Dear Cultural Studies Colleagues: As most people know, writer Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme left _The West Wing_ prior to the beginning of this year's series. (We are now in the fifth year.) When we came out with our anthology THE WEST WING: THE PRESIDENCY AS TELEVISION DRAMA (Syracuse, 2003), we asked many questions about the series in relation to the ACTUAL functioning of the White House staff. In a particularly pointed essay, Myron Levine (Albion College) outlined a number of factors in the real West Wing which were not present in the reel West Wing. Our other anthology, HOLLYWOOD'S WHITE HOUSE: THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY IN FILM AND HISTORY (UP of Kentucky, 2003) looked at other disparities in films from the dream factory, with some reference to the NBC/Warner Bros. series under question. So often, films about the White House--and TV shows, as well--relate by direct and indirect ways to the career of the existing or upcoming leadership for the country. For good or ill, we Americans ensconce the office in our national fantasy life, but the story is constantly changing; for example, the Clinton years supplied one base for the imagination while the G.W. Bush presidency has moved us--and, potentially, the program--to entirely different mind set. Naturally, the fictional representations will change. Without iterating Levine's various points, I wonder if participants in this listserv have observations about how the series has changed under "new management." What have the changes been? Why to you think they were made? What do the changes say about the issue of "film and history." Peter Rollins Editor in Chief Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies [log in to unmask] www.filmandhistory.org ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu