Joshua Malina joins the cast of West Wing. Is anyone else as thrilled as me? I loved this guy on Sports Night, was crushed when the series was cancelled, but now he’s back!
Damn I’m excited, this just made my day.
It was inevitable. Joshua Malina’s been in everything else Aaron Sorkin has ever done, he had to join The West Wing. Not that this is a bad thing, I was very fond of him in Sports Night and The American President and am pleased to see him joining the cast of The West Wing.
A few months back, I had heard he signed a 13 week (I may have the number of episodes off but my point is it was temporary) contract and was happy. It did have the feeling of a trial period type of thing but I didn’t want to count my chickens is all. I’m just glad it’s official now.
So far he seems to be a good fit with the rest of the personalities on the show. I like it.
[and I love how Sorkin reuses people - I’ve been watching Sports Night on DVD and just saw the episode where Janel Moloney makes an appearance as the wardrobe gal]
Excuse me, is this the West Wing thread for the week, or is there another? Because I missed the first 10 minutes or so of Wednesday’s episode, so if anyone can catch me up I’d be much obliged…
And of course I have some comments, but I don’t know squat about “Sports Night”. I think I may not have been in the USA when that series aired.
Great. I wonder if his West Wing character will be a high-strung, insecure, witty, fast-talking fellow. Or perhaps he’ll be an insecure, high-strung, fast-talking, witty fellow, like on SportsNight. Or maybe, just maybe, he’ll be a witty, insecure, fast-talking, high-strung fellow like in The American President.
ShibbOleth -
I am terrible memory but this is a summary I could find:
crud, that should be, I have a terrible memory…
This last week’s episode again shows Sorkin’s penchant for juxtaposition:
Bartlett and Leo are grief striken over their assassination of the Qumari (Saudi) defence chief who secretly supports Al Queda,
Toby starts a reconciliation with his father - who in Toby’s youth was part of Meyer Lansky’s mob,
Toby and Bartlett share a love/hate relationship with their fathers,
and now the President’s new secret (murder) is what Toby loathes about his father’s past.
The assassination is unraveling - just like the secret of MS
CJ guesses the truth (after being clued in by reporter/boyfriend Danny) by Leo’s expression (not shown on the film).
Leo offers to tell Josh, but Josh spares him by saying “You will tell me when I need to know.”
Actually, IMHO, this plot line has more relevance than the MS story - which was in a way, linked to Pants-Down-Bill’s problems with dress stains.
After all, did Kissinger and Nixon lose one wink of sleep when the Chilean fascists murdered the democratically elected Allende - or the others (including a few Americans) murdered after the coup?
Is the Frat King now planning executive action in Venezuela as we speak? Will W lose any sleep if we have to pulverize Baghdad just to get Saddam? After all, how many toddlers are there in a city of 8 million?
These are tough, to the point questions, that you just don’t see often in mass entertainment.
But with the MS story and the powder puff election (Sorkin just can’t find a GOP with brains and panache), has the West Wing beaten this horse once too often?