A Tale Of Three Series

This isn't exactly how I planned to return to Blogging after an unplanned hiatus for most of the summer. I was working on a post that at least partially dealt with my "discovery" of a fifty year old TV series and how it underlines something that's missing in modern TV. But real world events have overtaken my own aims and the result is just too good not to blog about. (Before I start on this one I should mention that as a Canadian I don't have a dog in this fight, although like all but the most right wing Canadians my sympathies lean toward the Democratic party, primarily because the policies advocated by the Democrats are closer to the policies that Canadians hold dear, like Medicare.)

John McCain's decision to select Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential nominee completed the real world electoral picture for the 2008 season. It is an electoral picture that has similarities to three different TV series of the last few years. The three series are 24, Commander In Chief, and The West Wing.

Let's start off with Barack Obama and 24. This is a pretty obvious one. The first season of the series featured Dennis Haysbert as David Palmer, the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, and the first African-American to be nominated for the post. There has been some suggestion, at least partially from Dennis Haysbert, that the character of David Palmer might have had some sort of impact one making Obama's candidacy "acceptable" to the American public. According to a TVSquad article, which quotes an AP wire service report, Haysbert said, "My portrayal of David Palmer may have helped open the eyes of the American people. I mean the American people across the board – from the poorest to the richest, every color and creed, every religious base – to prove the possibility there could be an African-American president, a female president, any type of president that puts the people first." Yeah, I know, it sounds like a reach to me – and to a lot of the people who commented on the story at the time – too. Still, setting aside any possible influence that Haysbert's portrayal of David Palmer may have had on the sensibilities of the American public, there is no doubt that 24 at least suggested the potential of a qualified and charismatic African-American candidate winning the nomination for a major political party by, not to mention winning the presidency. (And before anyone mentions Jesse Jackson, while he was certainly a viable candidate for the nomination in 1984 and 1988, it is questionable how viable he would have been considered in the general election or how broadly based his support was.) In fact there are aspects of the David Palmer character, particularly his reliance on his younger brother Wayne as a political advisor (revealed in later seasons) that would really make the character seem closer to the real world Kennedys than any current politician.

The nomination of the little known Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate brings another show into the mix. Commander In Chief brought Geena Davis back to TV starring as Mackenzie Allen, a former member of the House of Representatives who is a Republican who was so at odds with her party that she ran as an Independent. After two terms in Congress she left to become Chancellor of the University of Richmond. She's a specialist in Middle East Affairs as well as a lawyer. From there she is selected by the Republican nominee for President to be his running mate, even though her principal attributes for the job are the fact that she can bring women's votes to his campaign and can balance the ticket because of her moderate, even independent stance on the issues. Of course everything changes after she's elected when President Teddy Bridges dies of a stroke. She is the Vice President that no one wants to see elevated to the big job and suddenly there she is. To compare, Sarah Palin is the one term governor of Alaska, who before becoming Governor was the mayor of Wassilla, a city of 9,000 people. She ran for Governor on a platform of cleaning up government in spite of the fact that the state had previously been governed by a Republican administration.

Of course the big comparison is to The West Wing. It has been stated by series writer and producer Eli Attie that the character of Matt Santos was directly based on the then new Senator from Illinois Barack Obama. There is also a suggestion that based on their perceived maverick stance within the Republican Party that Arnold Vinnick was at least partially based upon John McCain. The latter assertion is far more tenuous than the link between Obama and Santos, to the degree that I don't think that it has ever truly been articulated by anyone associated with the series, and there are a lot of people (mostly those holding a liberal perspective it must be mentioned) writing since McCain's involvement in the current Republican nomination process who have state that McCain is no Vinnick. It doesn't really matter that much of course; it is sufficient to note that both Vinnick and McCain have been perceived as outsiders within their own political party.

The Santos campaign nominated former Labor Secretary and White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry as Vice President. Viewers may have thought that this was a case of Josh Lyman pushing his former boss (and long time family friend who Josh had come to see as a substitute father as well as a mentor) into one final bit of public service – he had after all suggested Leo as a possible replacement for John Hoynes during the second Bartlett campaign. However it is made clear that Leo's primary role in the Santos campaign and a coming Santos administration has a lot to do with McGarry's knowledge of the working of power and his strengths in foreign affairs and other areas where even a three term Congressman would be deficient. On the Republican side, Arnold Vinnick chose the two term Governor of West Virginia, Ray Sullivan to be his running mate. Sullivan is chosen by Vinnick largely to balance the ticket ideologically with Sullivan appealing to the conservative, religious, pro-life base of the Republican Party, a constituency that Vinnick's moderate Republicanism had alienated.

So where does that put us with regard to the current real-life political campaign? Well the selection of Joe Biden to be Barack Obama's running mate is fairly obvious. As was the case with Leo McGarry and Matt Santos, Biden brings a wealth of experience, particularly in the area of foreign relations, to compliment Obama's inexperience in those areas. Similarly, Sarah Palin's great strength is with the Republican base – she's an evangelical, life time member of the NRA, who espouses an extremely strong pro-life position and strong family values. Even if McCain's weakness with the Republican base is overestimated – which I suspect it probably is – Sarah Palin probably helps in this area.

Of course the real world complexities of selecting a running mate go far beyond what a TV series like The West Wing is able to portray. Joe Biden not only helps the Obama campaign with his perceived lack of experience, he also strengthens the ticket in Pennsylvania and some of the other battlegrounds states and is seen as helping with the perception that Obama is something of an elitist, a perception that can hurt the party's support with blue collar voters. As for Palin, she doesn't add any states to the Republican side of the tally – both Alaska where she was Governor and Idaho, where she was born, are solidly Republican – but supposedly she is meant to attract disaffected women who supported Hillary Clinton, and has strength with blue collar workers because her husband is a commercial fisherman and a member of the United Steelworkers. (For the record, I think this is a crock; Palin is about as likely to attract disaffected Hillary voters with her pro-life, anti-sex education needed, pro-gun rhetoric as a big plate of moose burgers is likely to attract a pack of roving vegans. Personally I think the selection is a disaster for the Republicans which is fine with me. But that's me being political, and after all this isn't my fight.)

Oh, there's one other political-television link which I actually hesitate to mention, but I'm not the first to note this and I probably won't be the last. Take a look at this

Sarah Palin and Tina Fey – separated at birth?

Compare and Contrast

I came upon this a few days ago on Bryce Zabel's blog and have been thinking of doing something with it ever since. And I decided to do something with it after a very frustrating Saturday. So first, let's run the clip from Slate Magazine and then I'll give you my thoughts.

The title of the piece, Haven't I Seen This One Before? How The West Wing predicted the 2008 presidential campaign would seem more all encompassing than you might find with just the similarities between Senator Barack Obama and Congressman/President Matt Santos. I confess that the comparisons between Santos and Obama never really stood out for me until this clip. It makes sense I guess if only as a germ of an idea that the creative people could take to logical conclusions. My own assumption was that Matt Santos was at least partially based on Henry Cisneros. I mean think of the comparisons: Cisneros was the charismatic mayor of San Antonio; Santos was the charismatic (fictional) mayor of Houston. And one of the story lines in the latter part of the presidential campaign – where Vinnick finds out about payments made to a woman in the mayor's office in Houston – has a definite similarity (though not the same outcome) as the "Linda Jones affair" which eventually led to Cisneros's resignation as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Of course the comparisons aren't perfect for either Obama or Cisneros served in the military, which Santos did. The problem is that the reporter takes things a bit far.

I suppose it is the nature of such things that the Slate reporter, Torrie Bosch, takes this beyond the obvious links that were explained by the writers of the show. I mean it is one thing to say that the producers wanted a "different sort of Democrat" to oppose a "different sort of Republican" in the show's last season and a half, and it may even be that Arnie Vinnick was subconsciously modelled on John McCain in that Vinnick is a maverick in his own party not unlike McCain (of course while McCain is a decorated naval officer who underwent horrors as a prisoner of war, it's clearly spelled out that Vinnick never served in the military). The writiers claim that they were looking for the "most attractive Republican candidate that they could create, presumably in contrast to Jame`s Brolin's character Robert Richie who had to be as unsympathetic as possible because he was going up against President Bartlett and thus we couldn't be allowed to think that he'd be someone viewers might want as president.

