The TV thread

Not only were the jokes stuck in neutral it didn't help that they didn't accentuate Kat Dennings', um assets, for lack of a better term.

 

And that is why she disappeared to Mandyville.

I just finished a re-watch a few weeks ago. It would be odd not to be able to stream it anywhere, but I've still got my DVD set.

 

Sorkin was responsible for people regularly using the phrase POTUS (West Wing episode 1) and Cold Open (Studio 60 episode 1).

 

Going Dutch has some laughs in the pilot.

 

Democrats don't delude themselves, they hope and vote for a government that isn't governed by obstruction. It's not delusion. The West Wing was certainly a show that was 'PIE IN THE SKY" but most everything it put forth COULD have happened. You're seeming to mock that democratic campaign volunteers liked the cast support, but aren't mocking and possibly praising Biden's 25th anniversary support for the show. What is your stand here?

 

Mostly that liberals cling to The West Wing like Linus did his blanket. That the show debuted 25 years ago and was fiction, and liberals don't have anyone else who can inspire the same passion for public service as the show did and continues to do. I'm not mocking the show, those who helped make it , or those inspired by it - only that the party doesn't seem to have any REAL people who inspire others in the same way. I remember growing up how sad it was that the party kept bringing back JFK and the Kennedy family 20 years after his death. As a kid, I wondered why the party hadn't produced anyone else since then? Kennedy was before my time. I understood it, but it didn't motivate me. That's my point.

 

I'm a weird liberal that loves Molly's Game, Social Network and A Few Good Men....but never got into the West Wing.

 

The West Wing’s earnestness could be grating at times. Lame duck members of Congress not voting for bills which they believed in because it wasn’t the will of their constituents, GOP aides not scoring political points by disclosing Leo’s drinking, etc.

 

Parks & Rec suffers from the same thing. It’s still an incredibly funny show, but its main premise of bipartisianship rings so hollow just 10-15 years later.

 

Pure, uncut (and heavily coked up) Sorkin is typically just meh or bad to me. See also - Being The Richardos. He's a guy that needs someone to reign him in at times, but had enough success that eventually that net went away.

 

The cheap joke is that I have two reasons that I like Kat Dennings but I honestly think she's a pretty good comedic actress.

 

Also, there was never a problem that couldn't be solved by a stirring monologue. I have some faith in the power of rhetoric, too, but Sorkin took it to ridiculous lengths.