolutely outstanding.

If I didn't recognise the characters as part of the TV show I would genuinely think this was a real debate (apart from the fact that I was far more interested and taken with these characters than I ever have been with real politicians).

This episode is original, perceptive, and accurate. It is remarkable how each side portray their viewpoints on different political issues – health care, education, dependency on foreign oil, etc. The West Wing has always been a great show examining a vast array of political issues – while remaining fair to both Democrats and Republicans.

This episode is not like conventional episodes. It is literally a passionate debate between two sides. While watching the debate, I felt very engaged, it reminded of the first debate between President Obama and Senator McCain in the sense that an underdog is able to stand toe-to-toe with his competitor and debate with authority.

I highly recommend this episode because it felt like the old West Wing episodes that only Aaron Sorkin could deliver. Like many people that love the West Wing, I will agree that the show took a turn towards dull and uninspiring after Aaron Sorkin stopped writing, but this episode restored itself confirming that it is the best political show television has ever seen.

Simply a breath of fresh air after an intense campaign. The writing in this episode was absolutely amazing and reminded me of Sorkin's work when he still worked on the show. And I have to admit, this episode made it even more hard for me to decide who was the better candidate between Santos and Vinick. Smitts and Alda were absolutely brilliant in this and their chemistry was so natural you can almost forget this was scripted.