It is another thing to draw the number of comparisons that this reporter is. The comparison between Hillary Clinton and Bob Russell is particularly short sighted. The reporter describes Hillary Clinton as a "battle-tested insider with a huge base" just like Russell. The problem is that, as Josh Lyman points out when he explains his strategy to Helen Santos, Russell's support isn't as hard core as that. The real opponent – the real battle tested insider – is former Vice President Hoynes. Russell has been positioned through most of the fifth and sixth seasons as a light-weight who on a good day isn't half as good as Matt Santos and as Josh tells Leo "Russell doesn't have that many good days." And his handlers, Will Bailey and to a lesser extent Donna Moss – are aware of his deficiencies. When he was trying to recruit Josh to the Russell campaign he says that if Josh comes to work on the Vice President's campaign, "You get in now, you can make him the candidate you want him to be. After that we make him the President we need him to be." Say whatever you want about Hillary Clinton, she's no Bingo Bob Russell – even on one of his good days – she's better.

Another problem is the reporter's suggestion that the current situation could lead to what the show suggested – a brokered convention – is completely absurd simply because the elements that the writers put in place on The West Wing – a third, active candidate with a significant block of votes (John Hoynes) combined with a "great white hope" who is available to be drafted for the second round of voting (Governor Baker of Pennsylvania) don't exist in the current situation. (Too bad – it would have made the convention worth watching and might even hold the interest of viewers more than any convention since 1968.) I'm surprised that it wasn't mentioned that Vinnick's final opponent, the man who held out longest in the primaries, was a southern evangelical minister (Reverend Don Butler), albeit one who was not also a state Governor like Mike Huckabee. What's next; does Obama select an aging party strategist with a bad heart as his Vice President? Oh wait, someone's already done that.

And perhaps Torrie Bosch is being slightly flippant when she reminds people watching the clip that in the series that the "Obama character, Matt Santos" wins the election. After all, all it took for Santos to win was a nuclear accident in California at a power plant that Vinnick had pushed, the Democrats winning South Carolina (!), and the Hispanic vote in Nevada moving en masse to Santos. Maybe we shouldn't mention that at least one of the West Wing writers, Laurence O'Donnell, claims that had John Spencer not died it would have been Vinnick rather than Santos who won the presidency (though that is disputed by other writers on the series). Instead, let's just admit that the writers of The West Wing were writing fiction rather than prophecy.

Short Takes - May 22, 2006

Seeing as how I've spent the last week relaying news about TV, the usual topics for my short takes pieces are gone. On the other hand I've let a number of season finales go uncommented on, something which not only needs to be rectified but if done briefly also provides me with ample subject matter for this piece.

Sunday: The West Wing - Not just a season finale but a series finale. Before I say anything else, let me just express how profoundly disappointed I was with the way that NBC handled this series this year. First they moved the show to Sunday night, supposedly to "protect it" from competition from Lost and then, when the ratings went down (because of the move to Sunday) they announced that they'd be ending the show at the end of this year. And then they treated it the show was something being eliminated at the end of a single season instead of one of the most critically acclaimed series of the past decade. A planned retrospective was called off because NBC and Warner Brothers didn't want to pay the extra money and the episode itself was only an hour long (while Law & Order: Criminal Intent got a two hour season ender) and opposite the Survivor.

And yes I think the show needed a two hour finale. The whole atmosphere of the episode felt rushed, which I suppose is fitting given that the subject was the Inaugural Day transition between the old and new presidencies but I confess that I wanted a bit more. I wanted more closure to Charlie's story and more about where the relationship between Josh and Donna was going. I wanted to meet Sam's fiance and find out if she was an ex-hooker who has a relative working as a hospital administrator in New Jersey or a blonde conservative lawyer who quit the Hoover Institute after nine days. There were some great touches that were enough to bring pangs of nostalgia but it's like going to Disneyland for just one day - there's so much more that you want to see than you can. In this case though it was the people who were running things who decided that you weren't going to see anymore, and I think it was disrespectful.

Monday: Grey's Anatomy - This they give the whole night to, courtesy of President Bush. ABC decided to repeat the first hour of the finale from Sunday night rather than show Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball after Bush's Immigration speech. That was, I think, a little too much. The two hour finale was full of sound and fury but was there was a clear separation between the first and second hours for easy syndication. Yeah there were revelations, tears and laughter, sexual tension resolved, and storylines carefully left dangling over the edge of a cliff to hold onto the audience for next season. And yes there was good acting, particularly from Katherine Heigl who was by turns manic, depressed, full of joy and defeated. And even though Izzy is leaving Dr. Bailey's little band of surgical "butt kissers" I can't help but hope that they'll somehow manage to keep her on the show, just because she turned in such good work this season.

Wednesday: The Amazing Race - Yeah, I know that I should be writing about what turned out to be the series finale of Invasion but I'll let you in on a little secret - I've been missing both Lost and Invasion a lot in the past few weeks. At least with Lost I should be able to pick up some of what I missed during the summer. Besides, I love The Amazing Race. I really liked this season. It wasn't as much fun as the seventh season of the show which pitted Rob & Amber fans against Romber haters it was easily better than the dismal Family Edition. And hey a team that was not only one of my favourites but actually deserved it won. BJ & Tyler - The Hippies - had fun with the race but also brought some real skills to it. This was more than could be said for Ray & Yolanda, who seemed to get lost and start arguing at the drop of Ray's hat. As for Eric & Jeremy the so-called Frat Boys - who were actually college drop-out and from community college at that - while they excelled at the physical aspects they revealed some negative aspects to their character when they cancelled the cabs of two of the teams and made disparaging remarks about BJ & Tyler. And that doesn't even mention their apparently insatiable desire for sex with any young female they encountered. While some fans of the show have stated that they found the "Hippies"' shtick wore thin, they were smart players who made an effort to learn a few words of the language at every stop they made. They deserved it.

Thursday: CSI - I realise that nothing they could do would compare to last season's Quentin Tarantino directed finale, but really this was a rather lackluster pedestrian effort. The major event was the shooting of Captain Brass in the previous episode but since that case was solved - or more accurately the perpetrator was terminated - we were left with an "ordinary" (well ordinary for CSI) case of a decapitated man found on a railroad track. Underlying it all was the prospect of Brass dying and the various CSIs standing vigil for him. One interesting aspect was that Brass had given Grissom his medical power of attorney despite the fact that, as Grissom told Greg, their relationship was entirely work related: "We don't hang out Greg." It indicates a level of trust and almost intimacy that doesn't need to happen away from the workplace. The one thing to take the show above the ordinary was the revelation in the final minute or two, where we discover that Grissom is intimate (in a sexual way) with Sara Sidel. There's been speculation for some time among serious fans that the producers were going to bring them together. What's really interesting - to me anyway - is that there's a sense of intimacy and familiarity that suggests that we're only seeing it for the first time but that they've been together for a while. I'm not sure if this is a good development or not (supposedly it has a lot of people "enraged") but it certainly has shaken things up.

Friday: Numb3rs - I don't really have much to say about this except that it indicates an interesting approach by the writers and producers. According to co-creator and executive producer Cheryl Heuton, the premise of the show was so different that "this show had to tell people what it was about a little longer than most." Now they're finally able to delve deeper into the character's relationships. The season finale was interesting but less for the case - a serial killer for whom the stresser was having his trust fund cut off - than for the insight that we got into Charlie's character and history. The execution was interesting, using that most illogical of mediums - dreams - to give us some sense of what shaped a character whose occupation as a scientist forces him to be eminently logical.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 14

First of all, apologies for not getting this up sooner but I wasn't feeling well on Sunday. I think it could be reasonably argued that the seventh and final season of The West Wing was the best of the period after Aaron Sorkin left the show, either because of the subject matter or because at least subconsciously the producers knew that it would be the last. They had to deal with off screen personel situations in the form of contracts coming to an end. Dule Hill for example was only meant to appear in a limited number of episodes as was Martin Sheen. It seems likely that NBC knew at the beginning of the season that they would be cancelling the show but didn't announce it officially until early in January, at about the same time as the biggest off screen event of the season occured - the death of John Spencer. Spencer was the heart and soul of the series and if we are to believe published reports, his death changed a lot of things including the results of the show's election. On screen the show tried at least one innovation with the (mostly) live debate between Santos and Vinnick. They consumated the Josh and Donna relationhip in what was for the most part a believable manner. They actually had the election and its aftermath. Still, for better or for worse the season came to be about Leo. Even the last scene of the final episode, in which former President Bartlet opened a package with the napkin on which Leo had written "Bartlet For America" was meant to remind viewers of Leo and how integral the character had been to the success of the show. This brief scene aired during the episode Running Mates which ironically (given the subject matter oft his particular speech) was the first episode to air after John Spencer suffered his fatal heart attack.

Moderator: Given your medical history, why shouldn't voters feel concern about you?
Leo By an overwhelming percentage, the first symptom of a heart attack is death. I am fortunate to be here. But it wasn't all luck. I was the beneficiary of the finest medical care in the world - medical care available to me, to Governor Sullivan; but not to the millions of Americans with no or inadequate health insurance. They have their noses pressed against the windows of the world's greatest hospitals, best trained doctors and nursing professionals. And when they most need, most desperately need their services, they can't get in.

