In a history-making episode of the West Wing last night, Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits duke it out live while ineptly moderated by Forrest Sawyer. The only thing more boring than a political debate is a fake political debate. The one redeeming element of this show was that the actors had to perform it live twice, once for the east coast audience, and once for the west coast audience.
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The writers tried to create a compelling Presidential debate instead of trying to create compelling television.
They succeeded in the former, but that bar wasn't exactly soaring. It's hard to believe control-freak perfectionist Aaron Sorkin would have allowed this episode to air as it did.
Though my heart did stop when Vinick stammered at the very beginning, and you thought Alan Alda was going to have a breakdown. That part was gold.