| abstract | - Political drama (1999-2006) created by Aaron Sorkin, starring Martin Sheen as the idealized President of the United States, nerdily intellectual Democrat Jed Bartlet. The real focus, however, is on his smart and dedicated staff, who roam the White House endlessly discussing the pressing political issues of the moment. In fact, the President wasn't even originally intended to appear very often, but Sheen was so impressive in the pilot that he was made a regular instead of the original four-episodes-a-season plan. As per Sorkin's style, the show is wall-to-wall dialogue. The characters spend the entirety of every episode having lengthy, pointed arguments about real concerns such as public education, foreign aid and gun control, in a style of patter which carefully balances sober and didactic with nutty and didactic. All sides of an issue are covered (the show even gave the reason for the US Navy's infamous four-hundred-dollar ashtrays), although the show still has a distinctly liberal bias, with more than a few Republicans being portrayed as arrogant and out of touch. It did get a fair bit of criticism from conservatives for this, but many saw it as the best attempt to date to try to be a truly fair and balanced drama about Washington DC. The show is notorious for the Walk and Talk -- to create the illusion of activity in the midst of all this discussion, the characters constantly walk around the White House as they talk, despite the fact that they rarely have any place to go. Its nickname on Television Without Pity was "pedeconferencing", which was also picked up by Sorkin and Schlamme, among others. It's also notorious for its vanishing characters. The characters played by Rob Lowe and Moira Kelly never officially left, they merely were never seen again, despite the fact that Lowe in particular was an integral part of the White House social order (and had just had a running plot which gave him a perfect way out). This is just a quirk of Sorkin's which even his most ardent fans find irritating and inexplicable. Lowe, it should be noted, returned close to the finale and had his resignation and intermezzo period explained. Mandy is still on her bus to Mandyville. In the minds of many fans, the first four seasons often reached moments of truly sublime television; the best example is likely in the second season finale, where the President paces in the National Cathedral and curses God. In untranslated, unsubtitled Latin. The show's elevated subject matter meshed perfectly with Sorkin's idealism and, if you're less inclined to be kind, self-importance. At the end of the fourth season Sorkin (and director Thomas Schlamme, who was Sorkin's number one director) left, to be replaced as showrunner by co-executive producer and ER mastermind John Wells. Wells took something of a defeatist attitude to the show, deciding that trying to emulate Sorkin's style would be futile, so instead he would take the show in a new direction, with fewer political crises, more personal ones. As a result, the show's identity changed from an idealistic look at politics to a far more pragmatic one, while at the same time dealing realistically with current events issues. After NBC moved the show up against the inexplicable ratings juggernaut Extreme Makeover, ratings declined to the point where, in 2006, it was cancelled. It did get a Grand Finale. The West Wing never really underwent a Retool, but as discussed above, the show steadily evolved after Sorkin left. The most dramatic changes came in the sixth season, when Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits were added. While a rather obvious bit of Stunt Casting, the two did solid jobs portraying politicians seeking to succeed Bartlet (Alda actually won an Emmy for his role, which tied the show with Hill Street Blues as the most honoured drama in the history of the Emmys). The second half of season six and all of season seven saw the program slowly move to more of a focus on the campaigns, with occasional trips back to the more familiar White House setting. Sorkin was fond of making homages to and referencing musical theatre, most impressively from 1776. It could be argued that there are references in every single episode due to one character being a descendant of a character in 1776 (Pres. Bartlet, and his three daughters as well, of course) and through Sorkin's taking Josh's last name from a minor 1776 character (Dr. Lyman Hall of Georgia). A small, but interesting point: a political ploy tried by House Democrats in one episode (involving hiding in the Capitol building so the Republicans would think they'd gone home and organise a vote they would otherwise lose, then turning up and voting) was tried by the British Conservatives a while ago. And worked. Many, many commentators noted just how similar the West Wing's penultimate season election plotline was to the actual 2008 U.S. Presidential election, with the charismatic young minority Democrat (Santos / Obama) facing off against the veteran western-state Republican senator known for "straight talk" and saddled with a VP candidate designed to appeal to the Republican right wing (Vinick / McCain). In several interviews, the writers said that Santos was directly based on Obama, after his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Obama did have a much easier time of things than Santos on election day, however, largely because Vinick's status as a populist California Republican made finding a plausible scenario for his defeat far more difficult. We're still not exactly sure what was supposed to happen with that election; executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell said Vinick was originally scheduled to win, but once John Spencer (portraying Santos' VP candidate and former White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry) died, the writers decided to throw the election to Santos. Wells later said that wasn't true. Here is a Character Sheet.
* Aborted Arc: Charlie talks to the President about marrying Zoey towards the end of season 6. The Charlie and Zoey relationship is never brought up again after this.
* Also, Joey Lucas originally showed up as a campaign manager for a congressional candidate in California whose funding got cut off. The President says that he doesn't like her candidate, and then has Josh tell her that he thinks she should run for office. In every other appearance, she is a pollster, and there is never any mention of her as a potential candidate for anything.
* Absentee Actor: Rob Lowe during the middle of Season 4, right before he left. During seasons 6 and 7 large sections of the cast were left out as the focus shifted between the campaign and the West Wing. Most notably episode 7 of season 7, where none of the original cast feature (the cast was Alan Alda (added in season 6), Jimmy Smits (also added in season 6), Janeane Garaofolo (special guest), Teri Polo (special guest), Ron Silver (special guest), Patricia Richardson (special guest) and Forrest Sawyer as himself). Richard Schiff also managed to have his episode count in season 7 reduced to 11 but got paid for 22.
* Actor Allusion: Hoynes' line about his alcoholism - "I liked beer a little bit too much in college." - may reference actor Tim Matheson's previous role as a drunken lout in the classic movie Animal House.
* The Alcoholic: Leo. Vice President Hoynes is an interesting example. His father was an alcoholic and Hoynes himself frequently attends AA meetings (in fact, he hosts his own, attended by various congressmen and politicians and disguised as a card game to avoid attracting attention from the press), but only had a very few drinks in his life. He got drunk a couple times in college (haven't we all?) and, showing an insane degree of self-awareness, realized that getting drunk was a bit too easy for him and cut himself off entirely.
* Ambition Is Evil: Maybe not evil, but certainly very bad. Bartlet, Santos, and Leo have to be talked into running for national office, and Walken confides to Debbie that he never wanted to be President. Hoynes and Russell, on the other hand, have their desire to be President as their defining character trait, and are treated as generally bad people, while "ambitious" congressmen looking to move up are the enemy of just about every third episode. Basically, the only politician who actively seeks out higher office and doesn't come off badly is Vinick.