The following scene is from the live debate episode hosted by real life NBC journalist Forrest Sawyer. It is the closing statements of the candidates in which they sum up their positions.

Sawyer: Congressman, Senator; we have just a very few minutes left. Would you like to use that time for your closing statements?
Vinick: Yeah.
Sawyer: All right then. According to the coin toss, the first closing statement is from Congressman Santos.
Santos: Well, Senator Vinick was eager to take a pledge about taxes, but now taking a pledge about anything else is beneath the dignity of the Presidency. The President has to lead. He has to actively head off problems, not just hope the market will figure out everything for him. It's the free market that Senator Vinick trusts so much that has left 45 million people without health insurance. But to his credit, the Senator's very honest about the fact that he has no health care plan, no education plan, no jobs plan, no energy plan. All he has is a tax plan. After he cuts taxes, what's he going to do for the next four years? Tax cuts are not a magic wand that you can wave at every problem. Senator Vinick is very quick to attack my plans, but the Presidency is about more than just saying no, no, no. You have to say yes to something. You have to do something. We don't have enough time for me to remind you about every policy difference that you've heard here tonight. But when you go to work tomorrow and you're talking about this debate, talk about the qualities that you want to see as a President; the leadership qualities. Ask yourself if Matt Santos is the kind of guy who's going to give up on the promises that he's made tonight because it's going to be too tough to get them done. Talk about what it was like for Matt Santos to go from where he was baptized 45 years ago to where he's standing tonight. Ask yourselves what it was like to do that. And then ask yourselves if you're ready to give Matt Santos the Presidency of the United States. You know, you've seen the stories: in newspapers all over the world, people are asking is America ready for a Latino President. I have never asked that question. I never asked if Annapolis was ready for a Latino midshipman. I never asked if the Marines was ready for a Latino fighter pilot. I didn't have to ask. I just had to prove that I was ready, that I could get the job done. I am asking for your vote now because I know that I am ready to do the job. I thank you.
Sawyer: Senator Vinick, your closing statement.
Vinick: First of all, I want to thank Matt for agreeing to drop the rules tonight and let us have a real debate. And what you've heard, over and above the many policy differences, were different philosophies of government. I believe both of us want what's best for this country, we just have different ideas about how to go about it. I think it's fair to say that Matt has more confidence in government than I do. I have more confidence in freedom your freedom; your freedom to choose your child's school, your freedom to choose the car or truck that's right for you and your family, your freedom to spend or save your hard-earned money instead of having the government spend it for you. I'm not anti-government. I just don't want any more government than we can afford. I don't want government doing things it doesn't know how to do or doing things the private sector does better or throwing more money at failed programs because that's exactly what makes people lose faith in government. And all of us, Democrats and Republicans, Independents, Liberals or Conservatives, we all want a government that we can believe in. We all want a government that doesn't make false promises, a government that doesn't overreach, doesn't take on more than it can handle; an efficient, effective, honest government. That's what the Founding Fathers created. That's what they wanted for us. The choice in this election comes down to this: do we want more government or do we want to get control of government. To govern is to choose and the choices are never easy. There are lobbies out there that will fight you on every choice you make. They're ready to call you names the second you make a choice they don't like. You heard that heckler go after me tonight. You have to be tough to stand up to that. But being tough won't help you make the right choice. That takes experience and mature judgment. That's what the Presidency needs now more than ever. And that's why I ask you to give me your vote: so that I can give you the government that you were promised by the Founding Fathers. Thank you, very much.
Sawyer: Senator Vinick, Congressman Santos: our thanks to you both. That is our debate and thank you for watching. Goodnight.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 13

Okay, I have a confession to make. I haven't been going over a collection of West Wing DVDs (or even video tapes) to write up the scenes that I've been using the past few days. There's a website called West Wing Transcripts which has transcripts on line for virtually all of the episodes. Well except for Season 6; they only have the first three episodes for Season 6, and as amazing as those episodes were they have virtually nothing to do with what the bulk of the season was about. It was a momentous season since, if you have a tendency to follow the West Wing story line religiously it seemed to compress most of the seventh and eighth year of Bartlet's administration into a single season so that we could get to "the good stuff" - the race to replace him. The latter half of the season was split between "White House stories" and "Campaign stories". And, as the book says, it was good. New characters were introduced or expanded upon and the well oiled team that we'd become used to seeing splintered. Donna spread her wings away from Josh, while Toby seemed resentful of Will and Josh. Leo had his first heart attack and gave up his job to C.J. We learned a lot about Kate Harper who, while she was actually only Deputy National Security Advisor, seemed to replace Nancy McNally in everything but title (I can only assume that there were problems in getting Anna Devere Smith since she only appeared in two Season 7 episodes and early episodes of Season 6). And of course they introduced Kristen Chenoweth's character of Annabeth Schott. Her voice took a lot of getting used to, but once you did she proved to be a very watchable actress in the sort of role she was not normally seen in.

Anyway, that's an explanation for why I only have brief "memorable quotes" from the IMDB rather than full scenes this time.

Leo talks to Josh about Senator Arnold Vinnick running for President

Leo McGarry: You ever see Arnie Vinick campaign up close? He'll go into those high school gymnasiums in Iowa and New Hampshire and blow them all away. He'll shake every hand in the joint, kiss every baby, hug every widow on Social Security, and sound smarter and more honest than any Republican they've ever seen. Because he is.

Next we have Congressman Matt Santos jump starting his presidential campaign in New Hampshire with an ad done live on a local station because that's all their campaign can afford.

Representative Matthew Santos: Good Evening. I'm running for President. And if you don't know who I am, I wouldn't be surprised. I've been shut out of tomorrow night's debate for suggesting that it actually be a debate, and this is the only ad I can afford. I got in this to improve a broken school system; to fix entitlements, 'cause they're going bankrupt; to expand health coverage, 'cause it'll save money if fewer people show up in emergency rooms. What I've found is that Presidential campaigns aren't about these things. They're about clawing your opponent's eyes out, so long as you don't get tagged for it. So how 'bout this - I will never say anything about my opponents, or anything about anything - without saying it myself, right into the camera. You might not get to hear much of me but when you do, you'll know I stand by it. I'm Matt Santos. And you better believe I approved this ad.

Then there's a bit of wit from the Bartlet administration's unofficial Press Secretary (Toby was doing a lot of the briefings but Annabeth Schott was the power behind his throne).

Reporter: Would the White House care to comment on the expected contrast between the high degree of organization and discipline in the Republican Convention and the Democrats' anticipated free-for-all?
Annabeth Schott: I believe the American people will be the beneficiaries, in that they will be presented with a clear choice: do they want to be governed by people who are animated, or animatronic?

Finally here's a quote from Arnold Vinnick after he's been nominated for President, in a speech that Leo feels makes him and not whoever the Democratic nominee is the natural successor to President Bartlet.

Sen. Arnold Vinick: My commitment to strive to be worthy of the example of the great men who have gone before. Presidents walk in giant footsteps. They have magnificent legacies to uphold. I stand here on this day and put my name forth, as one who aspires to their example, who will daily make that sacrifice, who will honor not just the office, but the people that office serves. Their President of these United States of America.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 12

I don't think I'm wrong in saying that the fifth season of The West Wing may have been the worst of the show's run. Aaron Sorkin had left his successor with a massive puzzle to unravel with the resignation of Hoynes as Vice President and the kidnapping of Zoe Bartlet. Apparently Sorkin said he wanted to give John Wells and the people he brought in to write the show plenty of interesting storylines that they could work with but on the whole it seemed as if they tried to dismiss them in an episode, and move on to stories of their own creation. The result is worse than what Sorkin was creating. For one thing the writing lacked the spark that Sorkin brought to the show. One thing that Sorkin had started in motion was the idea that the Chief Justice was becoming senile - initially by writing decisions in verse. Wells brought this theme full circle circle by having the Chief Justice hospitalised, supposedly near death although what he really needed (apparently) was some hospital care. This scene, which features Chief Justice Ashland and the President from the episode Separation of Powers illustrates some of the problems that a President who doesn't have even nominal control of Congress faces. (Of course the problem is resolved in innovative fashion in the episode The Supremes.)

