10 Bad Episodes Of Otherwise Perfect TV Shows

This one’s a bit of a cheat, as The West Wing had a couple of less-than-stellar episodes following Aaron Sorkin’s departure. As far as the Sorkin years go, however, this is easily the worst episode of the political drama’s run.

Moving the action away from the White House, The Long Goodbye focuses on CJ as she makes a reluctant return to her hometown in Ohio for a school reunion. We meet her father, who is gradually deteriorating with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's is a difficult topic for any show to tackle, and credit to the writers who deal with it thoughtfully in this episode - there's an admittedly great scene with the two of them spending some father-daughter time, only for CJ’s dad unable to recognise her. It gives me chills thinking about it.

Alison Janney is a fantastic actress and this episode only highlights that fact. As good as Janney is, she can't help that CJ's plot - away from the Alzheimer's theme - is dull. A million other shows have done the “protagonist hooks up with an old flame back home” plot and there's no interesting spin on it here. The key problem with the episode is by taking CJ away from the show's usual environment, bickering with Danny, Toby, Bartlett, etc. you take away what makes her great - and it would be the same for The West Wing's other characters.

Unless you're particularly an Alison Janney fanatic (a Jannatic?) then this episode is a major step down in quality from those first four excellent seasons.