March
March 29, 2000
Rerun.
March 22, 2000
This show has been on break for almost a month, but it has not lost its power as evidenced by this 8 Flush episode. The episode has two storylines that are similarly rooted. First, the chairman of the Federal Reserves Board, Bernard Dahl, has just died. Dahl is the fictional equivalent of Alan Greenspan. The president, Jed, has to name a replacement immediately or the economy may suffer. The obvious replacement choice is Ron Ehrlich who is the current assistant to the chairman, but Jed is not sure that he wants to appoint Ehrlich. Jed thinks that Ehrlich will continue Dahl's policies, but that the economy may be ready for a change. A press conference is held regarding a replacement chairman and CJ answers questions. She has to explain that Jed is waiting to name a replacement out of
respect for the dead. If she says that the president is not sure about Ehrlich then she demonstrates doubt about Ehrlich. However, Danny (played by Timothy Busfield...the guy CJ is sort of dating) asks CJ during the press conference whether the president has any comment on a statement from an unnamed source close to the First Lady which said that the First Lady, Abby, supports Ehrlich to replace Dahl. This news upsets the White
House Staff, because the statement will make it seem as though the president does whatever his wife wants.
In the meantime, Abby appears on the news with a student who says that child labor is a problem. Sam learns that a congresswoman named Becky Rieseman (played by the lady who played Joey on Picket Fences and has recently appeared as a therapist/counselor on Felicity) wants to introduce an amendment regarding child labor to a trade act that the president is trying to pass. The president currently has enough votes to pass the act, but if Becky introduces this amendment then he will lose bipartisan support. Becky says that she has to introduce the amendment because the First Lady's stance on child labor means that she has to act.
The White House staff does not know hot to react when the First Lady tries to dictate change. The staff, led by Sam, confronts Abby's top aide, Lily, and presses her to stop what she is doing. Sam explains that the child labor thing is immature because the First Lady seemed uninformed of what she was doing and the Fed issue was a bad statement because now the President will appear to be following his wife's orders. Lily says that maybe Sam is right, but that she cannot reveal who leaked the statement about Abby supporting Ehrlich to the press. Sam then goes back to speak with Lily a second time but ends up speaking with Abby. Abby applies pressure to Sam, and Sam does not know what to do. She admits that she was wrong to do the child labor thing. This scene between Sam and Lily was phenomenal. Anyway, the president speaks with Danny and asks him who the source of the statement about Ehrlich was. Danny says he cannot reveal his sources.
At the end of the episode, Jed confronts Abby about her actions. As it turns out, Abby leaked the statement about her support of Ehrlich, not one of he staff. Abby admits she was wrong but scolds Jed for having his staff pressure her staff. This scene was great and the two fought a little and then made up. In the end, Abby tells Beck to not introduce her amendment to the trade act, and Jed appoints Ehrlich as chairman of the Fed.
Also this week: Jed tells his daughter Zoey that her relationship with Charlie is leading to some serious threats by white supremacists who do not agree with interracial dating. The
two plan to go to a club opening on Friday, but Charlie's life is at stake if they do go. Zoey tells Charlie that he cannot go the club opening with her. He is very mad to hear this. However, Zoey's secret service lady, Agent Butterfield (who is played by the girl that nobody liked on er last season...the one that was always competing with Carter), tells Charlie that he should be the one reliable thing in Zoey's life. Charlie agrees and makes up with Zoey.
QUOTE OF THE EPISODE: "You like winning, don't 'cha?" --Josh to which Toby replies, "Saves you from having to say please!"
WEST WING TRIVIA OF THINGS THAT WERE TRUE 100 YEARS AGO: Florence and Bertha were the top two female names. Eight percent of households had phone. Ninety percent of physicians had no degree. The population of Las Vegas was 22. There were a number of drive-by shootings in Denver...the villains escaped on horse.
NEXT WEEK: ?
March 15, 2000
A rerun worth watching. Major events at the White House while the President of Indonesia visits for a State Dinner.
March 8, 2000
Rerun.
March 1, 2000
Part III of The Tenth Kingdom airs. Will this miniseries ever end?
