Paging West Wing fans

outofplace · Jun 2, 2009

Steak Snabler said:

Zeke12 said:

My view of this is simple: we don't need a Federal Department of Education telling us our children have to learn Esperanto, they have to learn Eskimo poetry. Let the states decide, let the communities decide on health care, on education, on lower taxes, not higher taxes. Now, he's going to throw a big word at you - "unfunded mandate." He's going to say if Washington lets the states do it, it's an unfunded mandate. But what he doesn't like is the federal government losing power. But I call it the ingenuity of the American people.

President Bartlet, you have 60 seconds for a question and an answer.

Well, first of all, let's clear up a couple of things. "Unfunded mandate" is two words, not one big word. There are times when we're fifty states and there are times when we're one country, and have national needs. And the way I know this is that Florida didn't fight Germany in World War II or establish civil rights. You think states should do the governing wall-to-wall. That's a perfectly valid opinion. But your state of Florida got $12.6 billion in federal money last year - from Nebraskans, and Virginians, and New Yorkers, and Alaskans, with their Eskimo poetry. 12.6 out of a state budget of $50 billion. Now, I'm supposed to be using this time for a question, so here it is: Can we have it back, please?

Game on.
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"In the future, if you're ever wondering, 'Crime, boy, I don't know ...' was when I decided to kick your ass."
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That's the line that popped into my head as soon as I saw Zeke's post. Great little scene.

taller hack · Jun 2, 2009

Thanks for the heads-up on the $20 seasons at Best Buy, went out and picked up six of them today. It's gonna be a good summer.

Armchair_QB · Jun 2, 2009

I don't know why - and its definitely a major moment in the show's history - but Josh yelling, "He's got the PR instincts of Idi Amin!" has always been funny as hell to me for some reason.

Just_An_SID · Jun 2, 2009

I believe what happened is that Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) was indeed supposed to be the primary character, but when Martin Sheen (Bartlett) stole the show at the end of the pilot, Sorkin quickly changed the angle of the show. Originally, the president was not going to be shown very much.

Dirk Legume · Jun 2, 2009

Zeke12 said:

My view of this is simple: we don't need a Federal Department of Education telling us our children have to learn Esperanto, they have to learn Eskimo poetry. Let the states decide, let the communities decide on health care, on education, on lower taxes, not higher taxes. Now, he's going to throw a big word at you - "unfunded mandate." He's going to say if Washington lets the states do it, it's an unfunded mandate. But what he doesn't like is the federal government losing power. But I call it the ingenuity of the American people.

President Bartlet, you have 60 seconds for a question and an answer.

Well, first of all, let's clear up a couple of things. "Unfunded mandate" is two words, not one big word. There are times when we're fifty states and there are times when we're one country, and have national needs. And the way I know this is that Florida didn't fight Germany in World War II or establish civil rights. You think states should do the governing wall-to-wall. That's a perfectly valid opinion. But your state of Florida got $12.6 billion in federal money last year - from Nebraskans, and Virginians, and New Yorkers, and Alaskans, with their Eskimo poetry. 12.6 out of a state budget of $50 billion. Now, I'm supposed to be using this time for a question, so here it is: Can we have it back, please?

Game on.
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He's not uncle fluffy.

DanOregon · Jun 2, 2009

I don't think they could have done anything with that role. A communications director has to rely on other people, someone to tell him what to write, someone to say what he writes to be put into play.
Loved the Toby character - a guy who has worked for four presidential candidates, none who later won.

Colton · Jun 2, 2009

It's strange, I never watched an episode when it aired originally. I didn't catch the show until I happened onto the reruns on Bravo.

Then, I went out and bought every season on DVD, and I am not a politico by any stretch whatsoever.

As is the case now with Lost, I wish this amazing show would run forever.

shockey · Jun 2, 2009

i always enjoy when a "ww" thread rears its head. find it reassuring. and totally understandable why writers/editors revere the show, still.

"they're all about duty."

the first eps featuring ainsley hayes are up there among my faves with those already mentioned. 8) 8) 8)

JayFarrar · Jun 2, 2009

Kind of weird that NBC hasn't thought about a revival.
We'd be in about the halfway point of the Santos administration and lord knows that Erik Estrada Jimmy Smits isn't doing much since Cane was cut loose.
And in a did you know, obvious as hell, but still strange moment.
The Santos character was based on a young, ethnic senator from Illinois.

Hmmm. Sounds like something I've heard about ... maybe that's why the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama seems like deja vu all over again. But it turns out to be less like a case of life imitating art. It's more like art imitating life. The Guardian reports that one of the show's main writers 'fessed up - the character of Santos was based on a certain young, idealistic newly elected senator from Illinois. Yes, that one.

"I drew inspiration from [Obama] in drawing this character," West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie told the Guardian. "When I had to write, Obama was just appearing on the national scene. He had done a great speech at the convention [which nominated John Kerry] and people were beginning to talk about him."
Attie, who served as chief speechwriter to Al Gore during the ill-fated 2000 campaign and who wrote many of the key Santos episodes of the West Wing, put in a call to Obama aide David Axelrod.
"I said, 'Tell me about this guy Barack Obama.'"

And if you remember, the story line gets even more familiar. The Republican presidential race in the show was between a Christian preacher and a maverick senator from the West whose sometimes liberal positions put him at odds with the party's conservative base.

Almost creepy, isn't it.
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http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2008/02/barack_obama_was_model_for_wes_1.html

billikens · Jun 2, 2009

Zeke12 said:

billikens --

They dropped in a great line of dialogue about that scene the next year. Supposedly, the polling showed that no matter what Bartlett did, he was going to be viewed as a little arrogant. But people also believed the things he said.

So, the only thing left to do, as Toby knew all along, was to clobber Ritchie as not up to the job.
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That was great too. Something like, "I get this call at 3 a.m., and it's Toby on the other line, and he says, 'Don't you see, it's a gift.'"

Steak Snabler said:

It's interesting how the show developed. It began with Rob Lowe's Sam Seaborn clearly the main character and the show's star (he was listed first in the credits during his entire run on the show; the rest of the cast --- except for Martin Sheen, who was always last --- were listed in alphabetical order).

But then Sam Seaborn became more and more marginalized as the producers realized that Lowe was the weakest actor among the main cast --- not that he's bad, but he's clearly not in the same class as Whitford, Schiff, Spencer or Janney. That's the biggest reason Lowe got fed up and left after Season 4 (though he was on his way out early in Season 4, hence the whole "California 47th" storyline).
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I could be wrong, but I think I read somewhere that, as SID said, in addition to Martin Sheen's prefection in the pilot completely altering the course of the show (he was only supposed appear in 4 episodes that first season); at some point midway through the first season, Sorkin found himself liking the Josh character more and more, which caused him to shift his focus. Something about the Josh character's always having good intentions, but having more personal flaws, which Sorkin related to.

I'd be remiss if I didn't offer one of my own favorite sequences, which was Josh discovering/posting on Lemon-Lymon.com, taken directly from Sorkin's experiences posting on TWOP.

"Why are you smiling?

Technically, I outrank you.

So far up your ass!"

statrat · Jun 2, 2009

Best scene ever:

-Please, oh please let them not by watching!

-Toby, Come quick, Sam is getting his ass kicked by a girl!

-Giner, get the popcorn!

Starman · Jun 2, 2009

" 'Crime, boy, I don't know' ... That's when I decided to kick your ass."

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Paging West Wing fans

outofplace Well-Known Member

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Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

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outofplace Well-Known Member

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