I'm assuming there's not like any special Mod permission I need to start one of these "Episode Of The Month" threads for a show. I start this entirely out of my own desire and fanaticism of course, I suppose much like any other thread, it'll earn its own worth to last if others like the idea and keep posting, if not, oh well but I wanted to give it a try. I love "The West Wing". Ironically I didn't even start watching it regularly until the start of the 3rd season, though I'd had a friend of mine telling me all along since the start that I should watch it, that I'd really dig it. At the time Bravo was regularly running it at 7pm on weeknights, so that's how I then caught up on seaons 1 and 2, now however I've got the whole thing on DVD. One of my top 5 favorite shows of all time. Oh and I should also add that I'm definitely not necessarily expecting this thread to be made a sticky just because it's an EotM thread, like I think the Simpsons and South Park ones are. If it's chosen to be, great. But if not it's cool.





Some general info about the show, from Wikipedia.

THE WEST WING lasted 7 seasons, from Sept 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006.
Won a record four consecutive Best Drama Emmys for seasons 1-4 (including 9 total in its first season, another record).
Created by Aaron Sorkin. Original Executive producers were writer Sorkin, director Tommy Schlamme & producer John Wells.
156 episodes (including one special not in overall continuity, "Isaac & Ishmael" was a dramatic response to 9/11 (though the event was never actually mentioned, it was more about general themes) written by Sorkin, shot, edited and broadcast within just several days).

CAST:
Martin Sheen as President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet
Stockard Channing as Abigail Bartlet, the First Lady
John Spencer as Leo McGarry, the Chief Of Staff (1-6); Democratic VP Candidate (7)
Dule Hill as Charlie Young, Personal Aide to the President (1-6); Deputy Special Asst to COS (6-7)
Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman, Deputy Chief Of Staff (1-6); Santos For President Campaign Manager (6-7)
Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler, Communications Director (fired from post in s7 after confessing to NASA info leak)
Allison Janney as Claudia Jean "CJ" Cregg, Press Secretary (1-6); Chief Of Staff (6-7)
Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, Deputy Communications Director (1-4)
Janel Moloney as Donna Moss, Senior Asst to Josh Lyman (1-6); Russel/Santos Campaign Spokesperson (6-7)
Joshua Malina as Will Bailey, Deputy Communications Director (4-5); COS to VP Bob Russell (5-7)
Moira Kelly as Mandy Hampton, White House Media Consultant (1)
Tim Matheson as John Hoynes, Bartlet's original Vice President (1-4)
Gary Cole as Bob Russell, Bartlet's second Vice President (5-7)
Jimmy Smits as Matt Santos, Democratic Candidate for President & eventual President-Elect (6-7)
Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick, Republican Candidate for President (6-7)
Kristin Chenoweth as Annabeth Schott, Deputy Press Secretary (6); Santos For President Campaign Team (7)
Mary McCormack as Kate Harper, Deputy National Security Advisor (5-7)


Okay now that I've given all the basic background info breakdown, as for the episode with which to start off. I thought in the wake of us here in America experiencing this historic election of seeing the first black man made President, I'd look at one of the episodes that celebrates the most basic act of voting and having your own voice heard.

"Hartsfield's Landing" was the 14th episode of season 3, 58th overall, was written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Vincent Misiano. Original airdate 2.27.02. I only found out very recently that I'd been taking for granted all this time since I first saw this episode 6 years ago that Sorkin was using the actual town name to dramatize this particular election tradition -- he did not. In the show, Hartsfield's Landing as it's described to us is a small New Hampshire (Bartlet's home, btw) town with a population of just 63 citizens where the 42 registered voters among them go to the polls at 12:01AM EST on election day to cast their ballots, whereas the rest of NH (and the entire east coast, for that matter) must wait until all the regular polls open at 8AM. Each of the ballots are handwritten on paper, counted by the registrar and results announced just minutes later, and it's said it has accurately predicted the winner of every presidential election since William Howard Taft.

