It has taken 22 months, but I have finished watching every season of the West Wing. Brilliant! Let's see, 22 episodes in a season. 45 minutes an episode. 7 seasons. About 115 hours all told. And not one of them wasted.

I must confess the earlier seasons were punchier, but I enjoyed them all. I am not sure if it was the absence of Sam Seaborn (as Robo suggests) or just a change in scriptwriters. That would be an ironic sequence.

In the later seasons, there were some fairly bad plot decisions. Example, Josh pursuing Matt Santos after only such limited exposure. Toby's indescretion with the space shuttle was totally inconsistent with his character too.

Then again, one of my favourite episodes is when Toby buys the house for Andy.

"I'm not sad." Toby laughs at the idea. "I take things seriously."

But the one that really sticks is the close of season 3, "Posse Comitatus". A stand out favourite. For the record, the episode that got me instantly hooked was "20 hours in America". Brilliant