Bartlet: I'm glad to see you doing so well, sir.
Ashland: Are you?
Bartlet: Yes, I am.
Ashland: Can you do it?
Bartlet: I don't want to. But if it's time, if your condition warrants.
Ashland: Who'd you get to replace me?
Bartlet: I'd hoped to consult with you.
Ashland: Holmes.
Bartlet: Holmes?
Ashland: Oliver Wendell. Marshall, John or Thurgood, either one. I want Brandeis, Blackman, Douglass. But you can't get them, can you? Because it's all compromises now, the ones who have no record of scholarship, no body of opinions, nothing you can hold them to, that's who they'll confirm, raging mediocrities.
Bartlet: The other eight are preparing to take it away from you, Roy. Holding over cases, the major decisions. How long can the country wait?
Ashland: My clerks are preparing a brief. There's an Arab-American man, grabbed out of a line at the airport. What's next? Tribunals, identity cards, bar codes tattooed on our forearms?
Bartlet: Then give me a name.
Ashland: Daniel Robenov, New York State Supreme Court. Susan Bengaly, Ninth Circuit. But they won't confirm them, will they? I have good days, and bad. But on my worst day, I am better than the ambulance chasers you can get confirmed by the Senate. You can't do it, Jed. You're not strong enough. The Speaker's running the table. And I can't take a chance.

Since we haven't done anything with the First Lady yet, here's a sequence with Abbey Bartlet and C.J., who is concerned with how the press will react to Abbey's return to medicine after her license had been suspended over her treatment of the President's MS and her temporary separation from the President following Zoe's kidnapping.

Abbey: So, what was it? Was it the tube top to meet the Queen of England or the low rise jeans for the North Korean delegation?
C.J. Mrs. Bartlet, the press didn't know what to make of you before the MS became public. You've never been the traditional hat-knitting President's wife.
Abbey: Oh, shoot. Was that in the handbook? Maybe just get me a photographer and seven year's worth of yarn.
C.J. Can you tell me why you decided to volunteer at the free clinic?
Abbey: Because, instead of putting out a press release I decided to roll up my sleeves and help treat children.
C.J. Is there any particular...
Abbey: There are any number of children's health issues I'm concerned with, so I thought it was appropriate to go out and just see what was going on first-hand.
C.J. Great. But until the press understands that, they're going to fill in the blanks with self-aggrandizing, craven, vote-grabbing...
Abbey: Would you like me to do interviews with the press corps?
C.J. God, no! They're the most cynical bastards on the planet. You need to get beyond the Washington echo chamber and speak directly to the people.
Abbey: So, what did you have in mind?
C.J. I checked out the reject list from your invitation file and there are a few things in her I think you should reconsider: the first of which is Muppets.
Abbey: Pardon.
C.J. Going on Sesame Street would give you an opportunity to reintroduce yourself as the First Lady who is also a working doctor and address the press's questions about your work at the clinic. Give a muppet a checkup. Get your message out.
Abbey: No Meet the Press?
C.J. Mrs. Bartlet...
Abbey: You don't think I could take Russert?
C.J. Why should you? Only five people are watching and it's the toughest interview on the planet. I want you on the Surgery channel, women's health magazines, the Today Show. Mrs. Russell's ratings bumped considerably when she did her cooking segment. Her chili was so good they're having her back for Christmas.
Abbey: C.J., you're trying to raise my competitive hackles.
C.J. Mrs. Bartlet, if I were trying to raise your competitive hackles, I'd make you watch Diane Sawyer's duet with Cookie Monster.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 11

Most of the time The West Wing tried to skate close to real world issues without getting seriously involved with them. One such event was the Rwandan genocide, a subject which is well remembered by Canadians and in particular the American response, which was not just no response at all but seemed to have been a concerted effort to prevent such United Nations forces as were on the ground, commanded by the Canadian General Romeo Dellaire, from doing anything to help the Tutsi civillians who were being massacred by the roaming Hutu gangs. General Dellaire's book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda is chilling reading. At one point an American officer told Dellaire that "it would take the deaths of 85,000 Rwandans to justify risking the life of one American soldier." One frequent poster to the West Wing newsgroup was in the US army stationed in Europe at the time. His unit was prepared for operations to end the genocide and he frequently talked about the utter disgust of the men on the line to the decision not to send American troops to stop this. In this seen from the fourth season episode Inauguration Part 1, Leo confronts Secretary of Defence Hutchinson about what the US should do. Hutchinson takes an attitude that seems to say that since there are no "vital" American interests at stake they should do nothing.

Leo: Miles? What's the general thinking in Khundu?
Hutchinson: That we should support all the international diplomatic efforts to.... You know the U.N.'s already made overtures to the Arkutu.
Leo: That's what's happening at the State Department. I want to know what's happening at Central Command.
Hutchinson: If you mean militarily, we're going to want to supply the bordering countries.
Leo: That's not what I mean. We're getting INTEL that isn't making it onto CNN, but that's a matter of a couple of hours. Truly horrible accounts of mass slaughtering...
Hutchinson: Leo...
Leo: ...that should make us at least want to investigate whether there's a genocide.
Hutchinson: Lee lost 10,000 at Gettysberg, didn't make it genocide.
Leo: Okay, so I'll go to the President with it.
Hutchinson: In our case, we'd lose closer to a thousand, which is pretty stupid. Magnificently so when we realize we're talking about a guy who's never led an army.
Leo: A] The guy is the President. B] He's been leading one for 3 years, 51 weeks and three days. How much more training would you like him to have? And C] It's not a thousand. We saw a forced depletion report, it's 150.
Hutchinson: You saw a forced depletion report?
Leo: Yes.
Hutchinson: How did he see a forced depletion report?
Leo: Look, from time to time, just to expedite things, Nancy will print...
Hutchinson: Nancy's out of the country. It was a raid.
Leo: The guy was following a direct order.
Hutchinson: I have no doubt he was. That's my problem, Leo.
Leo: I don't give a damn what....
Hutchinson: What?
Leo: I said I don't give a damn what your problem is, Miles. The man wants to know if he sends troops, how many are going to die.
Hutchinson: And if he wants to see forced depletion, he asks me.
Leo: He asks you and three days mange to go by before he sees it, Mr. Secretary. Yet miraculously, the Wall Street Journal, on day two, the numbers inflated all to hell. It's 150, not a thousand.
Hutchinson: And that's accecptable to you in Khundu?
Leo: I don't know what you mean when you say "in Khundu." Nah... yeah, I do.
Hutchinson: Go to hell.
Leo: Okay.

In this scene from the same episode we get just the slightest glimpse of the character of Will Bailey, as Aaron Sorkin meant him to be. When Sorkin left the series, it seems to a lot of people that John Wells and the writers he brought in didn't have a clear idea of the character and so shuffled him off to the Vice President's staff. In this scene Will is dissatisfied with the existing foreign policy and knows from an old speech by then Congressman Bartlet that the President isn't happy about it either, and when he gets a chance he speaks his mind.

Will: Keep your pants on, Toby, I'm almost there.
Bartlet: Toby been taking his pants off again? That's just something he does.
Will: Good evening, Mr. President.
Bartlet: How's it going?
Will: Fine, sir.
Bartlet: Good.
Will: No, it's not.
Bartlet: Yeah. What's hard is that foreign policy has become a statement of what we won't do.
Will: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: "A new doctrine for a new century, based not just on our interests, but on our values across the world." Well, that's pretty spicey stuff.
Will: You wrote it, sir.
Bartlet: Yeah, I know. Why is a Khundunese life worth less to me than an American life?
Will: I don't know, sir, but it is.
Bartlet: That was ballsy.
Will: I won't be working here long.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 10

One of the things that The West Wing set out to do was to present an ideal, an intellectually brilliant man performing a public service as a politician because he felt it was his duty to give something back. Bartlet, for all of his intellectual meanderings and folksy tales, is a brilliant man who doesn't suffer fools and finds the idea of playing down to the masses insulting both to him and the masses. in this scene from the Season Three finale Posse Comitatus Bartlet finds himself confronted by everything that he hates in the form of the Republican nominee for President, Governor Robert Richie of Florida, a man who has brought playing to what he supposes the masses want to a fine art. Through most of the conversation Bartlet manages to be cordial but in his last line dismisses his opponent as the insignificant creature that he is.

