Thursday afternoon already and there’s no West Wing thread? I’m shocked.
So, did that seem kinda…off to anyone else? I mean, I usually really enjoy their comedy episodes - The Stackhouse Filibuster, And It’s Surely to Their Credit, Celestial Navigation - and I was definitely ready for a break from all the MS gloom-‘n’-doom…but somehow this just didn’t work for me. There were plenty of nice moments, but it just didn’t seem to come together like it should’ve.
I did really enjoy Charlie mocking the President’s height, since I’m constantly amused at the cameramen’s efforts to disguise the fact that Martin Sheen is the shortest person in the room at any time. Honestly, I keep expecting the Republicans to pull some of the stunts against Bartlet they did with Dukakis - remember the ads where he was riding in the little tank looking like Snoopy?
Anyway, I taped this, so I’ll watch it again when I get time and maybe I’ll like it better…what did y’all think?
I’m getting tired of the rotation among the key staffers on who gets to be the ‘silly’ one that week. Last week it was Rob Lowe with his penny thing. This week it was CJ and her “I’m too sexy” routine.
I’m with ya. In the beginning sections, the way they filmed the characters walking from one room to the next was really grating. I don’t know why it got on my nerves so badly, but by the time the camera was passing over the painting I wanted the photographer’s blood (just a little of it, I mean, it wasn’t THAT annoying).
The episode just didn’t mesh nearly as tightly as it normally does. It felt kind of like a rush job. I thought most of the scenes were well done, but that smooth sliding together I’ve come to expect from Aaron just wasn’t there. Everything felt “blocky”.
All that being said, I did really like the scenes with Oliver and Dr. Bartlet. I only wish the rest of the episode would have been as sharp as those two.
I thought this episode was pretty weak, especially compared to last week’s which I thought was excellent. Unfortunately next week we get one of the stupid Thanksgiving episodes. Blegh.
I thought it was a mediocre episode. I too liked Charlie’s jabs at the Prez.
Sheen was funny this episode. I usually don’t like him as much as everyone else (affected by the fact I don’t like Sheen, not that I don’t enjoy Bartlett). Banging his head on the desk was pretty funny. Schweips and a copy of the succession of power.
Put me down as someone who doesn’t like Mrs. Bartlett at all. Not a big Channing fan. She overacts every scene. How she won an emmy for the role, I’ll never know (other than the fact that best guest actress is not a hot bed of competition). The scenes between her and Platt seem labored. Of course, I imagine that is exactly what Hillary acted like during WHC meetings, so I’ll chalk it up to realism.
I just hate “attitude” characters. Mandy was an “attitude” character and see how far she went. Mrs. Bartlett is a little more tied to the show, however. I thought Silver was going to be another attitude character, but he had a comeback last night. Good scene. I also like the Spin City alum’s low key character.
Continuing in my campaign to get Michael J Fox a guest spot as Senator Alex P Keaton,
Well, I guess there really isn’t much to talk about with this episode. I debated about starting a thread last night, but didn’t really have any earth shattering observations. So here are my non-earth-shattering observations:
The Josh and Donna thing sure isn’t going well, is it. How many things can Donna screw up? I sorta missed the entire thing that Josh was dictating but it was obvious she had done something he had to apologize for and clean up after her–AGAIN.
The submarine plot really didn’t work for me because it just ended up being the sub maintaining silence. How anti climactic! Hal Holbrook was funny, though listing off all the sub losses. He was the best part of the ep this week.
I liked the scenes with Oliver and DOCTOR Bartlett. Oliver is such a loveable curmudgeon.
The I’m Too Sexy thing was just weird. Had CJ never heard that song before or something? I mean, isn’t that song from the '80’s for cripes sake??!!
