#west wing rewatch

[crownofstardustandbone]

Literally every time I hear the west wing theme song I start crying lmao this show is so deeply embedded in my soul I’ll never be free

[victoriahughes]

Doing a rewatch of The West Wing, and I started with S7, because that's my favourite, and then went onto all the Matt Santos episodes in S6, and now I'm gone all the way back to S1. May also watch my favourite S7 episodes again tho, in between.

I don't understand some of the politics in the show and the US government and how it works okay so I barely know anything and half the time I'm more than a little confused. But even after all this time I still love this show so much. I watch it for the characters.

And I am totally buying the complete West Wing boxset as a birthday treat to myself for my bday next month. Because I need those gag reels and unaired/deleted scenes.

So yeah, that's why I'm currently reblogging all these West Wing gifsets. And yeah, this has been a random post about the West Wing. And my love for it.

And maybe I am working on some ideas for a WW fic

[dearemma]

THE WEST WING 2.02 / 2.22

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[joysmercer]

my favorite running gag (that really shouldve run longer) is that bartlet apparently had a penchant of befriending and inviting random elite athletes to help him win friendly games against his staff

[midnight-els]

Why did you go to Notre Dame?

The West Wing (1999-2006) | 2x07 "The Portland Trip"

[madlori]

West Wing rewatch

(Yes I posted about this last night and then deleted it - initially i was thinking I might do a episode-by-episode reblog but ain't nobody got time for that)

There's a new book out called "What's Next" about the making of TWW and I thought it was time for a rewatch (it's been awhile - for some time there it was too depressing to watch it). I'm on episode 4, so here are some thoughts.

No other show has ever done "initial character introductions" as well as the pilot episode of this one. There's a lot of characters, and they're all so clear from minute one.

Even in their first episode appearances, it is SO CLEAR that Moira Kelly sticks out like a sore thumb. There's a thing with Sorkin's writing that you can either get it in your mouth, or you can't. She can't. The energy is off. She doesn't match the others' freak. Every time I've rewatched this show, this fact is more and more obvious.

Bingeing also reveals some of Sorkin's writing crutches...like the "characters repeat the same line several times to different characters or even to the same one for comedic effect" thing he does all the time.

I'm not here to suck Sorkin's dick or anything but damn, a lot of this dialogue is amazing.

The dramatic technique in the pilot of everyone talking about the President but nobody seeing him until That Entrance he makes is freaking genius.

God, Sam Seaborn is a douche in these first few episodes. His patronizing, aggressive behavior towards Laurie is really inexcusable - happily a lot of the other characters call him out on this but I always feel like the show's kind of on his side.

Also...Sam. You spent several years with Leo McGarry almost 24/7 on the campaign trail, and somehow were not aware that his daughter is an adult and not a 4th grader? Paging narrative continuity.

John Amos as Admiral Fitzwallace is one of my favorite recurring characters. The scene where Leo's asking him about the optics of hiring Charlie, a young black man, to be the President's personal aide and he just has no time for it. "I have plenty of real battles to fight, Leo. I don't have time for the cosmetic ones." Good advice, that.

This show does not work without John Spencer.

Martin Sheen somehow conveys all at once that this President is both very smart and very naive at the same time, as well as that his personal ethics may not be entirely compatible with his job.

God, every time Mandy shows up it's like a needle-scratch and the entire scene grinds to a halt.

Charlie is a great character but I always suspected that after the pilot, they suddenly realized they had an all-white cast (well, apart from Martin Sheen who is Hispanic but isn't playing one here) and were like...um let's add a character who isn't. Maybe that'll be discussed in this book I'm reading.

[hawksredrobe]

in this essay i will talk about how josh lyman is one of my favorite characters of all time and he is so complex and SO lovable and so well written and how thinking about him makes me want to actually sob and claw the walls

[writing-is-hard-af]

Cannot get over the random hyperfixations Sam gets just because someone mentions something to him and how they take over his interests entirely for whole episodes. Truly a character for the people. And by the people I do indeed mean me.

[bookofjudith]

I want you to want me

[victoriahughes]

Come across a scene in a S1 ep in my West Wing rewatch. And Josh and Donna are talking about picking a guy to sit out the State of the Union. And maybe it’s because I’ve recently been watching it lately, but my immediate thought was of Designated Survivor. May have pictured Kiefer Sutherland. 🤔🤷‍♀️

[moomin279]

The thing about the west wing is that they're are all pathetic nerds and watching this show as a teenage girl really influenced who I find attractive

[marta-bee]

Apparently in the big NY rally this weekend, Trump said he had a secret plan. I could do a few paragraphs about how dangerous and otherwise bad that is, but I don't want to. Instead, have some West Wing clips about another, objectively funny secret plan.

And the thrilling sequel:

[joysmercer]

🎵 you're jealous cuz danny was flirting with mandy! 🎶

(in which josh is a menace and cj realizes he takes his role as 'little brother' way too seriously slkdfj)

[haaam-guuuurl]

But why haven't we gotten a West Wing spin off about Charlie Young's presidential campaign/ first term yet?

[madlori]

West Wingin' It

No TV show has ever successfully been able to use "New York Minute" as background music and this show is no different. It's too bombastic and cringe. It's always intrusive. They just want the lyrics "somebody's going to emergency, somebody's going to jail." This show even used it as the episode title. The song itself blows.

Bartlet really is kind of awful to Ellie, his middle daughter, in the previous episode. It's a sharp contrast to how he is with Zoe.

I keep forgetting about some of these guest stars. Felicity Huffman!

One of the things that has NOT aged well about this show is the casual misogyny. In what universe is it supposed to be cute and charming for Sam to tell Ainsley that people think she was hired because she's a "leggy blond sex kitten?" And then Bartlet repeats it! Also Emily Proctor is tiny and not leggy. And earlier in the series when Leo tells Hoynes that CJ didn't tattle on him because "she's a good girl." GROSS, LEO. They do a lot of commenting on various womens' beauty but never for the men despite the fact that literal Rob Lowe is there. They do it when Matthew Perry shows up, if I remember, and I guess there's some swooning over Lord John. It just hits different.

That being said, the scene of her doing the bossa nova in a bathrobe in the Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue is pretty cute.

Despite this being not a great episode, it features my favorite Big Block of Cheese Day scene, namely the Cartographers for Social Equality.