|
|
Post by Joey Lucas on Apr 30, 2003 22:17:46 GMT
Sam is brilliant! The best bits are when we are seeing the flashbacks in 'In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen' and when he manages to write the President's introduction in 'Galileo' first time after the President sees how bad the NASA person's is.
I can't comment on the 2nd half of season 2 as I haven't seen it properly yet.
|
|
|
|
Post by DarkHoarse on May 5, 2003 16:35:55 GMT
Hello Sam fan
If you haven't seen the second half of season 2 yet, look out for an episode called 'Somebody's Going To Emergency, Somebody's Going To Jail'. It's another 'block of cheese' episode (see Crackpots and These Women) and Sam is the central character, dealing with the possible pardon of an alleged spy.
I think it's Rob Lowe's greatest performance, and it's one of the best-ever episodes. Very moving and very cleverly written.
|
|
|
|
Post by DarkHoarse on May 20, 2003 11:38:42 GMT
One of the things I really like about Sam is the way that, in general, you wouldn't think he could be a really tough operator, yet when necessary he is as hard as nails.
The best example is when he has to deal with Karen Larsen in "Take Out The Trash Day". It takes him 2 seconds to clock her as the culprit, and when he closes the door to his office... god, I wouldn't want to be in that room with him!
|
|
|
|
Post by Lemon Lyman on May 20, 2003 12:16:37 GMT
Personal Background [/b]
[/li][li]Sam is from Southern California (Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc).
[/li][li]Sam was supposed to marry Lisa Sherborne in September of 1998 (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen). They broke up not because Lisa's name would have been "Lisa Sherborne-Seaborn," but because, according to Sam, she didn't like him very much. Lisa, however, claims that they broke up because he left to work for Bartlet (100,00 Airplanes).
[/li][li]Sam discovered his father had been having an affair with a woman he'd kept in an apartment in Santa Monica for 28 years (Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail). After a lot of initial bitterness, Sam says he and his father are doing better and that the ice is starting to thaw (The Stackhouse Filibuster).
[/li][li]Sam's father is an Elk (The Women of Qumar).
[/li][li]After an inauspicious beginning, Sam dated Mallory O'Brien, Leo's daughter (Enemies). Their fledgling relationship disintegrated (Galileo) when Sam was photographed embracing Laurie by a tabloid which revealed that she was a call girl (Lies, Dam Lies and Statistics)
References
"Bartlet4 America.Org"
"Inside Bartlet's White House" by Keith Topping
"Inside the West Wing" by Paul Challen
|
|
|
|
Post by Lemon Lyman on May 20, 2003 12:17:14 GMT
Professional Backgound [/b]
[/li][li]Sam graduated from Princeton (Mr Willis of Ohio), which also happens to be his Secret Service code name (In Excelsis Deo).
[/li][li]For 23 pages in the middle of Sam's undergraduate thesis at Princeton he argued alleged spy Daniel Gault's innocence and called for his pardon. He mailed a copy to Gault's son (Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going Jail).
[/li][li]Sam was editor of the law review at Duke law school, where he was friends with Tom Jordan, who ran unsuccessfully for a Congressional seat in Florida in the 2000 midterm elections (The Midterms)
[/li][li]In four years of college and three years of law school, Sam spent $30 at Kinko's (The Stackhouse Filibuster).
[/li][li]Sam graduated from law school in 1991 and went to work for Dewey/Ballantine (Pilot). For seven years before joining Bartlet's campaign, Sam worked for Gage Whitney Pace in midtown Manhattan, the second-largest law firm in New York, and the one which landed the Shearson deal (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen).
[/li][li]Sam once worked as a congressional aide (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen) presumably after his time at Dewey/Ballantine and before he joined Gage Whitney.
[/li][li]At Gage Whitney, Sam protected oil companies from litigation. His boss was Jack Gage, and his clients included Mr. Loch, Mr. Cameron (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen) and Kensington Oil (Bad Moon Rising).
[/li][li]With Sam's help, Kensington Oil purchased The Indio, an aged oil tanker with faulty steering and navigation systems. He tried unsuccessfully to talk them out of it, and The Indio later ran aground off the coast of Delaware (Bad Moon Rising).
[/li][li]He billed at $500 an hour in the private sector (The State Dinner) he was one month away from making partner at Gage Whitney when he left to join the Bartlet campaign (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen).
