http://thewestwingweekly.com/

I absolutely love The West Wing. That’s not very impressive, I guess, since anyone that has seen it probably loved it too. 7 seasons of how the government operates with multiple plot lines, walk & talks, and ripped from the headlines type issues that the West Wing staff would need to deal with. The first four seasons were powerful, the last 3 were pretty okay with several moments of BAD, but all in all it deserves its place on the list of best television series.

Now let’s talk about the podcast.

It’s buddies Josh Molina (Will Bailey from the show) and Hrishikesh Hirway (Hrishi for short) talking about the episodes and what happens in them while adding extra commentary that, if you are a fan of the show, you probably already know. Listening to the first few episodes definitely made me want to go back and watch the series for a 6th time, but it did not make me want to continue listening to the podcast.

I have watched this entire series at least 5 times that I can remember. I have absolutely no interest in listening to these gentlemen explaining the episodes to me. What purpose does that serve? All the episodes are on Netflix, so just go watch the show. I have no interest in “behind the scenes” type commentary because, like I said, if you are a fan you’ve probably heard all they have to say, plus this series has been off the air since…2006? 2007? I’m not exactly on the edge of my seat to hear about the feud between Rob Lowe and Martin Sheen in season 3 episode 7 because Lowe didn’t get the cookies he wanted (I made that up, Martin Sheen is a saint).

Also, Molina didn’t join the series until…season 4 maybe? Let me look…yes, season 4. HOW ARE YOU GONNA COMMENT ON SEASONS 1-3 FOR ME, JOSHUA? You were on Sorkin’s other coke-fueled show, Sports Night, and they wouldn’t let you be Sam Seaborn because they wanted a sexier, non-nerdy gentleman. And don’t even get me started on Scandal. *walks away*

So while I was initially excited about this podcast, it’s just not as interesting as simply going back and re-enjoying the series for yourself. I’ll give them this though, with all those episodes and only publishing once a week, it’s fertile content ground. There are so many podcasts that rely on existing content for their survival (mine relies on books, so I can’t get too judgy on this score), and the husband said there is a podcast that does this same thing but with Simpson’s episodes. HOLY BALLS. That’s content for years if they can keep it up.

Seems gimmicky though. Podcasts that just describe something that’s already been done are always going to seem inferior in my mind to podcasts like Welcome to Nightvale that, while based on existing literature, offer a unique listening experience. I am probably not explaining this distinction very well, but I have no interest in listening to someone describe something to me that I can go and listen to/experience for myself.

On this one, it’s a soft pass. If you listen, let us know what you think.