February
February 23, 2000
A fine, 7 Flush episode of The West Wing. The premise is quite simple: the President goes to Los Angeles. He leaves DC at 3am EST and does not sleep on the plane. He arrives in LA and goes to a conference on whether or not there should be a flag
burning amendment. He gets extremely bored at the conference, and this conference is followed by a lunch with a guy named by Al Keifer. Keifer tells the President that 47% of angry, white voters can be won over if the president supports an amendment that bans flag burning. Wow! Can you believe this?
Anyway, the entire White House staff save Leo came on this trip with the Pres. Josh is one of the many who came. When Josh arrives at the hotel, he learns that Joey Lucas is also at the hotel. Joey, played by Marlee Matlin, is a campaign manger who we met on the Feb.9 episode. Josh gets very excited because he wants to maybe have an affair with Joey, but he finds out that Ted Marcus wants a meeting with him first. Ted Marcus is a
Hollywood big wig who is throwing a fundraising party for the president this evening. Josh goes to meet with Marcus. Marcus says that a congressman introduced a resolution to ban gays from entering the military and that the president must publicly oppose this resolution. Josh says that the president cannot do this. Marcus says that if the president refuses to do this then tonight's party will be canceled. Josh gets some advice from Sam
and Toby, and then tells Marcus that the president will veto the bill IF it passes the House and Senate, and that Marcus can have ten minutes of the president's time if Marcus still holds the party, but the president will not make a public statement. A deal is struck.
It's nighttime, and we're at the party. Josh bumps into Joey Lucas. Josh tells her about Al Keifer's statistics. She tells him not to believe those numbers because Keifer only asked if
people cared about the amendment. In reality, only 13% of these angry, white men (that's 13% of the original 47%) would vote for the president if he supported this amendment. Josh is happy to hear this because now the president does not need to support such a horrible amendment. Josh and Joey flirt a little until Joey tells Josh that she is at the party with someone.
While the party rages downstairs, the president and Marcus meet upstairs. Marcus tells the president that he has to come out publicly against the House resolution regarding gays in the military. The president explains that if he makes a public statement about gays in the military then the issue will become a big deal again. If he stays quiet then nothing happens, and the resolution will never pass. The president gets very worked up and explains to Marcus that he will never allow such a bill to pass and that Marcus is acting like an angry brat for bringing this issue up. Marcus now agrees with the president. But
he does ask the president if he is feeling healthy. The president confesses that he has been pretty tired lately.
Also this week, Charlie and Zoey (President's daughter) intensify their relationship. Zoey gets a new bodyguard named Gina Toscano. Gina's job is to protect Zoey, especially now that Zoey is getting hatemail for dating a black man.
Finally, Leo stayed in DC to take care of some issues. One of these issues regards an ethanol bill that the senate is going to vote 50-50 on. This split vote means that the vice president has to make a decision. The v-p opposes the bill, but the president supports it. The president says that the bill will create 16,000 new jobs and increase industry. The v-p says that ethanol does not work, and that ethanol machines use as much gas as they are
supposed to save by creating ethanol. Leo threatens the v-p that he had better change his vote, but the v-p convinces Leo that he has to stand by his morals. Leo tells the pres and the pres agrees that the v-p should vote how he wants and that the v-p is right to oppose ethanol subsidies.
At the very end of the episode as everybody gets ready to leave, Josh goes to Joey's hotel room to say good-bye. Surprise of surprise, she is found in a bathrobe with Al Keifer...the man who's poll she insulted. Josh realizes that he may not ever get a romantic chance with Joey.
MAXIM OF THE EPISODE: The voice of the people is the voice of G-d.
NEXT WEEK: Part three of The Tenth Kingdom airs.