* In the episode "Undecideds," Toby delivers an eloquent rebuttal to this trope, arguing that the presidency requires someone who sees himself as a "man of destiny," and will therefore be comfortable making the hard and earth-shaking decisions the post requires.
* Answer Cut: At the end of "Things Fall Apart", an extremely sensitive news story is leaked to the press, and Annabeth worriedly comments that whoever did it would have had to be very high up. The camera cuts to CJ (watching another plot thread wrap up on television) as ominous music plays out the episode. We later find out that it was a Red Herring; Toby did it.
* A "Jeopardy!" version with the answer preceding the question: Bruno (working for the Vinick campaign) finds a briefcase. Cut to Santos asking for his briefcase and his staff quickly realizing nobody knows where it is.
* Armor-Piercing Question: Sam Seaborn and Pres. Bartlet, as trained rhetoricians, have a talent for them, as does Danny Concannon the reporter.
* Central to the second-season episode "Noel" is a trauma counselor asking Josh "how did you cut your hand?" over and over until he tells the truth.
* Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
* Artistic License: The staff members last longer in their gigs than their real life counterparts tend to. For example, Chief of Staff is pretty much a one-and-a-half to two year job, and Leo's there for five or six years. And White Houses run through press secretaries like they come five to a nickel from a gumball machine, but CJ was at that podium... until Leo's heart attack prompted her switch to his job.
* Ass in Ambassador: Lord John Marbury takes it to a hilarious level: "Abigail! May I grasp your breasts?" Abigail, of course, is the First Lady of the United States and standing right next to her husband.
* As the Good Book Says...: Religion is frequently central to the political conflicts and many characters are fond of quoting the Bible. President Bartlet, with his thoroughgoing Catholicism is fond of this, and it's part of his walking awesomeness.
* Audience Surrogate: Donna often has Josh explain an issue to her in the early seasons.
* The cop in "Somebody's Going to Emergency ..." has Toby explain the WTO protests to her.
* Author Catchphrase: "What Kind of Day Has It Been", used as a finale episode in all three of Aaron Sorkin's shows.
* Belligerent Sexual Tension: Sam and Ainsley. Never sexier than when they're bickering.
* Benevolent Boss: Both the President and Leo, although both are certainly capable of calling down fire and brimstone when necessary. Bartlet's summary dismissal of Toby in the final season was about as cold a decision as he was ever shown making.
* Berserk Button: Almost everyone in the cast has at least one:
* Josh very much doesn't like it when you say anything bad about someone he cares about. Sam had to stop him from beating up an investigator who was trying to use Leo's drug-addict past against him.
* Charlie pushed a punk kid against the wall and gave him an elbow to the throat when the kid called CJ a bitch.
* Toby warns a hostile congressman about his own version of the trope: "I'm told that on my sunniest days I'm not that fun to be around. I wonder what's gonna happen when you make my children a part of your life."
* Betty and Veronica - the relationship between Josh, Amy (Veronica), and Donna (Betty).
* Blatant Lies: Sam's description of the White House and Roosevelt Room in the pilot is hilariously wrong, and he's winging it the whole while.
* Blown Across the Room: Subverted.
* Blue and Orange Morality: A large number of the conflicts between the Democrats and Republicans had no moral sides and are just ridiculous convoluted partisan power struggles, often rooted in agenda hijackings by constituent groups or special interests (which is very much Truth in Television). Naturally, in the more serious of these situations, the White House staff feels obligated to rise above this and make their enemy as all the people, Democrat and Republican, who were wasting time and/or causing collateral damage with their battle.
* Brooklyn Rage: Toby.
* Buffy-Speak: A favorite of many senior staffers. Sometimes justified; Toby will name every punctuation mark in the English language from memory in another and then warn against "The wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing!" since he just finished writing both the acceptance and concession speeches. More than once he was shown to become mentally frazzled after big speeches or high stress moments.
* Bulungi : Equatorial Kundu
* Call Back: In the fourth season, Sam's running for Congressman in California, and Toby is helping with his campaign. Toby gets into a fight with a guy at a restaurant when the man gets physically threatening towards Andrea, and after he's booked, he calls in to Air Force One about it, using a cell phone that apparently belongs to a hooker.
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* In season 6 Josh has trouble with his hotel keycard and Donna has to help him, just like in Season 1's "20 Hours in L.A."
* The series finale has a callback to the very first episode. The First Lady suggests the president may have "re-entry" problem after leaving office, rhetorically asking when the last time was he drove a car. He suggests that it's "just like riding a bike, only more horsepower." Of course, in the pilot, a major plot point is the president having ridden his bicycle into a tree.
* The Cameo: Jon Bon Jovi appears as himself campaigning for the Democratic presidential nominee in "Welcome to Wherever You Are", titled after his single.
* David Hasselhoff appears at a Hollywood party in "20 Hours in L.A."
* Canon Dis Continuity: A unique example where an episode is intended to be this in production: "Isaac and Ishmael" was produced as a Very Special Episode in response to 9/11, and held up the return of the series proper for a week: Bradley Whitford states a disclaimer before the episode starts that the episode is a "play" and viewers shouldn't try to wrack their heads about where it takes place in the timeline, because it doesn't. It has the characters acting like they would generally, but not specific to any point in time. It can be considered to have happened in Season 2 if you have to place it somewhere, as Mandy is absent and the cliffhanger of Season 1 is referenced.
* Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Poor, poor, Josh. CJ and Bartlet as well, although that's only because its in their job descriptions.
* Catch Phrase: The phrase "What's next?" floats around the White House, apparently started by Bartlet during their first campaign. Pretty much everyone's said it by the end of the series.
* Also, "I serve at the pleasure of the President."
* Anytime someone does not want to tell an outsider what is going on, they claim "It's about the trade deficit."
* Code to get someone to immediately stop whatever they're doing, come quickly, and don't ask questions, a character would make a casual reference to an "old friend from home."
* And Josh wouldn't be Josh without "DONNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
* Celebrity Paradox: In "20 Hours in L.A." Donna gushes "ooh, Matt Perry" at a Hollywood Party. Matthew Perry later has a guest role as an associate attorney for the White House.
* Character Development: Between seasons 1 and 4, Donna gains self-worth, self-confidence, and political savvy after starting as a naive, insecure, Cloudcuckoolander Audience Surrogate. Other characters exhibit development too, but hers is the most dramatic.
* Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: The British curator of art in the White House quips that the French "promptly surrendered" after a phone call from C.J. regarding art stolen by Vichy Nazis.
