A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote (2020)

“It’s called poetry, me bucko. Maybe, just maybe. just maybe, those 42 people are teaching us something about ourselves. That freedom is the glory of God, that democracy is its birthright, and that our vote matters.” – C.J. Craig

Number of Times Seen – 1 (19 Oct 2020)

Brief Synopsis – Staged reenactment of the West Wing episode dealing with the privileged of voting.

My Take on it – For seven years during 1999 and 2006, I was glued to my screen every week to watch a new episode of one of my all time favorite TV shows, The West Wing.

The show was also quite powerful in its story and messages and the characters and gripping TV has been missing for almost 15 years.

When I heard that they were going to re-imagining one of the episodes as a stage play while reunited all of the living cast members, I was quite excited to see how things would play out.

Aaron Sorkin is a very gifted and talented writer and his words flow really easily here off the tongues of the various characters.

The story itself is quiet poignant and shows how the importance of every single vote is integral to societies like ours.

Being able to see these characters and actors reunited once again was so nostalgic and made me yearn once again to watch them all in action.

They story stays as intact as it was years ago when it first aired and it is such a perfect choice of story to combine the ideals of “When We All Vote.” – which is a bi-partisan organization determined to make people understand the importance of voting.

The choice to have prominent celebrities and politicians give messages about the importance of voting during the breaks between scenes works really well in letting things be more understood as to how the voting process works.

Watching these actors and actresses once again slip in to the characters they played so many years ago was so amazing to see again and made me once again yearn to rewatch all 7 seasons of this amazing show about politics and the Presidency.

Bottom Line – Amazing to rewatch this episode re-envisioned as a stage play. Sorkin’s words still flow so well and the message of this story is quite poignant. Great seeing the cast reunited here and they even brought back a few of the supporting characters to help give the aura of nostalgia for this powerful TV show. The way that they weave in to this story the importance of how every vote counts works really well here and the choice to have prominent celebrities help explain the importance of voting during the pauses between scenes helps so much. These actors easily slip right back into their characters and watching this, made me once again feel the urge to go back and rewatch all 7 seasons of this amazingly poignant and powerful TV series about the inner workings of the White House. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – This special presentation is based on Episode 14, Season 3 of “The West Wing,” entitled “Hartsfield’s Landing.” All of the main original cast members, as well as four members of the secondary cast, who appeared in the original version participated, except for the late John Spencer. Spencer’s role as Leo McGarry was filled by Sterling K. Brown. The original episode’s title is a fictionalized version of two real-life towns in northern New Hampshire (Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location) that vote first in the nation, just after midnight, in primary and presidential elections. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)