February 16, 2000
History has been made....this is the first 10 flush episode that the Toilet Tube has awarded. Last week's show received all the hype, but this week's episode had all the might. Nothing
special happened, and if you missed this episode, there ate no new plot lines to learn, but the pace, humor, and drama of the show were phenomenal. The episode is mostly told through flashbacks which makes the episode so much greater. Supreme Court judge nominee Roberto Mendoza is arrested for drunk driving. Sam and Toby go to Connecticut to get him released from jail. So far, no one in the press knows about Mendoza's arrest...after all it would be awfully awkward for the President to have his supreme court nominee arrested. Also, the sheriffs who arrested Mendoza probably do not realize that they have arrested a federal judge. Sam and Leo are sent to Connecticut
to handle this issue. Keep in mind, Mendoza could not have been drunk driving because he has chronic hepatitis which means that if his blood alcohol content were above .1, his liver would inflame until death. Anyway, Sam and Leo are searching for the jail where Mendoza is while Josh gives an interview in which he recounts the details of the past few days.
CJ has a tooth ache and cannot give a press conference. Josh gives the conference instead, and he gets into all sorts of trouble by calling one reporter's question stupid and sarcastically stating that the president has a secret plan to fight inflation. The press corps does not pick up on Josh's sarcasm and tries to figure out the president's secret plan.
While Josh is making a fool of himself, the secretary of HUD calls the Republican congressman in charge of public housing racist. The pace and humor with which these conflicts are resolved is excellent.
Josh is sharing these stories with a group of students (in his interview) as he talks via cell phone with Sam and Toby. Sam and Toby finally get to the jail and convince the officers
that Mendoza is a federal judge. The sheriffs will release him (especially now that they know of his liver condition), but Mendoza wants to protest his arrest. Mendoza says that he was only pulled over because of his Latin descent and that this illegal arrest is why he refused to submit to a breathalyzer. But Sam and Leo tell Mendoza that he has been protesting too many policies lately and has been irresponsible and, therefore, should not protest this. Mendoza acquiesces. I realize that my summary has been pretty lame, but that is the point of it. The show is so fast paced and brilliant that no one can capture its magic.
NEXT WEEK: The president takes a round trip from DC to Hollywood in 24 hours. Stars and bribes abound.
February 9, 2000
This episode received too much hype and as a result was on some level disappointing, but it, nonetheless, deserves nine flushes (out of ten). Two stories this week and that was all. First, the Supreme Court rejects an appeal by Simon Cruz to have his execution overturned. Because of this rejection, Cruz will receive a lethal injection on Monday night at 12:01 am (that's really Sunday night). However, the president has the option of staying the execution. Apparently, no man has been executed by the federal government since 1960-something, and no execution has been stayed by the President since Abe Lincoln. The president finally decides that the only reason he would stay the execution is because he opposes the death sentence, but that his personal whim would make the application of the death sentence arbitrary. Other people who have moral dilemmas over the death penalty this week included Toby who confronted his rabbi over the issue, and CJ who will have to report the death of Cruz to the president. In the end of the episode, the president's priest comes to talk about the pres.'s decision. The priest tells the story of a man who hears on the radio that a flood is coming, but the man believes that G-d will protect him. A boat then comes to rescue the man, but the man says that G-d will protect him. Finally,
a helicopter comes to rescue the man, but the man says G-d will protect him. The man dies, and when he reaches the gates of St. Peter, he asks to have an audience with G-d. G-d comes down, and the man asks G-d why he did not save him. G-d responds that he
sent the man a radio warning, a boat, and a helicopter...why didn't the man act. The same thing applied to the president. A priest, the Pope, and a rabbi all told the president not to
let Cruz die, yet he did. Very touching.
In another story, Marlee Matlin portrayed a deaf woman named Joey Lucas who is representing a democrat named Bill O'Dwyer. The pres. told the Democratic National Committee not to give O'Dwyer money. Lucas wants to know why. Josh explains that the man O'Dwyer is running against is a staunch republican who can be portrayed as an evil GOP member and is more valuable than a good democrat. It's like when the democrats painted Newt Gingrich as this evil man. Lucas demands an audience with the president and receives one. The president says that O'Dwyer is not a great guy, but that his opponent can help the party. He then says that if Lucas can find a good candidate that he will support that candidate. She asks who? He says her. The end.
TRIVIA OF THE EPISODE:The United States does not execute people on the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Sunday.
NEXT WEEK: President's nominee to the Supreme Court ends up in jail.
February 2, 2000
Rerun
