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Doing a rewatch and I'm in the middle of season 6 and the Drought Conditions episode. I really enjoyed the end of the episode with the gala set to Take 5. I agree that the post Sorkin seasons are a letdown, but that sequence was very well shot.
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Aug 29, 2014 00:49
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Ah I'd been wondering what that song was called. Yeah, that's a really well shot scene. Also just a really good scene period.
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Aug 29, 2014 01:31
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Joementum posted:It's a lot less embarrassing in retrospect than the other programming that was put on air the first week shows resumed. I interpreted that sketch as mocking the world war two narrative being applied to Afghanistan. Like it was equivalent to the Allies (we even called the anti taliban group the "northern alliance" because the good guys are always the allies) marching across Europe liberating cities when in reality we were just dropping bombs on some shitholes nobody had ever heard of, and the exuberant singing was a stand-in for how excited dipshits were when they heard it on the news. Maybe that's not what they were going for though.
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Aug 29, 2014 03:44
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Kazak_Hstan posted:I interpreted that sketch as mocking the world war two narrative being applied to Afghanistan. Like it was equivalent to the Allies (we even called the anti taliban group the "northern alliance" because the good guys are always the allies) marching across Europe liberating cities when in reality we were just dropping bombs on some shitholes nobody had ever heard of, and the exuberant singing was a stand-in for how excited dipshits were when they heard it on the news. Maybe that's not what they were going for though. I think this might have been your brain attempting to process the horror it was experiencing and constructing an alternate narrative as a defense mechanism so it wouldn't explode.
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Aug 29, 2014 04:35
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It's possible. Country was pretty hosed up for a few years.
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Aug 29, 2014 05:19
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The Lord Bude posted:That's funny, I seem to recall George W Bush winning two terms (and it's blatantly obvious that Ritchie was a thinly disguised reference to bush). Never underestimate the will of the American People to vote in direct opposition to their best interests. I'm like two months late to this but what I was driving at was that Ritchie would be too moderate for the contemporary GOP base. So would GWB be, if someone exactly like him ran in 2016, with the same positions GWB held in 2000.
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Aug 29, 2014 09:23
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Ochowie posted:Doing a rewatch and I'm in the middle of season 6 and the Drought Conditions episode. I really enjoyed the end of the episode with the gala set to Take 5. I agree that the post Sorkin seasons are a letdown, but that sequence was very well shot. Yes. Also, rewatching the end of season 4, Sorkin couldn't have possibly left on a worse note. I think he's only topped by David Lynch in that arena (thanks entirely to 'I came back to do a totally dick ending,' even if I kinda like the ending), but oh my god, if you have an absurdly distinct style and you leave it off at that exact moment? I don't mind the last three seasons. As has been said, it's not quite up to the same speed in a variety of ways, but talk about hitting the ground running. That's an arc that's really hard to recover from when the showrunner is goddamn gone. EDIT: And this just seals it (MAJOR 4TH SEASON SPOILERS): quote:SORKIN: At the time I'd been reading stories about Rapturists -- people who want to hasten the end of the world by creating the appearance of an international incident so that there'd be an international incident. I decided that's what happened to Zoey but we wouldn't know that until the start of next season. In my mind, Nancy McNally [Anna Deavere Smith] was right when she said we'd find Zoey tied to a chair in the back of a muffler shop upstate. But I wasn't as interested in the thriller aspect as I was in the suddenly powerless president whose daughter's life is in danger. Are he and his wife being kept under guard in the East Wing? Blair House? A hotel? And what if Bartlet didn't like some of the commands that were being given by his temporary successor and he gave Leo a contradictory instruction? Would Leo be loyal to the Constitution as Bartlet promises his Cabinet he will be? What if Josh or C.J. or God forbid, Fitzwallace [John Amos], decides to be loyal to Bartlet? In my mind we'd explore all those things over the course of one long night-into-day-into-night at the White House. When I left the show I didn't leave any instructions or last wishes. I wanted John and the new writers to do what they wanted and not have to write someone else's idea. Seems altruistic in flavor, but aahglkjasd Old Boot fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Aug 31, 2014 |
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Aug 31, 2014 15:23
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When did he know that he wasn't coming back for season 5? I've always wondered if he wrote the Season 4 ending as a "gently caress you" to everybody that was involved in him getting fired, or if it had all been written and shot before that?
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Sep 7, 2014 01:06
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They fired him after season four finished filming. John Wells asked him how the kidnapping plot should end and he said, "I have no idea," which is not at all hard to believe.
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Sep 7, 2014 02:09
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Speaking of timing, how far in advance did they know that season 7 was going to be the last? Did they know before production started, or was there ever a chance that we were going to get a season in the Santos Administration?
