The other night, I was watching The West Wing and noticed that Dule Hill (Charlie) had vanished from the cast listing at the beginning of the episode. He hasn’t been in an episode for any significant length of time in quite a while. IMDB still lists him as part of the cast, but they may be a bit behind the times.
Has he been missing from the cast all season and I just noticed it now, or did he disappear to Mandyville? Does anyone know if his contract was up or something?
They have been minimizing his part for a while now, but what was the point of going through him resigning from the President’s office and getting re-hired by CJ if he was just going to leave? They had the perfect out-- the President made him promise to get a different job when he graduated college. Why drag it out?
Hard to say, a lot of prominent West Wing characters, including Toby and even the President have gotten very very little air time this season compared to past seasons. The show is in transition right now, logically some major cast members have to change if the show is to continue. Obviously Martin Sheen will have no reason to exist as a regular cast member as he won’t be President much longer.
Barlett caught him sneaking out of Zoe’s room. Charlie later told him he was going to ask Zoe to marry him. Neither has been seen this season. They should have had them get married in the White House rather than daughter we’ve never seen before.
I must say this thread makes me glad I gave up on this show. First, the relationship between Bartlett and Charlie was one of the show’s great bedrocks, like the relationship between Bartlett and Leo. There could be periods of coolness, but you knew they’d still be close 20 years from now. Also, I don’t think the Bartlett I know would much give a shit if he caught Charlie sneaking out of Zoe’s room, at least not after an initial blow up. Mostly you’d expect it to be something Bartlett made merciless fun of them both about.
Slight nitpick-- we HAVE seen Ellie before. In fact, there was an entire episode dedicated to her in season 2 when she told the Washington Post that the President wouln’t fire the Surgeon General (Mary Kay Place) for saying publicly hat marijuana wasn’t any worse than tobacco or alcohol. The episode was even called “Ellie.” But your point is well taken–a Zoe/Charlie wedding would have been better, and we’d all have been more invested in it.
But my real question isn’t why he’s been absent for most of the season-- a lot of the characters have had comparitively little airtime while the show dealt with the Santos campaign. But why should he disappear from the cast list entirely?
Come to think of it, Stockard Channing has also been downgraded this season from full-fledged cast member to guest star.
Even if they continue the show, this will probably be my last season watching it-- I’ll see them esatablish the new president and hope they end it on a high note (or as high a note as they still can), but even if they don’t, I’m out. I’ll be living overseas next year, and the show just isn’t good enough anymore to justify following it long-distance.
My first thought is that if last seen sneaking out of Zoe’s room, Charlie might have met with a Secret Service Accident.
However, if Charlie andAbbey are missing, something entirely different may be afoot.
You think about it a little, and they really took a hit when the only member of original cast (well, him and Josh) who was being set up to continue in a Santos administration goes and dies. I mean, if they were counting on John Spencer for a modicum of continuity…Maybe Charlie will be appointed to replace Leo on the ticket. Yeah, that’s the ticket…
Honestly, I loved John Spencer’s acting, but I thought Leo was a bad choice for VP. He’s more of a process guy than a politician; much better at behind-the-scenes stuff and getting things done. And I knew they’d waste a lot of time dealing with the bad PR his health would generate.
I was actually hoping they’d bring back Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) as the VP candidate. Young and idealistic enought to be a good match with Santos; he left the show a while ago, so viewers like him but his character isn’t tapped out; and Rob Lowe’s other shows have died, so he needs a job. He could be all Sherry Stringfield-- an original cast member coming back as the show is turning from its original glory. (Though sh’s not particularly good, whereas Sam was a great character.)
Actually, they never did really follow up on Sam’s exit story. He left to run in a suicide mission for Congress, but when Toby told him to run, he said, “I think you should win,” and it was understood that the President would be stumping for him. We never got confirmation that he’d lost OR won… Did we?
[snicker]Is he old enough?[/snicker]
The alcohol thing alone would have killed the ticket in real life.
Seaborn would be a good last moment replacement.
It was assumed that he lost. And someone told him that he’d have to stay in that district until he one, otherwise he’d be considered a ‘carpetbagger’ if he tried running for another position somewhere else.
Sorkin specifically wrote Rob Lowe out of the show, but to do that he had toget rid of Sam Seaborn. There was a big blow up about salaries - originally the show was going to focus on Sam’ character, making Rob Lowe the star of the show. But after they hired Sheen, it was seen that the show would be stronger with an ensemble cast. The original contracts ran three years, IIRC, and then the arguing started because everyone’s salary were raised to match Lowes. And he didn’t like it.
The last we saw of Sam he was in a bar with Toby on the night of the special california election (when Will’s dead candidate won)
SAM I’m gonna lose.
TOBY Yeah.
SAM There’s no chance of a miracle?
TOBY No.
SAM Then why are you here?
TOBY You’re gonna lose, and you’re gonna lose huge. They’re gonna throw rocks at you next week, and I wanted to be standing next to you when they did.
And then the last we heard of people talking of him (at least on Sorkin’s West Wing) was when Leo and Sam were going to deputize Will.
LEO What about Sam?
TOBY A promotion-- it’s well past time. Make him a Senior Counselor, take the knucklehead stuff off his desk, the way he did for me for four years. Let him concentrate on the President and the country.
LEO I’ll advise the President.
It was assumed that Sam was continually advising the President (as one of his insiders) from California. From what I know, Sean Factotum, is right about Lowe’s exit.
It would be neat for the show, but the Vice-President is supposed to be someone who has won at least one election before. He should be someone who has run something, other than “his mouth” (to quote Marion Barry).
