That's a terrible / spooky image of Sorkin in that link

Also: giddyup!

From Twitter:

This is pretty much exactly how I feel about this new show.

There's literally no one in the world that I don't hate.

I love Toby Ziegler's lines.

The very minute they swear in the next guy, old man, you and I are going round and round.

Love that ep. "And don't cheat. I know where all the pieces are on the board. I know where all the pieces are on Sam's board, I know where all the pieces STILL are on David Wheaton's board!"

I just re-watched season 1 episode 1 and am about to go through the whole series again. Is there a better first episode of any TV show? None come to mind for me. AG(WHJAWG WHAT A SHOW. So pumped to be re-watching.

The pilot of Mad Men comes close imo, but not sure is it quite surpasses it.

The last 10 minutes of season 4 that lead up to with the Club music slowly building up the entire time, may be my favorite and most dramatic 10-minutes of television ever. You can feel the drama building and all the lines, (including the ones between Donna and Amy on the side, and even Jean-Paul's who I don't think acted very well in his limited screen-time up to that point) were all delivered fantastically. Gives me chills no matter how many times I watch it.

hmmm

Six Feet Under, Dead Like Me, Battlestar Galactica all come to mind as being amazing first episodes. BG was actually a 2 hour movie or something though.

But I think as far as first scenes go nothing matches Leo's walk and talk.

Like most fans, Two Cathedrals is definitely my favorite. My favorite of all TV, probably.

The President's first line is a good first line. Though it was forced.

hmm haven't seen any of those shows, i guess i should?

i'm up to episode 5, this show is even better the 2nd time around. The night Leo forgets his anniversary and as his wife is leaving: "do you want me to take that bag to the cab?" and "call me before you go to sleep" are amazing quotes. The scene really sets the building blocks to develop his softer but more importantly vulnerable side.

also just noticed that Nick Offerman is in episode 5 <3

After Tom Brady threw yet another TD pass to one of his two young TE's (you've never seen multiple TE's used in the passing game the way the Patriots have been doing it the last 1+ seasons), I posted in the Sporting Events' Patriots thread:
Nobody got the reference.

Now I'm curious if anyone HERE knows what I'm talking about.

(Yeah, it's from a Toby quote.)

I assume it's early, but it must be a fairly forgettable scene because I've rewatched the first 4 seasons in the past month and nothing sticks out to me.

From Galileo obv. Not a fav ep but still great.

it's a fairly forgettable scene. CJ asks Toby if he knows what the names of Mars's moons, and Toby replied, Phobos and Deimos, the two horses who pulled his chariot. it wasn't so much west wing reference as it was a boston guy putting his sports heroes on a pedestal with ancient gods, who also happened to be talked about on the west wing.

Have reached season 5. The difference to the "Sorkin-Era" isn't too obvious yet. Things have gotten a little cheasier compared the first four seasons, but the plots generally are still strong.

Maybe it's that the first few episodes had John Goodman and all the Zoe abduction aftermath took a huge part.

My favorite episode of the season so far ist the one where the government gets shutdown. Mainly because all the beating up on Josh finally seems to be over and he gets a chance to shine. Also Bartlet recovering from his abduction-induced mental state.

Watched "The Black Vera Wang" today. Awesome moment:

SAM: This is bad. And I take full responsibility.

BRUNO: This isn't bad, Sam. Let me show you bad.

(Bruno walks out into Communications bullpen, turns up the sound on all the tvs. All are playing the attack ad on Bartlett that Sam had just coughed up to the opposition. Close up of Sam's face as he takes all this in.)

SAM: (voice cracking) Oh God.

(It's the way his voice falters that sells it. It might be a simple actors' technique, but it was quite effective in this scene.)

I haven't watched Season 5 or 6 in a while, but I remember my main beef being the plots being contrived just to create immediate conflict ... it all felt very short sighted whereas S1-4 seemed like there was a story being told and character nuances being developed.

Yea, it's amazing that I don't recall hating Sam, ever, during the series. I guess it shows he's a totally decent actor in the right hands?

You sit at home on the couch. You watch tv, you watch movies. And you start to think that acting is easy. It's all a puppet show, all you gotta do is let your body be the puppet, and your brain and mouth the puppeteer.

Then you watch John Amos' scene in We Killed Yamamoto. "Pregnant women are delivering bombs! You're talking to me about International Law??? The laws of nature don't even apply here!"

I don't think I could do it as well as he does it. Maybe there's more to it than just a puppet show.

Found it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJb4dUSNmIo

Amos' lines that I enjoy most are about 1) shampoo, 2) coffee, and 3) French mimes.

The biggest difference IMO is the change in Josh's character.

I think Toby's character changed a lot too.

Just watched "Posse Comitatus", or however it's spelled, and the DVD commentary with it. So much great camera work/editing in that one. Examples:

--Bartlett tosses something fragile to Fitzwallace. Just as it's about to hit Fitz' hands, smash cut to Toby loudly bouncing a ball off of Sam's window. I can't do it justice talking about it, you gotta see it.

--Roses everywhere in this "Wars of the Roses" episode. In meeting rooms, in Mumbles' apartment, and especially around Mark Harmon's final shot.

--Shot of Mrs Landingham's empty desk as Lily Tomlin enters.

--The incredible, fantastic shot of Bartlett and Leo as Bartlett gives the order to kill Sharif. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tG9_...ailpage#t=357s

--Finally, in the commentary, as the young black kid runs out to the stage and sings like an angel, director Alex Graves told about the rehearsal where Martin Sheen grabbed him and urged him to listen to this little kid in jeans and a tshirt sing. Graves then made a sarcastic remark like, "Oh, I'm sure he's got no future in show business." Sorkin laughed, and replied, "I *guarantee* you that right now, he's in the National Touring Company of SOMETHING."

So on a whim, I googled him.

http://www.the-signal.com/archives/39049/


Richard Schiff sure thinks so! I saw an interview he did (I must have got the link from this thread) where he says he hasn't watched an episode that was made after Season Four, and his disdain for what they turned his character into is manifest.

I was always amazed at how much I cared about Mark Harmon's character being killed. I was completely destroyed by it. I still think of him as that secret service agent whenever I see NCIS.

Sorkin mentions that in the comments, how killing a tv character impacts the audience so much more than killing a character in a book or in a movie. He says people watch tv shows to "hang out" every week with the folks on the screen. When Harmon goes down, nobody's immediate reaction is, "Oh, poor Simon!", or even, "Oh, poor CJ!". No, it's, "What do you mean he's not coming to my house next week! Sorkin, you *******!"

And as Sorkin says in the "18th and Potomac" commentary, it's got to be a character people care about. You can't kill off some character we barely know, it won't have the same impact.

One last note on this episode's commentary: either Graves or Schlamme was yammering on and on during the montage following Harmon's death, how tough it is to edit, how you need to shoot 10x more than you'll ever use, how important is was to get a certain shot (of roses on the floor next to Harmon's body) that he even changed lenses, which I guess is a big deal...but he stopped talking abruptly as we see CJ plop down a bench and cry with no audio. Then he says something like, "Yeah, I'm going on about how tough this is, but look what Alison is giving us here! When the people on camera are that talented, it makes our jobs trivially easy."

Ever since I've seen Sheen do it, I do his flip thing with jackets and dress shirts.