Walk and Talk the Vote - The West Wing is back --- kinda

Oh Medium Rob, thanks for alerting me to this walk and talk reunion of West Wing cast members in honour of talking about the importance of voting.

And if you REALLY want to indulge then you can go back and watch some of the classic walk and talk bits from the West Wing.

Mandatory Minimums: I've seen this West Wing episode

Real life huh? Certain West Wing episodes seem to be working as templates for each new day in the Obama presidency...

I'd forgotten how much I missed Sorkin's West Wing

Sheesh, reading this just makes me want to go back and start rewatching The West Wing all over again.

Several people/sites have emailed or linked to the New York Times piece over the last day or so, including Mars Hill, but it really is worth reading. Here's a couple of tasters of both wit and fury:

[...]

BARTLET Well, it seems to me your problem is a lot like the problem I had twice.

OBAMA Which was?

BARTLET A huge number of Americans thought I thought I was superior to them.

OBAMA And?

BARTLET I was.

OBAMA I mean, how did you overcome that?

BARTLET I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage.

[...]

OBAMA The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?

BARTLET Well ... let me think. ...We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know ... I’m a little angry.

OBAMA What would you do?

BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

Drag out the DVDs folks, and if you're able to have any impact on the US election, then at least be active.

The Rules of Rullsenberg

Matt_C asked for some, so here are a few:

1. Be passionate: about something, anything, many things, but avoid becoming obsessive.


2. Be angry and do something: they can always pretend there is nothing wrong if nobody tells them


3. Pursue knowledge and information but think about where you get it from: the internet, the news, books, and people are all great sources of knowledge and information, but always ask questions. Interrogate your witnesses/sources and think what might be influencing them and their opinions.


4. Be yourself (or many selves), but always be true: we can all have - and sometimes need - different personas, but don't be untrue to your overall self. Other people may be unhappy living with the consequences in the short-term; you have to live with yourself for longer


5. Life is too short to to just keep doing things out of duty or fear: obligation and feeling scared of the consequences are not particularly good reasons for doing stuff you hate or maintaining a front for the sake of it (see above for related points). If you really HAVE to do something you have always loathed, find some reward for yourself for doing it. And, as a non-believer, for me that has to be something more concrete than 'I'll get my reward for being so selfless in heaven'.


6. Try to enjoy things on their own terms: if you don't come out of a gig full of excitement and delight, it's probably been at best mediocre. In the high of something immediately finishing you should feel exhilerated by the experience. The critical faculties will come back, but the delight should suspend them temporarily. Basically, if you start reading a chick lit book to be intellectually challenging and deep there is a high chance of disappointment before your critical faculties ultimately return. Be sensible and engage with it for what it is or don't start. Why waste your time and money?!


7. You can never go back: less a rule, more a statement to be aware of. Life goes forwards, as much as we may wish otherwise. We have to live with events and find ways to move on. Otherwise we end up like Dark Willow*, trying to bring Tara back to life and taking it out on the world when we cannot. Mind, I really wish she hadn't ended up with irksome Kennedy.

Less serious rules (but nonetheless to be considered as mine):

Thou shalt know Jarvis as a great musical genius and meddle with the works of Pulp at your peril (William Shatner, that means you)

Scottish actors are hot, especially using their own accents, but also when they just look bloody gorgeous and can act the pants off many other so-called stars. They shall be acknowledged and adored because there is always the horrible possibility they will get swallowed up by the American movie industry when they become too successful. Sigh.

There will never be a better political drama than The West Wing, especially when looking at those first two stunning series but also its overall arc. So TV dramatists should all stop trying to do that right now.

Good TV comedy will invariably be better than a comedy film. The last really great comedy film I saw at the flicks was probably Shaun of the Dead. Given its pedigree that says a lot about the quality of TV comedy.

Hmm. Those were my first thoughts. They probably suck and I may change my mind about any or all of them! But I hope you enjoy them!

* Sorry about the music, not my choice but the clips are great.

Favourite TV characters

Following on from Joss Whedon over at Whedonesque giving his favourite 25 TV characters (as reported by lovely MediumRob), I thought that I should offer a list of my own.

