sapelsam - //The West Wing is character driven and gives a real insight into the workings of the White House. It may be fiction but feels very real. //
All good American drama, and their comedy, is character driven, and that is their huge strength.
I am really enjoying digesting the entire box set of The Mentalist , and every major, and most minor characters have sufficient depth that you invest time in caring about them.
I also love the way, in common with all the best long-running dramas from America, they re-introduce characters and plot lines maybe from a couple of series previously, without explanation, they just expect you to know what is going on because a) you have watched up until then, and b) you have sufficient intelligence to have digested that went on, so you don't need it explained to you again.
It's the direct opposite of UK documentaries where they have a thirty-second ad. break, and then re-cap on what you just watched a few minutes previously - TV for the hard of thinking.