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Sep 7, 2014 02:41
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It was mid season before John Spencer died. It was because the ratings weren't there anymore.
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Sep 7, 2014 05:36
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Funny story: I wrote for my high school newspaper and was assigned to review the West Wing pilot. I blew it off and played computer games, turned in the last five minutes, and wrote a terrible review. "Too fast, characters a blur, will last four episodes. Half a cougar paw, only because I'm not allowed to give it zero." Not bad for what became my favorite show pre-The Wire.
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Sep 7, 2014 06:22
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Kazak_Hstan posted:Funny story: I was in high school when some girl who was writing something for the paper asked me what my favorite TV show was and my name. I told her that it was the West Wing and gave her a fake name. A week or so later, I discovered that she'd turned those two tidbits into something that was not only something I'd never say, but wasn't even remotely similar to English. "My favorite TV show is the West Wing because it really gets into the rotten politics. -- Incog Nito (Junior)" I saw that she had accepted my fake name at face value and laughed so hard.
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Sep 7, 2014 07:07
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McNally posted:I was in high school when some girl who was writing something for the paper asked me what my favorite TV show was and my name. I told her that it was the West Wing and gave her a fake name. I assume all high school newspapers were similarly bad. We had a senior on the razor edge of not graduating, needed the newspaper credit and was riding a solid D. So for his final story he of course just fabricated everything, including lengthy quotes from the principal, who of course noticed because he read the final draft to censor it. Summer school super senior!
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Sep 7, 2014 19:23
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Man, I keep finding situations where a quote from the West Wing would be perfect but there's no Youtube clip of it. Most recently was Abby and vermeil.quote:C.J. Cregg: I spoke to Peggy about the vermeil - you might get a few questions.
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Oct 2, 2014 20:47
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Empire magazine has a fairly long article about The West Wing. Well worth a read. http://www.empireonline.com/westwing/
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Oct 4, 2014 11:13
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HorseHeadBed posted:Empire magazine has a fairly long article about The West Wing. Well worth a read. This is really great. When you get to the end of the main article if you click the right arrow at the top of the page it takes you to more detailed stuff like layouts of several complex walk and talks, interviews with Dee Dee Myers, etc. This is one of the greatest things I've read quote:WHITFORD: The problem with Josh [Malina] is he has no sense of proportion. It's like you shake hands with a hand buzzer, then he will pick your daughter up from school and not tell you. The sickest things were the small poo poo he used to do. I was always reading books on the set and he would tear the last few pages out of them! Also, at one point I was going through a really difficult time and I had this very sweet assistant who would write little supportive aphorisms on post-its and leave them in my dressing room, like: "I have the time and space to do everything that I need to do." Little things like that. And Josh, who would apparently always go into my dressing room, would take those down and put things like, "There is no happiness. The reward is death." "Will I ever work again?"
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Oct 5, 2014 15:29
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Jose Valasquez posted:This is really great. When you get to the end of the main article if you click the right arrow at the top of the page it takes you to more detailed stuff like layouts of several complex walk and talks, interviews with Dee Dee Myers, etc. Didn't notice that. Thanks!
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Oct 5, 2014 15:45
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That's a very good article, thank you for the link.
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Oct 5, 2014 19:48
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HorseHeadBed posted:Didn't notice that. Thanks! Huh, neither did I. What kind of a navigation concept is that? EDIT: I never knew that thing about the fish bowl. It certainly is too subtle to just notice it by watching the episodes, but until now I never even read about it online. DominoDancing fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Oct 5, 2014 |
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Oct 5, 2014 22:34
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What an incredible walkandtalk-diagrams. They really had massive sets!
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Oct 5, 2014 23:41
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Most depressing thing I learned from that article: There exists a VHS tape of Dule Hill tap dancing to music improvised by Yo Yo Ma and it will probably never be on youtube. :-/
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Oct 5, 2014 23:57
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DominoDancing posted:Huh, neither did I. What kind of a navigation concept is that?  vIt's really poorly designed navigation
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Oct 5, 2014 23:58
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Jose Valasquez posted:I only noticed because I clicked on Dee Dee Myer's name in the article and it took me to a separate page with her interview, then I noticed the navigation bars at the top and tried to click back to go back to the article and it took me to something else v They're also in the article itself as little sidebar links. At least, most of them? That fish bowl thing is pretty cool. Also Richard Schiff is pretty pissed about what happened to Toby, but I guess we did hear that one before. It also says they were going to have Alda win at the end but changed after John Spencer died, which I know I've read in this thread before but I don't know if it was "confirmed" or not. And they would have probably had season 8 if John Spencer didn't die  And also that Rob Lowe seemingly would not have stayed after Sorkin left. Lots of cool info there.The only thing I don't buy is where Sorkin says he didn't watch any of seasons 5, 6 or 7. I bet he did.