* The Chew Toy: Both played (hilariously) straight and (brutally) subverted in the case of Josh. He always bounces back like a charm from all his misfortunes, because he's so used to them happening all the time. This very trait of his becomes the reason no one pays enough attention to him after he gets shot to realize he's headed for a full scale mental breakdown, and the fact that he's also a Woobie due to some exceptionally sadistic past uses of this trope cause some misfortunes to veer straight into Tear Jerker territory when they hit the wrong spot.
* Christianity Is Catholic: Martin Sheen mentioned that he asked his character to be made Catholic because he is. This becomes some minor plot seasoning on more than one occasion, most significantly after Bartlet fails (or chooses not to) to stay an execution.
* Averted otherwise; when religious leaders come to the White House, more often than not they're of Protestant denominations. This includes the fundamentalist radio show host that Bartlet verbally smacks down.
* Chronic Hero Syndrome: The entire senior staff (especially Bartlet), who can't for the life of them concede that anything is someone else's problem.
* Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The trope could be renamed Mandy-ville.
* Certain one-off guest roles were in positions where we should've reasonably expected to see the characters again from time to time, particularly Senate Majority Leader Ann Stark and White House attorney Joseph 'Joe' Quincy.
* Anthony, the kid Charlie took over as big brother for in the beginning of season 4, was never mentioned again, but we can probably assume Charlie continued working with him offscreen.
* Cliff Hanger: "Who's been hit?! Who's been hit?!"
* Season 2 subverts this for those who paid attention to Mrs. Landingham, but otherwise plays it straight by ending on, "Mr. President, can you tell us right now if you'll be seeking a second term?"
* Sorkin's departure episode in Season Four left the next writing team with a (temporary) Republican president, no VP, and Bartlet's daughter kidnapped.
* Also, Donna goes back into surgery after Fitzwallace is killed.
* Cloudcuckoolander: Lord John Marbury, who sort of oscillates between a legit Cloudcuckoolander -ism and the Obfuscating version.
* In the early episodes, Donna was written as an clever but very flighty Cuckoolander, until Character Development kicked in around third season.
* Margaret, Leo's secretary, is a deadpan one of these.
* Comes Great Responsibility: President Bartlet. He gets screwed by this on ironic and/or sadistic levels more than once.
* Comically Missing the Point: Josh tries to give a thank you speech at the end of the Santos campaign at Lou's insistence, but quickly derails himself into a rant about stupid amateur mistakes and insists everyone call their families to report on conditions at the polls, without ever getting around to the phrase "thank you".
* Completely Unnecessary Translator: The Portuguese speaking cook.
* Conspiracy Theorist: Sam has recurring run-ins with a conspiracy theorist of the "there really were aliens at Roswell and the government is covering it up" variety. He got it from his father.
* Cool Old Lady: Mrs. Landingham
* Dating Catwoman:
* CJ and Danny. Although they're not supposed to be exactly enemies, their interests do conflict directly almost all the time, and they're both deeply committed to defending them from each other, so it boils down to the same problem.
* Donna and Cliff Calley, the Republican lawyer who turns out to be part of the team investigating the President for hiding his MS.
* Dating What Daddy Hates: President Bartlet can't stand Jean Paul or Doug Westin.
* Deadpan Snarker: Various characters at different points in the series, including Pres. Bartlet, Josh, Toby
* ... and Will, CJ, Danny, Leo, Margaret, Mrs. Landingham, Kate, Charlie, Zoey... let's just say that "deadpan snark" is practically the default emotive state for anyone associated with the Bartlet administration. Heck, even Donna got in on the act by the end of the series as she gained in self-confidence.
* Death Glare: The President and Leo gave a few of these.
* Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: During the teaser of "Enemies", Bartlet goes on and on about national parks while he has Josh as a (literally) captive audience.
* Did Not Do the Bloody Research: A weird example, but in the Season 3 episode Dead Irish Writers, Lord John Marbury refers to Lagavulin as a 16 year old Islay single malt. The problem is that he pronounces it "Iz-lay", where the proper pronunciation would be "Ih-lah".
* Did Not Do the Research: Seems to be an issue dealing with foreigners.
* Lord John Marbury says that his full name is "John, Lord Marbury, Earl of Croy, Earl of Sherborne, Marquess of Needham and Dolby, Baronet of Brycey." There are several errors in that: a marquessate must be listed before earldoms, the barony ("lord Marbury") after earldoms, and baronetcies are not "of" anywhere and in any case aren't mentioned for people with peerage titles. Besides which, the inclusion of the personal name "John" in "Lord John Marbury" is the style suitable only to a younger son of a duke or marquess, and not possible for any person holding a title in his own right. With those titles, the character ought to be "Lord Needham", not Lord John anything.
* People who speak German in the series (which happens quite a few times) have quite obviously no knowledge of the language. They're not even trying to make it sound legit.
* In "Mr. Willis of Ohio", the widower of a congresswoman has been appointed to his wife's seat. Filling vacancies in House of Representatives requires a special election. Murder, She Wrote and Women Of The House made the same error.
* As the document does not mention the cabinet, the U.S. Constitution does not require cabinet meetings.
* Diplomatic Impunity: Part of a very important arc (A terrorist hiding behind diplomatic immunity) and a minor plot points (traffic tickets at the UN).
* Dumb Is Good: Subverted at length. Beaten to a pulp, in fact.
* Early Installment Weirdness: Some of the first season writing makes the characters and tone a little less sophisticated than they turn out to be. Of course, it doesn't make it any less satisying.
* The president tells some representatives of the Christian right to "get your fat asses out of my white house."
* An agent of the secret service, ever after portrayed as an agency with the utmost professionalism and cool in action, tells a guy harrassing Zoe at a bar "don't move! Swear to God I'll blow your head off" as he arrests him.
* Easy Evangelism
* Embarrassing First Name: People rarely use C.J.'s full name, which is Claudia Jean.
* Bartlet, of course, does so on several occasions, likely just to bug her.
* There's also Admiral Percy Fitzwallace. No wonder everyone calls him "Fitz" instead.
* "Jed" Bartlet. His real name is Josiah Edward Bartlet.
* Epiphany Therapy: There's a scene near the end of "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" that's very similar to this trope. Although it doesn't involve a deep-seated psychological hangup and it's the President who's repeating his newfound mantra while Leo coaches him along rather than a psychologist with an Armor-Piercing Question, it does have the distinct feel of a personal epiphany that will change Bartlet's approach to governing for the rest of his Presidency.
