House of Cards vs. The West Wing

[RR1997]

Vote now.

My opinion:
The first two seasons of HoC were absolutely amazing, but the show has gone downhill since season 3. I still somewhat like it though. I also absolutely enjoy the darkness and cycinism of HoC, but I think the creators try too hard sometimes. I also somewhat dislike how unrealistic the show is (but the urealisticness of the show has its upsides as well). Despite all its flaws, HoC is still one of my favorite shows. The West Wing is also a great show. I just dislike the fact that it's very hackish. Some episodes of the show were also really bland (most episodes were great though). I have to give the slight edge to the House of Cards.

How about you guys?

[Mr. Smith]

Hackish as The West Wing may be, the characters have more depth and more lives of their own we know of. The dialogue is usually quite sharp too. It's a bit corny at times and there are some bland spots, but overall I want know everything that happens next.

HoC bends to the will of Frank Underwood whenever convenient, and while I prefer cynicism in general over idealism,...there's a greater danger of making something so dark, as to make one just not care.

And that's where I stand, I don't care all that much about any of the characters sans Underwood ever since Russo was killed.

And now that Frank doesn't talk to audience with some snarky remark so much...a lot is lost.

In the end, parts without much Underwood just don't work very well for me.

HoC has a better musical score though.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

House of Cards is utterly contrived and lathered in cliches, but at least it has some sense of self-awareness of this. The West Wing is just as silly and contrived but lacks said awareness.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The West Wing is hackish and wildly unrealistic in more interesting ways, but Snowstalker is right that House of Cards is more aware of how hackish and wildly unrealistic it is. Tie.

[Cory]

House of Cards. I find Frank Underwood to be much more relateable then Bartlet.

[Free Bird]

House of Cards doesn't have a Republican winning Vermont

[checkers]

The Wire is obviously the best show about US politics.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The West Wing is one of my favorite shows. It has unique characters who are a lot of fun to see interact with each other, delves into the murkiest details of the US policymaking process, create a great deal of fascinating situations and scenarios, and, above all, it purport a vision of politics to which I fully subscribe. It might be hackish in that sense, but considering how prevailing cynicism is in the discourse about politics, I believe some hackery in favor of idealism might be healthy.

The early episodes of House of Cards were fun, but it soon began incredibly repetitive and stale. We already know how it ends: Underwood gets his way, everybody around him gets screwed over. Over and over again. His schemes become increasingly contrived and nonsensical. It's a shame, because despite my preference for idealism, I was totally on board for this show's concept, and Spacey's acting is excellent. I think it would have worked a lot better if they had kept the original format of a 4-episode miniseries.

To me, it's really an easy choice.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I have lots of issues with House of Cards, but, as already pointed out, The West Wing becomes more and more unbearably hackish (without a sense of awarness) after each episode. And the main character is... well... not very relateable (something even Martin Sheen couldn't fix).

That doesn't mean HoC is good, but I still take it over TWW.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The Wire is obviously the best show about US politics.

The Wire is easily the best show in the history of television, period.

As for the thread's question, The West Wing and it isn't even close.  It was extremely hackish (like any remotely political thing written by Aaron Sorkin), but it was good for what it was (and it wasn't really a show about politics, first and foremost).  I'd argue that watching The West Wing because you want a serious show about politics is about as silly as watching Law & Order because you want to watch a serious show about the criminal justice system. 

However, House of Cards has almost literally no self-awareness whatsoever.  Despite all of the shows desperate attempts to use pseudo-cyncism to present itself as Very Serious Business (Netflix even tried to market the first season as a show that reveals "how politics really works" and "how Congressmen play the game when no one is looking" lol), it is really just Kevin Spacey twirling his mustache while playing a villain with all the complexity and depth of Snidley Whiplash.

I have to admit that Corey Stoll was excellent as Russo even if many aspects of the actual character and his storyline were ridiculous (and not in a good way).  But his performance was basically the only good thing to come out of the show.

[Oakvale]

They're both very bad television, but Snowstalker is pretty much correct in that at least House of Cards isn't as pompous.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

They're both very bad television, but Snowstalker is pretty much correct in that at least House of Cards isn't as pompous.

^^^
I'm still in the good parts of HoC, but I heard it gets bad.

[Free Bird]

Can we define hackish in this context?

[Cory]

The hipsterdom. It hurts.