# So, I just started watching West Wing, and... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076 "2012-10-17T22:42:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/21 "2012-10-19T13:09:48Z")
I know first hand that in New Hampshire you can get lost taking a walk and end up in Vermont, Maine, Canada, Connecticut or Massachusetts while fumbling around for your compass. It’s pretty confusing. Calm down. You’re gonna bust something. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/22 "2012-10-19T13:15:38Z")
> [@Jane\_Elliot](#): > > After the first Presidential debate I turned to a friend and said, we need to send the debate scenes from West Wing to Obama to show him how to do it right. You might enjoy [this column](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html) by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, in which Jed Bartlet offers advice to Obama after a 2008 debate. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/23 "2012-10-19T13:36:50Z")
Also, [this Maureen Dowd column](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/dowd-two-presidents-smoking-and-scheming.html), in which Jed Bartlet offers advice to Obama after the first presidential debate last month. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/24 "2012-10-19T13:38:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You might enjoy [this column](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html) by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, in which Jed Bartlet offers advice to Obama after a 2008 debate. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/25 "2012-10-19T17:55:29Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I know first hand that in New Hampshire you can get lost taking a walk and end up in Vermont, Maine, Canada, Connecticut or Massachusetts while fumbling around for your compass. It’s pretty confusing. > > Calm down. You’re gonna bust something. If you can find the Ontario/Vermont border, I’ll eat a bug of your choosing. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/26 "2012-10-20T12:39:48Z")
You can also follow all the main chars on twitter and whoever is doing it the voices are pretty true to their chars. Donna, josh, Sam and Bartlett are the most chatty but mrs Landingham is there too. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/27 "2012-10-20T18:10:43Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > You can also follow all the main chars on twitter and whoever is doing it the voices are pretty true to their chars. Donna, josh, Sam and Bartlett are the most chatty but mrs Landingham is there too. Sadly, Kathryn Joosten (Mrs. Landingham) passed away earlier this year. There was a reunion of sorts a few months ago where they got together to do a PSA for _Everybody Walk_ promoting the health benefits of walking. The ad: [http://youtu.be/PEdHhZcmEoM](http://youtu.be/PEdHhZcmEoM) Making of: [http://youtu.be/MCZQqu2Xlms](http://youtu.be/MCZQqu2Xlms) (Martin Sheen, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, William Duffy, Joshua Malina and Melissa Fitzgerald) ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/28 "2012-10-21T03:01:33Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Seriously? It’s enormously preachy, for one. It’s too literal, for another. It thrusts sledgehammers into the characters’ hands for the sake of making its points, for a third. If you subtract the preachy, literal, sledgehammering episodes of The West Wing, you’d have zero episodes of The West Wing. I think it was a great show (until season 5 or so, anyway), but TWW not a preachy or sledgehammery show? That does not compute. Do you remember how Jed Barlet was introduced? Walking into a room saying, “I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other God before me.” Subtle, right? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/29 "2012-10-21T17:03:59Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Sadly, Kathryn Joosten (Mrs. Landingham) passed away earlier this year. ☹ I did not know this. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/30 "2012-10-21T17:06:44Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > If you subtract the preachy, literal, sledgehammering episodes of The West Wing, you’d have zero episodes of The West Wing. I think it was a great show (until season 5 or so, anyway), but TWW not a preachy or sledgehammery show? That does not compute. > Do you remember how Jed Barlet was introduced? Walking into a room saying, “I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other God before me.” > > Subtle, right? I started watching _West Wing_ late in the first season; I think one or two episodes before the first season finale. In fact, as I think on it, I think I may have caught a summer rerun of a late first season episode. Anyway, years passed before I saw the premiere, so I don’t count it as my personal introduction to Bartlett; I already had a firm opinion of him cemented by then, and to me that line came off as sarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/31 "2012-10-22T02:22:29Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > to me that line came off as sarcasm. Indeed, I believe it was. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/32 "2012-10-22T06:07:46Z")
I bought the entire boxed set and enjoyed all the commentaries. Originally Bartlett was only going to be an occasional character. The focus was going to be on the staff. But after Martin Sheen and an intro like that… well too good to pass up. Two cathredrials. What an episode. I do envy you seeing it all for the first time. Enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/33 "2012-10-22T07:11:33Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I started watching _West Wing_ late in the first season; I think one or two episodes before the first season finale. In fact, as I think on it, I think I may have caught a summer rerun of a late first season episode. Anyway, years passed before I saw the premiere, so I don’t count it as my personal introduction to Bartlett; I already had a firm opinion of him cemented by then, and to me that line came off as sarcasm. Well, I won’t argue against it being sarcasm, but do you not think Bartlet was swinging a sledgehammer by telling a room full of evangelicals that he is God? (And more importantly, it was a sledgehammer to the TV audience, in that it instantly conveyed him as a president with balls and resolve.) I don’t mean to press the point on you, all I’m trying to say is that I think from the get go, The West Wing had no aversion to being preachy and expressing itself with a sledgehammer. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/34 "2012-10-22T09:21:51Z")
I’ve never seen more than a single scene of the show, but I’m simply amazed that [this scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSXJzybEeJM&feature=related) ever aired on American TV. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/35 "2012-10-22T09:32:58Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I’ve never seen more than a single scene of the show, but I’m simply amazed that [this scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSXJzybEeJM&feature=related) ever aired on American TV. Watching that scene, you have to remember that the speaker - the President - is a deeply religious man himself, as well as a liberal, and that it was intended as an attack on religious fundamentalism rather than on religion (or Christianity) in general. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/36 "2012-10-22T12:07:17Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > There was a reunion of sorts a few months ago where they got together to do a PSA for _Everybody Walk_ promoting the health benefits of walking. There’s [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v52FLMOPSig), too (voting PSA/partisan ad - two versions were made, one without the McCormack pitch) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/37 "2012-10-22T12:47:09Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Watching that scene, you have to remember that the speaker - the President - is a deeply religious man himself, as well as a liberal, and that it was intended as an attack on religious fundamentalism rather than on religion (or Christianity) in general. Indeed, the Fundamentalist were being insulting towards two Jewish guys on the staff, and arguing which was the First Commandment. Enter Bartlett quoting, “I am the Lord thy G-d…” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/38 "2012-10-22T12:50:05Z")
> [@Jane\_Elliot](#): > > After the first Presidential debate I turned to a friend and said, we need to send the debate scenes from West Wing to Obama to show him how to do it right. I recall an Aaron Sorkin interview from ~2008 where he mentioned meeting President Obama and being told half jokingly that he intended to steal some of Sorkin’s lines. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/39 "2012-10-22T13:41:53Z")
I think that WW. was one of the best progrmmes on tv, ever. In quality terms it tapered off towards the end. But I really, really hope that thy bring it back ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076/40 "2012-10-22T13:59:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Indeed, the Fundamentalist were being insulting towards two Jewish guys on the staff, and arguing which was the First Commandment. Enter Bartlett quoting, “I am the Lord thy G-d…” > > 🙂 Actually, I was referring to the scene linked to by **Jragon** , in which Bartlett bitch-slapped Dr. Laura Schlessinger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-started-watching-west-wing-and/638076.md?page=3)