By FRANCES GRANT
After The Sopranos, The West Wing is the best American drama on television. Why? Because the series, which ends its first season tonight, is not about lawyers, doctors or detectives.
The show, set in the part of the White House occupied by all the President's men and, of course, women, not to mention (this drama is an extremely conscientious equal-opportunity employer) African-Americans and the hearing-challenged among other minorities, is simply a refreshing change of scene.
Otherwise, it has all the usual elements of those American dramas about committed professionals with complex personal lives: a team of characters who are as close as a family, whose sparring members are as loyal as they are competitive, who go through the familiar round of ethical dilemmas and soap opera relationships.
And yes, the characters also have the standard issue share of appealing eccentricities and skeletons in closets.
If you've noticed a similarity in style and pace to a certain hit American medical drama, that might be because one of The West Wing's executive producers, John Wells, comes from ER.
Like that show, The West Wing specialises in crackingly choreographed scenes. The dialogue is a series of lines thrown from one striding character to another as cameras zoom down corridors and through offices of the White House.
Most of the casting is spot-on: Martin Sheen has the presence, suitably gruff voice register and twinkle in the eye to pull off playing a president who comes across a Democrat wish-fulfilment figure: authoritarian yet liberal, high-minded yet down-to-earth, both fiercely intelligent and charismatic.
His team are equally appealing, although press secretary C.J. and communications man Josh have been temporarily spoiled by sudsy interoffice love affairs.
The series is also notable for its rehabilitation of actor Rob Lowe, who plays bespectacled spin doctor-speech writer Sam Seaborn.
This character, who has a relationship with a call girl, is allowed just a hint of those notorious videod sex romps.
Lowe, however, manages a credible performance as a slightly nerdy, intellectual type, although he doesn't entirely escape scenes which require removal of his shirt. Once a stud muffin ...
Unfortunately the show, towards the end of this season, seems to have become mired down in excessive political correctness, with the President and his staff fighting the evil forces of right-wing bigotry and always coming out the good guys.
As they pull off incredible manoeuvre after manoeuvre, you can't help wishing it wasn't all for such lofty and ethical ends.
Even the polls, last week, showed the team to be boringly far ahead of the Opposition.
In tonight's finale, we should, the promos have been shouting at us all week, "prepare to be stunned."
Thank you, TV2, we probably would have been, if those same promos hadn't already let slip that somebody - gosh, could it be the President? - is going to get gunned down.
But you can bet your bottom dollar that this isn't going to be the end of President Bartlet, who so far has proved as infallible as the Pope.
Hopefully the second season of this Emmy award-winning drama - starting, in TV's version of a snap election, in just two weeks - will see some of the overly idealised characters start getting their hands dirty or having to deal with some real threats and dilemmas.
What has happened, for example, to the Presidential battle with MS, or that interesting clash with the dodgy Vice-President?
Somewhere in the middle of this first season, some of the show's best potential seems to have got lost in the wings.
* The West Wing TV2, 9.30 pm
TV: White House good guys need to play a bit dirty
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