The West Wing

[JHyde]

Before I forget, Sorkin has a new movie out in October (in the States) that I'm hoping will be something of a return to form for him. It's called 'The Social Network' and is based on the guys who put facebook together. Lots of great people involved with the project at all stages and even if it does have Justin Timberlake in it, it should still be worth seeing.

[InfoPioneers]

I'm going to read this whole thread through as I LOVE The West Wing, but as a quick reply...

Fave Episode: Two Cathederals. No question. The scene when they're walking to the press briefing with Brothers in Arms playing gives me goosebumps every time. Sorkin does fantastic season finales and picks the exact right piece of music, I still cry every time I watch Posse Comitatus. Poor CJ crying in Times Square! *gulp*

Fave Character: This is really hard! I *love* Josh But they are such a strong ensemble cast that I find it genuinely difficult to choose just one. My cat is named after CJ though

[JHyde]

Hey! See, it was worth joining this forum if only for this thread! There's only a few of us who post here so it's like the club's VIP room

I think I've repeated myself several times so I apologise for that.

I swear that when I finally get my own grown up house (rented or owned) I am having a West Wing party. Hopefully before 10 years passes since the show finished, which gives me another six years, roughly.

[Silktie]

(07-06-2010 02:14 PM)InfoPioneers Wrote:  Fave Episode: Two Cathederals. No question. The scene when they're walking to the press briefing with Brothers in Arms playing gives me goosebumps every time.

Mine too! For me it's up there as one of the best hours of television ever on any show. Also love that ending, but what makes it really stand out for me is the scenes with Bartlet in the church cursing God in Latin. I mean, how many shows have Latin dialogue nowadays? Oh, I also loved the fact that they never gave us a translation of what he said on the show, basically saying to the audience 'Go and look it up and broaden your horizons'. I love when shows do that and don't spoon-feed the audience.

[JHyde]

Yeah, it wasn't ever a show that pandered to the lowest common denominator.

Two Cathedrals is right up there for me, but I have many favourites.

This episode is the one that fans rate the most highly and it won a bunch of awards, perhaps most notably the Humanitas award in 2002 for 60 minutes. Sorkin had won this award before for an episode of Sports Night for 30mins called 'The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee'.

A moment I adore in this episode that not many people notice is that Charlie, after offering the President a raincoat that he doesn't accept, removes his own. I find that very moving and typically Charlie.

I also love that the people they cast as young Jed and young Mrs Landingham are so excellent. I'm pretty sure I have said that last bit before on the thread but whatever.

[whufan]

I first watched West Wing accidentally because someone told me Jason Isaacs was in it but once I watched an episode I went right back to the beginning and got hooked. I think the episode(s) that most got me were when CJ took a liking to Special Agent Simon Donovan and then he got killed. She so needed someone like him rather than Danny.

[Aria]

I used to watch The West Wing on channel 4 when they showed it a while back. I loved the early series, sort of stopped watching when Sam left then re-started when Alan Alda came on board. My favourite characters were President Bartlett and Toby. However my favourite episode is the one with Josh suffering from PTSD with the excellent Adam Arkin.

[JHyde]

No! I loved CJ and Danny! They are my favourite couple ever apart from Harry and Ruth!

I actually wasn't crazy about Noel - the PTSD episode. But it won Brad Whitford his Emmy, I'm pretty sure.

Nice to have some new people join this thread

[Silktie]

I liked CJ and Danny. But when Danny disappeared, I always thought CJ and Toby could be interesting together, as she seemed to be the only one who really got him. But I didn't feel too strongly about it, as they were so great as friends. So I was happy she ended up with Danny.

This show had me hooked right from the first episode, with this bit of dialogue:
C.J.: Is there anything I can say, other than the President rode his bicycle into a tree?
LEO: He hopes never to do it again.
C.J.: Seriously. They’re laughing pretty hard.
LEO: He rode his bicycle into a tree, C.J.. What do you want me to -- “The President, while riding a bicycle on his vacation in Jackson Hole, came to a sudden arboreal stop” -- What do you want from me?

It's the "sudden arboreal stop" bit that I love to pieces. Who else uses dialogue like that?

I also laughed at this bit between Toby and Sam:
TOBY: You think the United States is under attack from 1200 Cubans in rowboats?
SAM: I’m not saying I don’t like our chances.
TOBY: Mind-boggling to me that we ever won an election.

Hee!

[JHyde]

I have been re-watching season 1 and it is better than I give it credit for. I still think it was very patchy though and I didn't like the pilot. I think I also wasn't crazy about the first season because the President is insufferably smug quite a lot of the time - his character wasn't quite worked out.

Then again, it's quite incredible when you consider that Sorkin was pulling double duty in 1999/2000, writing almost all episodes of a half hour comedy (in its second year)*and* an hour long drama (in its first). Plus he and his wife had a kid that year too.

No wonder he bailed after a point. Then again, Sorkin isn't really someone you'd want to work for, as a writer/researcher, I don't think.

I have a few favourites from season 1 though - 'He Shall, From Time to Time' and 'Celestial Navigation' are amongst the show's best writing.

I adored the CJ/Toby dynamic - I know I've written about it previously on this thread. It is the same reason I love the Ros/Lucas dynamic on Spooks. Men and women can have wonderful, fulfilling and hilarious interaction without it being anything more than great chemistry and I consider some of my friendships and working relationships to be a much lesser version of CJ/Toby. Not quite as witty and without Allison's legs.

I'd be interested to hear what the new people think about the show after season 4. I stand by my assertion that there were still sparklingly good episodes in those last 3 seasons. Debora Cahn was a fantastic writer who now works for Grey's Anatomy - I basically followed her across networks. She wrote the excellent second last episode of the show 'Institutional Memory' as well as 'the Supremes' which won an award in season 5.