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Oct 6, 2014 00:07
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It also had Rob Lowe saying that he turned it on one time after he left and immediately turned it off...but then wanted to come back for the end. So you didn't watch it when Sorkin left, but wanted to be part of it again?
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Oct 6, 2014 00:10
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Asiina posted:It also had Rob Lowe saying that he turned it on one time after he left and immediately turned it off...but then wanted to come back for the end. So you didn't watch it when Sorkin left, but wanted to be part of it again? Get paid money to have a reunion with my buddies and give the audience a nice sendoff? I'd come back too.
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Oct 6, 2014 00:14
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Asiina posted:It also had Rob Lowe saying that he turned it on one time after he left and immediately turned it off...but then wanted to come back for the end. So you didn't watch it when Sorkin left, but wanted to be part of it again?
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Oct 6, 2014 00:25
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myron cope posted:It also says they were going to have Alda win at the end but changed after John Spencer died, which I know I've read in this thread before but I don't know if it was "confirmed" or not. Martin Sheen was the one who said it in this article. John Wells has denied it before, and when you read that they were considering an 8th season before Spencer died, it just doesn't make sense. There'd be no show if Santos wasn't the nominee. Baronash fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Oct 6, 2014 |
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Oct 6, 2014 00:37
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JohnSherman posted:Martin Sheen was the one who said it in this article. John Wells has denied it before, and when you read that they were considering an 8th season before Spencer died, it just doesn't make sense. There'd be no show if Santos wasn't the nominee. Yeah, you're right. At least one of those can't be true. Probably not the Alda one.
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Oct 6, 2014 00:42
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They were cancelled before John died. Rob Lowe asked Sorkin for help before leaving. Sorkin had his own demons at the time and shrugged at him. He left because the network would not pay him a fair amount. He came back because he loves Sam Seaborn and the scheduling worked at the time.
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Oct 6, 2014 03:00
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Is anyone in this thread watching Madam Secretary? It doesn't hold a candle to the West Wing of course, but every now and then, a bunch of characters have a conversation whilst walking really fast down a corridor and I could almost believe...
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Oct 6, 2014 14:41
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The Lord Bude posted:Is anyone in this thread watching Madam Secretary? It doesn't hold a candle to the West Wing of course, but every now and then, a bunch of characters have a conversation whilst walking really fast down a corridor and I could almost believe...
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Oct 6, 2014 14:47
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Josh Lyman posted:I've posted a couple times in the couch chat thread that Madam Secretary is like a 90s movie copy of West Wing. The show should have its own thread. The president feels a bit limp, and the pilot didn't get off to anything like the start that the west wing did - I still can't put a name to all the main characters - but I think it's rapidly finding its feet.
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Oct 6, 2014 14:55
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The Lord Bude posted:The show should have its own thread. The president feels a bit limp, and the pilot didn't get off to anything like the start that the west wing did - I still can't put a name to all the main characters - but I think it's rapidly finding its feet.
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Oct 6, 2014 14:59
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Josh Lyman posted:I actually started making one but I think literally one or two goons other than you and me watch it. I often start watching a new show because I've seen a thread for it here. Maybe more people would watch it. The Forever thread is also pretty barren, and that's turning out to be a decent show as well.
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Oct 6, 2014 15:09
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The Lord Bude posted:I often start watching a new show because I've seen a thread for it here. Maybe more people would watch it. The Forever thread is also pretty barren, and that's turning out to be a decent show as well.
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Oct 6, 2014 15:12
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Josh Lyman posted:Fair enough. I'll finish the OP I was working on then. With 3 episodes out, I guess people can better judge whether they want to get on board. Excellent, I hope we see more people watching.
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Oct 6, 2014 15:39
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I know literally nothing about this so-called" Madam Secretary". Is it on tv? Netflix? It sounds British. I think you guys are making it up.
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Oct 6, 2014 16:00
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Tea Leoni is Secretary of State but with an edge. I think it's on ABC. It sucks. Could they find an actor with less charisma? Nope.
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Oct 6, 2014 16:03
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myron cope posted:I know literally nothing about this so-called" Madam Secretary". Is it on tv? Netflix? It sounds British. I think you guys are making it up. It's West Wing lite. More like Commander in Chief, except with a secretary of state. And more family stuff. It doesn't compare to West Wing of course, but I wouldn't call it bad. The pilot was mediocre, episodes 2 and 3 were decent.
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Oct 6, 2014 16:26
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