President Bartlett looks for bounce in polls

By ANDREW BUNCOMBE in Washington


As America's election campaign revs up, the current White House administration headed by President Josiah Bartlett is looking for a soaring bounce in the polls.

Yes, you have read correctly. In that shifting world where reality and fiction intermingle, the producers of the award-wining television series The West Wing, are hoping the bitter and unprecedentedly vigorous election campaign between George Bush and John Kerry will have a positive effect on their now-ailing show.

The series, which stars Martin Sheen as a liberal Democratic president - far more liberal than John Kerry would ever be - has won four consecutive Emmy Awards and has been nominated for 12 Emmys this year. But all is not well.

Indeed, in the last two series, ratings have fallen almost as sharply as Mr Bush's personal approval figures since the conclusion of the war in Iraq. And just like Mr Bush, the West Wing faces being dropped if the producers and writers cannot to something to reinvigorate the product.

In an effort to try and boost viewing figures, which have fallen from 17.1m in 2001-2 to 11.7m last year, writers of the new, sixth season of the drama say they will be tapping into real events to try and capture people's interest. Three of the 22 episodes of the new season have been completed and the scripts for a further nine have been written.

Kevin Reilly, president of NBC entertainment, told the New York Times: "The Bartlet administration is coming to the end of its term and it is clearly going to foster some really interesting developments ... The election is a catalyst for setting certain story lines in motion. I can't give anything specific but there will be a tumult in the administration this year."

Critics say that in its last season, the series - always praised for its apparent realism - became increasingly less believable and melodramatic. One story line involved the daughter of the president being taken hostage.

Other story-lines of the show, which originally focussed solely on the workings of the White House, involved terrorism and relations with foreign governments and rogue states.

This shift may have been the result of the departure form the show of its creator Aaron Sorkin, who left in May last year amid falling ratings and budget issues. Managers have now arranged the return of Lawrence O'Donnell, one of the writers from the early days who also left.

He said the show would focus on who would succeed President Bartlett at the end of his two terms. The timing of the Bush-Kerry contest was a fortunate coincidence.

"In the evolution of the stories, politics and campaigning has been the area least explored. We're trying to rectify that balance," he said.

"It's a slightly unreal element on the show that we haven't had the political sharks circling the White House. That dynamic will now be added."

In what passes for reality in American politics, Mr Sheen has been a staunch critic of Mr Bush and has campaigned on behalf of the Democrats.

Meanwhile actor Richard Schiff, who plays President Bartlett's communications director Toby Ziegler, was spotted recently at the Democratic Convention in Boston.

- INDEPENDENT