* Episode Title Card
* Even the Girls Want Her: In season six, Toby gets a meeting with the Miss World winner and everyone is dropping by his office with painfully transparent excuses just to drop by. Then Margaret shows up with absolutely no excuse.
* Everybody Is Single: Excluding the Bartlet and Santos families, the latter of whom are consistently shown to be young and vital.
* Failed Attempt At Drama: After the President's complete smackdown of homophobic radio host Jenna Jacobs, everyone silently turns and follows him out of the room... except Sam, who steals one of her crab puffs.
* Interestingly, in Season Two, Sam lampshades this trope with Ainsley Hayes, who undercut an eloquent destruction of some Republican opponents by asking for a muffin.
* Fatal Family Photo: The President's Doctor shows him the photo of his wife and newborn daughter in episode 2. At the end of the episode we learn that the plane he was flying on with other soldiers to a peace mission has been gunned down by enemy army, sending President Bartlet on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge that almost starts a war.
* Fiction 500: Franklin Hollis is an extremely rich celebrity philanthropist businessman, probably a fictional counterpart to Bill Gates.
* Flash Back: Several episodes intercut a past event with the present storyline
* How We Got Here: "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" shows us how everyone came onboard with the Bartlet campaign.
* Foreshadowing: Season 1's President Bartlet foreshadows the season 4 finale when he goes on a rant to Zoey in "Mr. Willis of Ohio", about how terrified they are that she will be kidnapped on the way to the bathroom in some bar and nobody will realize she's gone as she's being dragged away so terrified that she doesn't even notice the secret service agents lying on the ground with bullets in their heads. In "Commencement" she's kidnapped on the way to the bathroom in a club and the leader of her protection team doesn't realize what's happened until he finds an agent on the ground out back with a bullet in her head. It probably wasn't planned to be so on-the-money at the time.
* In the "20 Hours in America" two parter, Josh mentions it's Monday, and Donna relates the story of the song "I Don't Like Mondays" being written after a school shooter gave that as her explanation. At the end of the episode, Tori Amos' cover of the song is played over the aftermath of the news of a bombing at a university.
* Forgotten Anniversary: Happens at one point.
* Fox News Liberal: Ainsley Hayes and Arnold Vinick are conservative versions, and could well be the TropeCodifiers. Basically, pretty much any Republican we're supposed to like is this. If we're supposed to like them, they "come around" to the liberal positions of the main characters.
* Framing Device: "Celestial Navigation" has Josh as a guest lecturer somewhere telling a story about the last 36 hours, while waiting to hear from Toby and Sam on the success of the A-plot.
* French Jerk: Jean Paul, the Prince O' Jerk, who ends up drugging Zoey.
* Freudian Excuse: Inverted all over the place (in a series this idealistic, no one is actually a villain. Except Hafley.).
* President Bartlet -- His father was an abusive prick.
* Toby -- His father was a murderer.
* Josh -- His sister died in a fire while he ran outside.
* Freudian Slip: A number of examples.
* Genius Ditz: Josh. Poor, poor Josh.
* Sam and C.J. on occasion as well, but ultimately all three are geniuses much more than they are ditzes.
* Gentleman Snarker: Bernard Thatch, the English head of the White House visitor's office telling C.J. about a disturbance involving a painting.
* Gilligan Cut: West Wing likes the variant without an actual cut.
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* Toby claims "nobody here is checking out!" after CJ accuses them of senioritis-like behavior. Cue Josh walking in and announcing his run flipping tails on a nickel 16 times in a row.
* Girl Friday: Donna until she quits working for Josh.
* God Guise
* Golden Mean Fallacy: Subverted. Democratics moderates are portrayed as weak and ineffective, stalling their party back. Republican moderates are portrayed as benevolent, though.
* Good Ol' Boy: Robert Ritchie
* Government Procedural
* Hair-Trigger Temper: Toby Ziegler is very easy to annoy/anger/enrage. As the man himself once said, "There is literally no one in the world I don't hate right now."
* Hannibal Lecture: In an antagonistic rather than villainous example, Leo gets one of these from black Congressman Richardson when he tries to tell him how many young black men will be saved by signing a gun control bill. Richardson responds that Leo cares more about the White House's political capital than gun control, the bill is ineffective, meaningless, and not worth the paper it's printed on, and...
* Happily Married: Jed and Abbey, which is impressive considering they go through (Jed went back on their MS deal and ran for a second term, she thought he got their daughter kidnapped, etc.)
* Head Desk: President Bartlet does this on the Resolute desk after being tormented for hours by the thrilling tales of an Old Soldier-esque retired diplomat while stuck in the Oval Office waiting on the phone during an international crisis.
* Heroic BSOD: The second season episode "Noel" has Josh undergoing something like this, as it's revealed that he's been suffering from PTSD for three weeks.
* Heterosexual Life Partners: Ed and Larry
* Also, the President and Leo.
* And Josh and Sam.
* He's Back: "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet": "This is more important than reelection. I want to speak now."
* He Who Fights Monsters: Leo warns Bartlet about this on a few occasions, most notably after Bartlet is coming apart at the seams over a terrorist attack in "A Proportional Response".
* High Class Call Girl: The series opens with Sam's (unpaid!) dalliance with one, and he keeps up a friendship with her through several seasons.
* See also Retroactive Recognition.
* Holding the Floor: In "The Stackhouse Filibuster" a senator filibusters a health care bill for seven hours.
* Hollywood Atheist: Averted with Arnold Vinick, who initially appears to have become an atheist because his wife died but who later explains that he was horrified at certain passages in the Old Testament to the point where he couldn't believe in the Judeo-Christian God any more.
* Hot Reporter: Danny Concannon.
* Hypocritical Humor: Conflicting opinion polls. From Progress Stories:
* Iconic Item: A bar napkin. A dinky little bar napkin. A dinky little bar napkin that has "Bartlet For America" in Leo's handwriting on it, highlighting who Leo felt should run for President. And it has a nice frame now.
* Bartlet's pen. Placed in his pocket every morning by Mrs. Landingham in all the years she worked with him. When he cannot understand why he doesn't have a pen in his pocket after her death, it's Charlie who has to gently point it out to him. He has to get his own pen out of her desk. Now he's really on his own.
* Idiot Ball: It's the only explanation for why Sam and Josh thought it would be fine to light a fire in a white house fireplace using some spruce logs that were just lying around the White House and some kerosene.
* Idiot of the Week: Most often conservatives, although Josh tends to suffer his share of humiliations as well.
* I Have Nothing to Say to That: Sam Seaborn gets his ass verbally handed to him by Blonde Republican Sex Kitten Ainsley Hayes.
