Sarah's Marathon Diary: Fresh Faces And New Hopes Put The West Wing Back On Track In Season 6

[Primetimer]

The West Wing bounces back in Season 6 as Marathon Diarist Sarah Hope enters the final stretch.

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[GHScorpiosRule]

Simon's death was at the end of season three, not season two. 

[oakville]

I miss the West Wing. It was an excellent show. Season 6 was interesting because it foreshadowed a potential Obama-McCain race in 2008. I look forward to watching it again. watch it.

[Tara Ariano]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Simon's death was at the end of season three, not season two. 

Fixed.

[AriAu]

A little hard to read this summary knowing what actually happens-hasn't been the case before.

I am excited for her-she is literally Two Weeks Out.

[Kohola3]

Sarah, you are my heroine. I never watched all of Season 6 or 7 after the horrors of Season 5.  You have renewed my faith in my beloved TWW and I will put it on my "must watch " list for winter viewing (I live in northern MI with long, cold nights).  Gives me something to look forward to!

[gryphon]

As soon as the political ads became prominent on tv, I went back to TWW starting at the pilot. I had no idea Sarah was doing this until a week ago when perusing PTV site---AWE.SOME. TBH, I did skip a bunch of season 5, but the rest...it will always be one of my favourite shows. I love traveling through the series through Sarah's eyes.

[GHScorpiosRule]

34 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

Sarah, you are my heroine. I never watched all of Season 6 or 7 after the horrors of Season 5.  You have renewed my faith in my beloved TWW and I will put it on my "must watch " list for winter viewing (I live in northern MI with long, cold nights).  Gives me something to look forward to!

@Kohola3, I may be biased (just read my rants comments in season 6 and season 7 threads, but if you do end up watching, it will make you go running to rewatch Seasons 1 and 2, just to cleanse your palate!

[Kohola3]

Oh, I can recite the first 3 seasons line for line.  I have watched them each umpteen times.

[Sammy Sammerton]

I've had the desire to start watching again since the elections got serious but didn't get around to it. After the second week of reading this I had no choice! I can't keep up with your schedule but I remember and completely agree. I have 3 teenagers and a husband who have never watched and who are now addicted as well.
Thanks for doing this!

[Blueeyedgirl]

I just watched re-watched some of Season 7 - I didn't remember some details, and with the horror of these years' election it was good to watch something else. I thought the choices of candidates were amazingly prescient of '08 (well, '08 before McCain nominated Palin, anyway).

I have to disagree here with the choice of CJ as Chief of Staff. As a reaction to the realism of it: I thought she was a completely unrealistic choice - she was Press Secretary and reported to Toby as Communications Director. And Josh was second in command to Leo. OF COURSE they didn't react well. (Did Josh leave right away? I can't remember, but that would have been realistic after being passed over.) While CJ was clearly quite capable, she was never shown to be a policy wonk (or even adept at it) or a dealmaker with connections on capitol hill (as Leo & Josh were).

But, they were left with only the CJ character as the choice -- Josh had to move on, Toby clearly wasn't the right choice. It was CJ or a new character, and there were already too many of those.

On a personal note, of course I loved her once she was actually in the role, because they wrote her as being perfect for her and I loved having a strong,capable and unapologetically powerful woman in that role. It's just that the lack of realism of it never rang true and always took me out of the moment for a while.

[Blueeyedgirl]

I just watched re-watched some of Season 7 - I didn't remember some details, and with the horror of these years' election it was good to watch something else. I thought the choices of candidates were amazingly prescient of '08 (well, '08 before McCain nominated Palin, anyway).

I have to disagree here with the choice of CJ as Chief of Staff. As a reaction to the realism of it: I thought she was a completely unrealistic choice - she was Press Secretary and reported to Toby as Communications Director. And Josh was second in command to Leo. OF COURSE they didn't react well. (Did Josh leave right away? I can't remember, but that would have been realistic after being passed over.) While CJ was clearly quite capable, she was never shown to be a policy wonk (or even adept at it) or a dealmaker with connections on capitol hill (as Leo & Josh were).

But, they were left with only the CJ character as the choice -- Josh had to move on, Toby clearly wasn't the right choice. It was CJ or a new character, and there were already too many of those.

On a personal note, of course I loved her once she was actually in the role, because they wrote her as being perfect for her and I loved having a strong,capable and unapologetically powerful woman in that role. It's just that the lack of realism of it never rang true and always took me out of the moment for a while.

I can't figure out how to edit my response but here is what I meant to say more concisely:
"Would Toby and Josh really have that big of a problem with CJ becoming their boss? What possible reason could they have to disbelieve in her abilities and experience, and trust her?"

Toby was her boss, and Josh was senior to her, and both were overlooked for the promotion to Chief of Staff. OF COURSE they wouldn't be happy with her as the choice. :) She was smart and capable and clearly a marketing/PR guru, but not a policy or dealmaking expert. Bugged me then, bugs me now. (as you can see I had to say it twice...)

[BW Manilowe]

9 hours ago, Blueeyedgirl said:

I can't figure out how to edit my response but here is what I meant to say more concisely:
"Would Toby and Josh really have that big of a problem with CJ becoming their boss? What possible reason could they have to disbelieve in her abilities and experience, and trust her?"

Toby was her boss, and Josh was senior to her, and both were overlooked for the promotion to Chief of Staff. OF COURSE they wouldn't be happy with her as the choice. :) She was smart and capable and clearly a marketing/PR guru, but not a policy or dealmaking expert. Bugged me then, bugs me now. (as you can see I had to say it twice...)

I'm not sure I'd call CJ "a marketing/PR guru". Remember the "Toby goes to recruit CJ for Bartlet's 1st campaign" flashback in ITSOTG?

She was, basically, working at a PR job in Hollywood when Toby showed up at her house. She really wasn't good at it--she wasn't doing the right things for at least the client we saw in the flashback, she didn't give a crap about the job like she does her political ones, & she got fired from the job because the firm she worked for needed to keep the client she was alienating/had pissed off with her work on his behalf. And Toby showed up the day she got fired.

[Blueeyedgirl]

True...still, she was the Press Secretary, clearly a good one, but not a political operator getting bills passed. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I love(d) CJ!  Just didn't think it was odd for her former colleagues, both senior to her in the organization, to be not on board with working for her. 

[Driad]

The Chief of Staff job varies in different administrations.  AIUI, basically the CoS is office manager, managing the staff.  The CoS may also be an advisor to POTUS at some level.  Leo did a lot of advising, but that did not mean that the next CoS would also.  POTUS has plenty of advisors.