All Episodes Talk: Walk With Me

[BlackberryJam]

47 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Toby makes it really hard to have any sympathy for him in "Drought Conditions".

And DAMN. I totally blanked out that fight between him and Josh.

I'm trying to understand or see why he's so angry and bitter. I guess I'm just stupid because it's all so confusing.

I think the implied story is that he had a terrible relationship with his brother, who then committed suicide and Toby is dealing with anger and guilt because of that. Instead of going to a therapist (Alan Arkin appearance!), Toby releases that anger at Josh, who was a little brother to him and who also abandoned him. 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I think the implied story is that he had a terrible relationship with his brother, who then committed suicide and Toby is dealing with anger and guilt because of that. Instead of going to a therapist (Alan Arkin appearance!), Toby releases that anger at Josh, who was a little brother to him and who also abandoned him. 

This is how I took it. Just like I took the shuttle leak to be that he couldn't save his brother, the astronaut, so he acted to save the other astronauts.  Lots of parallels.

[GHScorpiosRule]

20 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I think the implied story is that he had a terrible relationship with his brother, who then committed suicide and Toby is dealing with anger and guilt because of that. Instead of going to a therapist (Alan Arkin appearance!), Toby releases that anger at Josh, who was a little brother to him and who also abandoned him. 

12 minutes ago, deaja said:

This is how I took it. Just like I took the shuttle leak to be that he couldn't save his brother, the astronaut, so he acted to save the other astronauts.  Lots of parallels.

 

See? Stupid I am. That should be new name: StupidIAm. Because how much time has passed since Josh left to get Santos to run? And that he never spoke to Toby about doing this? Yet we were shown Leo urging Josh to move on, as life moves on.

I had to fucking go to imdb to find out that Mel Harris (!) was the Rafferty, and not a reporter that Toby was talking to in the bar.

Based on just this episode, (and I may change my mind after I get to the end), I can believe Toby responsible for the shuttle leak.

All I care about this episode is I can't remember the name of the music that was playing at the DNC party. Netflix's "awesome" (total sarcasm here) closed captioning told me it was "Jazz playing". I can't get the tune outta me head, and I'm trying to WORK here! 😅

[PeterPirate]

30 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

All I care about this episode is I can't remember the name of the music that was playing at the DNC party. Netflix's "awesome" (total sarcasm here) closed captioning told me it was "Jazz playing". I can't get the tune outta me head, and I'm trying to WORK here! 😅

The piece is "Take Five".   

Edited October 22, 2020 by PeterPirate

[BW Manilowe]

19 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Thanks @deaja!

And just a bit of trivia for those that didn't know, and I learned this a few years ago: Tim Matheson was the voice of Jonny Quest in that amazing 70s cartoon! Even though I had/have my issues over Hadji and how the Indian characters didn't speak with an Indian accent, that show was one of my jams in my childhood. I never knew Tim was a child actor! Okay, teen actor, because dude would have been around 17, providing the voice for a 12-13 year old!😁😅

I knew about Tim Matheson being the voice of Jonny Quest. Pretty cool.

Tim Matheson (then billed as Tim Matthiesson) also played (among other roles, I’m sure) the eldest son in the real-life blended family (he was 1 of the kids born into the father’s side) which was the subject of the movie Yours, Mine and Ours—the original 1968 version, starring the late Lucille Ball & the late Henry Fonda as the parents (there was also a 2005 remake, starring Rene Russo & Dennis Quaid as the parents of the blended family).

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 10/22/2020 at 2:23 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Based on just this episode, (and I may change my mind after I get to the end), I can believe Toby responsible for the shuttle leak.

Quoting myself because, well, I'm leaning toward CJ leaking the news to the press.

First she was the only one who questioned why the space shuttle was being weaponized.  Toby wasn't in any of those meetings, so he never knew the details. CJ only hinted at it, when she asked him if his brother ever bragged.

Second, the look on her face at the end of that episode when Annabeth, I think it was, said it had been leaked from "inside."

Third, CJ was the only one who Brock had used as a source when she was Press Secretary, and then he also helped her out. Then there was the number of times his name showed up on her call sheet.

Unless I missed something?

While they trashed Hoynes' character, at least, in the end, he was going to do the right thing, when it looked like Matt needed the boost, until he didn't.

