The West Wing Season 7 starts Thursday 5th, 10:45

Duffman

daithimac wrote:

so come on then who won

Election Day I and II were great eps.

Santos

won.

The Black Oil

Election Day II was quite a sad episode to watch, brought tears to my eyes. Next week's will be hard too with Leo's funeral.:( Must have been hard episodes to film, particularly for the long term cast.

As we have seen before in TWW, we don't see everybody's reaction to the news. Poor Margaret and Annabeth, she loved Leo so much!

Allison Janney and Martin Sheen played their roles very well...

the way Bartlet just knew as soon as he saw CJ - 'when?'.

A strong scene was the shot of the west wing, with all the White House staffers looking at the TV screens in silence. Leo would have been regarded as a legend by those people. The speech by Santos was spot on. I liked Bruno's reaction. Unlike the rest of the Vinick campaign, he and Leo were good friends. The look that Vinick gave the Anne Coulter clone after her less than tasteful remark was precious.

Josh's final words were perfect, fitting. Bardley Whitford's acting was very good too.

I think I'll be a flipping wreck after next week's show!

Sleepy

Great episode. Next weeks should be absolutely fantastic with all the old cast members coming back. Read an article on-line that the cast reported filming next weeks episode as 'disturbingly surreal'...

Loved the

"Thanks Boss..."

at the end

aidan_walsh

For those watching on RTE, we have been moved again. Two Weeks Out is taking on an extra meaning, as the show has been bumped a week for a Duncan Steward Chernobyl special.

holly_johnson

aidan_walsh wrote:

For those watching on RTE, we have been moved again. Two Weeks Out is taking on an extra meaning, as the show has been bumped a week for a Duncan Steward Chernobyl special.

Unbelievable... RTE does it again.
I must dig out the e-mail address that I complained to last time they did this rubbish. Not that it did me any good the last time judging by this crap!

aidan_walsh

I'm pretty sure there is no point as regards The West Wing at this stage of the game. After all, its the final season and we are only seven episodes out from the end, so the schedule has probably been fixed pretty tight by now.

In other news, I just accidentally ruined the end for myself. I didn't want to know who won until the episode was aired, but now I do. Crap.

holly_johnson

aidan_walsh wrote:

I'm pretty sure there is no point as regards The West Wing at this stage of the game. After all, its the final season and we are only seven episodes out from the end, so the schedule has probably been fixed pretty tight by now.

In other news, I just accidentally ruined the end for myself. I didn't want to know who won until the episode was aired, but now I do. Crap.

Don't spoil it for others! I have been very good, and have not read any of the other posts about the episodes or the spoilers. I've been on holidays for the last week, and haven't yet seen last Thursday's episode. I'll watch it tonight.

aidan_walsh

Its already posted above in a spoiler (which I had been avoiding like the plague). Can you resist the temptation?

holly_johnson

aidan_walsh wrote:

Its already posted above in a spoiler (which I had been avoiding like the plague). Can you resist the temptation?

Absolutely, my friend, for I have a will of iron...

Pazaz 21

The Black Oil wrote:

Election Day II was quite a sad episode to watch, brought tears to my eyes. Next week's will be hard too with Leo's funeral.:( Must have been hard episodes to film, particularly for the long term cast.

As we have seen before in TWW, we don't see everybody's reaction to the news. Poor Margaret and Annabeth, she loved Leo so much!

Allison Janney and Martin Sheen played their roles very well...

the way Bartlet just knew as soon as he saw CJ - 'when?'.

A strong scene was the shot of the west wing, with all the White House staffers looking at the TV screens in silence. Leo would have been regarded as a legend by those people. The speech by Santos was spot on. I liked Bruno's reaction. Unlike the rest of the Vinick campaign, he and Leo were good friends. The look that Vinick gave the Anne Coulter clone after her less than tasteful remark was precious.

Josh's final words were perfect, fitting. Bardley Whitford's acting was very good too.

I think I'll be a flipping wreck after next week's show!

Ya, great episode, the awkward moment when they (josh and Donna) are in the elevator in the hospital going up to see Leo, the music turned the scene into a kind of black humour scene which i found interesting. I found that episode very emotional as well, the fact that Bartlett knew him so long and the fact that the actor died in real life as well really put an additonal emotional charge to the whole thing.

