--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: The West Wing image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435dc54ca58edb36/69869f3acd684872ad096062/t100_tv_west-wing1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 12, 2014 # _The West Wing_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Everett The fall after the Clinton impeachment trial, _The West Wing_ offered a fantasy: a stand-up president (Martin Sheen) who really never did have sexual relations with that woman. Aaron Sorkin made policy debates as dynamic as a police shootout; the show trademarked the kinetic hallway “walk and talk scene” and crackled with sharp, witty dialogue. It could be preachy, self-congratulatory and idealized, but maybe making a dark critique of government would have been the easy thing to do; instead, _The West Wing_ asserted that people in government could be competent and well intentioned. For many, of course, the real point of watching the show was the 30s-screwball-comedy flirtation between Josh and Donna. But at heart _The West Wing_ was a civic romance in love with democracy, and it didn’t care who knew it. [Get This TV Series](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005JLF3/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103903/the-west-wing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103903/the-west-wing/"},"headline":"The West Wing","datePublished":"2014-08-12T16:04:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:02:01.650Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103903/the-west-wing/","keywords":["drama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435dc54ca58edb36/69869f3acd684872ad096062/t100_tv_west-wing1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435dc54ca58edb36/69869f3acd684872ad096062/t100_tv_west-wing1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103903/the-west-wing/","name":"The West Wing"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The West Wing","description":"The West Wing was a civic romance in love with democracy, and it didn't care who knew it.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7fnMtOsF/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2007-09-04T21:43:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7fnMtOsF.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103903/the-west-wing/","duration":"PT30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103903/the-west-wing/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```