Post by Admin on Jul 20, 2003 0:11:52 GMT
From TVGuide.com:
As the series' fourth-season finale begins, Zoey has just been abducted from the nightclub in Georgetown where she and Jean-Paul had been celebrating her graduation. Of course, the White House goes into crisis mode, fearing that the kidnapping is the work of terrorists. "Certainly it's easy to imagine how this escalates to a military situation," is the way one TV commentator puts it. And the Father-in-Chief fears he might do something impulsive. In other parental news, Andy (Kathleen York) has given birth to a boy and a girl. Typically, Toby's morose. The kidnapping compounds it, but, primarily, he's afraid he won't love his children "as much as other fathers love theirs."
From NBC:
In the season finale, a national crisis is thrust on the President (Martin Sheen) on the night of his daughter Zoey's graduation, forcing him to shut down Washington, D.C. as he orders the Fifth Fleet to the Persian Gulf -- all of which prompts Bartlet to consider executive action that would have been unthinkable just hours earlier. In the midst of the administration's greatest challenge, a conflicted Toby (Richard Schiff) still finds time to savor a personal milestone on the best day of his life.
From Warner Bros.:
In the season finale, Bartlet confronts a national crisis on the night of his daughter Zoey's (Elisabeth Moss) graduation from Georgetown University, forcing him to shut down Washington, D.C., and order a fleet to the Persian Gulf. Bartlet also considers executive action that would have been unthinkable just hours earlier. In the midst of the administration's greatest challenge, a conflicted Toby still finds time to savor a personal milestone.
"If your business is intrigue, the 25th Amendment is great," said Gene Sperling, a writer for "The West Wing" and a former aide to President Bill Clinton.
Some experts in constitutional law agreed that rarely has the portrayal of a political issue been so accurate and educational.
Section 3 of the amendment allows a president to temporarily transfer power by simply sending letters to the Speaker and the Senate's president pro tempore. That's what Bartlet of "The West Wing" did.
But at least one expert, Yale Law School's Akhil Amar, who consulted with "The West Wing's" writers, said the 25th Amendment's biggest logical inconsistency is its reliance on a vice president.
"The vice president is the indispensable man," he said. "It's a major point of vulnerability within the system."
Without a vice president, the Speaker is next in line but must resign the Speaker's position because the Constitution forbids a legislator from holding multiple offices.
But once the Speaker resigns, he or she "destroys [his or her] status as an 'officer' eligible to 'act as president.' And so on this logic, the Speaker is ineligible to act as president whether or not he resigns as Speaker," Amar said.
"The intrigue of the amendment comes from Sections 3 and 4," said David Gerkin [Gerken], a writer on "The West Wing." "We used the third. It would have looked a little cartoonish to use the fourth. We decided it would be Bartlet's decision."
For Aaron Sorkin, the end was fittingly presidential.
His coworkers were gathered on the Oval Office set, preparing to shoot the most dramatic moment in The West Wing's four-year run - the swearing in of a new president - when word came down to stop what they were doing and adjourn to the Roosevelt Room.
Sorkin, their Emmy-winning commander in chief and the man who had single-handedly written 87 of the show's 88 episodes [not true, Enemies, Swiss Diplomacy and The Long Goodbye], walked in minutes later and delivered a bombshell: He was leaving the show. Right now.
"There was a stunned silence," recalls actor Joshua Malina. Martin Sheen finally spoke: "Oh, my God." Then came the sobbing. "It was an emotional holocaust," says Bradley Whitford. "It was agony for all of us."
Asked what he would do next, Sorkin said, "I honestly have no idea."
