The West Wing
Okay, this show is the best show ever, officially.

It is the best show ever because it is unapologetically smart. Bartlet is the world's biggest geek. The people working for the White House are the smartest people in the world (sez Charlie, right before Josh sits down without any chair). They are for schools, for trying and being wrong, for being smart and not having to apologize for it. That kind of intellectualism is so rare on TV. Too often we are told that smart people are and should be outcasts, and that to be smart is to make yourself an outcast. The West Wing is one of the very, very few shows I have ever seen that contradicts that.

It is the best show ever because the dialogue is awesome and funny as well as being educational. Sorkin discusses some pretty heavy issues, but he does it with grace and sensitivity and endlessly quotable lines. The actors rattle off some pretty long lines with ease. The aforementioned heavy issues get discussed in terms that pretty much everyone can understand without ever making it feel like the language or ideas are being dumbed down so the audience can follow along. Also, everyone says "Okay" the same way. They sort of lean on the first syllable and give it a twist towards the 'a' sound, so it goes more like, "Ahkay." Anyone else noticed that?

It is the best show ever because the characters are amazing. President Bartlet was apparently supposed to only be on a few shows every season, but Martin Sheen was made of too much awesome: I think we can agree on that. Leo is awesome and cranky and local god. Toby is awesome and cranky and deadpan snarker. Sam's such a cute little idealist; people tolerate his pranks because he's going places. Josh... I can't even articulate Josh. Charlie is the cutest thing ever. Danny rocks. Donna rocks. Margaret rocks. All the Bartlets rock.

But where is CJ, you say?

Saved the best for last. CJ CREGG, HOW DO I LOVE THEE, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS. *flails and swoons*

I'm convinced that CJ Cregg was the origin of my girlcrush on Allison Janney. I saw a single episode of The West Wing at a tender age (I think I was eleven or so, maybe twelve; it was the episode before Two Cathedrals) and it has evidently marked me for life.

It is the best show ever because it is one of the few things that makes me feel genuinely patriotic.

Okay, guys, I am not generally all that political. I tend to side with the Democrats, I hate George Bush, I think Tom Delay is the scum of the earth and Obama's awesome, yadda yadda yadda. But I don't get that into politics, or into being American and praising America, because most of the time I think it sucks. And yet, and yet. The West Wing makes me feel genuinely proud of my country.

It's stuff like Toby saying "What do you say about a government that protects even those citizens trying to destroy it?" and CJ saying "God bless America." It's things like that that make me realize, hey. I live in a country where I can say some truly rotten stuff about my leader, and have absolutely no fear of reprisal. I can say that George Bush is a right-wing nutjob moronic monkey with the brains of a retarded snail. I can say stuff like that. I can go to the polls and vote. I can call Republicans nasty things if I want to, because that is my right as a citizen. I was born in America, and therefore I have a right to call some of the shots. And if I don't like what's going on in this country, I have a right to stand up and say something about it.

That's cool, y'all. And the West Wing makes me feel just how cool it is.

Basically, this is a really good show, and you should all watch it.

God bless America.