[/li][li]Although Josh Lyman tried to convince Sam to work for Hoynes as a speechwriter, he refused. When Josh showed up with his bad poker face, Sam left his job in the middle of a meeting to join Bartlet's campaign, because he was "the real thing" (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen).
[/li][li]Sam is a sought-after lawyer and speechwriter, although he claims to be paid less than a kid with a decent paper route (Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc)
[/li][li]The White House often sends Sam to represent the left on Capital Beat because he "wipes the floor" with the opposing panelist. Except when he gets his ass kicked by a girl, Ainsley Haynes (In this White House)… get the popcorn!
[/li][li]Sam is a counselor to the president, mostly on domestic matters, though generally not security related. He works with Toby Ziegler and CJ Cregg on crafting the administration's message and getting it out through the print and electronic media. While his functions are generally perceived to be politically skewed, it's not the DNC, but rather American tax dollars that pay his salary (Pilot). He is classified but he doesn't have code-word clearance (Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail)
[/li][li]According to Jed Bartlet, Sam's going to run for President one day (Hartsfield Landing).
[/li][li]CJ thinks there aren't ten people in the country that could have written Bartlet's third state of the union (100,000 Airplanes). CJ also offers to do Sam on the sofa in her Office.
[/li][li]Sam's assistant is Cathy (Pilot), though she seems to have disappeared. He has been seen working with both Ginger and Bonnie (The Drop In); perhaps he and Toby share assistants. On trips, he brings Bonnie and Ginger gifts, which he tends to buy in the hotel gift shop (The Black Vera Wang).
References
"Bartlet4 America.Org"
"Inside Bartlet's White House" by Keith Topping
"Inside the West Wing" by Paul Challen
|
|
|
|
Post by Lemon Lyman on May 20, 2003 12:17:49 GMT
Other Facts[/b]
[/li][li]Sam and Laurie met in a bar and went home together; the next day he found out she was a call girl (Pilot)
[/li][li]Jenny McGarry, Leo's wife, dislikes him because he tried to hit on her at a party fundraiser (Pilot)
[/li][li]Sam may drive a white SUV of some kind (The Mid Terms)
[/li][li]Sam doesn't think it's a good idea to be casual about the truth (H.Con 172)
[/li][li]For some reason Sam owes Mandy Hampton lots of favors (Lord John Malbury)
[/li][li]Sam does not know anything about the White House or its history (Pilot), but he can recite the members of Congress in alphabetical order (Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc)
[/li][li]He thinks of Cathy as a younger sister, except she gets paid and she frightens him. He has never seen her naked (The Crackpots and these Women)
[/li][li]Sam likes sailing competitively, though he apparently has trouble staying in the boat (Take this Sabbath Day)
[/li][li]He can't find his way from the Westchester airport to Wesley, Connecticut, but can describe the route from Nova Scotia to D.C. off the top of his head (Celestial Navigation)
[/li][li]A medical school in Grenada has requested that Sam donate his brain to them for study. Sam declined (Enemies Foreign and Domestic)
[/li][li]His middle name is Norman, although he considered having it legally changed to "on time" (Six Meetings Before Lunch)
[/li][li]Sam and Josh were old friends before they started working on the Bartlet campaign together (possibly from when Sam was a congressional aide?) (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen).
[/li][li]CJ has been known to call Sam "Spanky" (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen).
[/li][li]Sam was recording secretary of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society at Princeton (And Its Surely to Their Credit), he's nuts for dental hygiene (Celestial Navigation)
[/li][li]When Sam spends time with friends at a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Sag Harbor, he claims they wear sweaters, just like a Tommy Hilfiger ad (The Stackhouse Filibuster).
[/li][li]Toby is Sam's favorite writer. His favorite fiction writer is Charles Dickens (The Stackhouse Filibuster).
[/li][li]Sam is less visually observant than others but he makes up for it with cunning and guile (Bad Moon Rising)
|
|
|
|
Post by Joey Lucas on Aug 26, 2003 14:12:00 GMT
From BravoTV.com:
A graduate of Princeton University and dropout of Duke Law School, Sam now servers as Deputy Communications Director. While his philandering (with a call girl and with Leo's daughter, Mallory) has gotten him into personal trouble, his professional life seems to remain on track. He is fiercely patriotic and a big proponent of education reform. Sam enjoys sailing in his spare time, and is known around the office as a klutz.
|
|
