I'm forty minutes into the new season of the West Wing, and I'm disappointed. You can tell that the old writer is gone. The plot points make no sense, characters are worried about things they shouldn't be, the characters aren't acting like themselves, and all the wonderful dialogue -- the dialogue made the show for me -- isn't there. The actors sound sleepy and monotone. The first episode, thus far, is slow and uninteresting.

It's too early yet to say whether The West Wing has jumped the shark, but the prospects don't look good. I think they're trying to make the politics the drama, instead of the people. Whatever it is, it's not working.

Sad.