Ritchie: Mr. President.
Bartlet: Governor.
Ritchie: You enjoying the play?
Bartlet: I am. How about you?
Ritchie: We just got here. We were at the Yankee game. We were, you know, hung up in traffic.
Bartlet: Yeah, I know. Listen, politics aside, and I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but you probably insulted the church, and you can head it off at the pass if you speak to the Cardinal tonight.
Ritchie: Well, I didn't mean to insult anybody.
Bartlet: No.
Ritchie: And it's a baseball game. It's how ordinary Americans...
Bartlet: Yeah.... No, I don't understand that. The center fielder for the Yankees is an accomplished classical guitarist. People who like baseball can't like books?
Ritchie: Are you taking this personally?
Bartlet: No. Something horrible happened about an hour ago. C.J. Cregg was getting threats so we put an agent on her. He's a good guy. He was on my detail for a while, and he was in Rosslyn. He walked in the middle of an armed robbery, and was shot and killed after detaining one of the suspects.
Ritchie: Oh. Crime. Boy, I don't know.
Bartlet: We should have a great debate, Rob. We owe it to everyone. When I was running as a governor, I didn't know anything. I made them start Bartlet college in my dining room. Two hours every morning on foreign affairs and the military. You can do that.
Ritchie: How many different ways you think you're gonna find to call me dumb?
Bartlet: I wasn't, Rob. But you've turned being un-engaged into a Zen-like thing, and you shouldn't enjoy it so much is all, and if it appears at times as if I don't like you, that's the reason why.
Ritchie: You're what my friends call a superior sumbitch. You're an academic elitist and a snob. You're, uh, Hollywood, you're weak, you're liberal, and you can't be trusted. And if it appears from time to time as if I don't like you, well, those are just a few of the many reasons why.
Bartlet: They're playing my song.
In the future, if you're wondering, "Crime. Boy, I don't know" is when I decided to kick your ass.

The relationship between Bartlet and his personal aide Charile Young is perhaps one of the closest in the series. They seem to provide eachother withsomething missing intheir lives. Charlie is the son Bartlet never had while Bartlet is a superior replacement for the father who abandoned him. Certainly in later seasons Bartlet never expressed anywhere near the amount of pride in his son-in-law that he did for Charlie. In this scene from the Season Three episode Stirred shows the pride that Bartlet has for the young man who has bloomed under his care is apparent.

Bartlet: Yup. It was the rebate.
Charlie: It wasn't a rebate. It was an advance.
Bartlet: You say potato.
Charlie: I do say potato, and so does everybody else I know.
Bartlet: We wanted to inject some money into retail and tourism.
Charlie: Why not wait until people were supposed to have the money?
Bartlet: The economy might have improved on its own by then.
Charlie: In which case the whole thing would have been pointless in the first place.
Bartlet: Yeah.
Charlie: Economists just make it up as they go along, don't they?
Bartlet: Yeah.
Charlie: Did it work?
Bartlet: Not that much. Most people did what you did. They saved or they paid down debt.
Charlie: We don't want people save or reduce their personal debt?
Bartlet: We do, but when the next guy's President.
Charlie: You win.
Bartlet: I always do.
Charlie: Yes sir.
Bartlet: I'll tell you what I find interesting though.
Charlie: What's that sir?
Bartlet: You. $35,000 a year, a sister to support, and you gave $1,435 to charity. I'm not so sure that check isn't better off in your hands than ours. Oh, I'm taking it. Don't be ridiculous. But when you get to your place tonight you're going to find a new DVD player and that wimp-ass Bond movie.
Charlie: Mr. President...
Bartlet: And I threw in Yeoman of the Guard on CD.
Charlie: That was an incredibly nice gesture.
Bartlet: I'm really something.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 9 (Almost caught up)

There are a lot of strong episodes in the Second Season of The West Wing but there are a couple of scenes of which I'm inordinately fond because it goes tot he heart of why the characters do what they do. First, comes a scene from Two Cathedrals. That episode is justly remembered for Bartlet's rant at God which switches between English and Latin and culminates with the line "You get Hoynes." However this scene, in which Bartlet converses with the "ghost" of Mrs. Landingham goes to the heart of why he is in politics.

Bartlet: Ah... Damn it! Mrs. Landingham!
Mrs. Landingham: I really wish you wouldn't shout, Mr. President.
Bartlet: The door keeps blowing open.
Mrs. Landingham: Yes, but there's an intercom and you could use it to call me at my desk.
Bartlet: I was...
Mrs. Landingham: You don't know how to use the intercom.
Bartlet: It's not that I don't know how to use it, it's just that I haven't learned yet.
I have MS, and I didn't tell anybody.
Mrs. Landingham: Yeah. So, you're having a little bit of a day.
Bartlet: You're gonna make jokes?
Mrs. Landingham: God doesn't make cars crash, and you know it. Stop using me as an excuse.
Bartlet: The party's not going to want me to run.
Mrs. Landingham: The party'll come back. You'll get them back.
Bartlet: I've got a secret for you, Mrs. Landingham I've never been the most popular guy in the Democratic Party.
Mrs. Landingham: I've got a secret for you, Mr. President your father was a prick who could never get over the fact that he wasn't as smart as his brothers. Are you in a tough spot? Yes. Do I feel sorry for you? I do not. Why? Because there are people way worse off than you.
Bartlet: Give me numbers.
Mrs. Landingham: I don't know numbers. You give them to me.
Bartlet: How about a child born this minute has one in five chance of being born into poverty?
Mrs. Landingham: How many Americans don't have health insurance?
Bartlet: 44 million.
Mrs. Landingham: What's the number one cause of death for black men under 35?
Bartlet: Homicide.
Mrs. Landingham: How many Americans are behind bars?
Bartlet: Three million.
Mrs. Landingham: How many Americans are drug addicts?
Bartlet: Five million.
Mrs. Landingham: And one of five kids in poverty?
Bartlet: That's 13 million American children. 3.5 million kids go to schools that are literally falling apart. We need 127 billion in school construction, and we need it today!
Mrs. Landingham: To say nothing of the 53 people trapped in the embassy.
Bartlet: Yes.
Mrs. Landingham: You know, if you don't want to run again, I respect that. But if you don't run 'cause you think it's gonna be too hard or you think you're gonna lose - well, God, Jed, I don't even want to know you.

The other scene is from the episode which introduced Ainsley Hayes, In This White House. She has come from her meeting with Leo, who has offered her a job in the White Houe Council's office despite the fact that she's a Republican and is meeting her smugly partisan friends for a drink.

Bruce: Did you meet anyone there who isn't worthless?
Ainsley: Don't say that.
Bruce: Did you meet anyone there who has any-?
Ainsley: I said don't say that. Say they're smug and superior, say their approach to public policy makes you want to tear your hair out. Say they like high taxes and spending your money. Say they want to take your guns and open your borders, but don't call them worthless. At least don't do it in front of me. The people that I have met have been extraordinarily qualified, their intent is good. Their commitment is true, they are righteous, and they are patriots.
And I'm their lawyer.

Fourteen Days of The West Wing - Day 8 (well it should have been)

Having take a look at most of the major characters (there were quite a few I skipped but...) I thought I'd spend the last seven days of this looking at what I think may be high points from each season. In this first excerpt from Season 1's He Shall From Time To Time, President Bartlet is leaving for his State of The Union Address and is talking to Agriculture Secretary Roger Tribby (played by the amazingly versatile Harry Groener who had just come from playing Mayor Wilkins in the third season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer). It is a scene in which we not only see the loyalty that Bartlet gets from people near him but is used to both explain the Bartlet-McGarry relationship and to express Bartlet's full trust and support of his Chief Of Staff.

Bartlet: Roger.
Tribby: Good evening, Mr. President.
Bartlet: Roger, I'm sorry you drew the short straw on this. We'll miss you tonight. Next year, it'll be the surgeon general, I promise. Meanwhile, you can watch TV at my study.
Tribby: Thank you, sir. Um, I brought you a gift.
Bartlet: Oh, thank you.
Tribby: I know of your love of all things ancient, and I came across this.
Bartlet: What is it?
Tribby: Someone took the time to translate the Constitution into Latin. I think it was a high school project, actually, and uh, it got published.
Bartlet: This is magnificent.
Tribby: I highlighted what I thought was an appropriate passage from the executive power section. Can you translate?
Bartlet: 'He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information on the state of the union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.'
Tribby: Sounds right up your alley, sir.
Bartlet: Thank you, Roger.
Tribby: Knock 'em dead, sir.
Bartlet: Oh, Roger, if anything happened, you know what to do, right?
Tribby: I honestly hadn't thought about it sir.
Bartlet: First thing always is national security. Get your commanders together. Appoint joint chiefs. Appoint chairman. Take them to Defcon 4. Have the governor send emergency delegates to Washington. The assistant attorney general is gonna be the acting A.G. If he tells you he wants to bring out the National Guard, do what he tells you.
Bartlet: You have a best friend?
Tribby: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: Is he smarter than you?
Tribby: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: Would you trust him with your life?
Tribby: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: That's your chief of staff.
Bartlet: Oh, in the residence, in the second floor, the bathroom at the end of the hall. You have to jiggle the handle a little.
Charlie Mr. President?
Bartlet: I got to go. You'll do fine. People have phenomenal capacity.
Tribby: Yes, sir.

As a bonus I thought I'd include the scene from In Excelsis Deo in which Mrs. Landingham (the marvelous Kathryn Joosten) explains to Charlie why she seems down at Christmas.

