I'm rewatching 'The West Wing'

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I heard on a podcast today that during the Vietnam War, Dow Chemical was sending speakers to college campuses to try and change their image, so they could recruit chemists post graduation. The protests at these speaking engagements were getting so big that some of the speakers would pack a sandwich in their briefcase, to ensure they wouldn’t go hungry if the auditorium got shutdown and sealed off.

That made me think of the episode where Tobey is speaking about the administration’s stance on something (the World Bank?) My recollection is that Tobey pulled a newspaper out of his briefcase to read when the crowd got rowdy.

 

I am watching the Season 7 episode in which Senator Vinick and Congressman Santos have a presidential debate, filling almost the entire episode and filmed/presented live (twice--once for the East Coast feed, and once for the West). I swear that I am learning more about the issues (from all angles) watching this than I have learned from real-life presidential debates.

And kudos to Allan Alda and Jimmy Smits for being able to pull it off--along with Forrest Sawyer, as the debate moderator. Perhaps that's why I am learning: the actors and the characters (on both sides) are so inherently appealing, compared to alternatives.

edit: The candidates are discussing, now, the use of alternative energy, and Sen. Vinick just attested that nuclear power is completely safe. I wonder what will happen next . . . . *

* A spooky, similar but unintentional plot happening: Leo McGarry, running as Matt Santos' VP candidate a few episodes earlier, stating that the only way he could get out of that role would be by having a heart attack.

 

IMO, it gets better and better over time, as the relationships get deeper. Just wait until Abbey Bartlet (Stockard Channing) joins the scene.

 

Keep watching. IMO the 2nd season was the creative peak of the show (side note: isn't this basically true of most shows, and most bands as well?). The two-part "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" and the last 5 episodes (don't want to give away too much) are stellar, but just about every episode that season was at least very good.

 

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Performed live twice for the time zones. Reportedly Alan Alda was on fire the first time, clearly "won" the debate and toned it down just a bit for the second pass. I have that West Coast version in my collection and have always meant to track down the first one.

 

I don’t think that’s true at all. There’s a reason the term “sophomore slump” exists.

 

And now you can rewatch "Hartsfield's Landing", S3E15.

The West Wing: Original Cast to Reunite for Staged Version of Season 3 Episode

The special, directed and executive produced by Thomas Schlamme, will feature a theatrically staged presentation of the “Hartsfield’s Landing” episode from the show’s third season. Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford and Martin Sheen will all reprise their roles from the series and Michelle Obama will deliver a message along with it.

“Tommy and I are incredibly excited to be getting The West Wing cast back together for this staged reading and to support When We All Vote in their efforts to get all of us involved in this election,” Sorkin said in a statement.

 

Who's covering for Leo McGarry?

 

I just started watching this weekend for the first time.

 

I envy you. One of my top five shows of all time. I'd love to watch it again for the first time.

I also was late to the dance. Never watched it during its original run. Started about three years ago on Netflix. Took me a while to watch it (I'm a slow binger), but it was amazing. Cast, writing, everything. Just superb.

 

I agree... This was a great ride! Enjoy!

 

I'm on S2E7 and I just started on Saturday, so I'm enjoying it.

Crazy to remember that seasons had like 23 episodes back in the day. I had sort of forgotten all about that.

 

I don't know if I'd put a number to it, but it is one of my all time favorite series. Like you I didn't watch it when it was originally shown but enjoyed watching one or two episodes every night for a while.

Any one who enjoyed this should be sure to search out Aaron Sorkin's other shows. They are all equally great. His other TV series are Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Newsroom. They all feature great dialog, great characters, spot on casting and very realistic depiction of the workplace being portrayed.

You might want to check out his movies too. They are good too.

 

Some shows in the '60s and '70s had 30+ episodes per season. I noticed that and thought it was funny while watching reruns on an OTA sub channel.

 

Speaking as one of the elder members of this group I can tell you that it used to be 39 new episodes and 13 Summer re-runs. 9 months new, 3 months reruns, standard. How times have changed. sigh

 

I actually like it much better the way it is now. I have many more options to choose from, and they can get in tell a solid story and get out. For me this is much better than just seeing "the continuing adventures of these 3 guys" year round for years on end.

 

Out of curiosity, what are the other four shows?

 

To each his own. But with Tivo you could save some shows for the 3 month Summer rerun season. Back then we had nothing but reruns of our favorite shows or reruns of shows we didn't want to watch in the first place.

 

It's only now you realize the amount of "filler" they crammed into 24-episode seasons. Filler that did nothing to advance characters or recurring plots. There were no consequences and everything reset to status quo when the credits rolled.

I love TWW, but even I wish I condense these seasons to half the size.

I wish The Newsroom was still around, but more for it's commentary than the actors and the writing.

 

Spoiler: Newsroom Teaser - Caution, Language