Casting Martin Sheen as the President for The West Wing is probably one of the best casting decisions made by any television program anywhere. I love how they worked in a lot of Sheen's personal quirks (like his inability to remember names) into his character.
I must admit that Martin Sheen is my favorite actor in this incredible series. And, the whole ensemble cast is magnificent. But, in seeing this, I have a soft spot in my heart for John Spencer. In every scene, he was so spot on. Leo/John made the series so much better than it would have been without him. He will always be missed.
That's the only time u will see it. Real people have to deal with the real world. The press who hate u, where u have to justify what u do, say or think. Good god the republicans in west wing make better democrats than Biden or Clinton. I think walker or vinick would have made a better president than bartlet but that's not the show
The episode, In Excelsis Deo, made me cry. After hearing Mrs. Landingham talk about both sons dying in Vietnam and then asking Tobey if she could go with him to bury the Korean War Vet, with the children in the background singing, Little Drummer Boy...it was too much. Very well done. My favorite episode of any show.
That drummer boy scene is my favorite. I play it every year. It's become my go-to tradition for how I get myself psyched for doing my Christmas prep work
This is one of my favorite series. Have just bought the West Wing series on DVD. LOOKED FOR IT A VERY LONG TIME. Wish with all my heart our country would have a President and Staff such as this. I believe we did with President Obama and his wife. If you’re a good person as a President, believe in the importance of the position and the people who you have the job of protecting, you age, and when you look back at Clinton, Kennedy, Ike, Jimmy Carter, and Obama, they all aged, because of their integrity, decency, honesty, and hard work for the Nation they swore to protect and defend. God bless them all.
I loved Martin Sheen as the Chief Of Staff in "The American President". Andrew Sheppard asked him, "why haven't I ever seen your name on a ballot?" Well, "The West Wing" put his name on a ballot & it was Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet. Well Done, Mr. Sheen, Well Done! To think that Mr. Sheen suffered a terrible heart attack in the middle of making ""Apocalypse Now" in 1979, & he came back in such a big way now, wow, just wow. The thought of it makes me smile. If you guys have never seen his film "The Way" please watch it. He made it with his son, Emilio Estevez.
Not only didn’t they plan to have a president, they didn’t even have a First Lady. Martin and Stockard met for the first time on the first morning’s shoot.
Even though this is a fictional show, it does show rather well what it is we would want and what we pretty much expect a President to be. Or at least aspire to be. And we usually see some of these good qualities in our Presidents. Obama, Clinton, the Bush's, Reagan, Kennedy........they all have or had at least one or 2 of these notable qualities that we expect. It is only now in our current times that we have a President who doesn't possess a single one of those redeeming qualities. Not a single one. Trump is the total antitheses of the character President Bartlett. And it is such a tragedy that politics has become so tribal and toxic that millions of "party over country" Americans could be so blind and willfully ignorant that they would elect a person with such abhorrent qualities simply because he was the Republican nominee. Had Trump been with the Democrats, every single one of his now supporters, would be outright disgusted and horrified at his actions and behavior. You know that is a 100% fact. And if you don't believe that, then you're simply lying to yourself.
I'm a life-long Republican, and I completely agree with every word. I pray someday we'll have those traits back on the oval office, and maybe even back in the Republican Party.
I agree wholeheartedly. I'm a Democrat & Barack Obama was the 1st Democratic Nominee that I voted for as my POTUS. I research all the candidates & choose the one who has the best track record (politically or in the private sector) OR the lesser of the two evils. When DJT ran against HRC, it was like seeing the opposite sides of the same plug nickel. I couldn't vote for either of them. If my state didn't allow for a write-in candidate, I wouldn't have voted for POTUS for the 2nd time in 38 yrs. (The 1st time I skipped voting, I was sicker than a dog & couldn't get out of bed.) We need to find better candidates to run for office. The old guard needs to go, no matter which party they are affiliated with. The majority of them have forgotten the reason they are in our government... to be our voices in the capitol, state or federal.
@@dee_dee_place I hear you. Unfortunately, with our current system, namely, the Electoral College, I find myself having no desire to go out and vote because my vote counts for nothing. I live in Texas, so unless it's a Republican vote, then it's pretty useless. Try as I may, I don't think I will ever understand how or why it is the Electoral College was ever formed. Logically, it makes no sense. The POTUS is a national position. States don't matter. It's the President of the UNITED States. And the argument about how states such as California would have a major influence to the election because they have such a large population and the majority are liberals. My answer would be....SO THE HELL WHAT. Just because you live in California, doesn't mean you are forced to be Democrats, no more than I am forced to be Republican just because I live in Texas. When we vote for the POTUS, we vote as Americans. Not Texans or Californians. Just like any other vote in political office, the majority wins. If the majority of Americans vote for a particular candidate, then they are the winner. How we have strayed from such a simple and logical system is baffling to me. The more I think about this, and the way that one party has tainted the system just for the purpose of stealing elections when they didn't earn them, makes me angrier and angrier.
+jeremybr2020 Rob Lowe left the show early in Season 4 and didn't return until very near the end of Season 7. This was made during Season 6. Rob does appear in a couple of clips but he wasn't interviewed for the documentary itself because he was working on something else.
We see Pres. Bartlett enter limping in with the aid of a walking cane. Now we've seen all seven seasons we wonder if the injury was a cover story for his MS? I like to believe the writer(s) thought that far ahead.
The opening paragraph just described everyone who ever went into politics. No one ever said: "Gee! Today I want to do evil for the country, and I hate my family and staff".
I read a quote once that went something like this, "No one ever went into politics solely to mess with the lives of others." Well...that shit went up in smoke.
Do evil? No. Serve themselves and accumulate power and wealth? Absolutely. I would bet money that the last truly selfless President we had - the last President who honestly went into it to try and make things better - was Carter. All you have to do is look at what they've done since leaving office. Selling books, giving speeches, campaigning - all self-serving. What's Carter doing? 95 years old (95!) and he's building houses for the homeless. THAT is a true leader.
I didn't realize when I read it but I am aware of Reaganomics. Interesting to note that John Spencer says what he meant about both Martin & Jed, the character. I wouldn't mind voting for Martin Sheen if he came up with a good plan.
4:20 Martin Sheen believes the character of Bartlet is taken from JFK, Carter and Clinton. I think that there's a bit of Reagan in there as well. Like JFK, Ronald Reagan was an idealist and also had a charisma that set him apart from other presidents. The best presidents have been those that, love him or hate him, you knew where the guys stood on issues. Clinton and Carter were more wishy-washy in my opinion, more politicians than statesmen.
Carter def wasn’t wishy washy. He was very smart, knew it and didn’t want to play politics. His way was the right way which was why he is seen as not being very successful. Just couldn’t broker deals Clinton, knew you had to make deals and understood how the game worked