I'm not a fan of the blonde hair on Abbey. And boy did she go through some styles in one season in season six! I actually prefer the style and color in the first season.

Now the premiere of the final season starts with Bartlet entering the library named after him. John Spencer/Leo was conspicuously absent. Did they film the premiere after he'd passed away?

And yuck. It's Season Seven. I'm just going to just watch Leo's funeral episode, Anna's last one, if she's more than a cameo and the finale. Because...yuck.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Okay now I’m confused! Toby confessed!

[Moose135]

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Okay now I’m confused! Toby confessed!

To protect someone else...

[CheshireCat]

On 10/22/2020 at 1:08 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Toby makes it really hard to have any sympathy for him in "Drought Conditions".

I found it hard to have any sympathy for him throughout the series. Most of the time, he's irritatingly righteous and acts like he has not faults and knows better than anyone else.

[BW Manilowe]

19 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Now the premiere of the final season starts with Bartlet entering the library named after him. John Spencer/Leo was conspicuously absent. Did they film the premiere after he'd passed away?

No. John Spencer passed on December 16, 2005 (4 days before his birthday that year), while the show was on its Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s hiatus that season. They likely had been filming since about midsummer (July-ish), as usual.

As I remember, a number of people (myself included) posted, on whichever board we were posting on during S7, upon seeing the scene(s) where the various members of the former Bartlet staff arrived at the dedication ceremony for his Presidential Library that the way they were set up (as flash forwards) we couldn’t have seen Leo in them because how he would’ve had to be addressed, protocol-wise, would’ve given away who won the election... which wasn’t until the end of the season/series.

If Jed & the Bartlet staff called him “Leo”, that likely meant Vinick won the election; if they called him “Mr. Vice-President”/“Mr. Vice-President-Elect”, that meant Santos won (& you know, protocol-wise, Leo probably wouldn’t stand for being called “Leo” by Jed if he were the VP, since he NEVER called Jed anything but “Mr. President”, even in situations where he could call him “Jed” since they were supposed to be best friends before Jed became President—like Martin’s character in The American President would never call Michael Douglas’ character “Andy”, even when they were alone, though they’d been best friends before the White House days).

Donna was also missing from the former Bartlet staffers at the dedication ceremony. It was opined that if she was there, then that would give away the status of her & Josh’s relationship, somehow. Of course, in retrospect, the fact she wasn’t there probably could’ve also been an indicator of the status of her relationship with Josh. Especially since he was there. The only thing we didn’t know about him, at the time, was if he was there as a former (or returned) Bartlet staffer or as a Santos staffer. His only line during the arrivals sequence was to announce the arrival of whichever guy won the Presidency; he could’ve said that as a member of either Jed’s or Santos’ staff.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, BW Manilowe said:

No. John Spencer passed on December 16, 2005 (4 days before his birthday that year), while the show was on its Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s hiatus that season. They likely had been filming since about midsummer (July-ish), as usual.

As I remember, a number of people (myself included) posted, on whichever board we were posting on during S7, upon seeing the scene(s) where the various members of the former Bartlet staff arrived at the dedication ceremony for his Presidential Library that the way they were set up (as flash forwards) we couldn’t have seen Leo in them because how he would’ve had to be addressed, protocol-wise, would’ve given away who won the election... which wasn’t until the end of the season/series.

If Jed & the Bartlet staff called him “Leo”, that likely meant Vinick won the election; if they called him “Mr. Vice-President”/“Mr. Vice-President-Elect”, that meant Santos won (& you know, protocol-wise, Leo probably wouldn’t stand for being called “Leo” by Jed if he were the VP, since he NEVER called Jed anything but “Mr. President”, even in situations where he could call him “Jed” since they were supposed to be best friends before Jed became President—like Martin’s character in The American President would never call Michael Douglas’ character “Andy”, even when they were alone, though they’d been best friends before the White House days).

Donna was also missing from the former Bartlet staffers at the dedication ceremony. It was opined that if she was there, then that would give away the status of her & Josh’s relationship, somehow. Of course, in retrospect, the fact she wasn’t there probably could’ve also been an indicator of the status of her relationship with Josh. Especially since he was there. The only thing we didn’t know about him, at the time, was if he was there as a former (or returned) Bartlet staffer or as a Santos staffer. His only line during the arrivals sequence was to announce the arrival of whichever guy won the Presidency; he could’ve said that as a member of either Jed’s or Santos’ staff.

