Sorry chaps, have been busy being ill, then ds was ill, then dh threatened to be ill but wasn't (but his ongoing health problems were more than enough to keep me busy with trips to the hospital and emails negotiating treatment changes, la la la).
Anyway, needless to say have got totally carried away with Series 1 in a fiesta of truly great writing, every scene a gem and every moment a delight.
For pregnancy trivia, yes, Joey Lucas fell foul of the "WW single-episode pregnancy syndrome", I think it was later than S4 but I'm not certain, I shall investigate!
Grand-daugher: yes, her age doesn't really work with the timelines so I think they keep her at no more than age 12 for quite a few years.
Interesting to note that Zoey is originally going to study medicine, although law is what's mentioned more frequently later?
Kenny does get some time off - he's not in the episode when Josh makes Joey fly to Washington to tell her about the Pres' condition, she has a different interpreter, Dale?
I'd also dispute the theory that the West Wing doesn't have strong female characters, not to mention fantastic black characters like Fitz "I'm the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, beat that with a stick". What's interesting is the problems the administration face getting Mendoza confirmed to the bench in S1 when in S7 apparently a Hispanic presidential candidate is all fine and dandy. I think society has moved on quite a lot in the interim but even so.
The one thing that sticks out from the pilot is why all the staff get informed about POTUS' tree episode at 5:30 a.m., when he actually rode into the tree the day before.
Just watched the brilliant Josh press conference with the secret plan to fight inflation and Toby's response: "did you fall down and hit your head on something hard?"
Anyway, will re-focus on eps 1-4 for the week to come!