Venusian

hmm...

we want a story arc with kidnapping. Go write it...

okay, we have a bunch of episodes...

well we're gonna allocate 4 episodes to it...

well, i guess we'll cut the rest and just shove the rescue onto the end of the 4th episode.

sounds good to me.





the story just stops and they find her. very anti-climatic

wildcatlh

Had to end somewhere. I think it ended well. It wouldn't have worrked if they had tried to devote half an hour to the rescue, IMO.

(On a related note, **** Comcast Cable here (western Philly suburbs). For the last 20 minutes I was forced to watch it with the sound off and the closed captioning on because they had for some reason the West Wing video, but audio from friggin Paradise Hotel)

Venusian

the affiliate here forgot to put the tape in for a commerical so it sat their on a black screen

kevin75

i am kinda shocked because i was expecting her to end up dead. i know that realistically it wouldn't have made for a good extended plotline and all but i figured that with sorkin gone they might want to go for the gusto now. anyway, i am very glad she is still here. now all we need is to see charlie kick the crap outta frenchie and we'll be cool. oh yeah, what were the specifics of who kidnapped her? what with the helos and all the noise, it was hard for me to hear the secret service agent. or did they not give specifics?

i don't know that i am gonna like josh's intern. but then again, i am one who likes the status quo, especially if it's working well. i hope that they bring josh back to his old self soon. even though, granted, so far this season has been strenuous, i don't like the way his character is going. way too vindictive.

anyway. i guess that the hour was ok. something was off, i just haven't figured out what yet.

oh yeah, i am also gonna miss john amos!!

Venusian

i heard a little of it. it said a couple had a domestic issue and the lady was walking down the road and looked for a place to go warm up...or something like that.


like i said in the last thread, i dont think it would have worked with her ending up dead. if she is killed that would dominate all the storylines from now on. this is something they can move on from after time

kevin75

yeah, i can agree that her ending up dead wouldn't have worked. then you have a president who spends the entire season in grief. that being said, though, i still wasn't sure what the brass at nbc were thinking.

clemente

I'm still not feeling it.

It's not bad, its still a good show, but the magic isn't there.

The moments that Donna was lamenting that she might be passed over was supposed to be our moment of comedic levity, but there it was and away it went.

wildcatlh

Since I couldn't hear it... could somebody (with the appropriate spoiler tags, of course) tell me what was going on in the preview for next week?

das Monkey

• Quoth clemente •<HR SIZE=1>I'm still not feeling it.

It's not bad, its still a good show, but the magic isn't there.

The moments that Donna was lamenting that she might be passed over was supposed to be our moment of comedic levity, but there it was and away it went. <HR SIZE=1>

Agreed on all counts. And a pratfall? Last week, there wasn't any humor, and understandably. This week, it seems like they were attempting it and failing. Not good.

Still a solid episode, but far away from where this show could be. I'm not going to turn on it by any means, but you said it well ... I'm still not feeling it.

das

Kal-El

Same with all of you. I just turned away for a sec and bam. They've found her? Did they say how, or is that not important? And I'm still missing the sports night dialogue...

Bandoman

Did I hear correctly? The kidnappers weren't the Bahi terrorists that went missing? So who were they?

Spooky

Not a very strong episode at all...

Goodman was so good playing President Walken and he got like 5 minutes of screentime this week. I was hoping he'd stay around as President until mid-way through the season...things were so interesting with Barlett no longer in command - now it looks like it's back to the focus on the bickering staff again.

They seemed to be setting up last night that there are going to be some real marital problems between the Prez and the First Lady...but does anyone really care about this? I mean, so what if Barlett didn't tell his wife about a guy he gave the order to assassinate. He's the President! She shouldn't be hearing anything top secret from him, I don't care if they are married!

The good news is that ...that should add some spark back into the show

lisadoris

I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. There's no way the writers were going to paint themselves into a corner by killing Zoe - it would have put a downer on the rest of the season. Not loving Josh's intern at all except for when he fell on his face.

Glad to see they at least acknowledged that John Amos was leaving and his rationale was one of the few funny moments in the episode. Both the actor and the character will be missed.

Interesting that they threw in the line about the 5 sleepers still at large. Wonder if they're going to go anywhere with that later in the season.

javanut

Zoe's rescue was very anticlimatic, not enough build-up in the scene to really give an emotional impact.

