Revisiting "The West Wing" 

Aaron sorkin said that josh lyman is just bradley whitford if he had gone to law school instead.

@@LuisMartinez-rw2lj I believe that. I always thought Josh was Brad

@There Aphelion well, aren't you just an adorable little asshole

.I am glad to hear that your experiences with Bradley Whitford coincide with mine. I met him at a party at his house. I was there to make tacos for his party. I asked if he would mind discussing politics with me for a moment. He was incredibly generous with his time and spoke to me off and on throughout the day. He is a genuine and nice human being. I am so glad I got the chance to speak with him.

@@ricksamericana749 he is a very nice guy. Most of the A level celebrities I met in LA were decent people. Oddly enough, the lower down the pecking order, the nastier they were. I had more than one encounter with a C or B level celebrity who was nasty to me when they were coming in for a casting call. I guess they didn't know that the casting director always checked with the support staff to see how the actor treated them before casting. The last thing producers want is talent that are going to be a problem on set. A couple of particularly nasty actors lost their chance because of that. Note to all aspiring actors: ALWAYS be nice to the receptionists and assistants. It may be the difference between being cast or not.

me too. I've seen the entire series 3 times through. brilliant writing and acting.

I was really annoyed by the politicking and the constant nationalism. It was good, but I won't rewatch it. And The Newsroom was better :-p

.....shhhhhhhhhh!

I liked the part where all the women were dumb broads 100% of the time and never did anything about the RAMPANT sexism in Aaron Sorkin’s coked-up universe. So cool

My dad and I are on complete opposites of the political spectrum, but this was a show we used to watch together on DVD because I got into it as an adult. He would often say, "I really hate Bartlett's politics, but I admire his morality and I'm so glad they try to show all sides of the argument," so the fact that it could bring my dad and I together alone makes it a great show.

Always loved Toby best for that

ONE cool thing about Toby? He was wonderful ALWAYS.

And so does Richard Schiff!

Was why I liked the episode where they tasked Will with whether or not he could tell truth to power. Felt it was poignant that Toby said that.

Toby spoke the lines that were written for him! Lol

Same.. it's therapy...

I had to start watching again as we approached the election just to remind myself how U.S. government is supposed to work. Still watching.

I’m Canadian and the opening score at the beginning makes me teary eyed.

Same. I watched and re-watched it many times during hard times in my life, it's been there when i've needed something good to remind me of better times.

Netflix has it.

America desperately needs to be reminded of the contrast and what might be possible. The current administration cannot become the expected norm for future administrations.

Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. or buy/rent the DVD boxsets..

Your post might as well be read as; I want to keep my illusions of an imaginary fairyland.

Now it's only available on HBO Max. Bummer.

Go back to university. This show is garbage.

thats excatly what wrote in some video this evening...very deep memories

I try to tell people that if they want to learn how the government works they should watch the West Wing. I tell my Republican friends to ignore the issues, whether you are a Conservative or Liberal you can learn a lot about how the government works. I believe that most people who work in Public Service do it because they love this country and try to do their best with little pay and almost no recognition. There is an episode where the President hires a Republican lawyer and how she comes to respect the President and his staff and takes the job that says it all.

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@@jasontoddmarcum4483 Well that's just like, your opinion, man.

Yes, you're absolutely right. with many tanks to 62,984,825 us citizens who voted for the worst president your country has never had.

Return to? America was never this great. It could be.. but it never was.

Absolutely! We can recommend it to others...I have the entire series on DVD, watch it every Fall.

Amen!

It's really mind boggling that with Trump's election, people think that the author of the West Wing knew anything about politics. The show was basically all about bipartisanship and the left and right fringes being "out-done" by the centrist protagonists. If fictional Bartlet actually ran, he would get demolished by any of the right and left opposition in the country.

I would ,too but it makes me too sad considering what we have now.

It’s funny, I always think about how al gore and the rest of the democrats who lose in shame rant about climate change as they fly their personal jets and get paid by people who want to be admonished. I wish it was that easy to build an empire!

Well trump isn’t a very nice person but to accuse him of not caring about public service is ridiculous. He’s a billionaire, he could spend his days sleeping with models, partying with celebs, literally do anything he wanted. And he decided to do one of the hardest jobs ever, where he and his family would be the worlds punching bag for 6 years. He started no new wars He helped the economy He helped the stock market He helped unemployment He helped crush Isis He killed that Iranian general that funded and ordered terrorist attacks in Iraq. He got North Korea to stop test firing missiles. He brokered a meeting beautiful historic meeting between north and South Korea. He met with the leader of North Korea (first president to ever do that) I agree with you he’s got a very unpleasant personality…..I wouldn’t want to invite him to a dinner party. But I have to respect he wanted to serve, despite his personal wealth, despite how he would be treated. if you look at just the facts, if you look at his actions and ignore his words. It’s hard to argue he’s not been a good president, even if he’s an odious asshole.

@@jimmy2k4o Not to mention all the hope and encouragement he has given to those whose desire to overthrow the government, would have only led to rejection and shame.

Yeah, after the second season, House of Cards kind of went off the rails. Unfortunately, writers like Aaron Sorkin are hard to find, and even harder to get to write a series.

@@ariochiv you can only imagine how hard it is to write Sorkin shows. When he explains his process and how he is never satisfied and wants to rewrite whole segments of an episode. I sure as hell couldn't do anything like that. I think the other thing is that most actors are not capable of memorizing and regurgitating the vast number of lines he writes for an actor into a role. I'm guessing that circumstance limits which actors can handle his movies. Jeff Daniels is an example of this. He's now on stage doing Atticus Finch.

53:00 - I can see so many 'House of Cards' scenarios under this Administration. It's rather scary !

@There Aphelion What are you doing at this video? You don't belong here. Just another nutcase troll trying to incite a reaction with the word pussy. It's a thing so many of you do. It's like a drunk in a bar trying to get a fight started. There was a time when I'd throw fists in a bar but you outgrow that stuff.

So agree with this. It had to be said. Good on you.

This is the only drama series that I watched from start to finish. Usually, when I watch drama series, I could only hold my interest for 1 season....2 at most. But The West Wing was a class of its own.

I didn’t care for the episode when CJ goes home to visit her dad. And after season 4 (when sorkin left).

Levy is great, but I doubt he can do gravitas.

I imagine he’d be like toby on coke. He’d be a lot more expressive and energetic. But I like Toby as a stressed out mumbling deputy Downer. It’s great balance with Rob Lowe’s cutesy optimism and idealism. Sam: WE SHOULD DO X! *Toby looks up from his papers thinking, he exhales slowly, and asks in a tone nicer and quieter than he wants to.* Toby: how-are-we-going-to-pay-for-X?

@@jimmy2k4o I loved the relationship between Toby and Sam. I'd always heard that the initial premise was for it to be about Josh and Sam, but for me Toby is a far more interesting character than Josh and a much better foil for Sam. It saddened me when Rob Lowe left, though I think after 911 it probably became increasingly difficult to hold onto and write his boyish charm and idealism.

@@cylelle376 would have been a good arch to see Sam’s optimism leave as the first years of the 21st century played out. Like many of us remember doing in the first years of this millennium. I love their dynamic too since they’re both speech writers but one is younger and idealistic and the other is older and experienced. Together they make the right balance, Sam reaches for the stars and Toby lays out a crash matt. I think Josh works best either as a solo character or as a surrogate son to Leo and/or the president. I think Josh is best at what he does, acts as the president’s muscle to whip votes etc. If any character is best suited to having episode long arch’s with a one off guest character it’s Josh. When he’s with a congressman or senator you can feel they know each other well. With Sam, or Toby there a little less skilled at soft pressure. Since Sam and Toby write speeches to make people happy and inspired while Josh does the real political work of making deals to pass bills. This leads to Josh being better at utilizing power and control while Tony and Sam are more hot headed.

J. Anderson I would love to see how president Bartlett would deal with covid-19

@@DCPLMinistry I know one thing for sure CJ Craig would definitely be handling the press releases.

J. Anderson if she was for trump no but for Bartlett with his ms definitely

@There Aphelion it is a TV show but any thing would be better than what we have today. King Kong would be better than trump and he is dead (even tho he was a make believe ape--King Kong, I mean , not trump. Trump is a real life ape).

TV is supposed to be better than the real thing otherwise we wouldn’t watch it

I heard composer Snuffy Walden on the radio, probably Fresh Air, being interviewed during West Wing’s first season. He had done TV music before but he was really intimidated doing “presidential music” and he was stumped. He then pointed out that the soaring theme to West Wing is really a reworking of “Taps.”

3x for me! and I still cry when POTUS learns of Zoe’s kidnapping

The writing after season 4 got pretty bad.

@@ariochiv Yup, right at the same time that Aaron Sorkin departed from the show.

Yes, it was not a coincidence.

Arioch IV there were still some good eps after season 4 tho. Like the episodes with the new Supreme Court justice.

Richard tried his best for the writers to not add that storyline but at least they made Jed forgive him

Remind me. What happened?

@@francesca7142 In the 6th season the international space station had a leak and the space shuttle was not in any position to be deployed "any of ours" and the Russians could not send a Soyuz up and the people on the space station was going to run out of air and die. A white house reporter got a tip from a senior white house staffer "on the record" that there was a secret air force space shuttle that the president was not going to send to the space station. So it outed the president and he was forced to send up the military shuttle. The White house was then searched and it was implied that it was CJ Craig who leaked the information. Toby admitted that it was him and he was fired for cause and brought up on charges and Bartlet pardons him near the end of season 7. It kind of shows that the writers ran out of ideas for Toby's character. Even though Toby is the moral center and voice for the president in the earlier seasons. They moved the center of the ensemble onto CJ Craig as she took over Leos position as chief of staff after Leo's heart attack when in the real world a press secretary would not be tapped to take over the co presidents job in our government. Which is what the chief of staffs job is at the white house. Tobys character was so rich as his father was a hitman for murder incorporated and his rage fed his drive in how he pursued his life. The writers screwed the character. At times the writes did some ham fisted story lines that were weak.

@@bayareaartist999 Everything after Sorkin was weak.

Agreed. I’m not overly fond of season 5, but I’m good with much of what they did after AS left. However, the only thing that really kills me is the Toby storyline. It’s entirely out of character that he wouldn’t have been fighting with the president internally but choose to leak it instead, and Richard Schiff felt the same way. It almost seemed like the producers were trying to hurt the character and therefore Richard Schiff.

The storyline of Toby leaking the secret of the military space shuttle was Richard Schiff's idea. I learned recently that Richard's contract was up and wanted to leave the show, and Richard and Aaron came up with the storyline and idea that Toby needed to have a catastrophic fall more than any other character, because Richard always thought that Toby would be the one person who would done that kind of thing, secretly leaking classified secrets. So, that's why they did Toby "dirty" , was simply because his contract was up.

Seems a bit "handsy" too. If I was Bradley I may have moved my chair.

@@ruthtepin2130 Bradley has little sense of personal space as well.

Yeah he’s a rubbish moderator - no enthusiasm at all and no response to any of the answers.

I just finished it on Netflix. Look for it.

Fran G: I’m in sweden so Netflix deprives us of that🤬

America may have been more United in the past, but it's never been great. We've never had universal health care, which is and has always been a huge problem for so many Americans. We're obese, our poverty levels are ridiculous for what *should* be a country with such great resources, and the gap between the wealthy 1% and the rest of us certainly won't reunite this country. I've never hear so many people seriously discuss moving to places like Costa Rica. If my kids didn't live here, as soon as I retire I'd get my ass to somewhere like Portugal.

Wow.... *you* were clearly focused on the commentary....lolol 😎😎😎

RU-vid has a a lot of good material. Lots of animal shows, which I like. You can find anything on it.

I’m rewatching again. It’s on HBOMAX. Has been there several years. Edit: March, 2023

It’s been on HBOMAX for several years and I watched somewhere else before that, maybe Prime (March 2023)

It annoyed me too. That audio is almost certainly coming from the Skype call with Janel Moloney, they never killed her audio feed even when she wasn't talking so that she could speak freely. The only other serious option would have been to exclude her altogether.

@@BartAlder She just needed to mute her mic and they needed to make her a part of the show just for a designated time, and otherwise forget the commentary and Skype lag.

....maybe you can get your money back...for, you know, the ticket you bought to see this

This is Harvard quality afterall

Yes, something outrageous like producing 3.5% unemployment. Like winding down U.S. involvement in Syria so the U.S. is no longer slaughtering people there. Like negotiating an agreement with the Taliban so the U.S. can start winding down being involved in slaughtering people there. Like negotiating a new trade treaty with Mexico and Canada the USMCA which goes into effect tomorrow, and which will at least start to undo all the damage which the NAFTA did over the last few decades. Good old Bartlett, who lied to the American people and everybody else about having a debilitating disease which could have completely incapacitated him from performing his duties at any time... You Trump haters are sick bastards out of touch with reality. Filled with so much hatred you cannot see straight or think straight. What's outrageous is your idiotic thinking that television is better than real life... You have a comic book view of the world, of Bartlett, and of the current president.

From an Australian outsiders view I pray this, that the US becomes more united again. Then it'll once again be the USofA and totally great again

Dude, it's NEVER been "totally great".

Lol word.

@@gina.1 it’s always felt so jarring, especially when the episodes ended with a cliffhanger

Search RU-vid. Someone might have taped it.

If they only knew what? I haven't watched it because I can't stomach Kevin Spacey, so I'm not familiar with what they didn't know.

They do that by following the path of every other US remake of an iconic British show. Take the premise. Change some names. Throw out what made the UK show iconic and then rewrite for a US audience. And stretch it out long past the time when the original material has become homeopathic in dilution. That's why the last half of most of them jump the shark.

@@iainhowe4561 That doesn’t answer my question. The UK is governed under the Westminster System which has two different people as head of government ((PM) and head of state (monarch/or their representative). The second season of the UK is based on the Westminster System as it is a showdown between the two different roles. The question I am asking is how did the US version handle this - as under its system the two roles are combined into the one person - POTUS.

I had no idea House of Cards was British! I've avoided watching it because I dislike Kevin Spacey, so if I can find the British version, that would delete that issue. I though Madame Secretary was pretty good. Nothing can come close to WW, though.

@@krisroth1612 Very true. WW is brilliant. One of my absolute favourites.

You would...ok! .....but, um..... *you* aren't The Actors 😎😎😎

Depends on the actor. Those who are more modest, eg Maggie Smith, probably don’t. I guess Brad Whitford falls into this category.

I’ve heard actors say they don’t watch because they only see their mistakes, some watch once and then leave it.

Yvette Moore Yes I have heard Maggie Smith say that.

As a former professional actor for more than 20 years, I can tell you that it is very common for people not to watch their work. I always found it painful, as, I’m sure, the audience did as well. ;-)

Democratic, not Democrat. You just outed yourself, fan of Boebert, Greene, Gaetz and the MAGA-Q crowd.

The description says this program was recorded March 2014, aired last in 2017

In what way?

Conservationists 😂 or 🤔. Oh yea conservatives. Just kidding folks👍 or sound techs👍

It's from 2014

I'm so glad I don't see it like that.