that's what I used to love about Lewis Black's schtick--he seemed to be so flumoxed by the abject stupidity of whatever scenario he just described that words escaped him. that's when swearing really lets the emotions flow out :)
"Don't come in here with half a thing!" Gotta love the way Toby goes incoherent sometimes. Only thing that tops that is the "You wanna provoke the wrath of the whatever from high-atop the thing? Then go outside, turn around three times and spit!"
not to be a stickler, but in the spirit of the man, I think inarticulate more than incoherent. Because we do get what he means. But you absolutely right.
I recall that Richard Schiff struggled with Sorkin’s dialogue until he discovered how to slow it way down. Everyone else rattles it off at hyper speed (especially Whitford and Janey) but Schiff found Toby’s voice in a more halting morose kind of manner. Except, when he’s ranting and it speeds up, but even then, there are pauses and breaks. These really show a nice range of emotion within a character that could have been one note. Over the years, Toby always seems to display a lot of emotion but it always comes across more subtly than say, Josh. It’s also cool because Sorkin writes Sorkin, not individual characters but Schiff and the other actors have been able to create unique characters. When four of them are in a room, it doesn’t sound like Sorkin talking to himself.
That touches on why I liked RIchard Schiff as Toby so much. He often said the most direct, uncomfortably honest things with a quiet soft tone. He was like an anvil covered in memory foam pillows. It wasn't always obvious at a glance but dude was iron. That was true whether he was trying to be a savage or just say a terrible thing that has to be said, like when they were in the hospital after the gunman attack and Donna didn't know Josh had been hit. Toby just laid it out their plain and with brutally honesty but he never seemed like he lacked compassion. Of course, then other times he would just go thermonuclear and everything I just said went out the window lol
@@Elthenar I think what you are describing is the fact that Toby never lied. He never held back what he thought or what he felt; it was always a genuine expression of where he was at. Sometimes that was thermonuclear, sometime it was iron wrapped in pillows, and sometimes it was just quiet assurance. But even when he tried to beat you, he always did it where you could see him; you always knew where he stood and how he was coming at you.
I dunno, the biggest criticism of the West Wire is the same as Gossip Girls; they don't sound like real people they sound like a small group of writers spending an extended amount of time writing dialogue.
I think this is exactly why Sorkin is so good. He writes the words and lets the actors give them a voice. It's also a double edged sword. When an actor can't do this it's really not good to watch (ahem Mandy ahem)
"That family is going to be able to get up the hill if we increase fuel efficiency standards." "That family isn't gonna get up the hill 'cos Dad's trying to pull the kids, the camping gear, Rex the dog, and what appears to be his den, up K2 in a Ford Falcon."
Remember what made Toby this way. He’d been on six other campaigns and never won. The one that wins is the big prize, and now he’s even more neurotic because he thinks the Democrats are garbage at getting their message out there
Jason Marcel NBC moved the show from 9:00PM Wednesdays to 8:00 PM Sunday. It went from a show ranked #10 to #65. Believe me, this is what cancelled looks like. What, do you think Bradley Whitford wanted to walk away from a regular paycheck like Rob Lowe did?
@@FIREBRAND38 to be fair, story wise, it had pretty much run its course. Season 7 was middling at best. Some of the main characters had lost focus or were running out of steam (Charlie, Toby and CJ for example). Making a Santos administration as engaging as the Bartlett administration would have been hard. Most of the good political stories (back in the normal days) were already done. The treadmill just keeps on spinning.
Toby could lower the temperature a little, but he's absolutely right. This is basic professionalism 101. Don't go to your boss to point out a problem, and then give a flat "no" when you're asked for a solution. At the very least, have some brainstorming done first.
Exactly. Show me you can think critically about the problem by telling me how the solutions you considered might not work, then I know me trying to help you isn't going to be a waste of my time. The person who brings you the problem with no analysis, won't be able to implement a solution well no matter how easily I find it for them.
"And I'm tired of being the captain of the team that can't shoot straight!" "No! If I'm going to have you sit through this preposterous exercise, we're gonna get the names of the damn Commandments right!" (And then proceeds to also get the Commandment wrong.) "Honor thy Father... is the 3rd Commandment!" (No, it's the 5th Toby) "There's literally no one in the world I don't hate right now." "This is my day of jubilee, and you are not going to ruin it by 'what', Bonnie?!" - "Tempting fate." - "BY TEMPTING FATE!" "But I bet all the money in my pockets, against all the money in your pockets, that it was LEO!!! WHO NO ONE ELECTED!" "Your father used to hit you, Mr. President?!" "We changed time zones... what, people just-just-just reset their watch or something?!" And many, many more.
Don't come in here with, half a thing and not be able to you know, after you walked me to the brink and say we've gotta do this, its important though I have no earthly idea how! You run the risk of incurring the wrath of whatever from high atop the thing.
"Well that family isn't gonna get up the hill, because dad is trying to pull the kids, the camping gear, rex the dog and what would appear to be his den up K2 in a ford falcon." ahaha
I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks Toby's got an absolute point here! You're supposed to be this incredibly intelligent the high flyer who I've just promoted rather rapidly and you literally cabin and say we should do something about this I'm surprised he got suggested that he had his pass in on the way out the door that evening lol Will's comment about suicide is is really and I mean really nasty. A totally deaf moment where snarky goes over to cruel, all the more noticeable because of how rare it is in the show
Okay. Wills not saying the crack at the end because Toby got heated, he's saying the crack at the end because Toby, the communications director mind you, is completely incoherent getting that message across. Will spends the rest of the episode acting on Toby's orders to have an idea. In the context of the plot, Toby has been completely distracted all week because of Andy. Earlier this same episode Charlie makes a similar comment. It's not that Toby is wrong, he isn't. Toby is NON FUNCTIONAL. Hence the crack
At around 1:33 Toby tells Will "well get one!!!" It reminds me alot of Sam telling Ainsley "well, we play with live ammo around here" Toby and Sam are twk seasoned white house staffers. The white house deals with a a lot of live issues at any given time. Which slides down to staffers dealing 90-100 issues of various degree of importance from seating arrangements at a simple leadership breakfast to finalizing details on state dinners and foreign state visits to dozens of life and death situations in the situation room. The white house is not a room for half a thing and debating for the sake of contrarianess. If you feel something needs to be done. Get the ball rolling and figure out how to get the job done. Feel a white house position is wrong or mistaken present your case up the command chain and if they buy in they will bring it up even more. Yup its all live ammo in the White house
Wouldn’t fuel efficiency standard have down the road can’t opposite of what the ad claims? The whole point of efficiency is getting the same power out of less fuel, so higher standards would mean you’d still get over the hill, but now your car won’t be empty at the top. They could’ve also just said that.
Nah, Toby doesn't take the personal attack about getting married, he doesn't know Will good enough to accept that. Will would get an angry retort, and invitation out of the office.
Toby is more than self-aware enough to recognize when someone is right about him bringing his personal life into the discussion. It wasn't an attack, it was a call back to reality. And Toby knew it was well deserved so he didn't challenge it.
Minor point of fact, Toby refers to the mountain as both K-2 and Kilimanjaro. Not a good analogy. K-2 is one of the tallest mountains in the world. Kilimanjaro is huge, but has a fairly shallow slope. I'd imagine you could tow things up Kilimanjaro just fine. :P
It's the PAL (European) version. Film is 24 fps, and PAL is 25 fps. When broadcasting 24fps material in Europe, they simply speed it up by 4.16%. And unfortunately the audio is pitch shifted up 4.16%.
It's fine to take a problem to someone else, what's not fine is to find a problem, make no effort looking for a solution, and then expect a cookie. You want help? Brainstorm some solutions, bring me the problem, tell me why you think your solutions might not work, and I'll help you. You want a cookie? Bring me the problem and a solution you know will work.
We actually complain because all of the fighting and debating and nothing gets done. (or that what is being done is what 49% of the people don't want) That and that the flaw with our system is that it inevitably forms into a two-party system where you're stuck having to pick the lesser of two evils.
the interns came up with some pretty preposterous ideas bc the speechwriters were unavailable for some reason, which I can't remember. I also can't remember if there was ever a final version of the response ad. (and weren't 3 out of the 4 interns called stacy or something like that?)
Back to reality I go camping I take a backpack a tent that's it for the Jeep go when I was married my wife loaded the Jeep when there was no room close blankets everything we need then she brought more clothes or blankets more stuff and I had to hook up the camp trailer because she wanted more room to carry stuff for a week we wound up hauling 1100 lb of stuff me I would have gone with or changes of clothes cooler for food my kayak on the roof that's it and if everybody in the family the three of us would have had everything the same it would all fit in the Jeep in the back but needing the extra blankets the entire linen closet her whole wardrobe we needed a another trailer Willard 1100 lb so it's not the soccer mom worried she'd worried you can't bring the kitchen sink
Americans really are lucky with their democracy. Crazy political ads, rallies, debates, demonstrations, polls, pundits, visions and ideologies. I know you guys complain about it, but you really are fortunate. A huge noisy family and the ramifications of your choice reverberates around the world. Even as a black guy I love the dark arts. Negative ads, racial dog politics, whisper campaigns, striking fear in the hearts of men, personal destructions. -nato ally :)
+Shankar Sivarajan Walken is far superior to Trump. Walken at least has integrity, intelligence, humility and personal conviction. Trump has none of these.
Toby is always pissed at someone: congress, the president, Leo or whatever happens at work or personal life he's mad at everyone. I would say take your attitude and shove it cause bout your reservations for others or work
I remember Richard Schiff said in an interview that when the show got new writers, they didn't have an understanding of his character. While Toby had always shown some sort of frustration in the earlier seasons(1-4), there was a reason behind it, whereas the new writers just wrote him as an angry person which he didn't like. He also said Toby would not have betrayed President Bartlet
I never really liked Will. About the best he did for the show was bring Winnie Cooper out of retirement, and Kate? Yeah in real life a woman like her wouldn't be caught dead with a loser like that.
Sorry to bust your bubble. You are right about one thing. Kate is not his type. I am:) Women like me love men like Will. Some women love bad boys. Some women love the smart, intelligent, and stable type and then love to make em blush. Will is definitely my type. Can't get enough of him.
I suspect it was Alan Alda. He managed to completely screw up M*A*S*H when he converted it from a black comedy into a weekly anti-war sermon. Not to mention that the writing and characters deteriorated badly under his guidance.
