I have a few questions from last night’s episode. ANSWER THEM! I COMMAND YOU!
um…after that, we can, like, discuss the show and stuff.
Why is Bartlett running for reelection so soon? It’s still two years away, right?
The bald guy, alas I do not remember his name, who is a new speechwriter, made a number of conflicting statements. He wanted Bartlett to apologize for lying to the public. Yet he also wanted Toby, et al, to stop bringing up the MS and focus on issues. Those two ideas are in conflict.
Speaking of the apology, why is it that the Prez decided, out of the blue, to apologize to his staff yet he still hasn’t discussed the issue with his wife? I could understand if he didn’t discuss it with either of them, but it doesn’t make sense to only talk to the staff. Especially when he doesn’t know the staff is upset but he does know his wife is.
Again with the apology. Apologizing to the staff doesn’t solve the problem. They wanted him to do it to the public. Sure, whether he did or not is debatable, but I’m going to assume that since they didn’t show it, he didn’t do it.
Can someone explain the laws behind not allowing a government official to interfere with the FDA?
In the West Wing universe, the next presidential election is held in 2002. Congressional midterms were held in 2000. Seeing how Aaron Sorkin’s said that West Wing history diverges from U.S. history somewhere 'round the mid-20th century, it would be interesting to speculate the event that might have caused the shift in election years. Good thread fodder, perhaps.
Not necessarily. I got the sense that Doug (the bald guy) felt that Bartlet ought to apologize, but that other than that they should quit beating the public over the head with the MS thing. Or, alternatively, that bringing up the MS when they hadn’t yet apologized was particularly politically destructive.
He doesn’t know the staff is upset? What leads you to that conclusion? The President’s a smart guy. Also, he’s got different issues with his wife than with his staff–he’s pissed with her for not offering him immediate support, for one thing.
I think the point of this episode was that the staff did want him to apologize to them–Rob Lowe had some transference issues. I never got the sense that Toby and Josh and Sam and CJ were itching for a public apology; rather, they felt hurt because they found out so late in the game.
In the WW parallel universe, I don’t think they hold presidential elections in 2002; I just think that they’re either 2 years behind us or 2 years ahead. So it’s not that they violently deviated from our reality, they’re just out of sync with ours.
(But to put it in more realistic terms: the series started in the fall of 1999, and Aaron Sorkin probably thought it would be more interesting to have a new president dealing with the problems of establishing a new administration, rather than have him swinging into re-election mode in their first season.)
It seemed to me that the ‘theme’ of last night’s episode was that the Prez had ridden roughshod over the people who were closest to them, taken them for granted, and that this was causing everyone to have (misdirected) issues. It seemed they showed the Prez ‘getting in’, via flashback scene with the First Lady and with the scene where CJ blows up at him. I think the CJ scene was when it really got through. Hence the apology.
I’ve got to say I’m exceptionally disappointed in these past two episodes. They were both laborious seemed like on giant plot contrivance. Ultimately it took writers took two episodes to “let Bartlet be Bartlet” again!
I’ve come to expect much more from The West Wing. In the season’s opening we see characters that were established as strong, intelligent and caring turned into weak minded, self obsessed idiots. To what end? Why erase all that good work and believable character development to show us a contrived battle of wills between the staff these political hacks?
Gaderene pretty much answered most of Ender’s questions, but I do have a few comments.
Inevitably, they will (or have) mention the actual year. This isn’t a big deal. As long as the presidential term is still 4 years and Congressional terms are 2 years, I think it is not too much to overlook. It is probably even smarter to have them on the shows at times when a REAL election is happening.
I agree with this entirely. If you are going to talk about it, put it behind you…
Yes. Plus, when he says he’s sorry to the staff, that is the end of that. They will not hound him or argue. They will accept it and move on. The wife is not intimidated by the fact that he is president. (See Michael Douglas’s “sex” speech in Sorkin’s American President).
I missed Lowe’s transference. Anger?
I really noticed Josh had some serious issues replacing Tobacco where he meant 4U-486.
I imagine so.
On a seperate point, I must admit I did not know the defintion of the Snooty word! I feel I am a somewhat educated man. Blast you, Sorkin!
