WiccanPagan

no poll, i am just curious about peoples' thoughts. i am a huge fan of both. rewatched both seasons of sn this weekend and damn proud of all the time i wasted doing so. however, if sports night had not been canceled it is highly likely that west wing would not have been brought around. would people rather have kept sports night or are they happy with the new sports night that is the west wing? "i'm gonna try to fin a pick-up meeting"

mdc3000

Sports Night was better IMO... I miss it...

MATT

Red Dog

Sportsnight was okay. Just could never really get into it. I was into West Wing from day 1. Unfortunately, it has really slipped.

das Monkey

Whenever I need reminding of how great things can and often do emerge from the **** life throws our way, I think of The West Wing. These are two of the best reasons for owning a television in the last decade, but the rise of one may not have been possible without the fall of another. Sure, Sorkin may have gotten around to it later, but would it have been the same? Maybe it would have been better. Life's funny that way.

I've made no secret that I think The West Wing is the best show currently on television ... although another series that has benefitted from the loss of Sports Night -- Six Feet Under -- has been making a strong claim for that title. With that said, Shoe Money Tonight!!! I would give anything to have seen more Sports Night. It was absolutely brilliant on so many levels, and it ripped my heart out when it was taken away from us. I often get frustrated with the gutless cancellations of shows and have even literally taken to the streets to try to protect them, but there has never been a greater loss than Sports Night.

das

Fielding Mellish

Put another checkmark under the "Sports Night" column.

Damn, I miss that show.

kevin75

i agree with what much of das said. i never got into sports night when it was on but i did discover it in reruns on comedy central and after watching all of it, i was so pissed off that abc cancelled it. however, something to keep in mind is that AS was writing both SN season 2 and WW season 1 at the same time, and i think the quality of at least SN was suffering as to me, the second season was nowhere near as good as the first. now, that being said, i get to the end of the second season of SN and think that there are so many great untapped stories that we will never see. i cannot choose between them becuase i love them both equally albiet in different ways.

movielib

Sports Night

The West Wing
In the interest of fairness I have to admit I don't like many political movies or TV shows, particularly when they push liberalism. My wife and I watched the first two WWs and we were both totally turned off. That was it until my wife just had to watch the one following 9/11 (you all know which one) and that made me want to hurl. We've never watched it since.

tasha99

I prefer Sports Night (I spent the weekend watching it too, but I'm renting them from Netflix, so I only got to watch three discs ). I've watched a couple of West Wing episodes (the last 2 to be precise) and either I just didn't know the characters enough to care, or was too tired to appreciate it. I thought it was kind of boring and nodded off part way through last week's episode.

What's weird is I think politics is interesting and I pretty much loathe sports (except the funny ones like synchronized swimming.)

tasha

Kal-El

Sports Night. Can't get by a week without watching at least 3 episodes. It still gets to me when Isaac makes that appearance at the 1st season's finale--and I know it's coming everytime! Same for when Dana realizes who she's been talking to all those days at the bar at the series finale...

das Monkey

It's a shame political prejudices keep people from enjoying quality drama. The show has a Democratic President, and as such, they are going to have liberal views; but the drama is universal. The West Wing's quality is no more tied to Democratic views than Sports Night was tied to sports. It's about intelligent well-meaning individuals trying to make the world a better place. Sometimes they succeed; sometimes they fail; and sometimes they're hand-cuffed by the system. The themes translate across any political party. I certainly don't agree with all of the main characters' views (the same can be said for Sports Night where Isaac was King of the Liberals), but it doesn't matter to me. The problems are real, the resolutions are complicated, and there are often many "answers," none of which is completely right.

I don't intend to criticize those who dislike the show for political reasons -- we are who we are -- I just think they're short-changing themselves and missing out on some great stuff. There is certainly a lot of one-sided propaganda in entertainment, but I've never seen The West Wing as being that hollow.

I feel the same way when it comes to separating actors from performances.

das

das Monkey

Damn this thread ... I'm now watching Sports Night at 4am, Thespis has left the building, Dana's about to discover the wonders of theater, and any small glimmer of a chance that Jeremy would climb Everest has vanished.