* Informed Ability: Josh's status as a Genius Ditz very often makes light of his political genius whenever he grabs hold of the Idiot Ball for the sake of funny. Like his secret plan to fight inflation.
* Informed Attractiveness: C.J, to an extent. Allison Janney is tall and attractive, but perhaps too many men on the show fall all over themselves singing paeans to the character's sexiness. This could potentially be explained by exceptional charisma.
* Insistent Terminology: Political maneuvering involves a lot of this.
* Episode 2x11, "The Leadership Breakfast":
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* In a more serious context, when Bartlet is getting ready to admit that he hid his multiple sclerosis from the voters, he insist that Abbey be referred to as "Mrs. Bartlet" or "the First Lady," not "your wife." Later, Abbey takes it a step farther by telling Babish to call her "Dr. Bartlet," emphasizing her medical credentials.
* Sam's not writing a birthday card, it's a birthday message.
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* Overlapping with You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious below, do not refer to the President by anything other than his title unless you want a fight:
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* One of the aversions that can be counted throughout the series on one hand occurs when the President and Toby are playing a game of chess in the Oval Office while waiting for news on the crisis du jour. Throughout the game, Bartlet teases Toby good-naturedly about his game until Toby comes back with, "You know, old man, the minute they swear the next guy in, you and me are gonna go 'round and 'round." Which makes for a Funny Aneurysm Moment in Season 7.
* Early in the first season, Sam insists that people refer to Laurie as a "call girl", not a "hooker".
* Inspector Javert: Danny Concannon, a sweetheart of a reporter for the Washington Post who's crushing on CJ - but still wants to get to the bottom of this "who was in charge after the President was shot?" thing, and the "how did that foreign leader die?" thing.
* Insufferable Genius: President Bartlet tries not to be this too much. For instance, when C.J. is making him practice handing off Mars questions to NASA scientists instead of answering with all the trivia he may have memorized:
* It Got Worse: a staple of the show. Any problem (and sometimes not even a problem) introduced and joked over in the teaser has a 80% chance of worsening to a point somewhere between "huge tangled mess" and "soul-destroying tragedy".
* Ivy League for Everyone: Not so much everyone, but Josh and Sam both went to Ivy League schools for their undergraduate education. Those who didn't attend Ivy League schools generally went to elite non-Ivy institutions; Bartlet attended Notre Dame and did graduate work at the London School of Economics, while CJ went to Cal-Berkeley and Donna went to Wisconsin-Madison.
* Actually addressed in a first season episode comparing two candidates for the Supreme Court. One attended Princeton and Harvard Law, the other took law classes at night from City University of New York. They go with the CUNY grad.
* Toby's the vaguest educationally, but we know he went to CCNY (City College of New York) when a Supreme Court justice gave a speech there and he mentions he was a student.
* Played with in the third season. Ainsley complains that the White House is full of Ivy League elitist Democrats, before Sam points out that Notre Dame, Bartlet's alma mater, isn't in the Ivy League. He then points out that Ainsley herself attended Harvard Law.
* Jerkass: While the show took pains to paint most political figures as complex and sympathetic and meaning well, some achieve jerk status:
* Speaker Haffley. As close to a Strawman Political as the show gets.
* Vice President Hoynes for his personal failings such as infidelity, but also because he's so calculating he rarely stands for anything (why former aide Josh defected to Bartlet). During the 2006 campaigns he still thinks he can wrangle the Democratic nomination from either Russell or Santos when the convention is deadlocked but Hoynes foolishly schemes his way out of contention.
* And of course, the French Jerk Jean Paul.
* Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Toby starts out like this. He softens up a bit over the course of the show. Josh to some extent as well.
* Vice President Hoynes was usually portrayed as a scheming backstabber, but occasionally revealed a more likable side, such as sympathetically inviting Leo to his AA meetings when Leo's pill addiction was about to break the news, and admitting to the President that, despite the tension between them, he'd always liked Bartlet more than he let on.
* Last-Name Basis: Mrs. Landingham
* Left Hanging: About a dozen subplots were simply and unceremoniously dropped when Sorkin left the show, the most notable being the fate of Sam Seaborn, last seen waging a losing campaign for Congress. Although Sam eventually did come back for the last few episodes, it never was explained why his promotion to Senior Counselor (decided on in the two-parter "Inauguration") never happened.
* Like Parent, Like Spouse: Mallory tells Sam "you are so exactly like him" when Sam insists on perfecting an assignment Leo gave him to sabotage their date, rather than going out for coffee with the two of them. Any potential squickiness is avoided when Sam sincerely calls that the nicest thing she's ever said to him.
* Life Imitates Art: The last season saw the election of Matthew Santos as POTUS, Santos's character was based on Barack Obama after the show's creators met him while still an Illinois state senator. The real life "Josh" (Rahm Emmanuel) also took over as Chief of Staff.
* Santos' Republican opponent Arnold Vinick was loosely based on John McCain - Southwestern Senator with bipartisan appeal. The mind-blowing thing is that Santos and Vinick run in 2006... two years before the Real Life election of 2008, and when there was no guarantee that either Obama or McCain would win their respective nominations (The front-runners in 2008 were Hilary Clinton and Mitt Romney).
* In "Welcome to Wherever You Are", there's a brief scene where we overhear a Vinick ad using the slogan "Yes, America Can", which the Santos campaign complains was actually their slogan. Obama's slogan, of course, ended up being "Yes We Can".
* Little No: Leo, to Will Bailey when the three campaign managers can't stop bickering and maneuvering.
* Loads and Loads of Characters: Particularly as the series would progress. The primary, secondary, and ancillary characters would number some 20+.
* "Ma'am" Shock: Mrs. Santos suffers and discusses this with Donna at the end of the campaign.
* Mamet Speak: Minus the swearing, since it was network television.
* Married to the Job: Basically everybody, some worse than others. Quite a bit of Truth in Television; working at the White House is known to consume every ounce of a person's attention, skills, and often passion, leaving very little time or energy for anything else, like family. Notable examples:
* Leo, to the point where it breaks up his actual marriage in Season 1, and nearly kills him with a heart attack in Season 6.
* C.J. by the end of the show; she has to be beaten over the head with a stick to even consider that she may want to not keep doing this forever, and make some time to learn to let other people into her life.
* Mathematician's Answer: Depending on your reading of the line, Hutchinson when CJ asks about the military space shuttle.
* Meaningful Funeral: A scene in "Two Cathedrals" for Mrs. Landingham and the opening of "Requiem" for Leo.