" ... I don't know what the network is doing. They brought in this whole other plot thing, with John Goodman, because I am sure they were getting nervous about the (show's) politics." - Lily Tomlin
As the series' fourth-season finale begins, Zoey has just been abducted from the nightclub in Georgetown where she and Jean-Paul had been celebrating her graduation. Of course, the White House goes into crisis mode, fearing that the kidnapping is the work of terrorists. "Certainly it's easy to imagine how this escalates to a military situation," is the way one TV commentator puts it. And the Father-in-Chief fears he might do something impulsive. In other parental news, Andy (Kathleen York) has given birth to a boy and a girl. Typically, Toby's morose. The kidnapping compounds it, but, primarily, he's afraid he won't love his children "as much as other fathers love theirs."
From NBC:
In the season finale, a national crisis is thrust on the President (Martin Sheen) on the night of his daughter Zoey's graduation, forcing him to shut down Washington, D.C. as he orders the Fifth Fleet to the Persian Gulf -- all of which prompts Bartlet to consider executive action that would have been unthinkable just hours earlier. In the midst of the administration's greatest challenge, a conflicted Toby (Richard Schiff) still finds time to savor a personal milestone on the best day of his life.
From Warner Bros.:
In the season finale, Bartlet confronts a national crisis on the night of his daughter Zoey's (Elisabeth Moss) graduation from Georgetown University, forcing him to shut down Washington, D.C., and order a fleet to the Persian Gulf. Bartlet also considers executive action that would have been unthinkable just hours earlier. In the midst of the administration's greatest challenge, a conflicted Toby still finds time to savor a personal milestone.
"If your business is intrigue, the 25th Amendment is great," said Gene Sperling, a writer for "The West Wing" and a former aide to President Bill Clinton.
Some experts in constitutional law agreed that rarely has the portrayal of a political issue been so accurate and educational.
Section 3 of the amendment allows a president to temporarily transfer power by simply sending letters to the Speaker and the Senate's president pro tempore. That's what Bartlet of "The West Wing" did.
But at least one expert, Yale Law School's Akhil Amar, who consulted with "The West Wing's" writers, said the 25th Amendment's biggest logical inconsistency is its reliance on a vice president.
"The vice president is the indispensable man," he said. "It's a major point of vulnerability within the system."
Without a vice president, the Speaker is next in line but must resign the Speaker's position because the Constitution forbids a legislator from holding multiple offices.
But once the Speaker resigns, he or she "destroys [his or her] status as an 'officer' eligible to 'act as president.' And so on this logic, the Speaker is ineligible to act as president whether or not he resigns as Speaker," Amar said.
"The intrigue of the amendment comes from Sections 3 and 4," said David Gerkin [Gerken], a writer on "The West Wing." "We used the third. It would have looked a little cartoonish to use the fourth. We decided it would be Bartlet's decision."
"Television's newest star: the 25th Amendment"
by Jonathan E. Kaplan
May 28, 2003
The Hill
by Jonathan E. Kaplan
May 28, 2003
The Hill
For Aaron Sorkin, the end was fittingly presidential.
His coworkers were gathered on the Oval Office set, preparing to shoot the most dramatic moment in The West Wing's four-year run - the swearing in of a new president - when word came down to stop what they were doing and adjourn to the Roosevelt Room.
Sorkin, their Emmy-winning commander in chief and the man who had single-handedly written 87 of the show's 88 episodes [not true, Enemies, Swiss Diplomacy and The Long Goodbye], walked in minutes later and delivered a bombshell: He was leaving the show. Right now.
"There was a stunned silence," recalls actor Joshua Malina. Martin Sheen finally spoke: "Oh, my God." Then came the sobbing. "It was an emotional holocaust," says Bradley Whitford. "It was agony for all of us."
Asked what he would do next, Sorkin said, "I honestly have no idea."
"Broken Wing"
by Mary Murphy and Mark Schwed
May 31, 2003
TV Guide (American edition)
by Mary Murphy and Mark Schwed
May 31, 2003
TV Guide (American edition)
" ... I don't know what the network is doing. They brought in this whole other plot thing, with John Goodman, because I am sure they were getting nervous about the (show's) politics." - Lily Tomlin