I know when John Spencer passed away. I've talked about it on this very thread. And I'm also aware that most of scripted shows resume filming in July for the next season.

But I've also seen shows aired, that it was clear the episodes were filmed either a year before or even later and aired out of order.

Bartlet would absolutely call Leo, Leo. And I don't believe that would indicate that Vinick won the election. That is your take on it.

Donna was always invited to and was at all events, able to see the president because her voice ALWAYS needed to be heard😒🙄; so if she showed up at the dedication ceremony, I don't think it would reveal anything about whatever her relationship with Josh was. At least, not to me, or to anyone else who could see that they would eventually get together. Those that watched the show regularly and those who shipped them.

They had to have that stupid twat Kate at the ceremony and that SamWannaBe Will, who admittedly, stopped being a smarmy jerk after Toby was fired and took over as Press Secretary.

Toby was at the dedication ceremony, so that took out/removed any drama over what would happen to Toby near the end of the season, since the audience knew Bartlet and Toby had made up.

And I still remain confused as to how Toby was protecting David during that whole shuttle leak subplot. Like I posted above, Toby wasn't in on those conversations about the astronauts. How would he know? Even if David bragged about the U.S. weaponizing space, how was he protecting David--who died before that incident with the astronauts--when/if he leaked that the government was weaponizing space to Brock?

Like we discussed up thread, not having Zoey or Liz at Ellie's wedding was stuck out like a huge ass thumb. Practially ALL of Washington, D.C.'s politicians were there, but the bride's sisters couldn't? I blame Wells. I'm blaming every mistake, snub, on Wells. Yes, I'm that petty. Because Charlie--someone Bartlet considered a son--wasn't at the wedding either!

But, they all were there for Leo's funeral. EXCEPT FOR SAM. Rob Lowe returns for the last three episodes, but not for Leo's funeral??!! AND neither Sam or Josh mention Leo when Josh goes to get Sam to join his staff? I blame Wells.

Are we sure Liz is a Bartlet? That she would accept that her lying, cheating, douche of a husband should be someone their children should be proud of and look up to, "no matter what he's done" is just...mind boggling.

And yes, as a palate cleanser, I watched the pilot at 2:00 a.m. this morning, so I could go to bed with a smile on my face after hearing Bartlet's "...Get your FAT ASSES out of my White House."

Just watching that pilot, Bartlet and his staff discussing world events, just highlighted, for me, how much the last two and a half seasons SUCKED.

[Moose135]

6 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And I still remain confused as to how Toby was protecting David during that whole shuttle leak subplot. Like I posted above, Toby wasn't in on those conversations about the astronauts. How would he know? Even if David bragged about the U.S. weaponizing space, how was he protecting David--who died before that incident with the astronauts--when/if he leaked that the government was weaponizing space to Brock?

I think Toby was protecting David's widow. After David's shuttle flight had issues in S1, he may have told her "don't worry if there is a problem, there's a secret shuttle and they can rescue us."  When the shuttle mission in S7 had problems and it looked like nothing was being done to rescue them, she dialed a reporter. Not that a reporter would run with the story just on her word, but it could have given him enough to start poking around, talking to his other sources, and uncovering enough to report on the military shuttle.

[Guest]

22 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

But, they all were there for Leo's funeral. EXCEPT FOR SAM. Rob Lowe returns for the last three episodes, but not for Leo's funeral??!! AND neither Sam or Josh mention Leo when Josh goes to get Sam to join his staff? I blame Wells

That annoyed me. I think they wanted the “reveal” of Josh going to see him, but it was so ridiculous. There is no way he would have missed the funeral without good reason.

Either CJ was supposed to be the leaker and they changed their mind or it was all a series of red herrings, IMO. Richard Schiff thinks it was done to Toby because the writers had something against him personally. 

[CheshireCat]

On 10/24/2020 at 1:02 PM, BW Manilowe said:

Donna was also missing from the former Bartlet staffers at the dedication ceremony. It was opined that if she was there, then that would give away the status of her & Josh’s relationship, somehow. Of course, in retrospect, the fact she wasn’t there probably could’ve also been an indicator of the status of her relationship with Josh.