As I said, I've long taken for granted that was the town's real name, however Hartsfield's Landing is an entirely fictional name that is just loosely based on the real communities in New Hampshire known as Hart's Location and Dixville Notch. The tradition being dramatized here belong to Hart's Location, and funnily enough it's very geographically close to a town called Bartlett.


The plot synopsis for HARTSFIELD'S LANDING:




-----------
CHARLIE: Hello.
CJ: [very calm] Chazz.
CHARLIE: You wouldn't happen to know where my copy of the (President's) private schedule is, would you?
CJ: Did you... lose it?
CHARLIE: I don't believe I did, no.
CJ: Yet you don't... have it.
CHARLIE: Odd.
[they begin walking down the hallway]
CHARLIE: Where is it?
CJ: How would I know?
CHARLIE: Where iiiis it?
CJ: I just hope you didn't leave the building with it.
CHARLIE: Give it up, Tiny.
CJ: No... I think you're gonna wanna talk nicer to me than that, 'cause when a reporter finds it they're gonna come to me, and that thing's stamped "D-12", and you signed it out "D-12", and rules are rules.
CHARLIE: Funny.
CJ: What?
CHARLIE: I never told you it was D-12.
CJ: How 'bout that?
CHARLIE: Look, CJ-
CJ: You'll find it in your filing cabinet under "A", for "anal".
----------


[Donna paces outside the White House front gate in the freezing cold at night, on the phone trying to convince one of the Hartsfield's Landing residents to vote Bartlet]

DONNA: Roberta, those are all good points on perfectly valid areas of disagreement. But what I don't understand is you guys were such big fans of the President, you loved him when he was Governor, you worked so hard for him when he was campaigning. [pause, listens] Well he didn't lie. No he didn't lie, Mackey. And I'll tell ya what else, the man just accepted a Congressional Censure and I think it's ti--[listens] And he should be held to a higher standard and believe me he holds himself to a higher standard. But sometimes he can't meet it because... presidents aren't kings, he's an economist from New Hampshire. And I think it's time for you to get off your horse.

[Josh comes running thru the gate towards her]

JOSH: Donna!
DONNA [thru phone] I'm standing out here in the middle of the night...
JOSH: Donna.
DONNA: [thru phone] Hold on please. [to Josh] Well I kinda had it now, too! They're shocked, and appalled, and disappointed, but really they're none of those things. They just wish they were... so never missing an opportunity to feel morally superior.
----------



[Toby and Jed in the oval office playing chess]

TOBY: Abby told me this story once. She said you were at a party once where you were bending a guy's ear. You were telling him that Ellie had mastered her multiplication tables, and she was in third grade at reading at a fifth grade level. And she loved books, and she scored two goals for her soccer team the week before. And you were going on and on. And what made Abby's story remarkable was the party you were at was in Stockholm and the man you were talking to was King Gustav, who two hours earlier had given you the Nobel Prize in economics. I mean my god you'd just won the Nobel Prize and all you wanted to talk about to the King of Sweden was Ellie's multiplication tables.
JED: What's your point?
TOBY: You're a good father, you don't have to act like it. You're the president... you don't have to act like it. You're a good man, you don't have to act like it. You're not just folks, you're not plainspoken. Do not -- Do not -- Do not act like it.
JED: [leans in] I don't wanna be killed.
TOBY: Then make this election about smart, and not. Make it about engaged, and not. Qualified, and not. Make it about a heavyweight. You're a heavyweight, and you've been holding me up for too many rounds. [he softly lays one of the chess pieces down on the board on its side]

[Jed rises and heads for the door]

JED: Pick your king up, we're not done playing yet.
----------



[CJ and Charlie stand in her office having just been chastised by Leo for the escalation of their war on practical jokes on each other]

CJ: Okay, it's over. That's that.