Altho’ Donna did have a good save when ‘the gang’ was trying to come up with an Answer to The Question. The high-paid experts got consumed by Group Think, spinning out ever grander ideas and phrases. Donna saw the naked Emperor by observing that people don’t want to become President because of the Internet (well, excepting Al Gore, since he invented it). Group Think does work like that [sub]voice of experience[/sub]. Everybody feeding off everybody else’s ideas, usually trying to top one another, until the original question or problem gets lost. It helps to have someone from the outside look at what’s going on.
on the Right Said Fred thing with CJ. When I put together this, plus the NACL thing from a recent episode, she comes off as being smart in work and a bit clueless about real life. Is this consistent with her character or have these been two aberrations which color my judgement.
On the Oliver and Dr. Bartlett scene, I thought she was a bit too willing to plead out, particularly given that just recently she was fuming at her husband. How did they explain the sudden willingness to sacrifice everything for him? Or was she just saving her own ass? And I liked Oliver, BTW is that his name, the character’s name or both?
As for the Sub theme, I liked it at first but also found it anticlimactic. Bartlett came off as weak for going to the panic button so quickly. I would be interested if we can lure one of the submariner Dopers in here and get an opinion. IIRC there are a couple at least.
Am I the only one who read the storyline this way or what?
The entire “Gone Quiet” plot seemed to be an attempt to paint Pres. Bartlett as almost an incompetent C-in-C, overreacting to news of the ‘missing’ sub, unfamiliar with submariner activities and all too eager to call in the cavalry(in a manner of speaking). Now this is the man who quotes Latin phrases at the drop of a hat, acts as though every political question of the day has already been addressed and answered by him, and now we get to see that he’s a stereotypical Democrat who’s weak on defense? Puhleeze. Give. Me. A. Break. I’d consider this a more credible show if he actually struggled with an issue that doesn’t have a nice, tidy Democratic-because-we-know-it-all answer just waiting to be spewed at super human speed by another talking head.
I liked it. I can’t remember the last time that I’ve laughed ten seperate times over an hour’s span for one TV show. Yes, I counted.
But the one thing that bugged me about this episode, was Lowe and Ron Silver’s character’s solution to the soft money dilemma. Trash the public schools?!? Hello? Who has been in charge of public schools these laste 2 and a half years? Yes, that’s right. The president of the United States.
This post has been paid for by the Trash Jed Bartlett campaign.
Igot the impression Donna wasn’t really in trouble. I think she was taking the blame. It sounds like the old folks really were trashing the place on their tour. Still it is bad press to have a seniors group arrested (or detained).
I was disappointed with the episode due to the gross misinformation spewed by the woman critisizign the NEA. She claimed that an artist, funded indirectly by the NEA had tossed all of his personal belongings outside a Starbucks in Haight-Ashbury. I can inform you that there is no Starbucks anywhere near Haight-Ashbury. The closest one is in Inner Sunset or Hayes Valley. I just couldn’t suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy the rest of the show after that one.
And I’ll weigh in with another “Yes, you are.” But for a different reason.
I don’t care. I truly don’t care who Donna is dating. I don’t care about her personal life at all. She’s a fine character within the context of the West Wing but when she said in the previews at the begining of the season “And I’ll get a boyfriend,” I threw my hands up and said “And this means what to me?”
I tune in for a political soap opera. I don’t tune in for any romantic subplots because this show should be above that. Should be…
Am in agreement that Wednesday’s episode was not one of the stronger shows. I do have a bit of a bone with “West Wing,” though. What the heck is up with nearly everyone talking so fast?! LOL It’s like they’re talking at warp speed sometimes; in fact, I’ve had to turn on the closed captioning on my tv to be able to follow the dialogue. Seriously, Rob Lowe’s character is probably the hardest for me to understand; he talks a mile a minute! Closed captioning distracts me from actually watching the episode, but at least I’m able to understand what is being said.
Maybe it’s my hearing starting to go, I don’t know. Does it affect anyone else like that?
I’m with you on that. My wife gets mad because I insist on total silence when it’s on because they talk so fast and sometimes so quiet that you will miss something unless your undivided attention is given.
Also, turn on some lights. Everything is so dark.