They gave away the status of CJ's and Danny's relationship, so if that was the reason, it makes little sense to me.

[BW Manilowe]

3 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

They gave away the status of CJ's and Danny's relationship, so if that was the reason, it makes little sense to me.

I know. But the results of the election & the Josh/Donna “Will they finally realize they can have a work relationship and a personal relationship at the same time (unless their employer forbids it)?” were the 2 major storylines they had to play out in the final season (I’d argue the military shuttle leaker storyline wasn’t as big in the show as they were making it out to be).

They weren’t gonna play their hands on those in the Bartlet Presidential Library Dedication flash forward; especially not Josh/Donna because so many fans (not necessarily including me) had been wanting them to “get your heads outta your asses & get together already!” for so long; especially after Josh dropped everything to fly to Donna’s bedside at the US military hospital she was evacuated to in Germany, after she was injured in the car bombing of the US delegation to Gaza which also killed Admiral Fitzwallace, & Members of Congress & some staffers who were too unimportant in the storyline to show while they were alive.

[BW Manilowe]

Speaking of the dedication of the Bartlet Presidential Library, how far forward do you think they went for that to take place in the show’s universe?

I mean, the President whose arrival they were awaiting in the scene was supposed to be either Santos or Vinick, by process of elimination (we don’t know who, at that point), & they’re at an unspecified point in their Presidency—either still in the first term or possibly somewhere in the second—but we know they only had up to 8 years, maximum, to say either was there, & in real life it seems to take forever to build a thing like that... a Presidential Library/Center/Museum (whatever you wanna call it). 

They don’t seem to get them done during the first term of the successor in real life, like they might’ve been implying they did in the show. And I still remember when the title card for the Bartlet Library dedication scene originally said “Dedication to the Josiah Bartlet Presidential Library”, instead of the correct “Dedication of the Josiah Bartlet Presidential Library”, which NBC obviously heard about & managed to fix—thankfully—for the 7th Season/Complete Series DVDs, streaming & subsequent TV airings.

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

Speaking of the dedication of the Bartlet Presidential Library, how far forward do you think they went for that to take place in the show’s universe?

There was a tag at the opening scene that it was 3 years from Today or something like that--but it was 3 years, so it's Santos' first term in this episode.

 

9 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

I know. But the results of the election & the Josh/Donna “Will they finally realize they can have a work relationship and a personal relationship at the same time (unless their employer forbids it)?” were the 2 major storylines they had to play out in the final season (I’d argue the military shuttle leaker storyline wasn’t as big in the show as they were making it out to be).

By the final season, Donna and Josh weren't employee/employer any longer. She had already quit in season six.

The shuttle leaker was absolutely a huge thing because by Toby admitting he did it, he was out of the inner circle. Toby was part of Bartlet's team since DAY ONE. And the fact that it played out over several episodes and into the final season. Keeping Margaret ALL DAY testifying; CJ and Charlie getting subpoenas. I'd say that was a big deal. Then again, I don't give any good damns about whether Josh and Donna got together or not, because that relationship, just bugged me to no end.

I don't consider the Josh/Donna when will they a major storyline. At all. This show wasn't a night time soap, after all. There was no reason not to show that Donna was right behind Josh. And the show could have ended at the dedication where the premiere left off, since the flash back was so abrupt. Plus, like I posted up thread, Toby was there in the season 7 premiere, so that cut any drama or angst as to Toby's fate during the season, and there was no doubt that Bartlet would have pardoned Toby.

[ProudMary]

For anyone without access to HBO Max at the time it was released, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote is now available free-to-all until the end of 2020 at this link:

https://www.hbomax.com/votebecause
 

Edited October 29, 2020 by ProudMary
Typo

[ifionlyknew]

12 hours ago, ProudMary said:

For anyone without access to HBO Max at the time it was released, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote is now available free-to-all until the end of 2020 at this link:

https://www.hbomax.com/votebecause
 

Thank you for the link. I just watched it and what struck me was how much of the script was still relevant today.  When Donna was telling Josh about the concerns of the couple in New Hampshire they were things that the President's opposing party were in favor of but mistakenly believed it was what Bartlett was in favor of.  And when Bartlett was talking to Sam about how he knows what to do because he listens to his people made me think how badly I miss a president who will do that.

I must be in the minority because I didn't care for Sterling K. Brown's performance as Leo. I didn't dislike it but he portrayed him as emotionless and John Spencer always played Leo as someone who you could feel his emotions right there right under the surface and could bubble out at any moment.  SKB's Leo seemed very tightly wound and I never saw JS's Leo as that way.

Edited October 29, 2020 by ifionlyknew

[Kohola3]

14 hours ago, ProudMary said:

For anyone without access to HBO Max at the time it was released, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote is now available free-to-all until the end of 2020 at this link:

A thousand thanks for posting the link.  I really needed to see that today as the world spirals out of control.  I have seen Hartsfields Landing so many times I probably do the dialog myself and the actors used so many of the same mannerisms and inflections as in the original.  

Loved how Charlie saved Gail!

I do love SKB and it's not his fault but nobody could come close to playing Leo.  As @ifionlyknew said, there wasn't that underlying emotion that John Spencer was able to project so deftly.

Very much missed:  Fitzwallace and Danny

[CailynA]

The thing about the secret military shuttle was always interesting to me, I assumed Toby had reconnected with his brother who told him about it.

What made the story even more interesting was reading the autobios/bios of several shuttle astronauts and learning there were classified shuttle flights, the entire crew was military. The world knew they flew but their mission was secret and some are still classified today.

[Guest]

Despite having access to the show on Netflix and owning the DVD set, I’m watching on TNT today. I think my favorite sequence in the whole show starts as Abby cuts of his tie through “Can we have it back, please?”

[Kohola3]

Watching election night on TNT.  What a great flashback to see people lined up to vote, the machines with the levers and the curtain, the football player being so excited and wanting to "go again".  Gave me the warm fuzzies for sure.

[PeterPirate]

On 10/29/2020 at 11:48 AM, ifionlyknew said:

I must be in the minority because I didn't care for Sterling K. Brown's performance as Leo. I didn't dislike it but he portrayed him as emotionless and John Spencer always played Leo as someone who you could feel his emotions right there right under the surface and could bubble out at any moment.  SKB's Leo seemed very tightly wound and I never saw JS's Leo as that way.

Completely agree.  John Spencer brought empathy and vulnerability to Leo.  Leo was, after all, a recovering alcoholic.  I think it's hard for most male actors to make the kinds of acting choices that John Spencer did.  I am reminded that James Caan was cast in Misery after a bunch of actors turned down a role where they had to be at the mercy of a female character.  I still consider Bartlet For America to be the best hour of TV I have ever seen.     

 

And: 

Sean Connery was in The Hunt For Red October with
Sam Neill who was in Jurassic Park with
Laura Dern, the US Poet Laureate

Edited October 31, 2020 by PeterPirate

[GHScorpiosRule]

So I was watching Copland last night and when I saw John Spencer, I was like: 'How could I forget that he was in this?' to 'Oh NOOOOESSSSS! He's a dirty cop!' to 'Well, at least he was only in three or four scenes and only spoke in his first one' No wonder I'd blanked it out!

Still a good movie with a stellar cast.

[ifionlyknew]

13 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

So I was watching Copland last night and when I saw John Spencer, I was like: 'How could I forget that he was in this?' to 'Oh NOOOOESSSSS! He's a dirty cop!' to 'Well, at least he was only in three or four scenes and only spoke in his first one' No wonder I'd blanked it out!

Still a good movie with a stellar cast.

There is an 80's movie Hiding Out in which John Spencer plays an FBI agent. When I had originally seen the movie I didn't know who JS was and didn't pay much attention to his character who was only onscreen for less than 10 mins.  Fast Forward about 15 years and upon a rewatch I see JS and think hey It's Leo.  

He is also in a good Billy Crystal movie called Forget Paris.  

[BlackberryJam]

John Spencer was the cop in Presumed Innocent, 1990 Harrison Ford film based on a Scott Turow book. It's good. I loved Raul Julia in that film and right now, why couldn't Raul Julia have played Matt Santos' father?? That would have been fantastic. (Yes, it's only a 15 year age difference, but who cares?)

I miss Raul Julia. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I first got introduced to John Spencer on L.A. Law, as Tommy. He was awesome.

