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NBC Cancels 'West Wing' After 7 Seasons

By DAVID BAUDER
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 22, 2006; 1:56 PM

PASADENA, Calif. -- The new president on "The West Wing" will be a real short-timer: NBC announced Sunday it was pulling the plug on the Emmy-winning political drama after seven seasons in May.

NBC, struggling to regain its footing after the worst season in its history, also outlined several midseason schedule changes _ including the moves of popular dramas "Law & Order" and "Las Vegas."

"The West Wing" announcement wasn't much of a surprise. Although this season's story line with a presidential campaign involving a Democrat played by Jimmy Smits and Republican portrayed by Alan Alda has been strong critically, ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights.

The decision to cancel it was made before actor John Spencer, who played former presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack Dec. 16, said Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president.

"There's a point when you look at the ratings and say, it feels like it's time," Reilly said.

The series finale will be May 14, preceded by a one-hour retrospective. The campaign to replace the fictional Josiah Bartlet as president will be settled, NBC said.

Producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, who created the show and guided it through its early years, will not be involved in the finale, Reilly said.

"The West Wing" won four Emmy Awards for best television drama in a row for its tales of political intrigue. At its prime, it also offered NBC two valuable benefits: critical acclaim and the most upscale audience on television, an important drawing point for advertisers.

NBC's revamped schedule offered veteran "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf good and bad news. NBC is putting Wolf's new drama "Conviction," about young prosecutors in New York, on Friday's schedule starting March 3. But it is moving "Law & Order" up an hour to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET _ competing directly with ABC's blockbuster "Lost."

NBC is also moving "Las Vegas" from Monday to Friday starting in March. Donald Trump is changing addresses again, with "The Apprentice" moving to Monday where it will be preceded by the Howie Mandel-hosted game show "Deal or No Deal."

The network has two more midseason shows: "Heist," a cops-and-robbers drama from the director of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," and "Teachers," a comedy about a high school English teacher.

"The Office" will go off the air at the end of March so star Steve Carell can film a movie, Reilly said. He said he also hasn't figured out what to do with the ill-fated "Friends" spinoff "Joey," which has 12 new episodes done but no place on the schedule.

"NBC is stable and our vital signs are encouraging," Reilly said. "Most predictions were that we were going to go from bad to worse this year, and that hasn't happened."

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Originally posted by Skywalken:
. . .that left-wing piece of garbage. . .

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Originally posted by Skywalken:

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... ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights.

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"There's a point when you look at the ratings and say, it feels like it's time," Reilly said.

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Originally posted by SimonWho:
... and devout Christian (hence his desire for peaceful resolution to conflicts) ...

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pertain (sic) to be about real life but are really about a candy fiction pretending to be real life

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Originally posted by Khyron:

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Originally posted by SimonWho:
... and devout Christian (hence his desire for peaceful resolution to conflicts) ...

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Wait, now I'm confused. I thought being Christian means making it clear to everybody that doesn't conform to your beliefs how much God hates non-Christians for their evil ways, using force if necessary, and that if one is a Christian president it's one's moral duty to do likewise to other countries. ESPECIALLY if those heathen countries happen to have a bit of oil (which was clearly meant to be used by Christians, otherwise God wouldn't have created the SUV).

So you're saying that the president on the show was Christian and wanted PEACEFUL resolutions to conflicts!? No wonder the show's being cancelled, who could relate to that sort of highly stylised nonsensical fiction.

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Originally posted by RocketJock:

So, I have no problem with Christians. My problem is with the (sadly numerous) fools who think they're Christians while making no effort to actually follow the teachings of Christ. Or think that being a Christian means selectively enforcing Old-Testiment laws that the nazarine specifically released his followers from.

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Originally posted by JayTee:
People always bash the left for wanting to raise taxes but George Sr. raised them after saying "read my lips, no new taxes" Lies just like sonny boy.
Jaytee

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Originally posted by RocketJock:
Hey now, don't be mean. I'm non-Christian myself, and believe me, I know about the pogroms and burning times. But a wise man once told me that if I was going to be a non-Christian in America, I'd better study the Bible.

So I picked up a red-letter edition, and read the words of the Son of Man. And soon realized that, while I would never be a monotheist, this guy was exactly the kind of person that a vituous pagan could get along with. "Judge not, lest ye be judged", "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", "Why do you see the mote that is in your brother's eye, and behold not the plank that is in your own?"

Or in other words, "Clean up your own Karma first, Brother."

So, I have no problem with Christians. My problem is with the (sadly numerous) fools who think they're Christians while making no effort to actually follow the teachings of Christ. Or think that being a Christian means selectively enforcing Old-Testiment laws that the nazarine specifically released his followers from.

But don't mistake Christianity with war-mongering.

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Originally posted by Khyron:

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Originally posted by SimonWho:
... and devout Christian (hence his desire for peaceful resolution to conflicts) ...

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Wait, now I'm confused. I thought being Christian means making it clear to everybody that doesn't conform to your beliefs how much God hates non-Christians for their evil ways, and that if one is a Christian president it's one's moral duty to do likewise to other countries (using force if necessary). ESPECIALLY if those heathen countries happen to have a bit of oil, which was clearly meant to be used by Christians, otherwise God wouldn't have created the SUV.

So you're saying that the president on the show was Christian and wanted PEACEFUL resolutions to conflicts!? No wonder the show's being cancelled, who could relate to that sort of highly stylised nonsensical fiction.

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Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I think television is so left wing extreme that it requires grading on a curve. I only saw the west wing a couple of times but it seemed fairly moderate to me, sort of a 'go mod dems' not really a 'raise upo the red flag' sort of perspective. Frankly, television ticks me off a lot more when it weaves it's radical left perspective into shows that pertain to be about real life but are really about a candy fiction pretending to be real life. If a show is about politics, at least it's out in the open. Every time a subject like this comes up, I'm profoundly reminded how we on the right need to have our own entertainment companies, with our own shows. A political drama set in the middle of the 20th century say, pitting the dems and the gop against each other in, oh, just pick any decade :)

But also, people that attack the GOP presently have a point. We need to put our shop in order.

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