I've thought about it of course, but I've tried to limit myself by giving myself just 15 mins to write the post. I've took a bit longer than than that (it took 7 songs on i-Tunes) but the longer I spend the more likely it was to take over my day.

Anyway, I get to include reference to the Whedonverse - a freedom available to me as I didn't write them. I've also stuck with those created for TV (so no Casanova folks as MUCH as we loved that!), even though that left off a lot of well-portrayed characters who came from elsewhere (Andy Dalziel, for example, or Edward Petherbridge's Lord Peter Wimsey [I'm re-reading some Sayers at the mo which is why that's in my mind]). And although obviously The Doctor is one of THE best TV figures ever created, since the character changes somewhat with every regeneration I've left that one off the list. I also gave considerable thought to disentangling characters from actors: so as much as I have loved performances by people such as Dougie Henshall (Psychos, Kid in the Corner), David Tennant (Blackpool) and Ken Stott(Messiah, The Vice, Takin' Over the Asylum), Christopher Eccleston (Our Friends in the North, The Second Coming), and David Morrissey (Holding On, Blackpool), I've come to the reluctant conclusion that in most instances I was attracted by the performance and the actor's inhabitation and not just the character.

So in thinking out this list I've gone for characters that perhaps anyone else might have played (because the writing was so good) but which had the good fortune of great casting to be given to the best person for the job.

1. Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - because, well pretty obvious really
2. Josh Lyman from The West Wing - for being a volatile heart on his sleeve guy
3. Dr. Dana Scully from The X-Files - for being able to keep a straight face even when the plot went utterly bonkers and her Carter-penned soliloquies became unbearably portentious (you should see her as a double act with Mulder really I guess as a great character)
4. Brian Topp from Spaced - for anger, pain and painting
5. Lisa Simpson from the Simpsons - for being smart and surviving
6. Munch from Homocide: Life on the Street / Law & Order: Special Victims Unit / X-Files 100th episode - for being so fantastically conspiratorial
7. Gregory House from House - because I just never got Jeeves & Wooster so I have NO problem with the accent and love smart characters
8. Det. Robert Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent - because again, smart guys
9. CJ Cregg from The West Wing - because she was just so incredible
10. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel - for having such a great character arc and huge numbers of great lines
11. Dr. McCartney from Green Wing - for being quick-witted, but stupid in love
12. Dr. Joel Fleishman from Northern Exposure - for being sweet (though its a tough call against DJ Chris...)
13. (Ale)Xander Lavelle Harris from Buffy - because for all his faults he and his humour remained adorable
14. Bernard Black from Black Books - wickedly funny
15. Edmund Blackadder - for sustained historical wit and ingenuity
16. Sue White from Green Wing - for being surreal
17. Abby from NCIS - goth girl geek!
18. Dr. Perry Cox from Scrubs - for being sarky and soft-hearted
19. Father Dougal McGuire from Father Ted - for managing to make confusion so appealing
20. Mal Reynolds from Firefly - for courage and stupidity
21. Dharma Finkelstein Montgomery from Dharma and Greg - because whilst the actress may be a scary kook, Dharma was a great kook character (especially when having eaten lots of sugar)
22. Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect - for really taking 'cop shows' to another level
23. Gil Grissom from CSI - for just being ineffably cool
24. Niles Crane from Frasier - for being wimpish to the extreme
25. Lois from Malcolm in the Middle - for somehow holding it together

I could have gone for any number of others instead or as well as these. Any number of great characters from the Whedonverse, or The West Wing, let alone all the random residual memory characters from my TV viewings (Ilya Kuryakin! Burnside from Sandbaggers! Tom and Ruth from Spooks! Marty Hopkirk - the first TV programme I remember watching! Joy Merryweather from Drop the Dead Donkey! Earl Hickey! Francis Urquart!).

It's no good, this list would change in a minute. And excuse the lack of links but I wanted it posted.

UPDATE: MediumRob has his own list which only serves to highlight how partial my list was and how incomplete and how I managed to omit so many great characters. Sheesh, I mean, I doubt my mother will ever forgive me for forgetting Avon from Blake's 7. She's gonna start haunting me I tell ya...

West Wing Reviews

Nice little set of reviews from Will Howells on re-viewing the seasons of the West Wing (he's up to 3 so far).