Then in the pilot for Law & Order Mothership as the father of the victim. I was like, hey! It's Tommy! I loved the way he pronounced antibiotic, as anteeebeeotic; I always say it as antibyeotic! Hee!

[BlackberryJam]

4 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I first got introduced to John Spencer on L.A. Law, as Tommy. He was awesome.

Then in the pilot for Law & Order Mothership as the father of the victim. I was like, hey! It's Tommy! I loved the way he pronounced antibiotic, as anteeebeeotic; I always say it as antibyeotic! Hee!

Oh that’s right. And Jimmy Smits was on LA Law. He and John Spencer had ...I think two seasons together? Victor and Tommy, that’s your presidential ticket!

[AriAu]

Quote

 

For anyone without access to HBO Max at the time it was released, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote is now available free-to-all until the end of 2020 at this link:

https://www.hbomax.com/votebecause

 

Thanks for the heads up......and given everything else going on, I decided to watch it 3 or 4 more times and noticed the following:
1. The napkin on Sterling K Leo's desk at the beginning while talking to POTUS...was it there in the original?

2. Toby bouncing the spaldeen in the black and white stills. Since it wasnt part of the episode, its got to be safe to assume that Richard Schiff brought his own.

3. First time they said "New Hampshire", i instinctively said "It's what's new"

4. Is it possible to buy Snuffy and the quintet doing the opening theme?

5. Mackie Flender-Fed Chair.Ha!

6. Didn't love the PSAs other than Dule and Elizabeth Moss-perfect writing and just the right tinge of "yeah, we know its over the top, but it's ok". Dule and Sterling K crossed that line......and seriously, how did Samuel L not swear once.

7. The staging was great and there were virtually no gaffes....but was that pawn supposed to fall over.

8. For all WingNuts, be sure to check out The West Wing Weekly Pod with Joshua Malina and Hrishi.....Sorkin is on and there are some pretty cool insights into how it got made.

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by AriAu

[kassygreene]

10 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

Oh that’s right. And Jimmy Smits was on LA Law. He and John Spencer had ...I think two seasons together? Victor and Tommy, that’s your presidential ticket!

As I recall (and just verified on IMDB), JS's first television credit was on the pilot for Miami Vice.  And in that role, a very young and skinny Jimmy Smits also played the first person to be killed on Miami Vice.

[PeterPirate]

9 hours ago, AriAu said:

1. The napkin on Sterling K Leo's desk at the beginning while talking to POTUS...was it there in the original?

Wow, I did not catch the napkin while watching the special.  Thanks for that.  I went back and did not see it in the original episode.  

Fwiw, I don't think they used the exact same napkin Bartlet gave to Leo in Bartlet For America.  I'm pretty sure they did use the same one on the final scene of Tomorrow.  But hey, it's been 15 years, and it's the thought that counts.     

Edited November 3, 2020 by PeterPirate

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, kassygreene said:

As I recall (and just verified on IMDB), JS's first television credit was on the pilot for Miami Vice.  And in that role, a very young and skinny Jimmy Smits also played the first person to be killed on Miami Vice.

When I read this, I thought, wait, John Spencer wasn't in the pilot of Miami Vice! And then when you wrote out Jimmy's name, I was like, ohhhhh, @kassygreene was talking about Jimmy Smits when she typed "JS"!🤪

 

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[PeterPirate]

From Election Night:   
Sam - Democrats and diehards vote early, right?

From What Kind Of Day Has It Been:
Bartlet - Decisions are made by those who show up.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I meant to post this much, much earlier, but I got sidetracked, heh.

When Bartlet is talking about the current Prime Minister in India as the granddaughter of the first, Nehru (total fiction here, because Rajiv, his grandson was the last Gandhi to be Prime Minister when he was assassinated), I got a smile on my face. Why? Because I remember Martin Sheen playing an American reporter in 1982's Gandhi, who reported when India gained her independence. And it's also one of the reasons I cringe when Bartlet mispronounces Kashmir.

Oh, what I would have given if Roshan Seth had made a cameo on this show.

[PeterPirate]

From Election Night:   

Jack - You know, this is the first election in my life where I haven't had to vote by absentee ballot and I was really looking forward to pulling that lever.