I was impressed with John Goodman in role. Hope he makes the occassional appearance.

And I think it's too soon for me to make a judgement about Josh's intern.

And I thought the promo for next week was weak. The kiss between Josh and Amy looked so awkward.

So who WERE the kidnappers?

Meatpants

Zoe's rescue was definitely hurried, but really, WW has a history of rushing toward resolutions that you would think would take longer (MS, the impeachment, etc.).

Good to see William Devane on TV again, he's swarmy-looking. I saw

I defended it this week, but I'm beginning to lean off the "they'll be OK without Sorkin" bandwagon. Some of us might be looking for flaws since we know he's not involved anymore, but objectively speaking, the last two eps have not been that great. The stuff with the kid from Bring it On was PAINFUL - am I to believe this kid would act like a total jackass on his 1st day at the WH, during such an emotional/unprecendented time?

Venusian

he was someone famous, right? i didn't really catch what they meant by "the pierces"...unless they mean like Franklin Pierce

Tscott

I believed it. First day, trying to make an impression, probably not really qualified since he's riding in on his name, no real clue what exactly is going on. He may know the Presidents daughter was missing, but not realize how it was affecting people down the hall- they've got a replacement President in the meantime, so it should be business as usual, right?

As for everyone who thought Zoe's return was tacked on, what were you expecting? That Bartlett and Leo would team up and against the advice of the FBI (and admist witty one-liners like "I'm getting to old for this s***") they would track down and fight off the kidnappers themselves? This isn't CSI or Crossing Jordan you know.

BTW, did anyone else feel weird watching Lilly Tomlin and John Goodman in a emotionally dramatic scene? It was a very well done scene, but I kept expecting them to end with "And that's the truth. Phhhhttttthhhh!" or "Yabba-daba-do." or something.

Anyway, the ending got to me (just like the season finalie did) with the exchange of power. I realize we do this every 4 to 8 years or so, but the idea that the leader of our country just steps down at some point and hands the power over to someone else without bloodshed, rioting, etc. is sort of amazing.

Meatpants

That's exactly why the Bring It On kid wouldn't have acted that way.

In general, don't they have enough fast-talking, wise-cracking characters? It seems like Donna, Ainsley, now this kid are all cut from the same mold.

Meteu185

It would be amusing if they did mean Franklin Pierce, seeing as how he's widely considered to be one of the worst Presidents in our nation's history. The way they set up this kid would follow that idea pretty well.

Meatpants

I believe they mentioned something about him being a Pierce "like the Pierce Room", which I would assume means he's a descendent of President Pierce.

Shades30

same thing happened here in jersey, i ended up putting on the hdtv channel that has audio but no video.

Venusian

odd then. You would think he'd be a Republican:

Franklin Pierce, who served as president of the United States from 1853 to 1857, was a great-great-great uncle of Barbara Pierce.

(Barbara Pierce went on to be known as Barbara Bush)

then again, Pierce was a Democrat...

Shades30

well from what i could tell the president is teh next member at the paradise hotel.

kevin75

hey!!! don't be messing with donna!! as for wise cracking, that role is already taken by josh. he is the resident smart ass around there.

anyway, next week they were alluding to a reuniting of josh and amy. my question is, when did they break up?? i know that amy was asking donna about if donna loved josh or not in the season finale but i don't remember them actually breaking up. however, all of that being said, i wouldn't surprised in the least if josh and donna did get together within a year or two. AS always said that it would never happen on his show, but he isn't there anymore.

oh yeah, have we come to a conclusion on who kidnapped zoe?

davidvp

I liked Ep. #2 very much. Especially when Pres. Bartlet chokes up a bit upon reading Will Bailey's "Second" speech draft.

I'm wondering though ...... If President Bush's daughter were kidnapped, then found in a closet in some trailer in Smalltown, South Dakota somewhere, do you really think the Secret Service would permit (recommend) the President and First Lady to physically go to the site of the kidnapping?

Thought that seemed like a grave security risk to me. Of course, no doubt the Agents had done their homework (and "sweeps" of the area) before Bartlet arrived. But, I still found it odd that he went to the actual site, instead of being told of her safety, and then reunited at the White House.