Truth be told, when I exported my DVDs to MP4 files, I actually cut the ending credits. Partly it's because the song is a bit chipper. Partly it's because I sleep with TheWestWing on all night and that very loud piccolo would often wake me up. ;)

I agree, wholeheartedly. There are actually a few episodes early on where they used a less bouncy piece of music at the end. It is quite the buzz kill after deeply dramatic episode to hear that quasi sitcom music. There are other people on this thread who can probably answer this better than I can, but I also believe that sometimes, they no longer have the rights to whatever closing music was used in each episode in syndication. so they use something generic they did a buyout for every episode.

This show was aired during a period where the credits were often shown in a small window over in a corner, with sound off, while the next show in the lineup aired its opening teaser, so when the WW broadcast, we never even heard the closing music.

They addressed this on The West Wing Weekly podcast. The show passed to go to commercial then come back for credits so they never thought about it being an issue.