[Charlie walks away, CJ flops a pile of paperwork onto her desk, the entire thing breaks apart and crashes to the floor]

CJ: So... how long do you usually make people your bitch?
CHARLIE:... depends.






So for my final word here, though of course they didn't exactly know it beforehand, I'd like to thank LostDog1079 and PeopleMyAge for the existence of their respective TV show threads from which I used as a basic template to create mine here for The West Wing.

I recently got the entire boxset of this show (having not watched it at all) and I've loving it. This episode was one of my favourites

Been on a West Wing marathon the last wek or so...Love this show so much.

Wow, so you got the whole thing without ever having seen it once? Damn that's quite a commitment, especially at 7 seasons. Did you have some friends or family assuring you that you'd like it?

Yeah well, I've always heard good reviews about it and a friend recommended it to me, and the boxset was going on offer so what the hey

I've been watching it to get me in the mood for the US Elections and I'm up to about mid way through season 5, and not a single drop in quality.

Btw, and this may be a cliched pick, but you should really pick Two Cathedrals for a future episode. It's a stunning episode.

Well hopefully it'll warrant being around long enough that we'll get a good percentage of the episodes covered

I'm not sure I can agree with your assessment though of where you currently are. Not sure if know about this, But Sorkin and Schlamme both famously left the show at the end of season 4. All thru the first 4 years NBC was usually somewhat frustrated by Sorkin because he'd always be writing up until the very last second, and apparently it would cause production delays and going over budget (it was already on average costing $6M to shoot a single episode), and so they decided they'd had enough, he was leaving his baby, and he wanted to give them plenty to work with to start off season 5 so he had Zoe be kidnapped as Abdul Sharif retaliation. Most diehard fans agree, season 5 was its weakest. I mean, most agree that on the whole 5-7 was definitely inferior to 1-4, but at least the general feeling is a ways into season 6 and then season 7 following the next election it once again picked up some quality steam. Although, only in West Wing universe would the Republican who gets the nomination be pro-choice and virtually anti-religion

My main problem with season 5 is the amount of kinda large concept stories they had, and I'll refrain from giving all my examples to not spoil anything for you. But it's like John Wells was trying to do way too much with the show, it largely got away from the daily machinations of running the government to all of these sort of event stories of them tackling really huge tasks. (and even more unrealistic that an administration would pull off all of that in such a short period of time)

s6 I think was the weakest.
You'll have a laugh when you watch S7.. so prescient!

Spoiler: show

(would have been even more so if McCain hadn't sold his soul to ambition)... down to Emmanuel being chosen as COS, as he's apparently the inspiration for Josh

i don't know if i've seen this episode
but i do love this show

Ahh yes, Santos vs. Vinick is eerily not too far off at all from Obama vs. McCain. In fact in the commentary on one of the episodes, Lawrence O'Donnell remarks how Vinick was conceived "sort of like a John McCain type, not afraid to take the tough questions, not ducking the press", etc.

And regarding the final election itself...

Spoiler: show

Where you aware that the writers' original plan was to in fact have Vinick win the election? But once John Spencer died, they felt that for the hardcore fans, his real life death and THEN also the Republican becoming the next president would be too much of a bummer sandwich to take.

McCain v2000 obviously.

Spoiler: show

it certainly never felt certain during the season that Santos was going to win for sure.
And I felt so sad when I heard about Spencer

I'm in the middle of season 5 and i just dont know..in the story

Spoiler: show

they've fairly made a complete balls of everything, economy, foreign affairs, so perhaps another democrat president is a little unrealistic.

I stopped watchin when santos came into it. The actor just didn't engage me, and the writing was piss poor after Sorkin left. For me anyways.

Dude, I cried like a fucking 5 year old that skinned his knee on the pavement That's definitely the most I've ever been affected by the death of an actor, the most emotional I've ever gotten. Not just when he actually died, but then the episode depicting Leo's funeral, I knew going into it I would have a tough time, and that was a big Kleenex night
Hell even when I just happen to rewatching a bunch of season 7 episodes a couple months ago and watched it again, I still cried.