I think Josh "Lemon" Lyman is the best character in the West Wing, i'd like to think if i was one of the characters from the show, i would be him.

Oh and by the way, thanks TBO for the help!!

Tristram

Spoiler tags?!

Pazaz 21

Tristram wrote:

Spoiler tags?!

Doesn't everybody know that John Spencer is dead ? I figured that most people knew that his character would probably not be in the final episodes!:rolleyes:

Plus i don't know how to, please HELP!!!!

Sleepy

Comments on Requiem (US) & *MAJOR* spoiler for last few episodes.

Was kinda annoyed that Sam Seaborne wasn't at Leo's funeral. I've since discovered from looking at the NBC website just why that was: to build up the suspense for Josh offering Sam the job of Deputy Chief of Staff. Video clip of the conversation here:

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Video/?c=The_West_Wing/ww_hl_042306&n=66

Sam certainly seems to have turned into a prick since leaving the White House though...

The Black Oil

RTE, bah!

Requiem Was a very good episode, a good pre-credits sequence of the funeral, nice touch.

The scene with all Leo's friends in the residence was great, I wonder were they really talking about John Spencer there more so than Leo, possibly.

Transition Another good episode.

Josh loosing it, was bound to happen what with being knackered from the campaign. Sam! Great final shot of the Blackberry.

Only 3 left!:eek:

Pazaz 21

Transition great episode.

Playing geo-political good cop - bad cop - Classic line. Josh losing it also a great scene, also great to see the relationship between Sam/Josh working so well again. Wonder who the VP is going to be?

The Black Oil

Well, the promo for the next episode suggests

Santos is going to ask Vinick to do something, it seems very unlikely he'd ask him to be the VP, a Republican second in line...maybe he'll offer him a cabinet post. Santos would get a lot of flack if he offered Vinick VP. The promos can often be a bit misleading so we'll see what happens! There some photos from the next few episodes on the NBC website, including Santos being sworn in.

The Black Oil

What did you think of Jon Bon Jovi?:p

KevIRL

Pazaz 21 wrote:

Transition great episode.

Playing geo-political good cop - bad cop - Classic line. Josh losing it also a great scene, also great to see the relationship between Sam/Josh working so well again. Wonder who the VP is going to be?

The VP will be

Vinick

The Black Oil

KevIRL wrote:

The VP will be

Vinick

Where did you hear that?

daithimac

all i can say is wrong

The Black Oil

The artwork is out for the season 7 DVD http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000FIKU4I.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
to be released on September 11th. Quite dark, I suppose that's fitting for the season.

EDIT: There's a promo up for the series finale, don't worry no spoilers. http://www.my-serendipity.net/videos/TWW/Season7/ww_promo_042706.wmv It's mostly the cast talking about what it was like to be a part of the show down through the years. There's going to be an episode called Retrospective shown an hour before the finale Tomorrow.

Only 2 proper episodes left now!

The Black Oil

Well, how are Irish viewers finding TWW at the moment?

Only 1 episode left in the US.:eek:

pokerwidow

Well the Irish viewers finally found out who won tonight. It was so hard not to look ahead but it was so worth it. I am not that interested in any Irish elections, not to mind American.
It was also so sad. I have to admit I cried like a baby:o . I think next week's episode [the furneral] is worse. Must get out the tissues.

Zaph

The second election episode just finished here a couple of minutes ago. Unfortunately I inadvertently found out who won yesterday when on an American board, which sucked, but if you hadn't know the result I thought they kept the suspense going pretty well. Obviously it was always going to be a bit of a sad episode too as they had to work John Spencer's death into it. The last couple of episodes have had a certain "tying up the loose ends" sort of feel to them, e.g. Josh and Donna, but it'll be interesting to see how they finish off the series in the final half dozen episodes. As for the Retrospective episode, unfortunately that's off because it's too expensive (spoiler tag for anyone who may have taped tonight's episode):

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the cast of NBC's exiting drama "The West Wing," nostalgia came at a price the network was unwilling to pay.

When NBC announced in January that it was canceling the political drama after seven seasons, it said the final episode in May would be accompanied by a retrospective on the series' history.

