Gerald, you have to find me another "West Wing."

I didn't watch the TV show The West Wing when it was current. When the show first aired in 1999, I was just a little busy with a 6-year-old, an 8-year-old, a 13-year old, and a 15-year old. Then in 2000, I had Seth, and if I thought life had been busy up to that point, well I really had no idea. Let's just say there was precious little time for TV. To tell you the truth, I don't ever remember hearing about the show, which considering its tremendous popularity and that it continued for seven seasons all the way to 2006, seems a little odd. It's true, though.

About a year ago, I was looking for a show that I could watch late in the evenings when everyone in this house is either at work or asleep. Gerald suggested The West Wing, not because he had watched it (he hadn't), but because he had heard such glowing reports. I was sort of "meh" about it at first; how could a show that old be any good? But one night when Shulamith had taken Swen downstairs, and Seth was busy with homework, and Gerald and Isaiah were at work, and Eli was away on his mission, and I was feeling, um, at loose ends, I pulled it up on Netflix.

One episode and it was all over. I was hooked. I tell my students that is what their lead sentence needs to do, hook the reader so he or she can't stop reading. That is exactly what happened here. It has taken just about a year for me to watch all seven seasons. I sit here today, tears in my eyes, having just watched the final episode. Seriously, this show is just SO good. If you haven't watched it, you should. Really, you should. It doesn't hurt that I'm a bit of a political junkie or that the administration and senior staff in this series are of my own political party. But I think I would have liked the show even if those things weren't true.

The writing is positively spectacular. I honestly don't know how they managed to maintain such an incredibly high standard episode after episode, season after season. And the depth of the characters is equally good. They are real people, real human beings with real human fears and failures, trials and triumphs. We relate to them. We understand them. We struggle along with them. We mourn their tragedy and celebrate their joy. And because I'm a hopeless romantic who needs people who are obviously meant to be together to actually get together, I waited 6-1/2 seasons for Josh and Donna to finally recognize and acknowledge their feelings. Yes!

Now it's over.

I don't want it to be over.

I've had other series that I didn't want to end: Prison Break, The Practice, Breaking Bad, and others that I'm waiting to return: Scandal, The Following, Homeland.

But none of these were/are as good as The West Wing. It is hands down the best TV show I've ever watched. So farewell President Bartlet and your strong wife, Abby. Farewell Leo (John Spencer actually died during the last season, and the script had to be rewritten as a result). Farewell C.J., Sam, Will, Toby, and Josh (my fave).

I will miss you.

Meanwhile, Gerald, you have to find me another West Wing. I'm counting on you.