mythmom

Both kids swear that they got 4's on AP Govt because of WW. It is only a half year course in their school and the other kids got 2's.

They tell me I am most like Abby.

I love them all except Will. For some reason he annoyed me.

To me, Bartlet is the heart of the show, but I really enjoyed the episodes in which Josh deals with his problems with two different shrinks.

DD said she was scared because she had fallen out of love with Sam and into love with Josh. Told her it was growing up.

We saw the show first fun and rewatched in, but sometimes 3 or 4 episodes a day (summer, kids home, about to leave). Watching the show as a piece gave me a much different idea of what it was about. Not saying. Not being a spoiler.

Marian

Very astute of you.

But how would you have felt if she had progressed all the way to falling in love with Leo?

Chedva

She can't have Leo; he's mine!

D watched through Season 6 while home on winter break; she had really only started watching Season 6 and 7 while still at home. We had a great time talking about it (I only watched a few with her, since she tended to watch either while I was at work or in the wee hours. Now I have to catch up!)

mythmom

She can't have Leo. He's Chedva's.

mythmom

She did, however, met a politio here own age who has asked her to write so things for ezine. I said you're Donna! because she doesn't want to have Amy's edge. Truly I think she's closest to Andy. No that's me. Being obnoxiously PC belligerent. (Only sometimes when important.)

2VU0609

One of the things I love about this show is that there are some things that are never resolved (like what really happened to Ainsley & John Quincy), but others that were nicely tied up by the end of season 7. One of my favorite season 7 moments was when Josh went to get Sam again after the election. Kind of a full circle moment.
The writing was so good that even the little things that were wrong or ridiculous could be ignored. Example: In the final episode, Abby asks Bartlett why they have inaugurations on these cold, cold days of January and he responds with something about the founding fathers. In reality, the inaugurals were initially held in March until sometime around FDR's time in office. Such good writing, acting, that kind of blunder is easily forgiven. After all, that episode provides the wonderful moment when Pres. Bartlett gives Charlie his copy of the constitution. Also, kind of a neat thing that Aaron Sorkin appears in the scene where the new president is sworn in.
I love how some of you have said it was a bonding moment with your children. Same at my house. S began watching seriously around S3 and we started watching together when he was home from school. The final episode was a few weeks after his college graduation and he was a few weeks from moving away to start his job. D was sometimes jealous of the TWW time/conversations with S, but she and I shared Gilmore Girls in the same way. So many people say they don't watch television, that it's a waste of time, etc., but really good tv can be a joy.

Panhandlegal

LOVE West Wing! I keep hoping one of the cable channels will pick it up for syndication. Know nothing of how that works-- I may just resort to spending a few bucks to rent it. Now that I think about it....I should have asked Santa to put it under the tree for me! Charlie is high on my list. Others I like: Jed, Josh, Leo, C.J.... Ainsley was very annoying at first, but she grew on me. Several of these actors are creating new characters in current series, but I still identify with their WW character. Great Cast!

zebes

Danny! Santa Danny. Goldfish Danny. Befuddled Danny. Adorable Danny.

zebes, who's thankful Santa brought WW to her house this year so she could rewatch it with h.s. jr. d

mythmom

Santa is obviously a connoisseur of good TV.

Romantic Danny, "I just love to hear you talk."

Ah.

Icarus

Couldn't agree more - West Wing is the best written show I've ever seen. Own all the DVDs, and still watch them whenever I get a chance. Not sure who I identify with most, but it would probably be Josh or Toby.

What about some of your favorite episodes? I personally think season 2 is one of the best. "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" were two of the best episodes of the series. So to was "Two Cathedrals" (as a student of Latin, I loved Bartlett's monologue with god in latin).

Marian

Those who liked the symmetry of Josh going to hire Sam away from corporate law firms at both the beginning and end of the series might also like the symmetry of having whopping bloopers in both the first and last episodes of the show.

2VU0609 has pointed out the last episode's whopper, as quoted above. The whopper in the first episode was that it began with various White House staffers in Washington being interrupted in the early morning hours with the news that the President, visiting somewhere in the Western United States, had crashed his bicycle into a tree. Of course he crashed! Thanks to time zone differences, at the time when he had his accident, it would have been the middle of the night in the Western U.S. He was cycling in the dark.

Best episodes? Besides the two excellent ones that Icarus mentioned, I loved these:

In Excelsis Deo (first season; Toby arranges a funeral for a homeless Korean War veteran)

Noel (second season; Josh's PTSD crisis -- and the reason why Bradley Whitford won an Emmy that year)

Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail (second season, Sam faces a problem involving his father in an episode that truly showcased Rob Lowe's abilities as an actor)

20 Hours in America (fourth season; a two-parter where Toby, Josh, and Donna get stranded while campaigning in Indiana and a sleep-deprived Sam covers for Josh at the White House)

Game On (fourth season; I love what Abby does to Jed's tie)

2162 Votes (the convention episode at the end of the sixth season -- probably my all-time favorite because I've always wanted to see a political convention that wasn't just rubber-stamping a candidate who had won all the votes he needed in the primaries)

Transition (seventh season; Sam reappears, and the saga of Josh and Donna is more-or-less resolved)

Chedva

I was absolutely amazed when I re-watched the very first episode. The viewer jumped right into the middle of situations with people who really knew each other, what they were doing. There was no "expository" or "introductory" prose or setups; you followed the action or you were lost.

Icarus

^ how could I forget those! All very good episodes (especially Noel - gotta love Yo-Yo Ma, who I just saw in concert a month or two ago - he's even better in person)

TheDad

Lionel Tribbey still isn't ringing any bells and I know I've seen at least one

Otoh, Lord John Marbury, the British ambassador...oh Lord, there's a role I'd like to even *try* to play.

TheDad's Trivia Note: Elisabeth Moss, aka Zoey Bartlett, danced at D's ballet school. I saw her dance solos in at least a couple of Nutcrackers, including Dew Drop in 1996, plus Giselle in "Giselle" (1996) and White Cat in "Sleeping Beauty" (1997).

Icarus

....minor character, but very funny