* Meaningful Echo: Repetition of lines within a conversation is used a lot for dramatic impact, especially in the Sorkin seasons. The common formula is for Joe to suddenly throw out something profound as if just realizing it, Bob to say "what was that?", and Joe to repeat the line more dramatically/reflectively. An alternate version has Joe make some statement and Bob repeat it solemnly as if the impact of the situation has just sunk in.
*
* A week before the election, Santos is on a rapid fire tour of several states a day. The press keeps asking him "who do you like in the game this weekend?" and he answers "Philly and New York both strong teams, should be a great game." After the first time he asks "we are in Pennsylvania, right?" After the third time, Donna tells him "we're in Ohio" (he covers with a quick "go Buckeyes!").
* Mood Whiplash: The ending theme music (originally planned to be the opening theme music) is a jaunty little tune. It was almost never actually heard by the broadcast audience, as the end credits tended to be covered by NBC's promo of some other show. Still, given how most episodes end, it can be quite jarring to hear it after a dramatic ending on DVD or in syndication.
* Mr. Exposition: Mentioned in the special features as a necessary evil in order for the audience to even understand what happens.
* My Country, Right or Wrong: Seems to be default stance of almost every character: Republicans and Democrats most often treat each other as a Worthy Opponent, at least to each other's faces. Notably the case between Vinick and Santos in the last two seasons, but there are plenty of other examples.
* My God, You Are Serious: It takes a little back and forth for Bruno to convince Vinick that yes, this is not a joke, the briefcase he just slapped on the table really does belong to their opponent in the presidential election two weeks away.
* My Name Is Not Durwood: Ed & Larry, Leo aka "Gerald", Josh's names for Donna.
* Nobody Poops: Averted in "The Ticket", when Josh interrupts a Walk and Talk to point out a bathroom to extremely busy presidential candidate Matt Santos.
* No Celebrities Were Harmed: Okay, so the show took place before Obama vs. Mc Cain in 2008. But it's possible that Bartlett was based on Bill Clinton, House Speaker Haffley was based on Newt Gingrich, and his Senate counterpart on Bob Dole.
* Not Even Bothering with the Accent: The NBC character bio of Vinick said that he was born in New York before moving to California as a kid. This was probably a Hand Wave to explain why Alan Alda makes no attempt to tone down his thick New York accent, despite his character hailing from Southern California.
* No Except Yes: Done a couple of times in "Celestial Navigation":
*
* And then later, Josh does it again:
* Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: The President stops short before entering his private dining room with Leo, with whom he's planning to enjoy the work of a famous French chef.
* Now You Tell Me: Toby has a meeting with an Indonesian official in "The State Dinner", and Donna arranges a state department translator. Unfortunately there are 742 languages and dialects spoken in Indonesia, and the translator's and official's are incompatible. At this discovery, they go to great lengths to find someone who can speak to the man, eventually finding a cook, who sadly does not speak English but does know Portuguese, which the translator speaks. They're several minutes into a double-translated conversation before the official finally suggests they just speak in English. One wonders why he didn't just tell the translator he knew it in the first place, but he was pretty pissed at Toby so perhaps he just enjoyed seeing White House staff running around cluelessly.
* ObstructiveBureaucracy: While the show has an idealistic image of those public servants who are individually important, it does not shy away from lampooning the hell out of the entrenched, glacial, irrational bureaucracy of the federal departments.
* Oh Crap: Charlie upon hearing "evening, Charlie". From the President. After leaving the first daughter's room. In the middle of the night, with his shirt unbuttoned.
* Leo goes through most of “Bad Moon Rising” making the case that the President never withheld information about his MS in any way that would constitute a crime. But Charlie points out that the President's daughter Zoey was a minor when she filled out a college medical form, and so required a parent's legally binding signature as to the accuracy of the information, including her family medical history. Cue Leo's oh crap moment.
* Old Soldier: Albie Duncan.
* The Oner: Many examples of the Walk and Talk variety.
* Our Presidents Are Different: Obviously. Bartlet is President Personable, occasionally President Iron and frequently President Geek. Matt Santos is President Minority.
* Overprotective Dad: "Just remember these two things: She's nineteen years old, and the 82nd Airborne works for me."
* Perfectly Cromulent Word
* Pet the Dog: Toby is so irritable and easily angered all the time that it's easy to forget he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, not a Jerkass. One of the earliest indicators of this was the episode "In Excelsis Deo," in which he goes to great lengths in order to get a homeless veteran he didn't know a proper burial, complete with military honor guard.
*
* Vice President Hoynes has a few moments that prove he isn't purely a scummy politician. The first is his constant support of Leo when he learns of his alcoholism. Another is dropping his name from a bill, meaning he can't campaign on it, because he wants it to pass as it will help rural Americans. Congressional leaders consider him a threat and will stall the bill if he doesn't take his name off it. This is something big considering it has been clear from the start that he really wants to be President.
* Platonic Life Partners: CJ and Toby, who never show any hint of being anything but very old friends.
* "Previously On...": Played with, a few of them are just intercut scenes from various episodes announcing the characters names and jobs in a humorous fashion.
* "Mr. Frost" ends with such a Wham! Line that the entire scene is replayed at the beginning of the next episode, after the normal previouslies.
* Put on a Bus: Aaron Sorkin loves this trope. Ainsley Hayes, Sam Seaborn, and Danny Concannon are notable examples. The Bus Came Back for all of them.
* Qurac: Qumar (Iran/Iraq) and Equatorial Kundu (any despotic African country).
* Real Life Writes the Plot: Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. claims (contradicted by John Wells) that the outcome of the election was changed due to the death of John Spencer; it was thought that having both Leo die and Santos lose the election would be too much of a downer for the audience.
* The reason the awesomely wonderful Sam Seaborne got Put on a Bus is because Rob Lowe was leaving to star in his own show. Which sucks, Because Sam rocked.
* Relationship Reveal / Relationship Upgrade: In the cold open of "Election Day", every recurring Santos campaign staffer reveals who they "came on board" with (except for Bram, but he was mentioned to have hooked up with some "campaign groupies" in a previous episode). It's practically a parody of Shipping in general, and though it's all played very dramatically, the cut to the triumphant theme music of the credits after all the sex in the air is pretty hilarious.
* Retcon: In the middle of season 5, Bartlet's son-in-law Doug Westin announced over Christmas dinner that he was running for Congress in the 2004 midterms. At the beginning of season 6 (actually the third episode -- the first two were filmed as part of season 5) this was retconned to it having been seven years since Bartlet was first elected, and Westin planning to run for Congress in 2006.