Mrs. Landingham: Yeah, I know Charlie. I tend to get a little down during he holidays.
Charlie: You don't like Christmas?
Mrs. Landingham I miss my boys.
Charlie: I never knew you had kids.
Mrs. Landingham: Twins. Andrew and Simon. I tried not, you know, I dressed them differently, but they still did everything together. They went off to medical school together, and then they finished their second year at the same time, and of course their lottery number came up at the same time.
Charlie: For the draft?
Mrs. Landingham: Yeah.
Charlie: Well I would have thought they could get a deferment to finish med school.
Mrs. Landingham: They didn't want one. Their father and I begged them, but they wanted to go where people needed doctors. Their father and I begged them, but you can't tell kids anything. So they joined up as medics and four months later hey were pinned down during a fight in DaNang and were killed by enemy fire. That was Christmas Eve 1970. You know, they were so young, Charlie, they were your age. It's hard when that happens so far away, you know because, with the noises and the shooting, they had to be so scared. It's hard not to think that right then they needed their mother... Anyway, I miss my boys.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 7 (major hiccup)

(I had this written last night but somehow managed to delete it.)

Josh Lyman was White House Deputy Chief of Staff for most of the Bartlet administration until he left to take charge of the Matt Santos campaign for president. Actually that should read "to create out of whole cloth" the Santos campaign given that Santos not only didn't want to run for president but didn't even want to run for Congress. Will Bailey said that Josh had "one of the finest political minds in the Democratic Party." In his role as Deputy Chief of Staff Josh was the tactician - his job was to achieve what Bartlet and Leo McGarry wanted accomplished by whatever means he saw fit. Frequently this meant influencing senators and members of the House, somethig which Josh usually did with a combination of a carrot and a stick. This usually works out but when it doesn't, as in Disaster Relief, it can blow up really bad.

I had a real problem with this one. For all that Josh is a serious character, for me his most memorable scenes were comedic ones, usually involving women and frequently involving his assistant Donatella Moss (for a long time I thought she was saying Donna Teller Moss which confused me). There are scenes like his first meeting with Joey Lucas (Josh is in Sam's sailing gear and doesn't know that Joey is deaf), or his attempt to explain to Donna why she can't get her money back when the government is running a surplus, or this scene, where Josh goes online to interact with the people on his fansite from The U.S. Poet Laureate which if nothing else reinforces the fact that under Sorkin in particular this show was frequently quite funny.

Josh: The Internet people have gone crazy.
Donna: You're kidding.
Josh: They're calling the GAO "General Josh 's Standing Army", and saying I don't understand it's mandate and purpose. They're saying if I could get a review of anything I want, that I should start by reviewing the job of Deputy C.O.S. Then one guy compares me to a poor man's Clark Clifford, and a page and a half of posts, debating whether or not I was mocking Egyptians with the Sanskrit reference.
Donna: I told you they were hysterical.
Josh: I thought you meant they were funny.
Donna: They're not.
Josh: I know they're not! It's "Lord of the Flies" in there.
Donna: Well, who invited you in the first place?
Josh: It's got my name on it. Look, I don't want to hear about it anymore. We got an energy plan in ten minutes. I'm gonna...
C.J.: Oh Josh!
Josh: Yeah?
C.J.: The Federal Page of the Washington Post just called Carol to confirm that you're the Josh Lyman who stated on an Internet website that the White House could order a GAO review on anything it wants.
Josh: Without threatening the separation of powers is what I was saying.
C.J.: You posted on a web site?
Josh: I was communicating with the people.
C.J.: Really?
Josh: C.J., it's a... crazy place. It's got this dictatorial leader, who I'm sure wears a muumuu and chain smokes Parliaments.
C.J.: What did you go there for in the first place?
Josh: It's called LemonLyman.com.
C.J.: Let me explain something to you, this is sort of my field. The people on these sites? They're the cast of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
C.J.: The muumuu wearing Parliament smoker? That's Nurse Ratched. When Nurse Ratched is unhappy, the patients are unhappy. You? You're McMurphy. You swoop in there with your card games and your fishing trips...
Josh: I didn't swoop in, I came in exactly the same way everybody else did.
C.J.: Well, now I'm telling you to open the ward room window and climb on out before they give you a pre-frontal lobotomy, and I have to smother you with a pillow.
Josh: You're Chief Brom-
C.J.: I'm Chief Bromden, yes, at this particular moment. I'm assigning an intern from the press office to that web site. They're going to check it every night before they go home. If they discover you've been there, I'm going to shove a motherboard so far up your ass... What?
Josh: Well... technically, I outrank you.
C.J.: So far up your ass!
Josh: Okay.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 6 (catching up)

C.J. Cregg started on the show as the White House Press Secretary, but following Leo's first heart attack she became White House Chief Of Staff. Her role as Chief Of Staff tended to be more procedural and less advisory than Leo's. Josh once called her a "paranoid Berkeley shiksta feminista!" (to which she responded that he was an "elitist, Harvard fascist missed-the-Dean's-list-two-semesters-in-a-row Yankee jackass!"), but it was said with love. C.J.'s love life is rather chaotic. She has always had a strong attraction to reporter Danny Concannon although their jobs made it impossible for them to connect until recently. There have been other men, including a one night stand with anold class mate who had served time for white collar crime, another one night stand with John Hoynes, and an involvement with Secret Service agent Simon Donavon who had been assigned to protect her, which might have become something more had Donavon not been killed just after the assignment ended. She kept her private life private however, which led to speculation about her sexuality.

As Press Secretary C.J. told the press what they needed to know (which on occasion was only what she herself was allowed to know) and rarely gave in to the temptation to speak out and give opinions of her own. That is what makes this excerpt, from the Season 3 episode Enemies Foreign and Domestic outstanding and unusual.

C.J. There was a fire at the King Fatah Middle School in Medina. Seventeen girls died in the fire, when they were prevented from coming out into the street and rescue workers were prevented from saving them.
Sam: What was preventing them?
C.J.: The Muttawa. The girls weren't dressed properly. Don't comment! I haven't spoken to the President, to Leo, to State, to anybody. You guys want to muzzle me before I go in there, speak now or forever hold your peace. God knows it's not likely I'm gonna.
[C.J.: walks out of her office.]
Toby: Let's get a good spot.

C.J.: Good morning!
Reporters: Good morning!
C.J.: I have some scheduled details on the summit. Air Force One will depart Andrews at 7pm Friday, arriving at Helsinki 4am Eastern time, that's 11am Saturday local. Presidents Bartlet and Chigorin will have their first meeting at three o'clock at Mantyniemi - that's change, photo op, stills only, at the beginning of the meeting.
Katie:C.J.? What does the President see as the goals of the summit?
C.J.: Well, first to meet the new Russian president, but they share the aspiration of building a secure and undivided Europe.
Steve: C.J., are you aware of the fire that happened at King Fatah Middle School?
C.J.: Yeah, that's a tragedy. Chris?
Chris: Saudi news is reporting that rescuers were prevented from getting to several female students by religious police.
C.J.: Yeah, I read that too. Steve.
Chris: Does the White House have a comment?
C.J.: I literally just got this a minute and a half ago. I haven't spoken to the President, or Chief of Staff, State or anyone in communications, this is just me.
Steve: Well, do you have a comment?
C.J.: I don't, no.
Steve: I'm sorry, C.J., but you're not outraged by this?
C.J.: Outraged? I'm barely surprised. This is a country where women aren't allowed to drive a car. They're not allowed to be in the company of any man other than a close relative, they're required to adhere to a dress code that would make a Maryknoll Nun look like Malibu Barbie. They beheaded 121 people last year for robbery, rape, and drug trafficking, they've no free press, no elected government, no political parties, and the royal family allows the religious police to travel in groups of six, carrying nightsticks and they freely and publicly beat women. But "Brutus is an honorable man." Seventeen schoolgirls were forced to burn alive because they weren't wearing the proper clothing. Am I outraged? No, Steve. No Chris. No, Mark. That is Saudi Arabia, our partners in peace. Bonnie, then Scott.

Short Takes - May 7, 2006

I keep falling behind on trying to get the West Wing thing done, not to mention my TV On DVD list, which won't be out again this week. Big hearty sigh. I'm going to blame it on the weather around here, which has been hot for early May and the resulting other distractions for my time. I guess it's easier to write when it's 20 below and a serious wind chill, and a foot of snow that needs to be shovelled on the ground. Still, here are a few short takes from the week.