You can catch them here, here and here.

It's well documented on this blog (here, here and here for example) how much we loved The West Wing. Though it undeniably trailed as the seasons progressed, and the shift from Aaron Sorkin to John Wells was generally frustrating, it retained much of its charm and as others have noted, the latter seasons disappointments were mostly because the high mark had been set with those first four seasons.

That said, I would qualify this by saying that Season 3 was possibly more disappointing than I would have liked it to be. Yes, CJ was great as ever. Yes, John Spencer got his Emmy episode with "Bartlet for America". But the 'special episode' and the reasons for it overshadow the whole season and that is saddening.

I would be hard pushed to choose a favourite episode from the first two seasons especially, which to my mind constitute a great level of consistency, whereas the other seasons have highlights but lack that consistency until - arguably - season 6 (which I STILL haven't properly caught up with).

Still, I guess my point is that this was a fantastic series. But hopefully it will continue to draw its audience on DVD etc. It certainly deserves to.

Possibly 29th July?

Hmmm... very bloody helpful. That is of course the weekend I am sojourning in Walsall. And London. At birthday parties and leaving do's. And generally OUT OF REACH OF A TELEVISION (even if I actually HAD bloody Freeview, which of course... grumble grumble grumble).

Anyway, for those of you out there who have that kind of thing and a video recorder (hint, hint), according to someone who was there at the time, a programme I did not get invited to be in the audience for [David, I know it got lost in the post. Please be more careful next time with the stamps] will be aired 29th July.

Hurumph.

Holy Batman

Well, Rob certainly got MY attention!

West Wing news for the final finale episodes

Just what we wanted to hear: the return of several former regular cast members to The West Wing (Hat tip to Rob).

West Wing to be axed (with postscript)

Hardly a shock, though the shift to another night NEVER bodes well ("we moved it and fewer people watched" - well, duh: shows on the slide are never HELPED by a shift in the schedules... name me one show that was already down from its peak that was actually raised by a schedule shift? None? Well, none I can think of).

The problems were always going to be thus: the series started already into the term of Bartlet so already into a finite 7 seasons (because those sort of major transitions are never easy to handle: it would have been like trying to keep Buffy going without Buffy as the slayer. As much as some wanted that as the continuation, I was never for it). Additionally, for all that I believe season 6 was something of a return to form, the post-Sorkin era was never going to hit those high spots. Season 1 was awesome, season 2 a brilliant follow-up, season 3 was moderate - 9/11 had a big impact but the problems were there before that, season 4 had some excellent moments, and season 5 didn't capitalise enough on the legacy Sorkin left, though again there were some classy moments. Season 6, by all accounts - I still haven't borrowed it from my friend yet - was something, but not everything, like a return to the better times. Season 7, I have no idea about (please don't spoiler me too much!), but - and this is my final point - once John Spencer died it was always going to be a struggle to justify its continuation. Two key characters lost by the end of season 7? How could there be an 8th?

Moving the night was never going to help, but sadly, the dream was truely over.

It was a great ride and I can't say it wasn't worth taking. Shame to see it go, but it was pretty inevitable.

Postscript: Rob Buckley has an excellent post on this topic that is far more eloquent than mine.

The West Wing Season 6, Casanova and Marie

Lacking the ability to have Freeview in my house - unless we wish to view the special pixilated version - I do not have to worry about missing out on the West Wing season 6, especially as I smartly purchased it for my friend Helen Lisette for her birthday. I also have a working video recorder and a DVD copy of Casanova (ooh yes).

Thus I do not share Marie's predicament regarding clashes of channels, bad mullet haircuts and not owning the DVD.

Marie: I think you should assume that if your family failed to take the necessary hints for Xmas, me and Rosby will shake tins to raise the cash to buy you a copy of Casanova for you to watch all for yourself...

West Wing

Whilst my pal H is taking up season 6, I am still in season 5.

It's still darn good, though I have been given to understand season 6 is more back on form than the immediate rise of John Wells in season 5 suggested.

Classic West Wing

Watched a couple of classic Season 1 West Wing eps last night: mighty fine stuff too. "Let Bartlet be Bartlet" and "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics". Glorious stuff: Toby saying Laurie's name when he's talking to POTUS just brings a twist to my stomach everytime.

