You have to remember that whilst The West Wing's been must-see TV ever since series 1, it's also had the ability to educate and inform our understanding of the political process. You may disagree with the politics (definitely a democratic leaning) and some of the scenarios may be a little warped, but the backbone - the fundamentals of the American political process - remains throughout.
So we return to the beginning of the presidential process. In series 6, Santos secured the Democratic nomination. So series 7 outlines what happens next, and what it's like to tick down the clock on the last 365 days of a presidency. We get to savour the full panoply of Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits leading the charge for the Republican and Democratic parties respectively, and also have time to honour the passing of John Spencer mid-series.
Despite the introduction of many new characters, I found the symetry and resolution that this series produced satisfying. Brief appearances in the final two episodes of a host of 'usual suspects' will round off any die-hard's viewing pleasure.
The last series 7 episode airs on More4 in the UK this evening, and I for one will miss this quality programming. Time to dust off those dvds and start my personal re-runs....
Fans of Aaron Sorking may wish to hold their breath to see if a uk network picks up his new series, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". If they do, lets hope they have more consistency in scheduling than Channel 4 has given to TWW over the years.