# West Wing Ad: Best PSA I have ever seen! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281 "2012-09-20T16:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/21 "2012-09-21T02:26:26Z")
> [@ASanders](#): > > Oh that was brilliant! I hope this is the start of a thing. Having TV characters do political ads would be a huge relief. [It’s been done.](http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2012/07/andy-griffith-and-ron-howards-2008.html) ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/22 "2012-09-21T03:01:52Z")
That. Was. AWESOME. I want to move to Michigan just to vote for this woman. But holy crap, what happened to Bradley??? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/23 "2012-09-21T06:41:18Z")
Slightly off topic, but is straight party voting an option in most states? We don’t have it. All of your votes can be for the same party, but you have to vote for each race individually. Do most states have ballots like Michigan’s? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/24 "2012-09-21T07:23:58Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Slightly off topic, but is straight party voting an option in most states? We don’t have it. All of your votes can be for the same party, but you have to vote for each race individually. > Do most states have ballots like Michigan’s? Not in mine. Each vote has to be entered individually. ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/25 "2012-09-21T08:53:56Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > WOW! That was dynamite! > > I miss The West Wing so much… The Newsroom doesn’t even come _close_. \ > > I love that President Martin Sheen put his jacket on in that weird way of his at the end. 🙂 I might be wrong - but I thought that Martin Sheen always puts his jacket on like due to an injury he sustained during birth. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/26 "2012-09-21T09:55:07Z")
I wish that crew would do an ad in my state – Ohio – which also happens to be the home state of Martin Sheen and Allison Janney. Come home! Come home! ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/27 "2012-09-21T10:14:17Z")
President Bartlett’s hair has gotten a lot grayer :- (or, alternatively, it was already being dyed during the earlier documentaries). Echoing the comments about the Oval Office lacking gravitas, I find it disappointing that the White House staffers now need signs in every room and corridor to let them know they’re in the White House :- this is the kind of detail they should be able to keep on top of without signage. My only serious thought is about copyright. They use their character names, it starts with the traditional voice intro, “Previously on the West Wing”. There’s enough there to pursue them if someone hadn’'t given permission, which I find somehow suprising. Although of course it occurs to me that they could have done it in such a way that it would clearly still be the “West Wing”, but bulletproof from a copyright perspective. You can’t stop a group of actors getting together to do a PSA/campaign commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/28 "2012-09-21T11:42:12Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#): > > President Bartlett’s hair has gotten a lot grayer I imagine he’s had [certain family issues](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Sheen) in recent years which may have contributed to that. But this ad reminded me of all the stuff I loved and hated about The West Wing: snappy dialogue in the pursuit of hyperbolic sanctimony. ---
**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:** [September 21, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/29 "2012-09-21T11:52:42Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > I might be wrong - but I thought that Martin Sheen always puts his jacket on like due to an injury he sustained during birth. I don’t recall it being an injury, just a condition, but he did say in an interview that he always puts his jacket on like that. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/30 "2012-09-21T14:14:53Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > That. Was. AWESOME. I want to move to Michigan just to vote for this woman. > > But holy crap, what happened to Bradley??? Looks like he and Martin are the only ones who forgot their sacrifice to the aging. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/31 "2012-09-21T14:47:14Z")
Good lord; I am _verklempt_. I miss that show. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/32 "2012-09-21T15:41:36Z")
“Explain it to me like I’m two years old - better yet, as if you’re not. Here, I’ll give you a lolly.” Is it just me, or would Allison Janney make the best high school civics teacher ever? ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/33 "2012-09-21T16:33:54Z")
Fantastic! Ghods I miss that show! ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/34 "2012-09-21T17:28:24Z")
I still watch the Cartographers for Social Justice clip every now and again… ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/35 "2012-09-21T17:49:11Z")
I have the complete series on DVD (in the big blue file folder), and all of the HD episodes are saved to my Amazon Instant Video watchlist: I re-watch various episodes/chunks of various seasons from time to time, as recently as last week. I wish they’d release the series on Blu-ray already…anyone know of a timeline for that? > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I still watch the Cartographers for Social Justice clip every now and again… I was working at a geographic information services (GIS) company when that episode aired, and the next day my boss told us that Peters vs Mercator (map projections) was a real issue within the cartography community. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/36 "2012-09-21T18:13:21Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I still watch the Cartographers for Social Justice clip every now and again… I loved that episode. And I knew it was a real issue in the mapmaking world (as it were). When that guy flips the map of the world upside down… it’s just \*WRONG \*somehow as I sit here in the northern hemisphere. Now I really miss _The West Wing_. That show was smart, inspiring, funny, compelling and touching. With vivid characters and incisive dialogue. Maybe the problem with _The Newsroom_ is that a newsroom just isn’t as weighty a place as the White House. No, that’s not it, because _Sports Night_ was better than _The Newsroom_. Maybe it’s Maggie. Now that makes sense. [/digression] ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/37 "2012-09-21T18:15:33Z")
There’s less walking and talking in The Newsroom. That must be it. I was thinking about Celestial Navigation the other day. How I loved that show. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/38 "2012-09-21T18:17:13Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I miss _West Wing_ so much. ☹ Oh come on. _West Wing_ only seemed that good because, in those days, it was nice to fantasize about what it would be like to have a _proper_ president. Now we actually have Jimmy Smits as president, it can never be quite the same. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/39 "2012-09-21T18:18:58Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Oh come on. _West Wing_ only seemed that good because, in those days, it was nice to fantasize about what it would be like to have a _proper_ president. It was Toby. There. I admit it. I crushed on Toby. I could fix him. I could make him happy. Really. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281/40 "2012-09-21T18:21:02Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > It was Toby. There. I admit it. I crushed on Toby. I could fix him. I could make him happy. Really. Me, too. I love those uptight Jewish guys with the strong principles. That episode where he got the burial for the homeless veteran… I get goosebumps just thinking about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-wing-ad-best-psa-i-have-ever-seen/635281.md?page=3)