Last night, I tried to keep Alito’s confirmation, the death of Coretta Scott King and the impending State of the Union address in perspective. So, Kim and I watched an episode of West Wing from the DVD set I got her for Christmas.

It got me thinking, what will everyone do when the final season of West Wing is over. Commander in Chief never caught my attention, and I’m told it is going off the air anyway. What to watch?

Well, it seems to me that we need a new series, “The Dream Dozen”. It could pick up where The West Wing leaves off. It could mix in a little bit of the reality TV shows, whether you are thinking American Idol or The Apprentice. It could add in a touch of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Desperate Housewives, and maybe even a touch of House for flavor.

What would the theme be? Imagine people across the country, a weird amalgam of American Idol wannabes, apprentices, desperate housewives, and all in all ordinary people, all inspired by a political candidate that rises from being a dark horse to being the front runner, but then losing in the primaries. Have them be people who have never been involved in politics before, but have spent at least a year of their life doing everything they can to get their candidate elected.

The first episode could start of with this candidate announcing the end of his campaign and encouraging his supporters to run for local office. As we hop from one local group of volunteers to another we could see the volunteers go through their disappointment and despair and come through with resolve to run for office. We could have them run for offices where there hasn’t been a competitive race in years. We could see them reshape their dreams of a better country into their personal campaigns.

Through out the season, we could see them experience the difficulties of dealing with local political committees and the challenges of fundraising. We could see them deal with the family issues of needing to be out campaigning at the expense of family time. Since no TV show is complete without sexual tension there can be the tensions of campaign sex and who is hitting on whom within the newly founded campaigns.

The leadership PAC of the candidate that inspired all of this could endorse these candidates as part of the “Dream Dozens”. He could come do fundraisers for some of the candidates.

Yeah, I realize this may sound like a bit of a fantasy. But maybe, like the West Wing, it is the sort of fantasy we need on TV right now.

Anyone know any of the writers at West Wing? Anyone want to help me get this turned into a real TV show?