The West Wing: Trivia, Questions (Here Be Spoilers)

[Fiderer]

Also admiration and swooning. If you haven't watched all 7 seasons, read no further!

Two Cathedrals - have watched it several times and only just realised last night that Mrs Landingham was driving back to the WH as Bartlet wanted to tell her about the MS.

I love the scenes with young Mrs L and Jed.

Why "two" cathedrals though?

Delia - really? I missed that!

Bon Jovi could have been cringeworthy but it was funny how Lou went all star-struck.

Glenn Close is my favourite, maybe because it's such a great episode.

'an international rock star babysitting my children - what could possibly go wrong'

I never knew about Sorkin in the audience - I must rush off and watchit!

I think he's even in the credits gettingalifenow!

With the Josh and Donna thing - it was inevitable but a bit . I didn't see any evidence that Josh appreciated Donna more in the campaign than when she worked for him or that he got her in the way that she has always got him (cf classic scene in the run-up to the abduction when Donna lets it be known that Amy has never really understood Josh either).

Can we have categories for 'best guest star' playing themselves', as well as a 'best guest star playing a character'?

What about worst guest star? Much as I like her, Laura Dern was spectacularly drippy as the US Poet Laureate.

So drippy = she was wetter than a haddock's pocket ? or dinner? (Blackadder)

I knew Joe Q was in Friends but I never watched more than 5 mins of it and I'd never heard of Penn and Teller. Live abroad and until fairly recently had only badly dubbed crap on TV so rarely watched. Thank heavens for affordable DVD box sets and the internet.

Glenn Close would just edge it for me as best guest star. Though John Goodman and Christopher Lloyd were also good.

I have to give honourable mentions to two actors from Buffy (my other fab tv show) with "The Mayor" as Secretary of Agriculture and "Principal Flutie" as the bloke running for Speaker (character name escapes me).

Best "Guest appearing as themselves" - without a doubt the mighty Foo Fighters

Bet Bill Clinton would have loved a guest star appearance. Or a cameo.

tribpot, I did think that before Donna went off to the Russell campaign (another topic entirely) things were v much on Josh's terms. After that, the other way around, or better put perhaps, she no longer cared what he thought.

Talking of Bob Russell, was Doug Weston's nickname similar, i.e. DW is so dull his nick/SecretService name is "Doug Weston"?

CaveMum I was wondering who'd go for the FooFighters :) they were great.

John Goodman was also brilliant. You had to love him through the hate "well, I'm going to have to be re-elected again in two years anyway, right?" love that pragmatism.

Laura Dern was irritating and so unbelievable as a love interest for Toby. He likes them strong and feisty!

Some random thoughts:

I love the episode where Toby buys the house for his ex-wife in the hope that they'll get back together. It's so ... desolate. He's my favourite character, although it's hard picking one.

CJ doing 'The Jackal' is of course one of the best sequences ever committed to film.

I don't think Josh and Donna ought to have got together. Tired and cliched. It was a better show than that.

I find the house scene too sad, can't watch it That and Mandy's "I'm so great" scene are the only 2 I cannot watch.

I was watching the Butterball hotline episode last night where Toby suddenly grabs the phone, "Zip code, Fargo, North Dakota."

LadyC - I love "The Jackal" even more now I read that Alison Janney was doing it in her trailer (?) and Aaron Sorkin then wrote it into the script. Only she was word and gesture perfect so they had to re-shoot it with her as "CJ" fluffing it a bit.

You can see how Toby might get a bit confused though - they divorce but she carries on using his sperm in her fertility treatment? (And I call it 'her' because I don't get the sense this was something they were actively doing together). That said, I completely heart Congresswoman Wyatt, so if she says it's fine then so be it.

Btw, bargain hunters, TWW series 1 is currently about 7 quid on Amazon! Do you know someone who doesn't own a copy? Then buy it for them at once

John Goodman was great. Christian Slater was another one who wasn't really given enough to do, other than smash a 300 dollar ash tray to explain why it had to cost 300 dollars. Personally I thought "is it really safe to be smoking on a submarine anyway?"

Did we ever know how Andy got pregnant? I always assumed she and Toby had a bit too much to drink one night and ended up in bed together, rather than her continuing to use his sperm

Well they were having IVF in a flashback episode, but it never is explained.

I thought they might have rekindled something of their relationship, particularly when Josh (or was it Sam?) says "You should get that nice girl pregnant."

There's so much background stuff that goes on that is never really touched on, only hinted at, particularly relationships.

I agree Cavemum, I always wanted to know more about their personal lives.

Like why did Leo and Jordan not work out, or how come Sam was engaged again at the end.

On a completely different note, I just thought of Will's half sister ( was it Emily?) who wrote the jokes in his speeches in Orange County. She left with no explanation either....

Right, never let it be said that I don't rise to a challenge. Herewith the Vinick results:

27 states went with Vinick (as opposed to 23 plus Washington DC for Santos) for a total of 266 votes:

California - 55
Florida - 27
Ohio - 20
Georgia 15
North Carolina - 15
Virginia - 13
Indiana - 11
Tennesse - 11
Alabama - 9
Louisiana - 9
Kentucky - 8
Iowa - 7
Oklahoma - 7
Arkansas - 6
Kansas - 6
Mississippi - 6
Nebraksa - 5
West Virginia - 5
Utah - 5
Idaho - 4
Maine - 4
Montana - 3
North Dakota -3
South Dakota -3
Wyoming - 3
Alaska - 3
Vermont - 3

I loved Matthew Perry's character in WW but it took me ages to realise that Ainsley had appeared in Friends.

The Toby-Andi house scene is incredibly sad LadyClarice.

But the entire jail sequence (when Charlie is angry he could've paid his bail with visa and got airmiles) is very very funny.

CaveMum I salute your commitment.

I love John Goodman getting on Airforce One en route to president Latimer's funeral and saying it's like a fraternity reunion, where's the keg?

This kind of behaviour could certainly get me committed

[nerd and proud]

Disclaimer - I did look it all up on t'interweb! I didn't know it off by heart or sit and watch both Election Night episodes with pen and paper in hand!

Cave mum you are top Nerd , although I once had a hunch the result would be based on JFKs election, but when I checked it wasn't.

Interestingly, according to one of the websites I used, that Electoral College split actually translates to pretty much a 50/50 split in terms of the number of voters. There would be less than 1million votes in it.

I love the way in the jail scene (quotes from IMDB):

Sam Seaborn: [to Charlie] You're all right?
Charlie Young: Yeah, I'm all right. You know, when you sit in a cage, you have time to do a lot of thinking.
Toby Ziegler: Hurricane, we were in the joint for two hours and 20 minutes, 'kay?

Toby Ziegler: You know what they don't tell you? You can post bond with a credit card.
Charlie Young: [to officer] Yo, man, that's totally whack!
Toby Ziegler: [into cellphone] Yeah. Charlie's trying to throw down with the street. It's kind of a sad sight to see.
Charlie Young: [to officer] I've got American Express. I've got Visa. I could've posted bond and gotten miles, damn it.

Best guest star Yo Yo Ma rules!

Especially as YoYo then played at Obamas inauguration!