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ok so it wasn't THAT weekend. it was A weekend. So close to being done with this poo poo also we're both OK
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Nov 29, 2022 02:46
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You're alive! It's been awhile since I watched this episode, and I don't remember getting a rushed feeling from it, but your mentioning that gave me an idea. I wonder if there was a misunderstanding or inversion of one of the foundations of the writing on this show after Sorkin left. He said over and over again that his responsibility was to entertain, implying that any similarity to politics was incidental. So it's understandable that events get compressed, expanded, or shunted off screen in service of entertainment. After Sorkin, there are some episodes that are so thoroughly inspired by actual events that I wonder if the writers skip ahead, assuming everyone is already familiar with those events. They pitch this episode with "and people start passing out signs yada yada now it's a contested convention just like [last time that happened irl]". Which makes it the centre of the story, but they don't actually fill it in it for the benefit of people who aren't binging Classic C-SPAN. Sorkin-era handwaving but for the wrong reasons.
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Dec 4, 2022 08:27
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yeah it’s also a huge weakness where they eventually assume the audience is primarily made up of people like them and the characters they are badly writing: terrible beltway wonks who live, breathe and swim in this dogshit now granted sorkin wrote that way too and is constantly condescending to viewers about it but at least he had a knack for making it, as you say, entertaining. or occasionally writing minor characters whose express purpose is to elucidate the weird political trivia behind the scenes that make the current drama actually dramatic instead of boring.
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Dec 4, 2022 16:32
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hoo boy it's the long, slow death of the show, bring on Season Seven babyyyy https://soundcloud.com/theworstwing69/s7e1-da-ticket merry early holidays to everyone, we're gonna crank out one more episode on Saturday
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Dec 14, 2022 03:41
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last week Dave quit the caaaaast now we're back together smoke hash
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Dec 29, 2022 03:24
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Do you have any idea of what you guys are going to do when S7 is done? Can i suggest maybe not reviewing Madam Secretary but maybe having a quick pass over it (okay it's 6 season and most of it is padding poo poo but there are some gems of stupidity in it)? It's far more minor than West-Wing and with an inferior West Wing-style liberal "vision of the world" and overall weaker but it's full of so many insane American liberal-only clichés, it's like a Tom Clancy novel written for 40 years old Hillary voters. The only thing close to it is that Clinton co-written book in which her character shows Putin a deep fake of him raping children. The main character is a former CIA interrogator (i would say torturer but she is wearing pantsuit in Washington), her husband is a NSA intelligence agent/politic science teacher/himbo trying to coup Not-Putin(actually a gay-friendly liberal but "it's Russia and he must play a strong guy, so gently caress the gay") and i stopped watching it after one of the season final cliffhanger, when a rocket was being shot at their limo. There is an episode (during Trump first year) were the president's behavior changes and he is acting in a way that can only be described as more "republican". They convince their follow democrats cabinet members to force him in medical leaves for "insanity" and it turns out he had the start of a brain tumor. But after that he is cured and they saved the day. Also tons of assassination plots going nowhere, really normal liberals plots and no material politics. It's insane but i lost interest in it when actual US politics became more entertaining (aka Trump). Guests includes: Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell and I can totally believe that show was cancelled during the Trump years. It doesn't deserve an episode by episode review but season by season or just a quick overview would be nice. It's like the West-Wing failson. As an European watcher, i have always found the vision of the world in that show to be psychotically Manichean. Toplowtech has issued a correction as of 11:44 on Dec 29, 2022 |
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Dec 29, 2022 11:32
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Madam Suckretary
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Dec 29, 2022 14:46
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Toplowtech posted:Do you have any idea of what you guys are going to do when S7 is done? maybe we can do a End of List episode that covers some knock offs / in-the-spirit-of west wing we tried to watch madame Secretary and gave up almost immediately. I have a couple ideas, but we’re both a bit more strapped for time clearly, and does the world really need more podcasts??
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Dec 29, 2022 15:49
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I want to at least touch on Newsroom since that's also penned by Sorkin and is crazy in its own extremely fun way. Maybe not go episode-by-episode, but we'll at least do one episode about it. Aside from that, our post West Wing plans have always been up in the air.
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Dec 29, 2022 15:58
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Wait: Madam Succretary
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Dec 29, 2022 16:03
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house of cards (insert what's almost certainly a lot of 24/West Wing smash ups that failed)
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Dec 29, 2022 16:44
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House of Sharts
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Dec 29, 2022 16:46
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The Newsroom would a good follow-up, even if it's not a detailed breakdown. I tried to do an ep-by-ep write-up and there's so much to riff on and get mad at that you could easily fill the time if you wanted to House of Cards imo would be boring - the thing is put together just competently enough that while the politics are horrid, there's not a lot of comedy to be wrung out of it
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Dec 29, 2022 17:06
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The only really "funny" thing about House of Cards is that Spacey's character is a Democrat who runs on completely eliminating Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid and that's only "funny" because the real version of that is coming at some point. ETA: I just remembered he proposes ending the major welfare programs in favor of a massive jobs program called like "Get America to Work" or something like that, just grabs the third rail of politics with both hands and yells "JOBS!" WampaLord has issued a correction as of 18:23 on Dec 29, 2022 |
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Dec 29, 2022 17:24
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yeah even if we kinda talk about these things i have no intention of giving any specific show more than a cursory look anyway. I didn't watch TV for... too long a time, to have a command of anything about the 00s
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Dec 29, 2022 17:31
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Gunshow Poophole posted:maybe we can do a End of List episode that covers some knock offs / in-the-spirit-of west wing Also the original British House of Cards is better than the US one(okay that's a matter of taste) and at least honest enough to have Francis Urquhart be a conservative.
