Besides a terrific ensemble cast, West Wing also recruited numerous acting heavyweights for guest appearances, including Hal Holbrook, Marlee Matlin, Karl Malden, Mark Harmon, John Goodman, John Larroquette, Alan Alda, Glenn Close (mentioned elsewhere in this blog), and Lily Tomlin (whom I’ve had the good fortune of meeting).

West Wing had an art-follows-life-follows-art quality. So many of the events, crises, personalities, and plot lines portrayed in this series really played out along similar lines during the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Coming out of the era of Donald Trump, I can only pray that at some point there is a return to the civility, the willingness to problem-solve, the good (if not always perfect) instincts, and the faith in political institutions that the characters in this show constantly demonstrated.