Yeah, I know. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen The West Wing, it’s, like, the best show on television, ever.” So after signing up for Netflix to watch the new season of Arrested Development (“I can’t believe you’ve never used Netflix, it’s like the best thing ever!”), I figured this was my golden opportunity to see whether The West Wing is worth the fourteen years of hype.

I watched the first episode, humbly titled, “Pilot.”  It was good. Great, almost. But the 1999 technology was distractingly antiquated (ha, pagers are funny), and Rob Lowe was distractingly handsome. Also, it was refreshing to watch a television show from way back when, before Botox became de rigueur, where actors and actresses looked like real people who might actually have the jobs for which they have been cast. And of all the Sheens to choose from, Martin does make the best President.

So, fine. You were all right. The West Wing is a show worth watching, and it is shocking, nay criminal, that I went all of these years without seeing even a single episode. And now, I only have 154 episodes to go.

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