Preview of New "West Wing" Season

From Entertainment Weekly:

"It's been building to this since last winter: the showdown between Jimmy Smits' Matt Santos (Democrat) and Alan Alda's Arnold Vinick (Republican). Says executive producer John Wells, ''We're trying very hard to present two very appealing candidates...something that people would argue from one side or the other.'' Mission accomplished, since the election (slated for March) has reinvigorated a six-season-old show many dismissed as creatively exhausted, with C.J. (Allison Janney) jumping to chief of staff, Leo running for veep, and Donna (Janel Moloney) unemployed. Josh (Bradley Whitford) has decamped to the Santos campaign, and Janeane Garofalo joins him for eight episodes as a communications consultant. ''That's where it gets exciting,'' says Wells, who insists he doesn't know or care which way the political wind ends up blowing. ''My greater worry is that people know [we've moved to] Sunday nights at 8.'' Those politicians — always staying on message."