Donna - Absentee ballot. I know how you feel. I'm from Wisconsin. It's my home, but here I am in Washington on Election Day.

Jack - I've usually been on a Los Angeles class submarine in the South China Sea.

Donna - Don't try to trump me here. It's not a battle. We're in this together.

Edited November 8, 2020 by PeterPirate

[Kohola3]

Wow, what inadvertant foreshadowing!

[MaryMitch]

18 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Wow, what inadvertant foreshadowing!

I recently finished binge watching the series (watched it instead of election coverage since I knew that would be a waste of time), and it's amazing how many topics in the show are relevant now.

[kieyra]

We're also rewatching. I had forgotten the stuff about the space shuttle Columbia in season one. Oof. That was hard to watch. 

As a result of rewatch, I also discovered that Aaron Sorkin apparently doesn't use twitter. (I looked, only found one tweet from 2014.) Can't say I blame him. I tried to briefly tell my husband how Sorkin got into it with viewers on TWOP back in the day and came out looking ... not great (for the pre-social media times) ... but the husband worships Sorkin and was not having any of it. 

It's hard not to watch young Elisabeth Moss through slightly jaded eyes now and be super unimpressed with her acting. (That early scene in the Georgetown bar is also pretty silly in general, in terms of how long Zoey remains physically blocked behind the two cartoon villains.)

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, kieyra said:

It's hard not to watch young Elisabeth Moss through slightly jaded eyes now and be super unimpressed with her acting.

I was thoroughly unimpressed with her acting at the time, so remain a bit stunned she went on to have the career she's had as an adult.  The only thing I've seen her in since is Us, so I don't have a proper frame of reference, but, while she was better there she was just okay.

[VCRTracking]

Dang. I forgive Akiva Goldsmith for BATMAN & ROBIN now!

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by VCRTracking

[PeterPirate]

On 11/7/2020 at 3:43 PM, Kohola3 said:

Wow, what inadvertant foreshadowing!

I know, right?  I sometimes edit lines from the show slightly for dramatic effect.  But in this case I took the words exactly from the transcript.  Any change I made would have only been detrimental.  

 

And from In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen.  Words that I literally quoted to my daughter while imploring her to be diplomatic (ie, "act like an adult") in writing an email expressing her unhappiness over some substandard customer service.   

Leo - Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you.  Put it another way, fake it till you make it.

[BW Manilowe]

On 11/9/2020 at 1:17 PM, VCRTracking said:

Dang. I forgive Akiva Goldsmith for BATMAN & ROBIN now!

 

Akiva’s last name is Goldsman, not Goldsmith.

Edited November 13, 2020 by BW Manilowe
To fix a name and spacing.

[ProudMary]

Let's all send our healthiest vibes to Richard Schiff (and to Sheila Kelley too.)

 

[anna0852]

Someone needs to go outside, turn around three times and spit...

[Kohola3]

As my local committee members were celebrating on election night I kept repeating:  "You want to tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing?"

Of course, none of them knew what that meant.  But look what happened.

[PeterPirate]

I have a certain song running in my head over and over and over.  Here's a related quote from The Indians In The Lobby: 

Bartlet - There's nothing wrong with the policy, it's just too small. I could fund this initiative out of my pocket.
Toby - It's ten million dollars.
Bartlet - Leo could fund it out of his pocket. Shouldn't this be local government, like the YMCA or something?

[ifionlyknew]

On 11/8/2020 at 1:56 PM, kieyra said:

We're also rewatching. I had forgotten the stuff about the space shuttle Columbia in season one. Oof. That was hard to watch. 

I just finished a season one rewatch and while I remembered the space shuttle story with Toby's brother I  honestly think I had forgotten about it when the other space shuttle story came up in later seasons when I watched it when it originally aired.

Watching the show now while all this real life political upheaval is happening is so surreal.  It saddens me that so many of the issues they talked about and fought about on the show over 20 years ago is still being fought about today.

[ProudMary]

This is certainly not the update that any of us here would have wanted to see. 😔

 

[Bastet]

Better update from Schiff today; he's just been released from the hospital:

And he posted this lovely Tweet to Allison Janney for her birthday (Toby and C.J.'s relationship was my favorite of the show, and I love that the friendship between the actors grew quickly and into one that remains close):

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Bastet