Unpopular Opinion: The State of Political Dramas

Political drama is one of the greatest genres of television ever created. At its best, it can wash away cynicism about American politics given the current political climate; it can be uplifting and motivational. A quality example is “The West Wing,”created by Aaron Sorkin, which focuses on the fictional Bartlet administration. It stands as the gold standard for what a political drama should do. The characters, such as C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney), Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), or Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) are well-known in the annals of television history. They fought the losing battle, stood up for the few, believed in the greater cause, and demonstrated the civic responsibility that everyone should strive for.

But unfortunately, political dramas are getting worse and worse. Too often, they devolve into romantic soap operas, in which the characters’ love lives are somehow more important than anything else.

It’s hard to live up to the the genius of Aaron Sorkin, but it seems these days no one cares about those kinds of characters and storylines. Audiences seem to want constant drama at the expense of good storytelling. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of five series-changing plot twists every episode, but that doesn’t matter if the viewer is distracted enough with scandalous affairs and attractive actors to ignore it.

With current or recent shows like “Scandal” or “Designated Survivor,” any content that would be worthy of attention is too often drowned out by that unending dramatic flare. Whether it’s steady shifting of alliances and character betrayal, or the constant uncomfortable sexual tension between virtually every character in the show, any meaningful or realistic plotline is buried under crowd-pleasing garbage. This, however, is in no way attacking talented producers like Shonda Rhimes. They know how to grab audiences and send them over an emotional cliff. This is, unfortunately, the reason why most television dramas of this sort aren’t very good anymore. Many people want that kind of nonstop drama. Many, but not all.

Yearning for a worthy successor to masterpieces like the “West Wing,” we loyal few will continue to flip channels and scroll through Netflix queues. In a time where politics is looked down upon as rules made by rules made by cynics, what could be more necessary than television that lifts civic ideals? Hopefully that day will come soon, because as Jed Bartlet said, “It’s not our job to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It’s our job to raise it.”

— Declan J. Knieriem can be reached at declan.knieriem@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DeclanKnieriem.