[Aside: link to House! and to 24! - Lisa Edelstein playing Laurie now plays Cuddy and Reiko Aylesworth playing her "friend" (pah!) Janine went on to play Michelle Dessler]

Does anyone else feel the wind went out of the series with Sorkins departure? Is that a standard response? If so, why is it still staggering on?

I'm only about halfway through s5 at the mo, and s6 has only slightly been spoilered for me (though some have remarked it is better than s5 was). Am I wasting my time investing in its narrative?

TV Programmes (my second attempt)

I had a great post worked out in response to this. Blogger lost it. I have just resisted the urge to throw my cronky office computer from the window on a hot sunny day (even though I know its Blogger and not the computer).

GRRR

Recent / ongoing

* Blackpool (these boots...)
* Casanova (a confection of delight and tears)
* CSI (can I have all three versions?)
* Dr Who (recent series... and hopefully the next)
* Green Wing (just bonkers and hilarious: DVD btw anyone... anyone? Channel 4 have you gone to sleep?)
* House (best doctor in years and a smart character)
* Law and Order: Criminal Intent (smart character, again: even if Private Pyle all growed-up has nicked that quirk of tipping his head on one side from Clooney in "ER")
* Scrubs (Dr. Cox... 'nuff said)
* State of Play (script, actors, genius)
* The West Wing (the parallel world)

Past stuff: gone but not forgotten

* 24 (just Season 1: season 2 had its moments, but it going on and on - and on Sky - I've lost track. Prime 'climb-the-sofa' material)
* Buffy (can I have a slice of the Whedonverse - to include "Angel" as well please?)
* Dharma and Greg (I blame having cable TV for a while: I loved this show)
* Northern Exposure (before Dr. Joel and Maggie really got it together)
* Our Friends (in the South - aka "Holding On" / and the 'original' one, "Our Friends in the North")
* Psychos ("Did you like my flowers....?")
* Seinfeld ("Believe it or not, George isn't at home...")
* Spaced (worth repeated viewing: get them DVDs!)
* The Vice (Ken Stott: hangdog and emotionally tortured - just what he does best)
* The X-Files (because in less than a year we watched every single episode - even the end of season 9...)

Honourable mentions

Blackadder, Curb Your Enthusiasm, ER, Father Ted, Frasier, Our Mutual Friend, Quantum Leap, The Sopranos (early seasons), This Life

Further back in time

The Sandbaggers (one of the few programmes I recall from my younger days)

The West Wing and other great cultural offerings

Following a little note from a USophile (or is that USophile as a name?) making a public thanks for those works of liberal progressiveness produced by the United States of America, it seemed apt to record here that Cloud and I spent much of the long weekend period (Thursday to Sunday) indulging in The West Wing Season 5 on DVD. Thought-provoking stuff, even without Aaron Sorkin over-seeing the proceedings. Complex characters - not always likeable; flawed opinions; intentions versus political realities versus the effects on individual lives. All tackled deftly. Do we do anything remotely similar over in the UK? We can sometimes get comedic satire right, but this combination of drama, comedy, thriller-narratives AND politics...? I don't think we do. House of Cards? I loved A Very British Coup --- and it was certainly in the same league for quality of writing --- but to have that combination of approaches?

On another note regarding cultural works, I am also living up to my promise to start re-reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman books, which remain as intellectually challenging and visually stimulating as ever. Have just finished re-reading Dream Country, which, as stand-alone stories, probably offers newcomers an easy road in. Then again, it doesn't allow readers to be swept into the Sandman story - Morpheus, Oneiros, Dream - or that of The Endless as a 'family'. And that seems a great shame. Start where you like, but if you have an interest in history, myth, the telling of stories, religion, dreams, or just already like narratives told with images (as well as words), then do get hold of The Sandman. It's worth the investment.