CW dumping Reba? My fellow blogger Ian J. Ball reported this (with the usual amount of glee that he reserves for anything negative related to this show - sorry Ian, but I like it when I get the chance to see it) but the actual source is something called Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily. She(?) reports that despite the fact that the show was renewed by the WB last year for a two year period, and the fact that when the UPN/WB merger was announced Les Moonves stated that he expected that the contract would be honoured by the new CW network, and the fact that Reba is the highest rated sitcom on either UPN or The WB, the CW now wants out of the deal. According to Finke's article "in mid-April, the CW execs told Fox they wanted out of the deal - the reason being that the show doesn't attract "the desired demographic" the new network wants tuning in." Fox refuses to break the contract without a sizable payment as required by the renewal contract. Finke reports that "Officially, the show is not canceled yet. But the cast is devastated, and the crew have been told to grab any other work that's offered. I've also learned from some Reba insiders that the show's season finale, which airs this Friday, was originally scripted and shot as a cliffhanger. But they tell me it's been re-edited to reflect Moonves's kiss-off, so it may be the series' finale." Now here's where I'm flying blind. I didn't see the season finale for Reba which involved Reba being hospitalised so I don't know whether it was a cliffhanger or not.

I'm dropping into the realm of personal opinion here. I'd be much more likely to believe this story if there were more supporting evidence. Like any. There has been nothing on any mainstream media site that I've been able to Google that confirms this, or references to blogs that I trust, like TVSquad or Aint It Cool New, let alone Zap2It I also note that Finke's articles on Les Moonves seem to be as complimentary of him as a "Swift Boat Vets For Truth" ad was of John Kerry. Long story short, I don't expect Reba to be cancelled but as usual, none of us will really know until the network up fronts at the end of the month.

Commander-In-Chief pulled from the line up ... again: I think that with ABC's decision to pull this show for sweeps, the writing is on the wall. This series is done like dinner, and I can't say that it doesn't deserve its fate. This series has been so thoroughly mishandled through its short career that it drives one to tears. Can you think of a show that has had three show runners in one year, not to mention show runners as diverse as Rod Lurie - who created it and had probably the clearest vision of what it should be - Stephen Boccho, and most recently Dee Johnson. I won't mourn this show - in part because it was never really that good and given a choice I would much rather have seen a second season of Jack And Bobby - but I will most assueredly mourn the wasted opportunity. This show had one of the best casts to come along in quite a while and it was squandered on bad writing and idiotic plot lines. It is tempting to wonder what might have been if Commander-In-Chief would have had been written and produced by the people who made the last couple of years of The West Wing. On a good day Commander-In-Chief wasn't half the show that The West Wing was, and it didn't have that many good days.

West Wing Alpha and Omega: NBC has announced that instead of airing the previously announced retrospective of The West Wing, they will be showing the pilot episode of the show before the series finale. It may be for the best if all the retrospective was going to be was poorly put together clips from previous episodes. I'd rather have seen the cast talking about working on the show and their takes on their characters. This is probably the sort of stuff that should be relegated to a DVD boxed set anyway. Interestingly, the West Wing finale, starring Bradley Whitford will be on opposite the Malcolm In The Middle finale starring Jane Kaczmarek - Bradley Whitford's wife. Of course they're also opposite the first hour of the Survivor: Exile Island finale, so it's a question of whether anyone will notice.

CBS introduces Inner Tube: In yet another example of networks trying to put content online, CBS has introduced Innertube. According to the FAQ page on the site Innertube "is CBS.com's new FREE broadband channel offering new videos five days a week. It also features an archive of all video available on CBS.com, including all the original innertube shows." The videos are commercially supported and therefore free to users. The major thing is the exclusive online content. According to Daily Variety, "The first shows on the channel were developed expressly for broadband, including "Greek to Chic," in which frat boys learn personal hygiene and dating tips; "BBQ Bill," a scripted sketch comedy series; and "Animate This," in which celebrities narrate events from their lives via animation. The net announced seven other original Web skeins to debut during the summer, as well as companion programming for CBS shows, such as "Beyond Survivor." Existing online programs such as "House Calls: The 'Big Brother' Talk Show" will also get a window on Innertube." Les Moonves told Daily Variety "Let's say we had an idea that was a little bit out there," Moonves told Daily Variety. "We could do five minutes a week (on Innertube) ... and see if it catches on. It's a cheap R&D lab." In an article on the new service the Center for Creative Voices Blog describes the new service as "a cable network - without the cable." So far the project offers videos tied to primetime shows but as far as I can tell no actual content from those shows. I find that the controls don't work very well, at least not on Firefox (haven't tried it on Internet Explorer), but in contrast to AOL's "service" In2TV, a Canadian like me can at least see something other than the site's commercials.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 5 (ish)

Sam Seaborn is the former Deputy Communications Director. He was educated at Princeton, where he graduated magnum cum laude, and Duke Law School where he was editor of the Law Review. He is one of Josh Lyman's best friends and it was Josh who brought him out of the corporate world and into the Bartlet campaign. Sam worked with Toby in crafting the President's message and they were the President's lead speech writers. Sam also used his legal knowledge on more than one occasion. He eventually left the administration to run unsuccessfully for Congress, and although there was apparently a job in the administration available for him, he seems to have returned to the private sector before being being persuaded by Josh (in a scene that very much resembled the way he was recruited the first time as shown in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen) to be Deputy Chief of Staff for the Santos Administration. In the following sequence Sam is grilling Peyton Cabot Harrison III (played by Ken Howard), who has been nominated for the Supreme Court. Evidence has come forward that Harrison is a strict Constitutional constructionist who denies the ability of the courts to rule on anything not specifically mentioned in the Constitution including the right of privacy.

Sam: In 1787, there was a sizable block of delegates who were initially opposed to the Bill of Rights. One member of the Georgia delegation had to stay by way of opposition: 'If we list the set of rights, some fools in the future are going to claim that people are entitled only to those rights enumerated and no longer. The framers knew...'
Harrison: Were you just calling me a fool, Mr. Seaborn?
Sam: I wasn't calling you a fool, sir, the brand new state of Georgia was.
Harrison: Gentlemen, laws must emanate from the Constitution.
Toby: There are natural laws, judge.
Harrison: I do not deny there are natural laws, Mr. Ziegler. I only deny that judges are empowered to enforce them.
Toby: Then who will?
Harrison: That's not up to me. And this sideshow is over. With all due respect, Mr. President, I find this kind of questioning very rude.
Sam: Well then, you're really gonna enjoy meeting the U.S. Senate.
Harrison: Be that as it may, it's disgusting. We all know you need me as much as I need you. I read the same polling information you do. Seven to ten point bump, 90 votes, unanimous out of committee, I was courted. Now, you have me taken to school by some kid.
Bartlet: That Sam is young, drives me nuts too, but he took you off for a ride, sir, because that's what I told him to do.
Harrison: I am an extremely well credentialed man, Mr. President, and I'm unaccustomed to this sort of questioning.
Bartlet: I understand, Peyton. Could you give us a little time, please? We'll make you comfortable while you're waiting.
Harrison: Certainly.
Bartlet: Thank you.
[Harrison exits]
Sam: Put him on a bus.
Toby: With a guaranteed confirmation we're sending out the door based on a 30-year-old paper, which by the way, no one will know about but us.
Bartlet: You don't think the guy who called Sam wouldn't know how to call a senator's office?
Toby: Mr. President, if this is really about abortion, we already talked about...
Sam: It's not about abortion. It's about the next 20 years. Twenties and thirties, it was the role of government. Fifties and sixties, it was civil rights. The next two decades, it's gonna be privacy. I'm talking about the Internet. I'm talking about cellphones. I'm talking about health records, and who's gay and who's not. And moreover, in a country born on a will to be free, what could be more fundamental than this?
Bartlet: Toby?
Toby: Let's meet Mendoza.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 4 (sort of)

Apologies. Wednesday I was suffering from a migraine, and Thursday was spent taking care of stuff I didn't do on Wednesday and prepare for a spring bowling league, so I got a little behind on my West Wing project. I'll try to clear that up today although it will likely be today and tomorrow

White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler is probably the most liberal member of the President's inner circle. He's a New Yorker through and through; his father was a member of Murder incorporated and his brother was a NASA mission specialist. Toby is a professional political operative whose job during the Bartlet campaing and now at the White House is to help craft the President's message and political agenda, but he's not above reminding the President of his need to do what Toby at least regards as the right thing. In this excerpt from the first season episode He Shall From Time To Time, Toby has been fighting a battle to preserve funding for the National Endowment For The Arts when he comes to a realization about a point he's been fighting in the run up to the State Of The Union address which he can now articulate

Bartlet: What's on your mind?
Toby: The era of big government is over.
Bartlet: You want to cut the line?
Toby: I want to change the sentiment. We're running away from ourselves, and I know we can score points that way. I was the principle architect in that campaign strategy, right along with you, Josh. But we're here now. Tomorrow night, we do an immense thing. We have to say what we feel. That government, no matter what its failures are in the past, and in times to come, for that matter, the government can be a place where people come together and where no one gets left behind. No one... gets left behind, an instrument of... good. I have no trouble understanding why the line tested well, Josh, but I don't think that means we should say it. I think that means we should... change it.
Bartlet: I think so, too. What do you think, Josh?
Josh: I'd make it a point never to disagree with Toby when he's right, Mr. President.
Bartlet: Then you and Sam get your people together and get to work.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 3

Leo McGarry - former military pilot, former congressman, former Labor Secretary, alcoholic and drug abuser. Leo held the second most important job in the Bartlet administration - well the third if you accept what Josh said in the lecture hall in the episode Celestial Navigation - until he resigned following he first heart attack. Leo's role is a mixture. He is the chief advisor to the President, he is Bartlet's best friend and confidante, he manages the tasks assigned to the staff, he's the filter that keeps all but the most important things away from th President, and he is one of the few people around who can go face to face with Bartlet in an argument and be 99% sure that he'll be coming in to work the next day. The following exchange from the first season episode Let Bartlet Be Bartlet is one of those cases. It shows him as adversary advisor, friend and leader - adjutant to Bartlet's general in the field. It has long been my belief that John Spencer was at least as worthy of Emmy nominations in the "Best Actor in a Drama" as Martin Sheen, and certainly more than Rob Lowe.

