NBC has announced that it will be canceling the hit drama 'The West Wing' this May. The Emmy-winning and critically acclaimed is in its seventh and final season.
The show has not regained its once strong ratings since being moved to Sunday night so the cancellation hardly comes as a shock. Still, critics have enjoyed the show's latest plot line involving a battle between Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda for the right to inherit the White House from the present chief executive played by Martin Sheen.
The show also recently took a hit when actor John Spencer died unexpectedly of a heart attack last December 16. According to NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly, the decision to cancel 'The West Wing' was made before Spencer's death.
The final episode of the show will air on May 14 when the successor to fictional president, Josiah Bartlet, will be sworn in.
Martin Sheen told reporters he hoped the show had a positive impact on its viewers.
'We can be very cynical about the people that lead us,' he said. 'If we managed in that sense to make people realize that being a public servant is an honor,' then the series did some good.
'The West Wing' won four consecutive Emmy Awards for best drama. It is the loss of yet another once successful show from NBC.
