Introducing the Next President of the United States...

I think I just read a spoiler. And i'm not sure how I feel about it.

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone who's ever read this blog that The West Wing is one of my favorite TV shows. I like it for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that President Bartlet is a Clinton-esque Democrat without the sexual addiction. All of the other main characters have won their way into my heart over the years as well, particularly the current Chief of Staff, CJ Cregg (played by Allison Janney). She's pretty much a rock star in my world.

As much as I like the show, I've wavered a bit over the course of the current "season of change." It's election year, and a lot of the show's attention has been focused away from the White House and more toward the Democratic (and to a lesser extent, Republican) primaries. This is all in an effort to transition the show to a new life with a new administration (this is year eight after all, and it just would be so, like, unconstitutional for President Bartlet to serve another year or two). In the early part of the season, entire episodes would go by with nary a glimpse of anything actually happening in the White House. Instead, all of the attention was focused on the candidates in New Hampshire or Iowa or California.

At that point, I had my doubts that the show would survive. Even though it had already been committed for next season, it seemed like it was losing focus and losing my attention quickly. (And if it was losing my attention, there's little hope that normal people would keep watching.) I stuck with it, though, weathered the primaries, and am back to thinking it just might survive.

At this point, we already know that the Republican nominee is Senator Arnold Vinick (played by Alan Alda) and we're pretty sure the Democratic nominee will be Congressman Matt Santos (played by Jimmy Smits). Supposedly, one of these two will win the election and will replace Martin Sheen as the next president. Next season will be focused on the general election, with the new president being inaugurated next January.

I actually find myself watching and trying to decide which one would be the better president. I know it's just a TV show, but I admit I can't watch it without thinking that even though he's a Republican, Alan Alda would make a decent president because we all know Hawkeye Pearce was a good guy and it's just hard to be against Alan/Hawkeye. Then again, I find myself thinking that Matt Santos would be better because he's a Democrat, after all. Either way, the suspense has had me going and I can hardly wait to find out who wins.

And then, I read the spoiler. Apparently one of the two (Alda/Smits) has signed a deal to star in a new show, which essentially eliminates him from the running for the White House. Even though the article had a spoiler warning, I read it anway to find out who the lucky winner is going to me. So now I know the outcome - like 10 months early.

I hate when I do that.