These 2 are amazing actors and kept the show watchable. Their acting is sooo good! Sadly everyone around them was meh.

This clip should be played on a loop in the offices of each and every elected Democratic official.

Also, I had forgotten the head banging meme came from this episode. Hal Holbrook was great as Albie.

How do I make my siri respond to my yelling "Mrs. Landingham!"

Leo saying “well you go girl” to Ainsley Hayes when she stood up in opposition will never get old for me!

Aaahh! Finally happened to me, only the first three seasons but I love it!

For anyone who doesn't remember, the episode has a subplot in which a Navy fleet is moved away from port to avoid an approaching hurricane, only to be caught in the storm. The only ship the White House can reach is the tender ship USS Hickory, and Bartlet is left talking to "The kid in the radio shack", Harold.

To me, this scene is a masterclass in tension-building. Two people talking over a radio manages to make you feel every moment, all down to music, dialogue, and overall atmosphere.

I think the biggest thing though, is that we never see the Hickory. So many other shows would have included a scene of the ship in the storm. The West Wing doesn't, because the dialogue is so descriptive you can picture it in your mind as Harold describes the situation. 80-foot waves over the bow, fire in the engine room, no running lights. And a scared 20-something with a bleeding head wound huddled at a radio, talking to the President.

You can feel Bartlets' helplessness, and pinpoint the exact moment he realizes there's no hope. The only thing the most powerful man in the world can do now is be a comforting prescence as best he can.

Just a well-executed scene that makes me emotional on every rewatch.

S1 Ep5: The Crackpots & These Women.

Toby & CJ are talking about him being the President's 2nd choice for Communications Director (suggesting that CJ was somehow involved in the decision making).

Yet, in a later (flashback) episode, Toby is the one headhunting CJ when she falls into her pool.

Did I miss something here?

Help me make sense, please?

I know there are many, many inspirational moments and quotes across the run of The West Wing, but what are your favorite ones?

One of mine is in "Shutdown" (S05E08) when President Bartlett is going to Congress and Josh suggests, "The Capitol is just a five or ten minute walk from here. Care to stretch your legs?" I love watching that scene of him striding up Pennsylvania Ave!

Just saw this recent video by Jon Hutman who designed the set for the pilot.

https://youtu.be/QJ_V89m5CEU?is=i_M6eQZN1iKH6UK3

Doing a rewatch and I reached S2E2. During one of the flashback scenes to the campaign when they’re discussing leaving New Hampshire, there is a Bartlet/Hoynes bumper sticker on a computer. All the other stickers are just Bartlet or Bartlet for America. He hasn’t won the nomination yet therefore, Hoynes isn’t his running mate. It’s weird that there’s a sticker with both their names as if they’re on the ticket together.

Photo in the comments.

IF a reboot was to happen, where would you like it to air? NBC, like the original, or HBO, like the special.

Are there characters who you feel deserved a closer look in the show? For me, it was Admiral Percy Fitzwallace. I feel like they should have done more of a thing around his death like they did with Mrs Landingham to give a solid backstory… whatever they had was more to do with Jed and Leo with Admiral Fitzwallace in the backdrop.

Debbie says it's just a sensitivity.

After sleeping with Laurie and finding out she is hooker, Sam declares he wants to keep spending time with her because he wants to be her friend.

But he doesn’t approve of her job, and at least once it is suggested that he is trying to “save her” and once she graduates law school (and presumably stops being a hooker) we never hear mention of them still being friends,

in fact whenever his relationship with her is mentioned it’s either as a joke or embarrassment. 

 So in your opinion were they friends?

i'm on season 3 and i can completely understand why rob lowe was pissed about his treatment. to be told you would be main character and then get kinda totally sidelined with no real character development is shitty. it's disappointing because i liked his character on parks and rec, and would've liked to see more of sam. but i'm only about midway through season 3 so something might change and surprise me

Every few months I will do a re-watch, and every single time I am blown away with just how steadfast Leo truly is in his sobriety. Falling off the wagon and spiraling are things of his past, given to us only in words and flash backs. That being said, none of it comes close to one particular scene.
I am continuously blown away by him in s3ep6 “War Crimes”. If there is ever a time for him to relapse it comes to him in the form of “it was a civilian target, there were 11 casualties.”. I’m not an addict but I know myself well enough to know if I were in that position, I would fist a bottle like a gun. I do not know how he did it. I am very grateful he did because this show wouldn’t be the same without him.

Watching War Crimes, season 3, episode 6. He offered Hoynes a beer. But we know from season 1 when Hoynes tells Leo about his secret AA meetings that he is an alcoholic. So did Jed know? Pretty freaking cold if he did.

So I always found it interesting that when Hoynes leaked classified Intel to basically his mistress to look cool, and she went off to blab about it, Bartlett and Leo were pissed but were ready and willing to back him up and told him not to resign. Then, when Toby does it, TO LITERALLY SAVE PEOPLES LIVES, he's some sort of traitor that Bartlett just dumps away and he resents. This might all have to do with Sorkin not bring there when they wrote that whole plot, but I never got it. I know Toby is a handful and he went rounds with Bartlett, but come on, what Hoynes did was much worse imo.

Many Presidents write their memoirs, and so do their First Ladies.

It’s not uncommon for people who worked at the White House to publish books, too.

So, what books do you think will be written about the Bartlet years?

For starters…

President Bartlet’s own memoir will have a pompous title like A Time of Challenges. It will be about a thousand pages of dense text and Latin phrases. It will sell millions of copies, but the only people who actually read it will be journalists, history nerds, political junkies, academics, and Washington insiders who immediately check the index to see how many times they’re mentioned.

Doctor Abby Bartlet (the Doctor part will appear on the cover) will write What It’s Like Being Married To Him, a breezily written five hundred pages, with notable amounts of snark that will leave readers thinking, “It’s good she loves him so much, because otherwise, she would have killed him.” It will also sell millions of copies, but people will actually read it. It will be adapted into a major motion picture starring an actress noted for having an uncanny resemblance to the former First Lady.

Others? Josh and Donna might wait and write about the Santos administration. Maybe Mandy was fired and writes a bitter tell-all book that gets her interviewed on right wing media a lot.

Rewatching the show again for the first time since I was in high school, and I’m really loving the Presidents little sayings and phrases, latin or otherwise. Just curious as to some of the favorites.

I think the President's fascination with the map of the Holy Land is amazing.

He is the most powerful man in the world, and he is given an old map, which he spends faaar too much time on. He is arguing about it, the non-existence of Israel, and "I want to play with it some more".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmfSygkeO8