Top 5 'The West Wing' Episodes

I don't think this was meant to be the start of a meme, but perhaps by continuing it here, it will become one.  Simon at Screen Insight put together his Top 5 'Friends' Episodes after seeing Andy Buckle's Film Emporium's Top 10 'Seinfeld' episodes.  So I thought I'd take my own favorite TV show (after 'Friends') and create my own Top 10 list.  There was recently a post over at The Matinee talking about the decline of the Top 5 list.  I would argue that one perspective he left out that probably will always sustain the Top 5 (or 10) and that's nostalgia for a favored topic/show/movie/actor.  While I could argue with Simon that there are different episodes that should make up the Top 5 'Friends' episodes, I'm fine with his choices because I'm a huge fan and just reading where his funny bone was tickled is enough for me.  That's the spirit in which I write this list.

Honorable Mention - Isaac and Ishmael (Season 3 Episode 1) - This is the only completely stand alone episode of the series.  It references nothing you'd need to know from any other episode and furthers no other plots.  It's the response to 9/11 episode and as the world changed, The West Wing decided to incorporate that into their political story without making it change the world within it.  Talking about all aspects of terrorism and terrorists and with plenty of the typical West Wing history lessons, it's a wonderful episode and always makes me cry.  Everyone gets to shine for just a moment without any single character running the show

# 10 - Shibboleth (Season 2 Episode 8) - There are a lot of episodes that deal with faith during the course of this show.  But this episode deals specifically with Chinese Christian refugees.  However, the part that I really like throughout the episode is Bartlett's obsession with Thanksgiving.  The holiday episodes of this show usually deal with them peripherally, but they face it head on here.

#9 - 20 Hours in America (parts I and II) (Season 4 Episode 1 and 2) - There are a lot of two-part episodes, at least one per season, and they often create some of the best stories of the series.  This kicks off Bartlett's re-election campaign with a trip across the country where Toby, Josh and Donna get left behind by the motorcade.  We watch them try to get back to DC while arguing over how the campaign is going.  There's also my favorite speech in this episode about halfway through the second part referencing a catastrophe at a college - it's the music underneath that I really love.



#8 - Take This Sabbath Day (Season 1 Episode 14) - This is Marlee Matlin's first episode as a campaign manager.  Overall, the President is trying to decide whether or not to commute a death sentence and what it will mean if he does it just because he (as a Catholic) doesn't believe in the death penalty.  There's a scene with Karl Malden as his former parish priest that gets me every time.

#7 - The Stackhouse Fillibuster (Season 2 Episode 17) - This is a fairly unique episode because there is voice-over.  Each of the senior staff are writing letters to people describing their recent days that have led to the first filibuster of the term.  It's a particularly long filibuster by a Senator for no obvious reason.  Over the course of the night they figure out how to help the Senator and what he's actually trying to accomplish with the tactic.  It's a lot of information about how our government should and often does work, but done in a really creative way.

#6 - No Exit (Season 5 Episode 20) - One of The West Wing's best qualities is when they force people to have lengthy conversations when all else has stopped (like during a catastrophe).  In this one (in a nod to Sartre) people are forced to stay in rooms when an airborne toxin is detected.  Most also happen to be in rooms with people they dislike or don't know and for a change, things don't resolve particularly well.  Mary McCormack has arrived as a new NSA staffer and fights really well with Josh.

#5 - Undecideds (Season 7 Episode 8) - There aren't a lot of stand alone episodes from the final 2 seasons.  They're fairly continuous from episode to episode, but this one has a throwback moment to the quality of the first seasons (under Aaron Sorkin) where Matt Santos is trying to figure out how to be both a Presidential candidate and a Latino representing his race.  Watching him struggle hits home for anyone who wants to be both a representative of their group and to stand above being identified solely by that group.  And the speech his gives at the end is awesome.

#4 - In the Shadow of Two Gunman Part I and II - This is the origin episode and starts the second season.  When I loan my DVDs to people I always give them the first disc of the second season with the first season because the cliff hanger at the end of the first season is impossible to stop at.  This episode shows how Bartlett got into the race to be President and how the rest of his staff got hired - you get to see what they were each doing before they joined the campaign.  It's a really really terrific episode with lots of action and quickness interspersed with information where everyone tells their story.

#3 - The Supremes - A really really terrific episode that shows all the creativity you can have when you're making up a political universe and have innovative ideas that could potentially happen in the real world if the real world didn't actually include politicians.  Glenn Close guest stars as a liberal judge being considered for the Supreme Court.  However, given the difficulty in getting people through the Senate confirmation process they've realized anyone with strong political convictions can no longer get confirmed.  A creative solution presents itself and we see a long discussion of the Supreme Court.

#2 - Two Cathedrals (Season 2 Episode 22 - Another flashback episode preceding Bartlett's confirmation of re-election.  It's just after Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten) is killed.  We see the first time she meets Bartlett in high school and the kind of kid he was that led to the man he became.  He talks to God in Latin in a terrific sequence in the Cathedral after her funeral.  A young Mrs. Landingham played by Kirsten Nelson does a great job of capturing Joosten's acting style we love.  It was a sad day losing Mrs. Landingham, but she's sent off in a terrific episode.

#1 - Evidence of Things Not Seen (Season 4 Episode 19) - My favorite episode of the entire series.  It's a lot of talking - the staff is meeting to play poker on a Friday night.  However, Bartlett needs to talk to the Russian President to resolve a crashed spy-plane.  And the White House is shot at and is put under lock-down, forcing people to stay in certain places and keep talking to each other.  And throughout the episode, CJ is always trying to convince her colleagues that you can stand an egg on end during the equinox to a lot of humor.  Oh, and Mathew Perry guest stars as a new counsel applicant.  You can see why they chose Perry and Bradley Whitford to star in Sorkin's next show.  Oh, and Joshua Malina has arrived to stay.  Love him!

TV Meme: Day 21

Day 21 - Favorite relationship

In the list of posts for this meme it said "favorite ship" without any sort of apostrophe, so I just assumed it was actually your favorite ship (like the Love Boat or something).  Thankfully there are a few other people participating in this meme and they are smarter than I.  So sadly you won't get to read about  my love for the actual Battlestar Galactica, but instead about my favorite interpersonal relationships.  There are two and by coincidence they are both married couples.  This is also potentially repeating a previous post from Valentine's Day last year, forgive me.  The first is between Jed and Abby Bartlett on The West Wing.  They're both professionals - he an economist and then President, and she's a surgeon and then First Lady.  They cooperate in all sorts of things - most particularly his health during the third season.  Then they fight and disagree about his re-election campaign and their big problems start when he puts them in danger by assassinating a foreign leader and doesn't tell her ahead of time.  However, through it all they talk about things, discuss their problems and rule the country.

I think that must be the theme that draws me to amazing relationships because the other couple, Coach Eric and Principal Tammy Taylor from Friday Night Lights.  They survive having a late in life baby, changing jobs, adding jobs, a teenager, legal issues and school politics.  They don't talk about things quite as much, but they're on such a similar wavelength that they just acknowledge when they're wrong, apologize and move on.  I love watching them hang out together and solve their problems.  For both couples, neither relationship is the basis of the show, but it's the most interesting part of the side/back story for both shows.

TV Meme: Day 7

Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite t.v show

I had to think about this one for a while.  What about an episode of The West Wing would make me not watch it should I catch it on TV, or skip the episode on DVD.  There are a few episodes at the beginning of the fifth season, after Aaron Sorkin left that aren't my favorites, but with guest star John Goodman, they can't be all bad.  So I went through the list, and it turned out to be easy.  In a gimmick designed to increase viewership in the final season, the show staged a live episode, an actual debate between the two candidates running for office Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits).  Yes, it was scripted, but from the commentary on the episode, there were two different versions that aired for the east coast and west coast.   So they went off the cuff on occasion.  However, probably because they were nervous about it being live, and actually doing a nearly hour-long debate, it's really really boring.  Too much like an actual debate.  That's what makes it my least favorite episode.

TV Meme: Day 6

Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite t.v show

Nearly all TV shows label their episodes.  All the Desperate Housewives episodes are song lyrics, all Friends episodes are "The one with..." easy descriptions.  But you rarely see the name of the episode on the TV anymore, it's just a tag to refer to the episode in print.  I like that The West Wing always opens their episodes with a quick synopsis of what you need to remember, and then the title of the episode, like the name of the film arriving on the screen.  They're usually descriptive, but can be true on many levels.  My favorite episode of The West Wing is "Evidence of Things Not Seen."  The title is a quote from the King James Bible about faith being the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).  The episode has nothing to do with religion, which is a slight change for writer Aaron Sorkin and director Chris Misiano.  It's actually about faith in other people, trusting them, and believing in things when you have to proof that it's true.  There are 5 main storylines, which is tame by West Wing standards.  First, it's a Friday night and the staff are all getting together to play poker.  CJ Cregg is going on and on about how on the vernal equinox (March 21), you can stand an egg on its end.  No one believes her, but she's confident it's true.  

Second, Josh has to interview a new candidate for the council's office, Joe Quincy (Matthew Perry in the first of his 4-5 episodes).  Third, President Bartlett and Leo have to figure out how to tell the Russian president that a secret "spy plane" taking pictures of terrorism crashed in Russia and they need to retrieve it.  And finally, a guy shoots at the White House, putting them into lockdown.  And finally, Will has to go work for JAG to defend some soldiers who are being court marshalled for not complying with a military order that shouldn't have been given.  It's not a quick episode, but with all good West Wing episodes, there's a lot of talking, some personal idiosyncrasies emerging (Leo can't get over the deli spread brought in for dinner), CJ's faith in Will's ability to help people, and the two President's agreeing they're both going to have to work together against terrorism.  I always think of this episode as not very much happening, but I guess a whole lot does.

 The runner-up for this day was season 5's "The Supremes" when Glen Close guest stars as a potential Supreme Court nominee.  She just shines.

TV Meme: Day 4

Day 04 - Your favorite show ever

This one was the easiest of all of them.  My favorite show ever is The West Wing.  I watch nearly the whole series almost every year.  When I can't sleep, concentrate, or smile, I put on The West Wing and it usually  helps because it creates a world that usually ends well, is smart, and has characters you wish existed in the real world.  Also, the writing, particularly in the first four seasons, was so nerdy and intelligent that I couldn't help but be drawn in.  As  you'd expect, The West Wing takes place in an imaginary U.S. White House.  The main cast includes the President Josiah (Jed) Bartlett, originally only imagined in a few episodes when Martin Sheen signed up, but they expanded his role, and until the last season, he's in nearly every episode.  His personal assistant, Charlie Young (Dule Hill) is by his side for nearly every moment.  His Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry (the late John Spencer) wrangles the staff together, including his deputy, Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), deputy communications director Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), and later Will Bailey (Joshua Malina), and his Press Secretary CJ Cregg (the brilliant and Emmy award winning Allison Janney).  With Josh's assistant, Donna Moss (Janel Maloney) and the First Lady, Abby Bartlett (Stockard Channing) that is the core cast that exists throughout the series.  However, unlike many other shows with large casts on TV, all the supporting White House staff are played by the same actors, and once you watch a few seasons, you know which actors are just part of the core cast. 

However, there are a lot of notable supporting cast members that appeared for a season or more like Lily Tomlin, Jimmy Smits, Teri Polo, Alan Alda, Kathryn Joosten, Kristen Chenowith, Timothy Busfield, Elizabeth Moss, and Mary McCormack.  While the story is particularly "left-leaning" in its political slant, they also don't demonize people by political beliefs but rather when they're just jerks.  My favorite episodes are when there's lots of talking about a fairly mundane issue - though they do tackle larger issues like mid-term elections, a major election, nuclear explosions, terrorism, etc.- the ones I like best are when they're just trying to mull through a philosophical or arcane constitutional issue.  Those episodes come up more in the early seasons when Aaron Sorkin was both producing and writing the show, but some of the later episodes are equally good, there just aren't as many of them.   The entire series is available on DVD, and I highly recommend anyone watch any season.   To set it up, this scene takes place while Bartlett is running for re-election.  He's sick of the religious right being hypocritical about condemning things, and can't figure out how he beat the first guy he ran against for office.  He's just entered a party for radio hosts.  Being a Catholic, he's well-versed in the Bible, so he comes armed to more religious discussions.  

TV/ movie Couples

There were a bunch of lists of good and bad media couples and I mostly didn't find any I liked or agreed with, so I figured I'd start my own list. Here are the couples I admire usually both from an acting and a writing perspective. The reason I think these characters appeal to me more than movie couples is that we get to see them through a whole relationship spectrum, whereas most movies give a situation and watch them deal with it (like "The Notebook" - we watch Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams fall in love and eventually work things out and then see them as adults much, much later but we don't get to see how they argued or changed as people and together as a couple.) .

Eric and Tammy Taylor ("Friday Night Lights") - Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton

They're the football coach and now principal at the school, so they have to debate both the policies of having the boosters pay for a Jumbotron while teachers are being laid off, and whether their daughter is old enough for her own car. They're friends, lovers, parents, and partners and while they don't always agree, they always have each other's back. The united front they present is both good TV and a great couple.

President and Dr. Abigail Bartlett ("The West Wing") - Martin Sheen and Stockard Channing

Rising to the top of their respective fields (politics and medicine) makes for an intimidating couple. They balance their own rights as people with the larger rights of the people they represent. They fight religion, politics, medicine, health and power and how they and their family falls in between. There's a great scene in the second or third season where they've been fighting and Abby arrives in the West Wing and starts right into their fight and Jed stops and says "no, first we do, how are you, how was the flight?" They try to keep their relationship above the stresses they deal with as a power couple.

Admiral Adama and President Laura Roslin ("Battlestar Galactica") - Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell

They literally lead the entire human race, from a military and civilian perspective. Their methods often differ, but their mutual respect makes at least the fight for their own way reasonable. They've only recently developed an intimate relationship, but it hasn't cramped their leadership. They know what's right and that sometimes you have to fight like hell to make sure it happens. It seems that when they each have a crisis of faith, they other is there to support them through it to a better place.

Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrin ("How I Met Your Mother") - Jason Segel and Allyson Hannigan

They've been in love since college and eventually broke up and got back together and got married. They worked together to create a life and be friends to each other as well as other people. They share jokes and personal moments, but they're hardly perfect - keeping secrets from each other and trying to still be the best person they each can be.