The West Wing Documentary Special (2002 TV Movie) User Reviews

A must-watch for any West Wing fan

[huluvu38 · 9 October 2004]

At first glance, one could be forgiven for thinking The West Wing Documentary is yet another self-congratulatory network fusion of EPK's and B-roll designed to create 'event' television for the promotional convenience it affords the broadcast of re-packaged re-runs. But such thinking is wrong. The West Wing Documentary illuminates the fundamental appeal of the series: the hour-long weekly fantasy of a world of noble politics where intelligence triumphs and where the ego – whilst playfully present – is tamed in the interest of service, compassion, justice and unity.

As with many dreams, one wonders just how fantastical the visions we beheld for its duration really were. This documentary shines some light on whence our hopes – that we eagerly sustain through our consumption of the West Wing - come and provides some forgiveness for our delusions; we are reminded by famous politicians and daunted, ambitious and idealistic staffers alike that these hopes and dreams exist at least in the rhetoric and charm of the so-called real political world.

A must-watch for any West Wing fan. If only it were included with the DVD boxed set!!!!

Nowhere near the level of the show

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 1 August 2017]

"The West Wing Documentary Special" is a 42-minute documentary from 2002 that makes a connection between the television hit series "The West Wing" and actual American politics. It is basically a mix of recycled material from the show and interviews with people who to some extent may have been the real life equivalents of Allison Janney's and other characters from the series and yes this includes (former) American Presidents as well. It is probably easy to convince them to be a part of this looking at how great of a success this show was and how much people still appreciate it so much later. But ultimately it was an underwhelming watch unfortunately. Like I said the recycled material won't impress any WW fan and the interviewees had surprisingly little interesting to say given what they could have told and with that I don't mean I want them to spill any secrets or anything. But it really felt like uninspired standard procedure. I don't believe the Emmy win was deserving and as director Bill Couturié already won an Oscar earlier in his career, I am very underwhelmed by the outcome here. Like I wrote in the title of my review, the actual show is considerably better than this documentary here. Better watch a real episode instead.