Country of origin United States Original network NBC | No. of episodes 22 | |
Original release September 24, 2003 (2003-09-24) – May 19, 2004 (2004-05-19) | ||
The fifth season of the American political drama television series The West Wing aired in the United States on NBC from September 24, 2003, to May 19, 2004, and consisted of 22 episodes. This was the first season with executive producer John Wells as showrunner after series creator Aaron Sorkin departed the series after the conclusion of the previous season.
Contents
Cast
The fifth season had star billing for nine major roles, all nine of these were filled by returning main cast members from the fourth season. Martin Sheen receives the "and" credit for his role as President Josiah Bartlet. The rest of the ensemble are credited alphabetically, while Stockard Channing is only credited for the episodes in which she appears.
Main cast
Plot
The fifth season opens with US forces successfully rescuing Zoey Bartlet from her abductors. Bartlet takes the presidency back from Acting President Walken, but is forced back into a level of powerlessness. He comes to terms with his actions that led to his daughter's kidnapping, a new Republican Speaker of the House (Walken has had to resign in order to assume the presidency) who forces Bartlet into several decisions he doesn't want to make, including the nomination of an unimpressive Democrat, "Bingo Bob" Russell, for Vice President. The conflict with the new Speaker comes to a head in "Shutdown", when the Speaker tries to force Bartlet into cutting federal spending more than had been agreed to and Bartlet refuses to sign the budget, forcing the federal government into a shutdown. Bartlet regains some of his power, cutting a deal to get a liberal Chief Justice of the United States, and season five ends with a bombing in Gaza leading Bartlet to push for Israeli peace talks and Josh to be closer to Donna after she is critically wounded. The fifth season begins toward the end of Bartlet's first year of his second term (fifth year overall) in office. By the end of the season, however, over a year has elapsed.
Reception
The fifth season received 12 Emmy Award nominations for the 56th Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one award—Allison Janney for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, her fourth win. It was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, the first year the series did not win the award. Acting nominations included Martin Sheen for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, John Spencer for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Stockard Channing and Janel Moloney for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and Matthew Perry for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
Thomas Del Ruth received two nominations from the American Society of Cinematographers for the episodes "7A WF 83429" and "Gaza".
Amazon.com called the episode "Access" "memorable" and described the episode as a "Frontline-type 'day-in-the-life' documentary". They said it was one of Allison Janney's (who plays C. J. Cregg) "showcase hours".