Leo: Everything you do says: 'For God's sakes, Leo. I don't want to be a one-term President.'
Bartlet: Did I not say put our guys on the F.E.C.?
Leo: No sir. You did not do that.
Bartlet: Leo!
Leo: You said - No! You said, let's dangle our feet in the water or whatever the hell it is we dangle our feet in, when we want to make it look like we're trying without pissing too many people off!
Bartlet: You're writing a fascinating version of history, my friend.
Leo: Oh, take a look at Mandy's memo, Mr. President, and you'll read a fascinating version of it.
Bartlet: You brought me in on teachers. You brought me in on capital gains. You brought me in on China. And you brought me in on guns.
Leo: Brought you in from where? You've never been out there on guns. You've never been out there on teachers. You dangle your feet, and I'm the hall monitor around here. It's my job to make sure nobody runs too fast or goes off too far. I tell Josh to go to the Hill on campaign finance, he knows nothing's gonna come out of it.
Bartlet: That's crap.
Leo: Sam can't get real on Don't Ask, Don't Tell because you're not gonna be there, and every guy sitting across the room from him knows that.
Bartlet: Leo, if I ever told you to get aggressive about campaign finance or gays in the military, you would tell me, 'Don't run too fast or go to far.'
Leo: If you ever told me to get aggressive about anything, I'd say I serve at the pleasure of the President. But we'll never know, sir, because I don't think you're ever gonna say it.
Bartlet: I have said it, and nothing's every happened!
Leo: You want to see me orchestrate this right now? You want to see me mobilize these people? These people who would walk into fire if you told them to. These people who showed up to lead. These people who showed up to fight. That guy [Leo points at Charlie] gets death threats because he's black and he dates your daughter. He was warned: 'Do not show up to this place. You're life will be in danger.' He said, 'To hell with that, I'm going anyway.' You said, 'No.' Prudent, or not prudent, this 21 year old for 600 dollars a week says, 'I'm going where I want to because a man stands up.' Everyone's waiting for you. I don't know how much longer.
Bartlet: I don't want to feel like this anymore.
Leo: You don't have to.
Bartlet: I don't want to go to sleep like this.
Leo: You don't have to.
Bartlet: I want to speak.
Leo: Say it out loud. Say it to me.
Bartlet: This is more important than reelection. I want to speak now.
Leo: Say it again.
Bartlet: This is more important than reelection. I want to speak now.
Leo: Now we're in business!
I'm gonna talk to the staff. I'm gonna take them off the leash.
Bartlet: You have a strategy for all this?
Leo: I have the beginnings of one.
Bartlet: What is it?
Leo: I'm gonna try that out for a little while.
Leo puts the pad on the desk in front of the President. It reads, 'LET BARTLET BE BARTLET.'

There is a coda to this scene in which Leo addresses the senior staff:

Leo: Listen up. Our ground game isn't working. If we want to walk into walls, I'd want us running into them full speed.
Josh: What are you saying?
Leo: Well, you can start by telling the Hill the President has named his nominees for the F.E.C. And we're gonna lose some of these battles, and we might even lose the White House, but we're not gonna be threatened by issues. We're gonna put them front and center. We're gonna raise the level of public debate in this country, and let that be our legacy. That sound all right to you, Josh?
Josh: I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.
Leo: Yeah?
C.J. I serve at the pleasure of the President.
Sam I serve at the pleasure of President Bartlet.
Leo: Toby?
Toby I serve at the pleasure of the President.
Leo: Good. Then let's get in the game!

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 2

Well sort of. I was late getting started yesterday so...

Let's spend some time with President Josiah "Jed" Bartlett. Nobel Prize winning economist, walking encyclopedia of obscure knowledge, descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence (the real-life Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire), "Abu el Banat" - father of daughters. Bartlet was actually a late addition to the series. The show was meant to focus on the staff - Sam in particular - with the president rarely if ever seen but when Martin Sheen signed on to play the President things changed. Sheen brought a certain charisma to the role and was letter perfect for the part. Increasingly the balance of the show shifted towards Bartlet and away from Sam and the staff.

Bartlet is not a person to suffer fools or hypocrites lightly. In the following exchange from the Season 2 episode The Midterms he artfully skewers a right-wing radio talk show host based on Dr. Laura Schlessinger (it's part of an explanation to Toby of how he beat an early political opponent who is currently running for a school boards seat). The character of Dr. Jenna Jacobs was played by Claire Yarlett.

Bartlet: I'm sorry, um... you're Dr. Jenna Jacobs, right?
Jenna Jacobs: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: It's good to have you here.
Jenna Jacobs: Thank you.
Bartlet: The awesome impact of the airwaves and how that translates into the furthering of our national discussions but obviously also how it can... how it can...
Bartlet: Forgive me, Dr. Jacobs. Are you an M.D.?
Jenna Jacobs: Ph.D.
Bartlet: A Ph.D.?
Jenna Jacobs: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: In Psychology?
Jenna Jacobs: No sir.
Bartlet: Theology?
Jenna Jacobs: No.
Bartlet: Social work?
Jenna Jacobs: I have a Ph.D. in English Literature.
Bartlet: I'm asking, 'cause on your show, people call in for advice and you go by the name of Dr. Jacobs on your show. And I didn't know if maybe your listeners were confused by that, and assumed you had advanced training in Psychology, Theology, or health care.
Jenna Jacobs: I don't believe they are confused, no sir.
Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.
Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.
Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Jenna Jacobs: 18:22
Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, and always clears the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath, Exodus 35:2, clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important, 'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes us unclean, Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?
Bartlet: Think about those questions, would you? One last thing, while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tightass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.

Fourteen Days Of The West Wing - Day 1

Why fourteen days of The West Wing? Because seven wasn't enough. Since the show that is coming to an end in two weeks is one of the most highly respected shows of the past decade, and because the writing was usually exceelent and sometimes spectacular, I thought I'd excerpt material from various episodes, some of it focussing on specific characters and others just because I liked it.

This quote is one of the latter. It comes from before the credits of the very first episode when don't know what these characters do or even where they do it. We are introduced to them individually in various situations as they all recieve a piece of news. Leo McGarry is at home doing a crossword puzzle; C.J.Cregg is on a treadmill flirting with a guy; Josh Lyman is asleep in his office with his head on the desk. And Sam Seaborn is having a shower after a night of passion with a young woman who just happens to be a rather expensive call girl (although Sam was getting it for free). By the way Laurie was played by Lisa Edelstein who now co-stars on House as Dr. Lisa Cuddy.

Laurie: Oh, wait. I'm sorry. Your message -- your pager went off while you were in the shower. I hit the button because I thought it was mine. 'POTUS in a bicycle accident. Come to the office.' I memorized it just in case I erased it on accident. These things look exactly alike. Anyway, like I said, I'm totally baked. But um - no, it's not like I'm a drug person. I just love pot.
Sam: Um, Laurie, I to have to go.
Laurie:You're kidding me. It's five thirty in the morning.
Sam: I know this doesn't look good.
Laurie: Not that good. No.
Sam: You know what? I really like you. And if you give me your number, I'd like to call you.
Laurie: Stay right here and save yourself a call.
Sam: It's not that I don't see the logic in that, but I really gotta go.
Laurie: 'Cause POTUS was in a bicycle accident?
Sam: Yup.
Laurie: Tell your friend, POTUS, he's got a funny name. And he should learn how to ride a bicycle.
Sam: I would, but he's not my friend, he's my boss; and it's not his name, it's his title.
Laurie: POTUS?
Sam: President of the United States. I'll call you.