These are my thoughts on the pilot episode of The West Wing.

    The first scene, one with Rob Lowe, is set in a bar, where a woman is eyeing him, and he's eyeing her. She looks kinda cute.

    And we just had a scene in a gym, with a woman trying to impress a guy (she was trying to pick him up, I think) getting a call on her beeper, and promptly falling over on the treadmill. Very good.

    We are now in the Morning-After scene with Rob Lowe and the woman he picked up. She's cute! I like her. She has great legs. I hope she's a regular.

    I see from the guest cast credits that Alison Smith is in this. Wow, this seems to be my Winter for watching Alison Smith: I'm currently watching Spy Games, which I taped last year, I'm (probably/maybe/possibly/who knows) going to be watching Buddy Faro. And here she is about to pop up in The West Wing. Possibly as a recurring guest star. Who knows.

    While the credits are rolling, we are watching John Spenser and Bradley Whitford meeting, and discussing chaotic events in the white-house. And the chemistry between the actors is strong and good. It's a good scene.

    They're balancing two plots at this early stage in the pilot: The fact that The President rode his bicycle into a tree - Don't Ask - and the fact that some Cubans have fled Cuba and are on the way to Miami. On a raft.

    It’s quite engaging.

    The chaos.

    It works in exactly the way the chaos on Capital News… DIDN'T.

    Now, we're being made aware of a third plot strand: Will the president fire Josh? Josh being played by Bradley Whitford.

    The opening minutes establish (probably) the tone of the series: kinda light-hearted; kinda serious. Everybody gets on, everybody likes everybody else. There's a small bit of conflict. er in the white house.

    It contrasts well with the pilot of Beggars and Choosers, because the opening of this pilot is much more action-packed. Beggars And Choosers was relaxed in comparison.

    We now have a scene where Donna brings Josh some coffee and they begin to banter. Banter seems to be the way to go on this show. Everybody banters. They all banter with each other. Banter, banter, banter. All this witty repartee and neither a David nor a Maddie to be seen. It's cute for now (a few minutes into the pilot) but it could get wearing.

    Josh's job is on the line because he said stuff on TV, that he shouldn't have said, the night before. And it's rapidly emerging that all the other characters - certainly the ones that have approached him so far - really like the guy. And are concerned about him. And don't want him to lose his job.

    The character dynamics are emerging. John Spenser's character (Leo) seems to be the one that gets everything done. He's the one that does all the work. Rob Lowe is the romantic heart-throb. And Josh (brilliantly played by Bradley Whitford) is the idealistic one. I think Josh is going to be my favourite.

    Moira Kelly's character has made her entrance. Zooming down the highway, music blaring, screeching and yapping on the phone, a motor-cycle cop is hot pursuit. It's a very unappealing debut. The character grates on you the minute she appears.

    Aw no! I was dreading this. Josh is romantically linked to Mandy. That's Moira's Kelly's character. Damn. I knew things were heading that way, but… Damn! This is the start of her second scene in the pilot. I hope she isn't as obnoxious as she was in her first.

    Bradley Whitford is well cast. He's a very good, sympathetic leading man. I liked him a lot in Smouldering Lust, I liked him almost as much in The Secret Lives Of Men. And it's shaping up like I'm really going to like him in The West Wing.

    They are keeping the president from us. We haven't met the president and we're half-way through the pilot. They're turning him into an enigma. Which is as it should be. It's probably what I would have done were I writing this pilot. Question is: How long are they going to do this for?

    Oh God! We just found out that the woman Rob Lowe's character just spent the night with, is from an Escort Agency. Oh dear. And I did so like her. I hoped she was going to be a regular. But apparently she's just a story-line.

    This is cool, very cool. We just learned - and we're now three quarters of the way though the pilot - that the John Spenser character has been trying his best to keep Josh on board. The President ordered him to fire Josh. This casts the John Spenser character in a very heroic light. It also makes it clear how much the members of this team mean to one another. It's good. It works. It's a nice way to start the series.

    Of course, we don't really know if he's telling the truth. This is the early days. The Spenser Character seems as if he's honest at all times, but this is politics.

    Awwww, this is horrible. The Rob Lowe character has just switched pagers back with the call-girl character. And it was just brilliant, very well acted, very well written. Star-crossed lovers. Seems like they can't possibly get it together, yet we - as an audience - really want them to get together. It's good. It's pulling me in. I'm enjoying it.

    And Leo's daughter is played by Alison Smith, so it's 50/50 whether she appears as a semi-regular or not. The Rob Lowe Character is the character who is meeting her at the White House. So, it hard to know whether or not the producers want to develop a romantic relationship between them. I hope not. I'm rooting for the other one. The other one was lovely.

    The Rob Lowe Character is giving a tour to some school kids and he's atrociously bad at this, and it's very funny.

    In a wonderful comic scene, The Rob Lowe Character blurted out a lot of information to the Leo's daughter, not realising that she was "Leo's Daughter". And, the scene was wonderful, and it was carried by Rob Lowe and his considerable comedic talent.

    I've been sitting her wondering about what kind of entrance Martin Sheen was going to make. And I've just seen his entrance. And it's spectacular.

    Well, now I've seen to the end of the scene. And, while I stand by my initial perception of the actual entrance, I must say that the final scene was the weakest in the entire pilot.

    To resolve a major plot point, it suddenly introduced something called "The Lambs Of God". A never-before-mentioned terrorist group. All to get "Josh" out of trouble. I'd didn't like that. That's bad story-telling.

    And the final bit where Martin Sheen's character - The President - spoke to his team and they rallied round him, and he gave them new perspective on their work and they all left the office with renewed enthusiasm, was… crap. That whole scene was weak and very clichéd. The weakest scene by far and a major let-down, considering that the rest of the pilot was above average. However, having said that, I enjoyed the whole thing and I will be there for episode two.