Instead, NBC is airing a repeat of "The West Wing" pilot on Sunday prior to the final episode, where

the Democrat portrayed by Jimmy Smits

is inaugurated as the next president.

NBC had no official comment on the switch of plans. However, the network couldn't reach an agreement with the show's cast on what -- or if -- they would be paid to gather one last time and reminisce about their experience, said a person close to the show who would speak about the negotiations only on condition of anonymity.

Showing the very first episode of "The West Wing" costs NBC nothing because the production was long-since paid for.

It's a sad ending for the show, which won four consecutive Emmy Awards as television's best drama. Its final season was marred by declining ratings and the death of actor John Spencer, who played vice presidential candidate Leo McGarry, although many critics considered it a strong season creatively.

CNN

Lochaber

zaph wrote:

The second election episode just finished here a couple of minutes ago. Unfortunately I inadvertently found out who won yesterday when on an American board, which sucked, but if you hadn't know the result I thought they kept the suspense going pretty well. Obviously it was always going to be a bit of a sad episode too as they had to work John Spencer's death into it. The last couple of episodes have had a certain "tying up the loose ends" sort of feel to them, e.g. Josh and Donna, but it'll be interesting to see how they finish off the series in the final half dozen episodes. As for the Retrospective episode, unfortunately that's off because it's too expensive (spoiler tag for anyone who may have taped tonight's episode):

CNN

I managed to accidently read that article the other day... very annoyed, after managing to spoiling it for so long! but it was a great episode last night, incredibly sad, must have been very hard for them to film those scenes about his death...

The Black Oil

I think I remember reading a while back that the filming of the next episode, Requiem was "disturbingly surreal." Election Day II, couldn't helped but be moved by it.

aidan_walsh

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2ww.htm

The presidential election depicted Sunday night on NBC's 'WEST WING' would have had a different ending had it been held four months earlier.

The reversal of fortune for Matt Santos -- the Democratic nominee, played by Jimmy Smits, who was the victor -- had nothing to do with any shift in opinion among voters or a liberal ideology of the show's writers and producers.

No...

Instead, Lawrence O'Donnell, an executive producer of the show, said he and his fellow writers had declared Santos the winner only after the death, in mid-December, of John Spencer, who portrayed Santos' running mate.

At the time of Spencer's death, the plot for Sunday night's episode had been set: The election was to be won by Alan Alda's Arnold Vinick, a maverick Republican (modeled a bit on Sen. John McCain), whom many Democrats (including the Democrats who write the show) could learn to love.

But after Spencer died, O'Donnell said in a recent interview, he and his colleagues began to confront a creative dilemma: Would viewers be saddened to see Smits' character lose both his running mate and the election? The writers decided that such an outcome would prove too lopsided, in terms of taxing viewers' emotions, NYT reporter Jacques Steinberg will claim on Monday.

While I guess the Santos victory was not to be unexpected, I think it might have made for better television to have Vinick win it, the transition from a Republican Hill and Democratic White House to the opposite could have been interesting to watch. As it is, I'm pretty glad its ending now, as a Democratic White House and Hill wouldn't leave a lot of room for any of the politically charged stories we have enjoyed the last seven years.

Unfortunatly, due to a timing error I missed the first quarter of an hour of the episode (thank you, Digiguide!), so I missed the announcement of Leo's death. I thought the rest of it was nicely handled though, especially the closing scene with Josh at the whiteboard.

The Black Oil

Yeah, I remember hearing about that, Vinick being originally slated to win, I thought it was going to happen, even with the death of Spencer but as the election episodes got closer I figured they'd give it to Santos. Perhaps it would have been better for the show if Vinick did win, is he a more complex character than Santos?

I've just finished watching the finale, brilliant! Definitely a few tears in my eyes.

'We're gonna raise the level of public debate in this country, and let that be our legacy'.

Farewell The West Wing, thanks for the memories, the writing, direction, production values, characters, issues...

mewso

Yes indeed the end of possibly the greatest TV show. I was sifting through a discussion on the show on imdb about poeples favorite inspirational moments. A great trip down memory lane -

President Josiah Bartlet: "Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination."
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: "I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does."
"Yes it does. Leviticus."
"18:22."
"Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits."

What a show.

The Black Oil

Actually, I think Sorkin lifted that or parts of it from an email that was doing the rounds at the time.:p