Every morning before work, I watch two consecutive episodes of The West Wing on Bravo. For the most part, the episodes are aired in chronological order, meaning in about two-and-a-half weeks you get an entire season condensed, all before coffee. Occasionally, only one episode will air for reasons I don’t get, or a rare episode will come out of order (one I recall: the post-9/11 “special” that aired two eps late), but they always air.
But not this week. And I wonder if political sensitivity might be the issue.
Bravo is an extremely gay-friendly network, airing shows like Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (who talks constantly about her gays), and with gay contestants and judges on virtually every reality show. But this week, they skipped one episode. And there is no sign they have plans to air the missing episode in the near future. And that episode is about gay marriage.
The graphic below from IMDB.com shows the ep Bravo skipped. I started to wonder whether the reason for the break in protocol has something to do with avoiding some hot-button topics in light of the recent Prop 8 news. And if so, why Bravo, of all networks, would chose this episode. After all, The West Wing is a political show about many real-world issues. Why pick this one now, with their history? Maybe we oughta ask Bravo to explain.
