I must admit to expecting to hear the theme when you got the slo-mo walk to his plane. So, was very, very amused.

I noticed that there was no Dule or Janel in the credits, I didn't notice last week, but...no Charlie! There's something fundamentally wrong with that.

And does Brad Whitford have chemistry with everyone? I thought he and Janeane Garofalo played of each other well. I like her. But then, I liked Amy.

As with the Donna thing, I actually thought that yes, it did take guts to ask for a job, but honestly, I thought she was silly actually thinking that she'd have a chance. She'd worked for the opposition, who'd lost. She was a media spokesperson so her face was known. There was no way Josh could really give her a job. It sucks, but as they say, that's politics.

So, Message of the Week certainly was a good episode for the WW spinoff.

Wait? You mean I was actually watching WW? I thought it was a bit strange that half of the people that appeared in the credits didn't actually appear in the episode.

It made for a very long and tedious 42 minutes.

Yes. Yes it did.

I must admit for fast forwarding through a bit of it. Still it is a little interesting to see how they get to the White House.

But yeah, no West Wing at all.

Now that was more like it.

I always thought it was Toby.

Jimmy Smits is hitting the speeches out of the ball park, loved em.

I don't understand why Toby didn't come clean earlier... it seems uncharacteristic that he would sit by once he saw that C.J. was taking the heat. I suppose in the very beginning he could hope that it wouldn't be traced to the White House, but once everyone started fingering her (way before this episode), I'd have thought he'd put a stop to it. Why did he wait until she'd gone through that and Leo and Santos' campaign was about to burst into flames as a result of his action?

Also, the leak being what I would term a moral act, akin to when soldiers refuse to execute an unlawful or wrong order, I would've thought Toby would instantly thereafter say what he'd done and resign.

Is Richard Schiff off the show now? Or will he morph, J.J. Abrams-style, into the president's dogwalker?

See, I'm not sure it is Toby, I mean it definitely could be Toby. But he could also be falling on the sword. Which wouldn't surprise me.

I go back and forth...yes, it was Toby. No, he's admitting this to save the campaign.

Also, great ep. Skinner! Margaret finally has a last name! Good stuff.

I don't think there's much room for ambiguity. He said it was him... to C.J., the other most likely suspect. If it were her, they'd both know.

Well, we didn't really see a reaction from her, so there's an outside chance.

My big problem with it being Toby rather than C.J. was her saying to reporter guy "name your source!" It's one thing to do that if you're saying "I give you permission" and it's another to be saying "violate your professional standards". And I wouldn't have thought C.J. would tell a reporter to do the latter, never mind the consequences to the administration.

That's the only thing that makes me think, with libbylou, that Toby might be sacrificing himself for this administration and the next.

That's a good point. But I consider it a minor gaffe, part of the setup in making us believe that C.J. was the one.

The logistics of what happens after a confession like that made for a really interesting episode. I liked Babish for being upset that no one had thanked Toby for his service... Oliver Platt is awesome. I was similarly surprised at Bartlett's attitude... it didn't seem like Bartlett, either in the content of his speech or the emotions with which he delivered it.

Granted, a baby conceived out of wedlock is more of a problem for a politician than it would be in the outside world (where it really carries no stigma today), but I was surprised that that was all the elder Bartletts expressed at the news. Weren't they excited about a new grandchild, and the first from that daughter? I could get knocked up in an alley by a Russian mobster and my mother's first thought would be, "Grandchildren!"

What is that blonde woman going on about? I couldn't care less about it or, after however many seasons, her implausibly perfect self.

The logistics were riveting, definitely.

I was quite amused by the "anything that makes her happy, but I'm glad she's straight" circumlocution. As for the later conversation--I think the Bartletts are a bit young and usually down-to-earth for all the conversational awkwardness, but on the other hand they've always been a very emotionally restrained family. I think my folks would be at least as awkward in the same circumstances.

And by the way, yay Abby! I was afraid Stockard Channing's new sitcom meant we wouldn't be seeing her at all this season.

Here Today broke my heart. So many tears.

Absolutely brilliant camera work.

Yep, it certainly was a great episode, but it's so heartbreaking to watch everything fall apart like that. With the optimism that shaped the early seasons, I never would have expected then ending to come like this. It's just throughly depressing.

I can't even go into the whole Toby/Jed thing.

I was thinking of you NatCat, considering it was such an important Toby episode.

It was very very depressing. I wanted to go watch a lighter episode from S1 - 2, but then got distracted by other new shows to watch.

Actually that's what I did after I first watched Here Today, I sat and watched 4 eps from season 1. Didn't help, it just made me realise how much I miss the old show

Whadda watch?

Donna's back. Bleh. Those bangs make her look like a vacant sad-sack sheepdog... which she may have before but I didn't notice as much. And the scenario of her reintroduction was so artificial, implausible and forced.

That pretty much describes most of Donna's raison d'etre on this show, in my opinion. Perhaps you remember Donna when she was in the Buffyverse. Except she went by the name Spike.

Heh. Even I'd say that Spike was a hundred times more appealing, and the actor a hundred times more talented.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm actually glad that Donna in back. As for plausability, we seemed to leave that behind a few seasons ago, so I'm happy to skip over such minor details.
The main reason I like...okay, 'like' is perhaps too strong a word. The main reason I tolerate Donna is that Josh needs to play off people. Before it was Sam, Toby, CJ and Donna. Now with the campaign it's really only been Santos and Lou (bless the writers for creating Lou). Adding Donna to the mix, especially now that she appears to have grown a backbone will hopefully kick things along a little, provided of course we don't slip into a dreaded 'shipper storyline.

Fireworks Promised on 'West Wing' Debate

Wow, that sounds great.

Okay, I have to confess that I haven't watched a single episode so far this season. I have managed to stay fairly up-to-date through reading posts and recaps, but haven't actually been intrigued enough to watch. This episode, even though it smacks of sweeps period gimmicks, is just the kick in the pants I need.

Yeah, I like that the West Coast also gets a live version. God, please, if anything crazy happens, let it happen in my time zone.

It's a far better premise for a live episode than any I've heard of before. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm impressed with them having two live episodes as well. I imagine fans will be circulating the alternate-coast version like crazy, so they can see both. Even Saturday Night Live doesn't care that it's not live in most time zones.

I thought previous live episodes had done that too (ER and Will & Grace).

I made a great effort for a TiVo person and watched this in real time... I figured if they could do it live, the least I could do is watch it live.

There was definitely a lot of what I've come to think of as Kmm Cringe Factor. And at first all I could focus on was how cheap and shoddy and awkward it seemed compared with a regular episode, but after a while I got caught up in it — was by that point interested enough in the words and had lost the sense that these were actors rather than their characters.

In-story, I think that both candidates came off overall pissy and petulant. I felt myself wishing for the formalized debate rules they'd maligned at the beginning. At least that keeps it civilized rather than argumentative. Free debate is only great when it facilitates flights of oration and intellectual virtuosity, and this felt just more like tense and angry arguing.

I'm really excited by the nice defense of the word "liberal." Can a TV show make a sea change difference in something like that? I was actually just wondering the same thing re Commander In Chief. Is it possible that a TV show depicting a woman president will get the country used to the idea and comfortable with it, as for instance Pedro Zamora made the viewing populace feel they knew a gay person? I don't know how much to weight the influence of television on things like this. And these days it's also hard to know how fast change will happen... the sudden outcropping of gay marriage laws took me wholly by surprise. So could Mackenzie Allen or Matt Santos be influential in us getting a female or minority president within the next ten years?

Well, I don't think it can hurt. Okay, unless they write her in a horrifying manner, but I haven't heard that they're doing that (and Geena Davis is all liberal activist, right? Presumably she'd throw a fit).

She's presented as the perfect leader/politician/human, just like Jed Bartlett. Though she's an independent and a centrist (former Republican, surprisingly), so I imagine that makes her more popular to everyone.

Oooo, great scenes between Josh and Toby. Is it just me or did they both look really old though?

Hey, Ellie's guy is Skipper from SATC - which I've been watching way to much of lately. That and Nip/Tuck. I love newly delivered box sets.

Yeah, and Santos' new aide is Scooter from Living Single (who I love). So we've got Skipper and Scooter.

It was purely impossible for me to watch the latest episode in the light in which it was originally intended. Spencer's dead, and everything from "again in four years" to the scolding over his smirk that so resembles my dad's... all combined into a bittersweet tribute to the man.

US folk - help me out here - why am I seeing mentions of my man in relation to WW?

Eeeee! Just found it. Rock the Vote!! Performing my new favourite song. Eeeee!!! I love it when two things I love collide.

I think that should be in the spoiler topic.

Really, why? Its the S7 thread, so we all know who the candidate is. And I wouldn't really consider a probably small appearance by a rock star as a major casting spoiler.

But, I've spoiler taged it anyway, just to be safe.

It contains both a casting spoiler and a synopsis of a future episode. Spoiler tags are good.

Fair enough. I just thought because it was in Variety and all over the official site of the person in question and it in the "West Wing in the Media" thread on twop, that it would be okay here.

Apologies if I spoilt anyone. It was news that made me very happy and giddy. Which I needed after watching "Running Mates".

That smirk. Damn that smirk.

Beej--The spoiler policy is pinned to the top of the thread if you have any questions about what constitutes a spoiler in this area.

Its the CJ hour! How damn adorable was Danny's speech at the end?

Was it just me, or did Allisons hair keep on changing lengths throughout the episode?

Definitely a marriage proposal from Danny. I sort of wonder why he would, though, given they haven't known each other in years and that she was being nasty to him the time before. They are a kind of tempting couple, for the Mutt & Jeff quality — him small and rumpled and mellow, her tall and sharp and agitated — and he seems to be just as quick-witted and smart as she is.

I wonder if he will want to try again after being interrupted. The looming end of series votes yes.

Don't we already know that CJ and Danny are married. Wasn't there an episode where everyone shows up for the opening of Bartlet's library and we're told CJ and Danny are married? Am I imagining this?