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Dec 29, 2022 20:29
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Do an episode on spin city where the two of you act like it's 100% serious.
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Dec 29, 2022 20:33
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I kinda wanna do a short thing where we criticize Parks and Rec's comfy feel good lib shtick and its politics, but I don't know how much material is there.
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Dec 29, 2022 20:51
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WampaLord posted:The only really "funny" thing about House of Cards is that Spacey's character is a Democrat who runs on completely eliminating Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid and that's only "funny" because the real version of that is coming at some point. There needs to be a phrase for real life constantly outpacing the most outrageous and grotesque attempts to parody it. I'm waiting for Cruelty Squad to be looked back upon as hopelessly idealistic utopian sci-fi.
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Dec 29, 2022 22:03
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WampaLord posted:I kinda wanna do a short thing where we criticize Parks and Rec's comfy feel good lib shtick and its politics, but I don't know how much material is there. You could switch to a pod-a-series format. Basically everything you need to know about Parks and Rec is in that episode where she meets Joe Biden. And episode 1.
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Dec 29, 2022 22:16
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I say go through all of Sorkin's films. There's still more good ones than bad ones so it won't be a miserable experience for you guys. I'm down for Studio 60 and Newsroom mainly because why not. Once the Sorkin well is dry, maybe do other movies about real (or fake) politics/media. I don't think any political TV show besides Parks & Rec that's non-Sorkin is worth the effort. Echo Chamber has issued a correction as of 11:44 on Dec 31, 2022 |
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Dec 31, 2022 11:38
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Did Studio 60 come before or after West Wing?
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Dec 31, 2022 11:54
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It was definitely after West Wing. I know comparisons with 30 Rock are inevitable but it was such a grating show on its own merits. And more preachy than even The West Wing.
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Dec 31, 2022 11:58
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for real, danish political drama borgen might be a good place to go next. borgen is a much better TV show and has had rather less of an impact, but it is almost as lib-brained as TWW
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Dec 31, 2022 17:09
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Echo Chamber posted:It was definitely after West Wing. I know comparisons with 30 Rock are inevitable but it was such a grating show on its own merits. And more preachy than even The West Wing. yeah it was riding high on peak not-quite-facebook-times internet atheism too because Sorkin bit hard on the reaction against the bush era religious nuts. "there can only be one show about SNL" is a popular take but 30 Rock was not a baffling confluence of seventeen coke-fueled ideas. it was only 2 coke-fueled ideas
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Dec 31, 2022 17:39
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holy poo poo wow we are STILL GOIN BABY https://soundcloud.com/theworstwing69/s7e3-message-of-the-week I really failed at being profound in the moment about the cultural reflection / replication that the West Wing provides its comfortable, a-material viewership but yeah. long story short, consuming media uncritically is the short road to gettin' hegemonized Gunshow Poophole has issued a correction as of 21:19 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Feb 3, 2023 21:13
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welcome back! I was laughing at the "near the end of the show, I realized nothing had happened". seems like that's the show working well if it almost got you through the whole 42min
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Feb 4, 2023 06:05
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It's strong cable news energy
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Feb 5, 2023 05:24
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lol we haven't even recorded yet and it's Going Great with this loving show
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Feb 16, 2023 04:11
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Gunshow Poophole posted:lol we haven't even recorded yet and it's Going Great with this loving show lmao
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Feb 16, 2023 13:49
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thinking of u
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Feb 21, 2023 18:24
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i remember Teaching The Controversy wonder what happened to tho oh wait they run everything now https://soundcloud.com/theworstwing69/s7e4-mr-frost
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Feb 25, 2023 22:03
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also just putting the record here that Walk The Dinosaur is a fucjin S tier banger song, pigeonholed for far too long as a weird one hit wonder. that blast beat transition, dayum 
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Feb 26, 2023 05:39
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The natsec arc has been dripping for a while now, but you guys never explicitly brought up the topical story of the day that was certainly the biggest inspiration for this poo poo storyline, which was the Valerie Plame affair. I don't think it really helps make you guys talking about it less agonizing, considering how much you guys already hate it. It was a GOP scandal adapted for a fictional liberal administration; I guess there's a gross parallel between how Bush commuted Scooter Libby with Bartlet pardoning Toby. (I had to doublecheck the timeline; the series finale was a year before Bush protecting Cheney's cronies.) Now I'm just suddenly reminded of the 2008 movie "Nothing but the Truth", which further abstracted the details of the scandal into a fictional story and effectively created a sympathetic narrative for Judith Miller, with liberal tropes. Gross.
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Feb 28, 2023 00:05
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huh. So... Plame is the shuttle and Toby is Scooter Libby. I guess I didn't make the connection but once you posted my wife was just "Yeah duh what'd think it was about??" also I literally do not know much beyond the name Plame and the fact that Scooter went down for it, so... this tracks. TY for the post!!
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Feb 28, 2023 01:53
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The name of Plame to Toby's shame
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Feb 28, 2023 02:03
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Poll Plame
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Feb 28, 2023 04:05
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I remember people being angry that this CIA agent got her cover blown. But she's a CIA agent. They don't deserve anything, let alone pity or respect.
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Feb 28, 2023 05:03
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MonsieurChoc posted:I remember people being angry that this CIA agent got her cover blown. Toplowtech has issued a correction as of 12:08 on Feb 28, 2023 |
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Feb 28, 2023 11:59
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Happy Women's History Month everyone!! just open mouth disbelief at some of the poo poo shoehorned into the second episode we consider today.
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Mar 15, 2023 23:10
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