The West Wing on Netflix!

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

PS: The closest current US show to this style is The Diplomat (starring Kerry Russell and Rufus Sewell.)

I would disagree with this. The Diplomat is a political thriller in its primary type. Yeah it's also considered a political drama but a political thriller has very different set ups than something just considered a drama.

There is a whole genre of shows that are political thrillers that can have elements like the West Wing but they are still not the same type of show. That would be even more confusing to someone, like the poster asking about action and suspense, to compare it to The Diplomat.

Quite frankly there just isn't a West Wing type show after this. The Newsroom, like someone already mentioned, is more akin to it and it should be because it's also by Aaron Sorkin.

These days the high brow drama shows are not quite what people want, the attention spans are often less, and in an ever growing environment people go to tv to tune out not be given a lesson in what the world should be like today (at least by in large that's what people aren't wanting). That's also what makes The West Wing a very powerful show and beloved by those who saw it years back but maybe not quite enjoyed by newcomers...too much hits close to home too (especially given that many of the events and people who based on actual events and people). And when people are watching shows that contain politics it's usually the more thriller or spy oriented where there's more action going on (The Night Agent, The Recruit, Jack Ryan, back in the day Designated Survivor, etc).

 

[irlandaise]

Thank you for the excellent overview of TWW, @NotUrsula. It indeed had an unmatched combination of drama, comedy, poignancy, and education. People have already mentioned in this thread a couple of the episodes that brought people to tears, but there were also some that had people falling out of their chairs with laughter. (Sometimes the same episodes.)