West Wing Season 5: nearly two months to wait

I do my best not to be too spoilered by TV series, but I had been busted about the end of Season 4 by reading the collection of scripts offered by Aaron Sorkin from seasons 3 and 4. Didn't stop me climbing the sofa watching the penultimate episode on Friday... nor when we 'cheated' and borrowed Helen Lisette's DVD copy to watch the final one (Cloud had gawped and pleaded "Can we call Helen!? I can't wait till Friday!). If anything, knowing what was happening made it even more exciting. Still, I have done my best to keep the details from myself about Season 5. PLEASE NO SPOILERS... I even manage to read synopses on TWP without alerting myself to ongoing plotlines. [It's a trick I perfected when watching the final seasons of Buffy - blur your sightline whilst locating the correct boxes to get to pages where you are not going to read anything too spoiler-ish. A fine art and very useful!]

I also caught up on the one episode from this season we missed: it screened here just before Xmas and was about CJ and her father's diagnosis with Alzheimers. Good episode; as ever Alison Janney was a goddess and beauty and acting ability... but man, it was hard for me, and I'm glad I didn't watch it any earlier. Too much hitting close to home in terms of dealing with my own dad.

Anyway, at least the DVD's are coming out a little swifter over here... April 25th for Season 5. Because Lord-a-mucksy knows when the darn thing will get on terrestrial TV.

Karl Rove is Josh Lyman

...Scary... The appointment of Rove to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff only suceeds in highlighting the gulf between fact and fiction.

Ah, Josh Lyman ... vulnerable, flawed and argumentative.

Josh Lyman: "I'm just saying that if you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for a beer."
Donna Moss: "If you were in an accident I wouldn't stop for red lights"

Quote for the Day 14 Jan 2005: The West Wing quotes Margaret Mead

Currently, of course, I have been watching The West Wing - a programme that STILL thrills my intellectual heart and soul as few programmes do (despite being in Season 4 whilst the USA is now on Season 6: trying to avoid spoilers is not easy).

Anyway, last week was the seond part of the Inauguration episodes, with a nice appropriation of a Margaret Mead quote:

BARTLET
There's a promise that I ask everyone who works here to make. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and commited citizens can change the world. You know why?

WILL
It's the only thing that ever has.

I kinda liked that, so it's now on my door in my office. And I thought I would share it here.

Quote of the day 6 October 04: Canadian submarines and The West Wing...

Had to laugh today. Turns out that the British Government has been flogging of refurbished submarines to the Canadians that are less than brilliant (they leak - pretty fundamental you would think!)

As people sent in their text messages on the fiasco I could not help but amend Sam Seabourn's passionate argument in The West Wing (Season 2: ep.2) In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part two of two.

Sam: Instead of buying these ships? Don't
buy these ships. Buy other ships. Better ships. That's my idea.

[...]

Mr Cameron: But Sam, we want these ships. This is as little as we've ever paid for a fleet.

Sam: Well, there's a reason why they don't cost a lot of money. They're 20-year old single hulled VLCCs that nobody wants. When they hit things, they will break. And they will hit things, because they don't have state of the art navigation systems. They don't have G3 tank gauging, or EM-5000 engine monitoring, the recommended staletronic, or electopneumotronic ballast.

I can't help feeling that with a little tweaking of the terminology this was a conversation I wish someone had had with the Canadians (though what the British MOD were thinking flogging them this rubbish is beyond me...)

Dialogue for the Day: October 1 2004 The West Wing

Today's wonderful quote comes from the episode He Shall from Time to Time

President: ...And how do we make the American dream of opportunity a reality for all? I came to this hallowed chamber one year ago, and I see we’re spelling “hallowed” with a pound sign in the middle of it.

Sam: We’ll fix that.

President: The pound sign’s silent?

Leo: Move on, Mr. President.

President: I came to this hallowed chamber one year ago on a mission: to restore the American Dream for all our people, as we gaze at the vast horizon of possibilities open to us in the 321st century. Wow that was ambitious of me, wasn't it.

[...]

President: We meant "stronger" here, right?

Sam: What does it say?

President: "I'm proud to report our country's stranger than it was a year ago"?

Sam: That's a typo.

President: Could go either way.

For those not fully au fait with The West Wing, one of its real glories is not just that it HAS dialogue that is witty and sharp but that it is delivered at such pace. Read the transcipts at places such as TwizTV which has a growing store of transcripts for US TV shows both recent and not so recent. Highly recommended!