* The show was also continually quietly Retcon -ed to keep it in line with current events - while the 9/11 attacks never officially happened in the show and are never referred to, it was quickly apparent that the show was occurring in a post-9/11 environment from Season 3 on.
* The crew taped a special episode named "Isaac and Ishmael" (that wasn't in continuity) that aired prior to the normal Season 3 starter.
* Rhetorical Question Blunder
* More of a "rhetorical joke" - Margaret tells a half-paying-attention Toby about some issues with the White House e-mail when he runs into Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Fitzwallace, to whom he quips that there may be a major security breach.
*
* Josh demonstrates his character wonderfully after joking about some group Leo brought up.
* Rousseau Was Right: Even Bartlet's Republican opponents are portrayed as having America's best interests in mind, and are at worst portrayed as Well Intentioned Extremists. They are usually portrayed even better.
* The exception to this is Republican Speaker Haffley, who, while getting an occasional scene that portrayed him reasonably well, was petty, spiteful and obsessed with his own self-image. However, he was balanced out by his Senate counterpart, who was a decent man who wanted to make peace between Congress and the White House and who was disgusted at some of Haffley's more extreme political maneuvering.
* Karmic Retribution has it where Haffley loses most of his battles against Bartlet and even loses a few fights to Santos in the House, and on Election night during the final season Haffley is seen losing House seats to Democrats, knocking him out of the Speaker's office while his Republican Senate Majority counterpart keeps his GOP majority intact.
* Running Gag / Couch Gag: Gail the goldfish and its many, many, many change in aquarium decorations, which always fit the episode theme.
* Sarcasm Failure
* Sassy Secretary: Mrs. Landingham, Debbie Fiderer, Donna, Margaret, and Ginger, among others.
* Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Laid-back, easygoing reporter Danny Concannon and hypercapable, on-the-go CJ Cregg.
* Say My Name: The various men (and CJ) of the Bartlet administration usually solve their problems by bellowing for their secretaries.
* The President: Mrs. Landingham! (or, depending on what he needs, "Charlie!!")
* Leo: Margaret!
* After Leo semi-retires and CJ becomes Chief of Staff, she starts yelling for Margaret.
* Toby: Ginger!
* CJ: Carol!
* And, most famous of all, Josh: DONNNAAAAA!!!
* She Is Not My Girlfriend: Josh and Donna had a couple of these moments.
* The Shrink: Stanley
* Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Very idealistic.
* Smart People Play Chess: President Bartlet plays chess, even during international crises. Later, Leo insists that he continue to play weekly to make sure his multiple sclerosis isn't affecting his reasoning.
* Both Sam and Toby play chess with Bartlet throughout the series as does Leo.
* Sorkin Relationship Moment
* Spiritual Successor: To The American President. Notably, some cast members were also transferred; Anna Deavere Smith moved fron White House Press Secretary (CJ's role) to National Security Advisor, and Joshua Malina was originally an unimportant coworker of the heroine, and Leo's role was originally played by Martin Sheen! This makes re-watching the movie almost indescribably eerie, as one expects Sheen-as-Leo to just kick Michael Douglas out of the Oval Office.
* Not only did they recycle most of the cast, they also recycled most of the situations, and even several of the lines of dialogue.
* Spy Speak: "Leo Mc Garry would like you to meet an old friend." ("Bartlet's Third State of the Union")
* Straw Affiliation: Used to great effect in an early episode, where Josh is arguing with a Republican congressman, Matt Skinner, over provisions in a proposed anti-gay marriage law. He is baffled by the congressman's refusal to vote against it, even though Skinner himself is gay. When Josh finally breaks down and asks why he doesn't vote against the bill, and why he's even a member of the party when the Republicans always have an anti-gay message, Skinner replies that yes, he is gay. But he is also for lower taxes, less government, and most other Republican positions, and he simply chooses not to let his sexuality, rather than his principles, decide how he should vote.
* Strawman Political: It's clear on several occasions that the writers are making a genuine effort to not simply demonize their opponents as one-dimensional strawmen. How well they succeed in this, however, tends to vary depending on the viewpoint.
* Nicely averted by the recurring character of Al Caldwell, a very reasonable Christian minister who serves as a foil to the much more militant Mary Marsh. Sorkin does know how to write both the good and bad of his religion.
* But played pretty straight with presidential candidate Rob Ritchie, who's a fairly transparent stand-in for George W. Bush.
* Also played mostly straight with anyone to the left of the main cast. Seth Gillette, for example.
* Straw Traitor: Josh accuses Congressman Matt Skinner of being this, wondering how he could be gay and also be a Republican.
* Stunt Casting: Alda and Smits in season six-seven. James Brolin in season three-four.
* Not to mention Martin "President Bartlet" Sheen.
* Another example would be Matthew Perry's casting as a White House counsel (although he predictably fit in rather well). Christian Slater, on the other hand....
* Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Will Bailey
* Joshua Malina even described himself as a less handsome, cheaper Sam.
* The Watson: Donna, whose role in the early years was to badger Josh with questions like, "Josh, why is policy X important?" and "Josh, why should we spend millions to bail out Mexico?"
* They Fight Crime: Sam jokingly discusses this in "Shibboleth" - "...a small band of pilgrims sought out a new land of liberty, where they could worship according to their own beliefs...and solve crimes." "Sam..." "It'd be good!"
* Those Two Guys: Ed & Larry
* Throwing Out the Script: A few examples.
* Time Skip: the show misses a year between Christmas 2003, as shown in the middle of season 5, and C.J.'s first day as Chief of Staff in early season 6. This gives the show more ease in fitting the 2006 presidential primaries into season 6 and the election into season 7. The most popular place for the lost year is after the episode "Access" (C.J.'s A Day in The Life episode), as the episodes after it are pretty close together.
* Also, the gaps between seasons 1 and 2, and 5 and 6, are quietly skipped, keeping Josh in hospital in the former and Germany in the latter for months.
* To Absent Friends: Combined very effectively with the Meaningful Funeral in "Requiem". The first half of the episode, the funeral, mourns Leo's death. The second half, the wake, celebrates Leo's life and how much his friends loved him.
* Trigger Phrase: Apparently nobody in Washington can stand up against Leo telling them "the President is asking you to serve" regardless of any reservations about working at the White House.
* True Companions: A fairly direct example, with Jed and Leo as the parents, Sam, Josh, and C.J. as the elder children, Toby as the funny uncle, Donna as the girl who keeps coming around, and Charlie as the kid everyone looks out for.
