He did come back, briefly. He ran for the GOP nomination, won the Iowa caucuses, and ultimately lost out to Arnie Vinick. I guess it could have been interesting if they had set him up as Vinick's running mate. Sullivan just had a skeevy vibe to him.
Doing a West Wing marathon at the mo...
- Thread starter Candlelight
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He did come back, briefly. He ran for the GOP nomination, won the Iowa caucuses, and ultimately lost out to Arnie Vinick. I guess it could have been interesting if they had set him up as Vinick's running mate. Sullivan just had a skeevy vibe to him.
That was put in there to eliminate the "what happened to that guy" comment
That could have worked... given him less episodes
I think seasons 5, 6 and 7 get a lot of undeserved hate. Don't get me wrong, things took a dip after Sorkin left and there were some bad episodes. But by the time season 6 rolled around, I think the show had really come back, and there are some great episodes in those last two seasons, and a lot of good ones in season 5. "The Supremes", for example, is as good as any episode Sorkin ever wrote.
The bad plotlines make the good episodes unwatchable. The Iraq war in Asia plotline, Toby storyline is dragged out way too long. I hated the main story arcs for the older characters after season 4. However the election parts were good, but the West Wing parts of West Wing episodes were bad.
"The Supremes" was a good episode, although the way that it seemed to ignore the season one Supreme Court arc with Edward James Olmos' character was off-putting. Very well-written on its own, though.
Another good one from that year is the Christmas episode "Abu Al Banat" (probably mispelled that, but it's the best I could do).
Season five isn't bad. It has a lot of great episodes. The thing is, it also has some of the worst episodes of the series ("Access" comes to mind).
That had an interesting premise, but it was poorly executed (and, given they had years left to go, it was a bad idea to shoot a "retrospective" since a ton of stuff happened in the last two seasons that you'd think would have been mentioned somewhere, for CJ especially).
I wondered about that too, but then, Sorkin himself never gave a damn about continuity if it got in the way of whatever he was doing (or else just forgot), so I let it slide.
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The problem I had with season five is that it paints Leo as such an a$$hole, and Josh as incompetant. Ultimately it paid off as Josh spectacularly came in from the cold in the superb Shutdown, but it just didn't sit right with me. A fantastic episode though, Haffley well and truly put in his place! 
Must admit, the last time I saw season five I expected the worst and was pleasantly surprised. It's hard going early on as the tone is a little depressing, especially with the Leo/Josh situation, but after Shutdown things start to pick up again.
Must admit, the last time I saw season five I expected the worst and was pleasantly surprised. It's hard going early on as the tone is a little depressing, especially with the Leo/Josh situation, but after Shutdown things start to pick up again.
The problem I had with season five is that it paints Leo as such an a$$hole, and Josh as incompetant. Ultimately it paid off as Josh spectacularly came in from the cold in the superb Shutdown, but it just didn't sit right with me. A fantastic episode though, Haffley well and truly put in his place!
That's what pisses me off, John Wells didn't seem to give a shit about the characters, he needed conflict. Leo was a bitch, and Josh was an idiot and they had to bring in that new female to help him.
It's overall just a mess.
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Guys, Year of Hell made it clear in his original post that he hadn't previously seen anything past season three. Maybe shut down on the uncoded spoilers so you're not ruining things for him? It's rather inconsiderate.
I hurt my shoulder last month and had to take a few weeks off work, so I also blasted through the whole series of The West Wing.
I got a few season DVDs as birthday presants, bought some, and blew my Tesco Club Card vouchers. But they were worh every penny.
I had watched season 1-4 on TV a few years ago, so I knew how good they were. But I had never seen season 5-7, and had heard some bad things about them, but I thought they too were excellent.
I must admit, I was delighted to see Josh & Donna get together. A bit cheesy perhaps, but I loved it!
BRG
I got a few season DVDs as birthday presants, bought some, and blew my Tesco Club Card vouchers. But they were worh every penny.I had watched season 1-4 on TV a few years ago, so I knew how good they were. But I had never seen season 5-7, and had heard some bad things about them, but I thought they too were excellent.
I must admit, I was delighted to see Josh & Donna get together. A bit cheesy perhaps, but I loved it!
BRG
Actually, I enjoyed all of those eps... Leo was stressed... And Josh messed up... People do that from time to time...The problem I had with season five is that it paints Leo as such an a$$hole, and Josh as incompetant. Ultimately it paid off as Josh spectacularly came in from the cold in the superb Shutdown, but it just didn't sit right with me. A fantastic episode though, Haffley well and truly put in his place!
Shutdown was great... and I love BingoBob
One thing that really sucked in West Wing were all the post 9/11 terrorism storylines. I guess they had to do something, but it felt artificial and out-of-place.
But the stand alone episode that they did after that was top notch!
I have watched all the seasons and all the episode on Bravo years ago, I have even watched seasons 3 and 4 two times in a row this year alone, and I have never watched that episode besides once in a repeat. It makes season 5-7 look amazing.
You must have reading comprehension issues, then.
Year of Hell stated that he had previously only seen a partial amount of season three prior to what I assume is a New Zealand television network moving the series to a less-than-ideal timeframe. He then stated that this marathon was a "welcome return" to the series, going on to mention that he was now at a particular point in season four.
It was quite clear. Assuming you read, that is.
Really? I truly loved that episode. I realize it didn't add to the "West Wing" story... But I still loved the entire story, and how it showed a more "real life" situation... And a real response to 9/11
Since you now know, the courtesy of spoiler code is always greatly appreciated by all.
Thanks PsychoPere, no I haven't seen anything beyond mid-season three, when TVNZ decided it's prime slot of 8.30am Monday night wasn't working out, and it was dumped to 12.30am four nights a week, where the show suddenly ran out very quickly. I have a vague idea of what happens and this isn't the kind of that I mind being spoiled on (although the Zoey kidnap arc was pretty intense in parts).
My wife and I are partway through season five and we can't find anything wrong with it. If anything, season four was the one that hit a bump in the road. Sam's abrupt departure and many storylines post-election didn't really sit well with me; the VP scandel seemed very out of place, and it almost seems like it was written by Sorkin to spite the incoming showrunner. I'm liking Season five at the moment, especially the tornado episode and 'Shutdown'.
My only gripe is they seemed to have removed 60% of the lightbulbs in the white house for "dramatic" affect. The place has never looked darker!
The only part about season 5 that i really didnt like was Josh's wacky intern. Couldnt stand that guy.
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