West Wing episode 9/25 (1 Viewer)

[Craig S]

If you're suggesting that Harry Truman, JFK, LBJ or Bill Clinton wouldn't have had a foreign leader whacked if it had seemed necessary, well, I respectfully disagree

I wasn't suggesting that at all - note I said that such an action "would normally be associated with a right-leaning President". The point is that the popular media tends to paint GOP Presidents as hawks who would have no problem carrying out such an extreme act, while Democratic Presidents tend to be seen as doves. Of course, the truth is much more complex than that. In this instance, at any rate, Sorkin avoids those stereotypes.

 

[RobertW]

my favorite scene was donna telling them off at the table. i can't quote it exactly, but it boiled down to the fact that they were in that area, listening to those people's problems and needs, and yet not really seeing or understanding them. a bit of a slap against the beltway mentality, where the people inside washington become detached from what real life is like; how they think they know what the issues and solutions are, but really don't.

which segued nicely into the scene with the man at the bar. by then, they were willing to see.

 

[Ken Chan]

If done right (i.e., no advance notice to the audience)

. And could you really get the NBC promo department to restrain themselves.

//Ken

 

[clemente]

Not only would it be practically impossible....but the show would lose so much of its audience. If the West Wing were on next week and Josh, Donna, Sam, and CJ weren't on, I wouldn't watch.

What is the appeal of a show....its characters, if you alienate the fans by removing all there beloved characters and replace them with new ones, their feelings of being slighted will never allow them to bond with the new characters.

 

[Chris]

Then again, if the show has a run ala law & order, in a few years, he will have to have a new white house.. because that bit of constitutional term limits would kick in.

 

[Craig S]

If the West Wing were on next week and Josh, Donna, Sam, and CJ weren't on, I wouldn't watch.

Well, it wouldn't be "one week they're here, the next they're gone". There would be several shows representing the post-election pre-inauguration transition period to say goodbye to the outgoing staff & introduce the new. But at any rate, it was just a thought of mine - it obviously ain't gonna happen!

Of course, the one aspect of TWW that is extremely unrealistic is that the key White House staff has remained unchanged in over three years. In real life, staffers come and go. BTW, Rob Lowe (Sam) is leaving the show in March.

 

[Marty M]

Then again, if the show has a run ala law & order, in a few years, he will have to have a new white house.. because that bit of constitutional term limits would kick in.

If West Wing has this kind of run you will see Bartlett's term last as long as the Korean War did on the TV series MASH. Of course, this show is unrealistic. It is a fictional drama. If you want realism, you'll have to watch C-SPAN.

 

[Henry Gale]

Also from Indiana, so that helped. Did anyone else get a Wizard Of Oz vibe from the hapless travelers? The White House really worked as Emerald City at the end.
Loved it...sooo many good things, but one that hasn't been mentioned was the old gentleman who'd met every president from Hoover on.
Bartlett discovers the man met Hoover the day before the Big Crash and decides not to tempt fate on an already bad market day. Finding he is being "bumped" the man whines, "But why?"
Charlie's reply, "You spooked the president real bad."
I had to rewind my tape 3 times it was so funny.

 

[Henry Gale]

Killed the thread!
It's almost like having a super power.

 

[David Von Pein]

"You spooked the president real bad."

Make that "You're Spookin' the hell out of the President!" I think that's how Charlie phrased it.
I agree...hilarious! (I also rewound when that one came up.)
Just got around to watching this 2-hour premiere (a week late). I liked it a lot. The "stranded travellers that missed the motorcade" angle was great. Although I heard that it was filmed in Pennsylvania, and not the depicted Indiana.
And I, too, am from the Hoosier state.
(Which reminds me....I couldn't believe that Toby hadn't the slightest idea what a Hoosier was! He had to ask someone at the diner or gas station. Toby, we "Hoosiers" are insulted! From our constant basketball appearances on national TV, you (Toby) would surely have heard the term sometime in your life of 40+ years! Oh, well.)
BTW....West Wing Week #2 was good too. Lily Tomlin will be great as the new secretary (even though she does want to poison him! )

 

[Lee L]

I have no ides what a hoosier is, other than someone from Indiana. How did that nickname come about?

 

[Brad Porter]

Nobody knows what a "Hoosier" is. The meaning of the term has literally come to mean "a person from Indiana" (unless you're from Missouri, in which case it is a derogatory term loosely the same as "rube" or "bumpkin"). There are dozens of stories about the origin of the term, but most of them are apocryphal. Treat the term the same as you would "Okies", "Texans", "Michiganders", etc.
The favorite story that I heard was about a bar fight which got very violent. In the aftermath, the bartender was gathering up the body parts and looking for their owners. "Who's ear?", he called out. How this question morphed into a term used to reference everyone is never explained.
Brad

 

[David Von Pein]

Nobody knows what a "Hoosier" is.

I believe you're correct.
And I just came to the horrifying realization that I'm a complete idiot! :b I was assuming that Toby asked "What is a Hoosier?", without knowing that it meant "someone from Indiana". But (since he'd obviously heard the word before) I guess he knew it meant "Indiana-ite", but wondered what it meant BEYOND the Indiana definition.
I'm a fool! It's a wonder I get ANY meaning at all out of the non-stop, long-winded, hallway-walking ramblings spouted forth on every W. Wing episode? (I don't, half the time, know what the hell they're talking about, if truth be uttered. Fun show anyway. )
(Has any TV program in history utilized hallways better than WW? )

 

[Brad Porter]

Has any TV program in history utilized hallways better than WW?

Star Trek, of course! I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have more than three hallway sets in total, but they still managed to convince the viewer it was a big starship.

Brad

 

[David Von Pein]

Star Trek, of course!

Nah! W.Wing has S.Trek beat by a mile with its endless series of corridor shots. At least a dozen in every episode!

 

[RobertW]

i think he wanted to know what the term "hoosier" was derived from. of course he probably knew that it referred to someone from indiana, but where did the reference originate from?

like the ohio state buckeyes, and the buckeye state. the term had its origins elsewhere.(isn't a buckeye some kind of nut, like an acorn or something?)

oops, sorry, missed the next page. never mind!:b

 

[PhilipG]

I missed season three. Can anyone please bring me up to speed on the major plot events? Haven't seen Vice-President Hoynes or Ainsley Hayes so far in season four... were those characters written out?

P.S. And whatever happened to that press guy Danny, who bought CJ the goldfish? Aside from CJ (of course), he was my favourite character.

 

[Lee L]

Ainsley left politics and decided to put her undergrad minor to work as a crime scene tech on CSI: Miami. Not sure about Hoynes, but he has not been on so far.

 

[Marty M]

Actually, Ainsley was in the first episode for one scene. She was not in the second episode, so not sure if she will have a recurring role, or not.

 

[PhilipG]

Actually, Ainsley was in the first episode for one scene.

A-ha, so that *was* her. I watched seasons 1-2 in PAL, but I've been watching season four in NTSC. It's that damned PAL-Speedup, I tell yer! It looked like her, but didn't sound like her.