The West Wing

[Zettina]

OK, so I'm really really late to this but have only just started watching. Took me a few episodes, but now I'm halfway through first series I am hooked. It's very good, no? Yay for the next load of episodes I have waiting !

It's soooooooo good! I still use it as my reference for real life politics. Tonight when Obama sang in his eulogy I immediately thought of how, if this was a west wing episode, they'd have tried to convince him to practice sing with his staffers, or was it edgy and off script!

Haha! I am almost glad I left it so late - watching now is really interesting ( they all have pagers?). All the main characters are very easy to empathize with. So glad to have found something to binge- watch ( insomnia) :)

I envy people who are watching TWW for the first time,it's so so good. The last episode of season one is fantastic,the first episode of season 2 has a HUGE reveal that comes into play for the rest of the whole series. The characters are so well written and at times will break your heart.

Enjoy!

I envy you with the joys you have ahead of you. Best Show Ever. I still don't know if I love Josh more or Toby more.

Oh gosh, you have so much joy to come (and some tears too). Enjoy it!

Hassled - I love Josh AND Toby. And CJ.

Aaahhh Season 2. The joy of seeing "The Stackhouse Filibuster" for the first time.
And probably just easier to say I love them all!

I envy you OP. There is so much awesome in your near future.

I still binge watch the box set on occasion but I've seen them all at least half a dozen times now

Send my love to Donna

DH & I have recently discovered it. We are on Season 4 now - it's brilliant.

Oh lucky you OP.... I think my education to American politics is due to the West Wing. Tell Sam I still love him (until the plastic surgery is evident). And CJ is still my hero.

We borrowed the box set but DP says we need to buy it to re-watch it. Hurrah!

I don't think a week goes by when I don't quote from The West Wing.

Enjoy every minute of it!

Several times a week I hold my head up high, pick up a folder and walk purposely through the office, go down the corridor, double doors flying open pretending I am saving the nation on important business.

DH and I watched it over the course of a year and a half and it was a joy from start to finish - we finished it just before DD2 was born and she is named after a TWW character.

We have started watching Veep now to satisfy my urge for more U.S. politics but it's a poor substitute (not a patch on The Thick of It either, though I hear it gets better as it goes on).

Send my love to Donna too. And Leo, and Josh of course.

Not quite as dear to my heart as Mad Men is, though, but a close second.

I quote a lot too.

Think the opening scene of S1Ep1 where Leo goes through the building on the way to his office is the best in TV history.

Love it!

Is anyone watching Madame secretary? I'm enjoying that too.

Yes, I enjoyed Madam Secretary, not in the same league as The West Wing but enjoyable and worth a watch.

I'm watching Madam Secretary too. It's obviously based on The West Wing, but agree not in the same league. Enjoying it, though.

Not in the same league at all, but I've never watched anything that is

Are you watching it on DVD or online?

It is marvellous.

I adore Toby. And I want to be CJ.

I am going to be CJ when i grow up. Watching the evolution of her evening dresses throughout all the series is interesting - they represent her increasing confidence i think.
I also adore Donna Moss.
We are on series 6 - my second time, my DH's first. I have to sit on my hands and not blurt out spoilers.

We recently finished season 7; we started watching about 4 years ago and I do feel slightly bereft. We actually moved to the U.S. a few years ago so all the knowledge I gained about American politics from the WW has come in very useful!

I think I very slightly prefer Toby to Josh as Toby's arrogance is more tempered by melancholic personality. I'd probably still choose CJ over either of them, despite being otherwise hetero...

I hadn't noticed CJ's evening frocks evolving! I do remember one episode (near the beginning?) when she talks about being 'a six-foot wet girl in a Donna Karan dress.'

I have to say I didn't like Donna that much. It was mainly her downturned mouth. [irrational] And I don't like the way her character ended up at the end of the series (don't want to spoiler anyone!)

Again, trying not to spoiler, but That Stuff with Toby and the house is heartbreaking. That's when I fell officially in love with him, having had a geek crush on him already for ages for his wit, timing and vocabulary.

Ok, I love WW, but every time I watch it it seems a little less comfortable viewing from a feminist perspective. I always find myself wishing that Joss Whedon had collaborated on it.

Agreed, Vivacia - it is showing its age and Sorkin definitely has ishoos. Not to mention he was off his head on coke most of the time, I seem to recall reading that the cast would have to start filming episodes without a completed script (which is ultimately why he got fired). A Whedon West Wing would be a very good thing indeed.

I haven't watched it in ages so I have to ask: what are some of the feminism issues with it?