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Telly addicts

BartlettNet - The West Wing Appreciation Society - May Contain Spoilers!

442 replies

CaveMum · 19/05/2011 13:28

A thread for the discussion of West Wing - the best tv show ever made!

If you haven't seen all 7 Seasons be aware that this thread may contain spoilers!

OP posts:
Hassled · 20/05/2011 14:29

Charlie will be President. No doubt about it.
And Lord John was all a bit stereotypical in a all-Brits-are-posh sort of way, but yes, there was a cleverness to him that I warmed to. That's what's so great about WW - none of the characters are one-dimensional.

Josh and Donna will be fine.

Danny will go on to edit the Washington Post. He has greatness ahead of him.

Margaret - what becomes of Margaret?

NormanTebbit · 20/05/2011 14:35

Was Margaret a lesbian? There's a scene where male staff keep making excuses to come into Toby's office to look at this stunning woman, and Margaret makes some ridiculous excuse to look at her too. Then she's pregnant in season 7 but I guess that must've been IVF. Margaret continues to work with CJ at the UN and starts her own fashion line in tweed/ appliqué jackets.

bigkidsmademe · 20/05/2011 15:04

Margaret being pregnant for one episode and never again was so weird. I always thought it was a joke. Or was there a later reference to it that I missed?

CaveMum · 20/05/2011 15:12

Some of my favourite CJ/Josh moments (courtesy of WikiQuote)

Josh: A couple of things for you to bear in mind. First of all, he didn't know she was a call girl when he slept with her. He didn't pay her. He didn't participate in, have knowledge of, or witness anything illegal. Or for that matter, unethical, amoral, or suspect.
C.J.: Okay. A couple things for you to bear in mind. None of that matters on Hard Copy!
Josh: You're overreacting.
C.J.: Am I?
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: As women are prone to do.
Josh: That's not what I meant.
C.J.: That's always what you mean.
Josh: You know what, C.J., I really think I'm the best judge of what I mean, you paranoid Berkeley shiksa feminista! ...whoa, that was way too far.
C.J.: No, no. Well, I've got a staff meeting to go to and so do you, you elitist Harvard fascist missed-the-deans-list-two-semesters-in-a-row Yankee jackass!
Josh: Feel better getting that off your chest there, C.J.?
C.J.: I'm a whole new woman.
Josh: You look like a million bucks, by the way.
C.J.: Don't try to make up with me.

----------------

CJ: 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. The muu-muu-wearing Parliament smoker? That's Nurse Ratched. When Nurse Ratched is unhappy, the patients are unhappy. You? You're McMurphy. You swoop in with your card games and fishing trips -
Josh: I didn't swoop in, I came in the exact same way everyone else did.
CJ: Well, now I'm telling you to open the wardroom window and climb on out before they give you a pre-frontal lobotomy and I have to smother you with a pillow.
Josh: [pause] You're...?
CJ: [nodding] I'm Chief Bromden, yes, at this particular moment. I'm assigning an intern from the press office to that website. 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: Technically, I outrank you...
CJ: So far up your ass!
Josh: Okay.
CJ: Okay.

----------------
Josh: We've got a bit of a sticky wicket.
C.J.: Please don't tell me I'm staying here and working late tonight.
Josh: I need you to read a report.
C.J.: I'm a woman in her prime, Josh, I'm a prime woman.
Josh: There's no doubt about it, but I need you to read this anyway.
C.J.: What is it?
Josh: We want Congress to sign off on funds for a hundred thousand new teachers. They say, fine, but you gotta stipulate that in Sex Ed classes....
C.J.: Abstinence only?
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: I would have no trouble passing such a class.
Josh: We commissioned a report about a year ago on Sex Education in public schools, and, well, this is it.
C.J.: What's it say?
Josh: It's not good.
C.J.: How's it not good?
Josh: It says basically that teaching abstinence only doesn't work?that people are going to be prone to have sex whether they're cautioned against it or not.
C.J.: Well, what are they recommending?
Josh: Something called "abstinence plus".
C.J.: Abstinence plus?
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: What's that mean?
Josh: Well, Sam's renamed it 'everything but'.
C.J.: Everything but?
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: Ah.
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: They want teachers to teach...
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: And so the sticky wicket joke was..?
Josh: A regrettable pun. Should I order you some food?
C.J.: Y'know, I can't remember the last time I got home before midnight.
Josh: By the way, pages 27 to 33? A couple of things every girl should know.
C.J.: Get me a salad.

----------------

OP posts:
LadyClariceCannockMonty · 20/05/2011 15:27

How could I forget Nancy? LOVED Nancy. Kate 'the snake' (you are so right, culture Grin ) was a poor replacement indeed.

