"The West Wing": The Series Finale

"The West Wing" airs its final episode tonight, and it appears to be going out with a whimper. Because apart from the series' diehard fans - all three of us - no one seems to care. Anyway, there's not much suspense in the last episode to look forward to, with all the running plot lines pretty much tied up and with the season having started with a scene depicting Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) as a former president at the opening of his own library in New Hampshire awaiting the arrival of his successor - whom we now know is Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits). Still, this final episode promises to be entertaining.

Talk of Smits starring in a spinoff as America's first Hispanic president has been circulating in Hollywood, but given the cancellation of Geena Davis's show about America's first female president earlier this month and the mere cancellation of "The West Wing" itself (not to mention Bradley Wihtford, who ended "The West Wing" as Santos's right-hand man, doing another series in the fall), don't hold your breath.

I'll get to the NSA phone call brouhaha in a later (but not much later) post.