I'm sorry but I'm a little confused by your wording here between your first and second statement. So, this right now is not the first time you've ever seen season 5 episodes... ?

Sorry..no i'd gotten the box sets per season..and was following it on TV when Santos came into it.. watchin it online these days(cant find the boxsets) but you kinda can see their shoulders dropping..not sure if the cast are meant to be doing that as part of the storyline, as in they are jaded in the job, or collectively they just arent as into it? could be either i guess..

Well to be totally honest I only own the actual box sets for seasons 1 and 2, a few years back I happen to run into a really good Amazon sale for them (though only like a week or two it had the entire special complete box set for like less than $150). As for all the rest, I belong to Blockbuster Total Access and 3 discs at a time I eventually copied my way of all the rest of the remaining 5 seasons

All 7 seasons for £49.98!! (HMV too)
I'm only missing S6 though..
ooh... The Hut (as well as Asda and Currys) has it for £10.93 (and 5% from quidco ) I'm completing then

Before I go on and talk about the episode, I'm just going to say, I can vividly remember the first time I gave The West Wing a serious watch. I believe the episode was um, The Fall's Gonna Kill You, from season two. It came on at 2200, finishing at 2300. When the episode ended, I was REALLY impressed by the show, never liked a show so much on the first viewing.

At the end of the episode, the tv station cut away to a smouldering building. I was like, wow, a double bill? I swear the show was over.

The smouldering building was 1 WTC.

---------------
I'm going to defer comments on other episodes, cos by god there will be more EOTMs

- I haven't seen this in quite a while. I REALLY miss John Spencer.
- I also REALLY miss CJ as press secretary. Dana Perino has 1 month to figure out how to do CJ.
- I extremely miss Sorkin's writing on TWW. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip just did nothing for me.
- Ohhh, the writing.

- Ohhhh, the idea that a president can play two games of chess simultaneously, while China and Taiwan are playing war games, AND the guys in his home state are due to start election day after he deceived them with non-disclosure of his health records. Priceless.
- I'm realising it now. The reason I hate W so much is because he's the antithesis of Bartlett. Oh, Bartlett
- You Don't Mess With the Zohan? Fuck that. You Don't Mess With the Charles Young

I'm sorry but you lost me on the Dana Perino thing, who... ? And even if you're maybe talking about Obama's staff, isn't it a guy who's been picked for Pres Secretary? (& I thought was a different name)

While it was certainly no TWW, I actually did still quite enjoy Studio 60 and was bummed when NBC pulled the rug out from under Sorkin and decided late in the season they wouldn't renew it even though earlier in the year they said they would order a 2nd season.



Well, I have to think that Rob Ritchie was a not so thickly veiled portrayal of Bush. I mean, a Republican candidate known for being heavily dependent on his advisers, not very engaged or intelligent, and he just happened to be the Governor of Florida (home to Jeb Bush)
Mind you, I'm not saying I had a problem with it, no not at all



I LOVED that moment in the season 4 premiere when young Anthony mouths off to CJ, and Charlie comes busting out of nowhere and fucking SLAMS him up against the wall and totally reads him the riot act. Charlie Young you are THE MAN

W's current press secretary. Don't blame you for not knowing. She's been in the job only since the point when people stopped paying attention to the W White House.

TWW is so far ahead of my number 2 favourite show of all time, I feel bad for how the other dvds get neglected while I watch TWW over and over and over.

Heh, you mentioned Mandy in your header post.

Umm, yea... ? Well, she was a pretty significant character during season 1, a full cast regular, so I thought deserving of my list up there. And dude, I'm major guilty offender of repeat viewings as well, there are probably certain eps that I've seen over 10 times. And I'd say I've seen every single one at least twice, actually probably at least three times.