Although speaking of replacements, I adored Lily Tomlin.

I have to get this off my chest.

I wish Josh and Donna hadn't got together.

dogsagoodun · 20/05/2011 15:43

Love The West Wing. Toby is a big favourite in our house. In fact he is the inspiration behind our very own Toby! This is one of my favourite clips with a brilliant line from the President!

NormanTebbit · 20/05/2011 16:10

cavemum

"I'm Chief Bromden, yes" PMSL

It lost its humour towards the end.

But " get me a salad" genius.

Lorelai · 20/05/2011 16:15

I think Margaret was just pg because the actress was, and there was no way to hide it. She hadn't been in any episodes for a while before, and wasn't again for a while after, hence why it was only one episode.

One favourite quote that comes to mind - 'oh me-oh oh my-oh oh cleveland ohio'

And my favourite scene - pilot episode, when Bartlet first appears - 'in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits' - love it :)

Northernlurker · 20/05/2011 16:39

I agree Kate was not one of the better characters but she did have one v fine moment when CJ tells her Doug is cheating on Elizabeth and she says something like: 'That's disgusting. He's disgusting. He should quite simply be dead. We should sic Special Ops on him. Make him a tragedy she can cry over'

PonceyMcPonce · 20/05/2011 16:51

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twoislookingonthebrightside · 20/05/2011 17:47

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twoislookingonthebrightside · 20/05/2011 17:48

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beachholiday · 20/05/2011 18:17

Leo and Annabeth definately involved, yes - I thought it rather nice for Leo as he struck me as a rather lonely figure at times. Fantastic actor.

I think the cast found the scenes around Leo's death very difficult - Bradley Whitford said that in real life he had also run through a hospital only to hear that John Spencer had died, and now he was reliving it with a camera in his face. There was also meant to be ongoing debate about whether they would have Santos win that election , especially if the show was probably going to end, but they decided that Leo's death was enough for the audience to take.

And actors that were considering whether to stay on (before it was cancelled) decided not to to continue without John Spencer. Hard to imagine an eight season now. I liked Santos but it would have been a different show altogether without Martin Sheen as POTUS.

culturemulcher · 20/05/2011 19:06

LadyClarice I missed Nancy too. Why shouldn't Josh and Donna have got together?

NormanTebbit · 20/05/2011 19:12

I really liked Amy but found her 'kookiness' a bit hard to swallow. Unlined her best when she had her political head on. She seemed to mirror Josh in lots of ways.

changeforthebetter · 20/05/2011 19:23

Lou and Helen Santos refer to it on the plane (Welcome to Wherever You Are) and it goes over Josh and Santos's heads completely. Oh and Annabeth declines a dinner with Leo "because of the tension"

NormanTebbit · 20/05/2011 19:30

"I liked" not " unlined"

NormanTebbit · 20/05/2011 19:31

I liked the scene where Amy dropped Josh's phone in the stew though

beachholiday · 20/05/2011 19:41

I loved the "tension" bit, changeforthebetter. Annabeth has left the lift and Leo is still standing there going "What tension?!"

I like seasons 6 and 7 in a different way, but Aaron Sorkin's writing in the early seasons was what made the show for me.

Bumperlicioso · 20/05/2011 19:52

Interview with the actress who plays Margaret, she seems really funny.

ShouldersBackAndNoBiscuits · 20/05/2011 19:57

Can I just put in my offering here? For the truly dedicated fan, try singing along to the theme tune. the cast list in the order it appears on screen fit beautifully, with the exception of dule hill, you need to save it for the end... We take great delight as we get to 'bradley whitford, dule hill and maaaaartin sheen' at the end.

Try it, it's very therapeutic!

MotherMountainGoat · 20/05/2011 20:07

Erm, I've just watched episode 5 of season 1 - The Crackpot and These Women - and isn't David Mitchell one of the crackpots advocating the wolf-only highway for Pluie the Wolf? His American accent seems to be slipping on occasions. If it's not really David Mitchell, he has an uncanny American double.

beachholiday · 20/05/2011 21:54

Did anyone here actually see the Season 7 premiere when it showed on TV? Someone on this thread must have!

Because I heard they had Leo as part of the group the president meets, when it aired on TV, but they got the others to refilm it, after John Spencer's death, for the dvds. I know it would be contradictory but I wish they had left it as it was!

tribpot · 20/05/2011 21:56

I did see it, yes. But my recollection is that John Spencer was not in it, I don't know why I think that - as it would have been far more logical if he had have been. Unless of course he was intended to be the V-P travelling behind the Pres who is announced at the start of the opening credits?

Bumperlicioso · 20/05/2011 22:27

I also read that Santos wasn't even going to win, but they changed their minds when John Spencer died.