I am always disappointed with “Let Bartlett be Bartlett” because it isn’t a realistic approach. I know it is fiction, but the show is so dead on most times. Simply put, Michael Douglas would NOT be re-elected if he made the speech at the end of A.P. It is the same thing here. Still good TV, though.
watsonwil: I meant transference in the sense that he did harp on the fact that Bartlet didn’t make a public apology; I don’t think he cared so much about the public apology as he did about the fact that he had been told so late. I also think that Doug’s comments to Toby–that they were pissed because now they couldn’t run the campaign they wanted–were fairly pointed and accurate. (And, as an aside, the reason I don’t really like this MS storyline. It has the potential to absolutely subsume everything else on the show.) You’re right, though, that Josh’s transference was more pronounced.
Jim, I pretty much agree with you, too. The first two shows weren’t bad, but didn’t come close to some of the shows of the last two seasons–Noel, for example, The Leadership Breakfast, or Galileo. I just hope that TWW doesn’t become the Jed ‘n’ Abby show now that Stockard’s got full billing.
On the other hand, the controversy over Josh’s dealing with the tobacco issue was surprisingly cynical. Josh got the funding he wanted, which, altruistically, should have been a victory. Instead, he was chagrined that he didn’t turn it into a campaign issue; it appears he would have gladly hamstrung the lawsuit if it would’ve meant more votes at election time. Not as goody-goody as we’re accustomed to seeing.
Ah, but he wasn’t chagrined until he had it pointed out to him by this season’s Dick Morris simulacrum. That’d be another good debate topic–would he have gained sufficient political capital by waiting to outweigh the possibility of not receiving the funding at all? Hmm.
I’d just like to chime in to say that I agree that the MS storyline has the potential to totally overwhelm (and destroy) the show. Before this storyline appeared, they were able to deal with different issues all the time. Now this MS thing is just hanging on the horizon, with no end in sight. I was telling MrWhatsit last night that I hope they can find some way to sweep it under the table and move on with the show, but frankly I think it’s going to take up at least the rest of this season, if not the rest of the series. I’m hoping that isn’t the case, though. I’m getting tired of it already. We already went through this whole crappy mess in reality with Clinton; I don’t need to see it fictionalized on my favorite TV show.
Yeah. Sorkin seems less afraid of making the staff face reality, but Sheen always has the true vision. It really is the president he WISHES was in there. Very much in contrast to the real feeling of other parts of the show.
Leo is the “real” guy. Hard as nails and realistic. Loved his line about telling anyone who worked for him anything anytime.
Also a great scene that really rang true was when Silver (who I liked this episode) hammered Leo and then fold to the Prez under the weight of the oval office (though I didn’t catch whether he got a greater or less % of the add revenues.)
When the real US Congress took office in 2001, it had the same ordinal designation as the new WW Congress. At the same time, they mentioned that the new millennium had just started, and that the presidential elections were the next calendar year.
Hence, their presidential elections are 2 years offset from the real ones. How this happened since the Congress has the same number they’ve yet to explain.
Thanks all for the answers so far (well…#5 notwithstanding).
You’re right, the president should have known that his staff was upset. And your explanations on why he apologized to his staff and not his wife makes sense.
He still hasn’t apologized to the public though and I’m sure they were foreshadowing something later by not having him do it in this episode.
I knew that their universe was different from ours as far as elections go. I just thought that the election was two years from now, not one. Hence, the confusion.
Also, what’s going on with Channing’s face? I’ve never noticed it before this year but there’s something with her dimples or near her cheeks. Anyone know what’s up?
There are 3 different apologies under consideration–to the public, for misleading them; to the staff, for not telling them sooner; and to his wife, for running again at all. One out of 3 ain’t bad.
I noticed her face, too…looks like a bad face lift, (or a stroke) during the off-season.
Oh, I really liked that scene…Bruno thought he was the tough one, but when it came down to brass tacks, Bartlet had his number!
Jed said, “So, I understand you want 12% of the ad revenues?” when Bruno had just said to Leo, “I want 13% of the ad revenues” and Leo was trying to get him down to 12%. So of course Leo got what he wanted as POTUS turned the tables on Bruno. Ron Silver is excellent in the role.