"I don't think you've lived until you have seen this show!"

das

lisadoris

I love Sports Night but in all fairness I am somewhat happy it's gone. If SN was still around then Six Feet Under might not be as awesome as it is and neither would West Wing. Now I didn't watch WW the 1 1/2 seasons but I can tell that the show is really starting to pick up speed this season. Could Sorkin have pulled off two awesome shows and maintain the quality of both? Possible but unlikely. Whedon is pulling it off with Buffy and Angel but I think Sorkin tends to be more hands on in the writing dept of his shows than Whedon is (but I could be wrong). Hey we have SN on DVD so it will live on now if only someone would get off their butt and release WW on DVD, I would be happy.

WiccanPagan

didn't know sorkin was writing both shows at the same time. i don't remember the timeline exactly but didn't west wing come out the season after sports night bailed? and i do agree that season 2 was highly lacking compared to season 1 (reason it was canceled?), but still probably better than any sitcom i've ever seen. and i do agree with the fact that there were MANY stories left to tell. dan still didn't resolve his a$$holeness, rebecca just came back (i loved her character), jeremy and natalie were just being friendly, isaac was still recovering, the show was just bought, casey still didn't get with his dream woman, and william h. macy would of course show some reason to come back in season 3.

i agree with the end of season 1. i hadn't watched it in a while and was somewhat surprised at seeing it. brings mini tears to my eyes. "can't something good happen tonight?"

i haven't seen 6fu due to my lack of cable, but i assume it is a great show considderng its press and all. and i have no idea if sorkin could have pulled out 2 shows. but i don't think your buffy angel analogy is all too valid, joss does them both though he does not have as huge a roll in buffy anymore, and i have heard that the shows haven't really been right on until this season. i know season 4 and season 6 of buffy were no where near the quality of 1-3. :sigh: gonna watch discs 3 and 6 of sports night. gotta love the finales.

sherm42

I think Aaron Sorkin should make a deal with HBO to revive Sports Night. They could shoot the series during the downtime of Six Feet Under. That way, we could get 13 episodes of Six Feet Under, followed by 13 episodes of Sports Night.

I would love to see an HBO produced Sports Night.

das Monkey

If I recall, they tried to get HBO to pick it up the first time around and couldn't work out a deal.

das

Kal-El

I can totally relate to this. How many episodes did you end up watching? Upto which one?

Yeah and maybe we could finally see Sally's "over the line" body.

WiccanPagan

sally was horrid. i'm glad i didn't have to see that much of her. what a tool.

kevin75

das, i couldn't agree more. one of the things, to me, is that TWW can be so great and entertaining even when i don't agree with a word that is being said on the screen.

clemente

The second season of Sports Night and first season of West Wing were both on during the first season. And it was only Aaron Sorkin that was sharing his time, but also producer/director Thomas Schlamme who defined the feel of both shows.

That said, my preference is West Wing, easily. I loved Sports Night, but in my eyes, season 2 wasn't anywhere near as good as season 1. It suffered alot of the problems West Wing season 3 suffered, it picked up and dropped subplots at random, and there wasn't a general feeling that the show was moving forward.

West Wing, in its four seasons has produced two awesome seasons (1&2), a really, really good one (4), and one that didn't quite rise to the level of ther other, but still had some great episodes (3). Maybe its merely the times factor, but I've grown to care about the characters much more than the Sports Night characters.

WiccanPagan

somewhat confusing here. you mean that sports night season 2 was on at the same time as west wing season 1 right? and that the producer was doing both shows along with sorkin? if that is the case that could be a big sign of why season 2 was lacking. more time spent on the goodness in which you refer to as season 1 of the west wing.i think you hit the nail on the head here. however in regards to sports night i felt drawn to natalie and jeremy almost off the bat. they were great characters. progressing through season 1 i really felt for dan, as well. and 3 minor characters i was infatuated with (rebecca, sam, and the quo vadimos guy) were highly lovable as second-hand characters.

as of this post i still haven't drawn any allegiances to one of the shows over the other. i do put west wing up there as the best tv show on tv atm. but i did not watch sports night on tv (one of many after fans, who probably could have helped save the show if we had known about it early enough) so i couldn't compare it to tv at the time. however, it easily tops friends from that same era. :sigh: