The West Wing: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''Bartlet:''' There's a promise that I ask everyone who works here to make: never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. You know why?

 

Political drama (1999-2006) created by [[Aaron Sorkin]], starring [[Martin Sheen]] as the idealized President of the United States, nerdily intellectual Democrat Jed Bartlet. The real focus, however, is on his smart and dedicated staff, who roam the White House endlessly discussing the pressing political issues of the moment. In fact, the President wasn't even originally intended to appear very often, but Sheen was so impressive in the pilot that he was made a regular instead of the original four-episodes-a-season plan.

Here is a [[The West Wing/Characters|Character Sheet]].

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Aborted Arc]]: Charlie talks to the President about marrying Zoey towards the end of Season 6. The Charlie and Zoey relationship is never brought up again after this.

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: "Who's been hit?! Who's been hit?!"

** Season 2 subverts this for those who paid attention to Mrs. Landingham, but otherwise plays it straight by ending on, "Mr. President, can you tell us right now if you'll be seeking a second term?"

** Also, {{spoiler|Donna goes back into surgery after Fitzwallace is killed}}.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Lord John Marbury, who sort of oscillates between a legit [[Cloudcuckoolander]] -ism and the Obfuscating version.

* [[Fan Girl]]: Josh Lyman's "hos" on lemonlyman.com. In fact, he has college girls asking for his autograph and telling him how awesome he is as early as the third episode.

* [[Fatal Family Photo]]: The President's Doctor shows him the photo of his wife and newborn daughter in Episode 2. At the end of the episode, we learn that the plane he was flying on with other soldiers to a peace mission has been gunned down by enemy army, sending President Bartlet on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] that almost starts a ''war''.

{{quote|'''Margaret''': He just bought an island. And Montana!

'''C.J.''': He didn't buy Montana, he just bought...''most'' of Montana.}}

'''Leo''': [''dryly''] And that we're not paranoid homophobes in any way.}}

* [[Now You Tell Me]]: Toby has a meeting with an Indonesian official in "The State Dinner", and Donna arranges a state department translator. Unfortunately there are 742 languages and dialects spoken in Indonesia, and the translator's and official's are incompatible. At this discovery, they go to great lengths to find someone who can speak to the man, eventually finding a cook, who sadly does not speak English but does know Portuguese, which the translator speaks. They're several minutes into a double-translated conversation before the official finally suggests they just speak in English. One wonders why he didn't just tell the translator he knew it in the first place, but he was pretty pissed at Toby so perhaps he just enjoyed seeing White House staff running around cluelessly.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Charlie upon hearing "evening, Charlie". From the President. After leaving the first daughter's room. In the middle of the night, with his shirt unbuttoned.

** Leo goes through most of "Bad Moon Rising" making the case that the President never withheld information about his MS in any way that would constitute a crime. But Charlie points out that the President's daughter Zoey was a minor when she filled out a college medical form, and so required a parent's legally binding signature as to the accuracy of the information, including her family medical history. Cue Leo's oh crap moment.

** The exception to this is [[Jerkass|Republican Speaker Haffley]], who, while getting an occasional scene that portrayed him reasonably well, was petty, spiteful and obsessed with his own self-image. However, he was balanced out by his Senate counterpart, who was a decent man who wanted to make peace between Congress and the White House and who was disgusted at some of Haffley's more extreme political maneuvering.

*** [[Laser-Guided Karma|Karmic Retribution]] has it where Haffley loses most of his battles against Bartlet and even {{spoiler|loses a few fights to Santos in the House}}, and on Election night during the final season Haffley {{spoiler|is seen losing House seats to Democrats, knocking him out of the Speaker's office}} while his Republican Senate Majority counterpart {{spoiler|1=keeps his GOP majority intact}}.

* [[Sarcasm Failure]]

* [[Sassy Secretary]]: Mrs. Landingham, Debbie Fiderer, Donna, Margaret, and Ginger, among others.

** Both Sam and Toby play chess with Bartlet throughout the series as does Leo.

* [[Sorkin Relationship Moment]]

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To ''[[The American President]]''. Notably, some cast members were also transferred; Anna Deavere Smith moved from White House Press Secretary (C.J.'s role) to National Security Adviser, and Joshua Malina was originally an unimportant coworker of the heroine, and Leo's role was originally played by ''Martin Sheen''! This makes re-watching the movie almost indescribably eerie, as one expects Sheen-as-Leo to just kick Michael Douglas out of the Oval Office.

** Not only did they recycle most of the cast, they also recycled most of the situations, and even several of the lines of dialogue.

* [["Shut Up" Kiss]]: C.J. and Danny.

* [[Slow Motion Drop]]

* [[Smooch of Victory]]: {{spoiler|Josh and Donna}}.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Speaker of the House Haffley is the epitome of this, thinking himself to be smarter and gutsier than he actually is.

** Sam's speech for the President includes an opening line about the magnificent vista, which Toby recommends being ready to change in case it rains. Sam goes on and on about how much faith he has in the forecast given to him by the Coast Guard, which is when the thunderstorm breaks, complete with well-timed lightning flash (naturally, the line change doesn't make it in).

* [[Test Kiss]]: C.J. and Danny.

* [[Troll]]: A few times, people mess with others just for giggles.

** Toby scorns trying to win votes for a vote they've already won.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Nineties]]

[[Category:American Series]]

[[Category:Dramedy]]

[[Category:TV Series]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Wing, The}}