* Truth in Television: The show was painstakingly researched, especially when Sorkin was in charge, and the political Techno Babble is pretty much all accurate. Several Clinton White House staffers, most notably Dee Dee Myers, were consulted to create a White House as real as possible (while still sitting on Sorkin's preferred end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism). Many political professionals said the final, campaign-centric seasons accurately reflected their lives.
* Of note is that the real "Leo" was Leon Panetta, and the real "Josh" was Rahm Emmanuel; when Obama won he appointed Panetta to the CIA and Emmanuel as Chief of Staff, meaning Rahm succeeded Leon, just like Josh succeeding Leo.
* Talk About That Thing
* One of the fan websites had The Page About The Thing, translating "thing" for each time it appears in the dialogue.
* Three-Wall Set
* TV Genius: Subverted, President Jed Bartlet, Rhodes scholar and Nobel Prize winner.
* Twenty-Fifth Amendment
* Two Lines, No Waiting
* Ultimate Job Security: Secretary of Defense Miles Hutchinson. Despite being a Jerkass from the word go (his first onscreen appearance involved using leaks to impede presidential foreign policy decisions he disagreed with, and nearly coming to blows with Leo in the Situation Room), he, for no adequately-explained reason, kept his job through the entire Administration.
* Unresolved Sexual Tension: Josh and Donna (eventually resolved, after about 150 episodes); Sam and several women; C.J. and Danny (although they acknowledge it and kiss a lot, also resolved just prior to the Grand Finale); Annabeth seems to feel this toward Leo, to his bemusement.
* Verbal Tic: Not for nothing, but, you know, we're gonna have to get into the thing at some point. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
* "Donna." "Josh." "Donna!" "JOSH!"
* "MARGARET!" "*appears from behind the door* What, Leo?"
* Vomit Discretion Shot: Santos' son does the "duck offscreen" version in the doorway of their last trick-or-treat destination.
* Mandy does this after she learns that a negotiator in a hostage situation, that she pushed for to avoid the bad press a raid would bring, has been shot and is in critical condition.
* Walk and Talk: Trope Codifier, the show even parodied it at one point with a new White House Intern tripping during the scene.
* The War Room: The White House Situation Room
* The show ran long enough that, during its first appearance, the West Wing Situation Room was far more advanced than the real location. By the end of the show the reverse was true.
* What Could Have Been: Kristin Chenoweth (Annabeth Schott) was originally approached to play Ainsley Hayes but could not commit to a television series due to Wicked.
* What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: In the pilot, although there are many things occupying Leo's time - including whether Josh will be fired for his remarks towards Mary Marsh, Cuban refugees heading towards the U.S., and a poll showing the President's popularity has sunk - he's also very concerned The New York Times crossword puzzle misspelled Khaddafi's name:
*
* Lampshaded by Margaret earlier in the episode, when Leo tells her to call the Times:
* Will They or Won't They?: Josh and Donna.
* They Do
* Workaholic: Josh - he's introduced in the pilot sleeping at his desk as the cleaning staff vacuums around him and he doesn't take a vacation until the last season of the series. (And he has to be coerced / blackmailed into taking that one by Sam.) He does try several times to take a holiday, but each time something happens.
* Leo, too.
* You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious: Excluding family members and pre-election flashbacks, only five characters in the entire seven-season run ever called President Bartlet by his nickname "Jed." And only Leo did it twice.
* You Fail Logic Forever: many, many, many occurrences, almost always at the expense of enemies.
- The West Wing is an American television series, written by Aaron Sorkin, on the complications around the fictional u.s. president Josiah Bartlet ' Jed ' (played by Martin Sheen) and the members of his staff in the White House. The West Wing won 86 Television Awards, including 26 Emmy Awards, six Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Satellite Awards. Main characters in The West Wing are played by, among others, Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, Janel Moloney, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, John Spencer and Elisabeth Moss. In the last season, that dedicated to presidential elections, are Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits as presidential candidates placed opposite each other. The first episode aired in the United States on NBC on september 24, 1999. In 2006, the seventh and final season included. The series attracted 17 million viewers in America at its peak and hold--along with Hill Street Blues -the record for most Emmy Awards ever granted to a television series (only for nine in the first season). In Flanders, the series was broadcast from 2003 to 2007 integral by the VMMa 2BEtelevision channel. In the Netherlands were first five seasons aired by RTL 4 (up to 2006). As of January 2009, RTL 4 season 7. Season 6 is not transmitted in Netherlands. See also[Edit] List of episodes of The West Wing
- The West Wing was also a TV show about some president played by hippie Martin Something-Or-Other. Failed to pardon the "A-Team" as instructed by Dr. Stephen Colbert. This failure put our real President George W. Bush in jeopardy on July 4th, 2001 with an attempted assasination attempt by a pretzel. If not for the corageous work of Mr. T and others, our courageous and fearless leader could not be with us today.
- The West Wing is a political drama series that ran between 1999 and 2006. It features a Democratic President of the United States and his close political advisers as they face the complex joys of managing public opinion, dealing with the press, writing speeches, and pushing legislative bills. Side stories drop in some secretaries, a handful of folk from the lower ranks, and eventually a token Republican thrown into the mix. There is often some high-brow humor, debates over compromise versus idealism, and canonical and convenient Designated Bastards. Mixed all together, it makes an interesting show. The first four seasons came from Aaron Sorkin, and most episodes have his name on the writer line of the credits. Later seasons had John Wells takes over, and there's a more varied writing team, as well as a greater emphasis on interpersonal problems over political ones and pragmatism taking over or catching up with idealism. Later seasons were also a bit darker, or had episodes where the central question was left unanswered. Because it has more than one male cast member, and most of the more photogenic male cast members are not canonically openly gay, the continuum is at risk of some fairly bad slash. There's also a fairly large range for replacement!Sues and replacement!Stus, or plain bad characterization, simply because each character tends to have established viewpoints on which they are unlikely to change their minds based on the conversational capabilities of the average Mary Sue. The established cast do have a tendency to elaborate beyond what the historical record or existing law suggests, but wildly inaccurate statements that are not called out may be a charge for OOCness, since even the secretaries in this setting have near-encyclopedic knowledge. Minis from The West Wing become mini-Elefunkies.
- It centered around a fictional Democratic Presidential administration led by President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet, a former governor from New Hampshire portrayed by Martin Sheen. The show began on September 22, 1999 on television network NBC. It ran for seven seasons over seven years, and ended its run on May 14, 2006.
- The West Wing is an hour-long American serial drama set in the White House which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1999 and ran until 2006.
- The show ended on May 14, 2006 after 7 seasons and 156 episodes.
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