"Live Debate Episode"
Presidential candidates Rep. Matt Santos and Sen. Arnold Vinick debate.

This might be the week that we have two seperate threads for this show. Since the West and East Coast are getting their own shows. I am sure most of it will be the same, but there could be some minor differences that cause some confusion. Of course it all depends on how it goes I guess.

Doubtful, except they might have for the East coast feed "we're better than those on the West Coast" and vice versa...

Ok that's very doubtful, can't wait though to see it! Go Alan!

lame so far

god please make ellen shut up

Why aren't real presidential debates more like this?

The crowd yelling things out has been the best part.

I liked it very much.....

but....I think every think was fake....the guy screaming out ''You're a liar'' was planned!

that sucked, and I didn't like them bringing in real things like enron
does that mean that bartlet was buddies with all the enron goons?

It would have sucks much more if they were debating on fictional problems.....

Except for the guy shouting, that looked completely real to me. It seemed like noone told Jimmy Smits, I mean Santos, that Vinnick was gonna ask to change the rules. That was one of the most captivating hours of tv ever. Great stuff, I am truly impressed, and I don't even like West Wing all that much. I think Vinnick won, what do you guys think?

I agree

Santos totally dominated the debate.

According to the NBC poll, Santos is (winning/won?) 65% to 35%.

I didn't like think mixing in some of the real world stuff in was a good idea. The "I won't go to war for oil" line wouldn't mean much there since they're not at war with Iraq on the show.

The only gaffe I think was Smits flubbing the line when he said liberal instead of conservative when talking about liberal being a dirty word.

Alan Alda really impressed me with his acting abilities. For his to sit there for an entire hour and espouse ideology that he disagrees with, AND act as if he actually believed what he was touting, amazing.

... this is the first ep of WW I've ever watched and it was okay.

Good debate though.

Me thinks Vinnick won that one.

Note: I almost saw Glengary Glenross on Broadway last May, and I think that seeing Alda on stage would have screwed me up on this one. He's very confident moving around that stage/space.

they could have made it generic though, like saying "corporate corruption"
they go from having the west wing largely be in a fictional world (did 9/11 even happen in their universe?) to all of a sudden naming real corporations and scandals
it didn't fit

Santos won because the debate focused mostly on domestic issues. I think they should have had more balance and did more national security stuff. Anyway, I think Vinnick had some great lines but they needed Santos to close the polling gap so that the finish will be closer

Well for those of us who don't regularly watch, it didn't matter that they were using real world events. But for you WW faithfuls I can see how you'd want the debate to stay true to the rest of the series.

I thought it was very entertainting. I seriously doubt that Jimmy Smits didn't know it was going to be a "real debate."

I didn't know Alan's political veiws and I would have bet money he was a Republican after that speech. He did a fantasic job of acting if that's the case.

I think is was so neck and neck that ultimately people will think the candiate who they 'agree' with is the one who won the debate.

The little part I saw was good. I had to watch "Cold Case" though. Hopefully in the case of this debate, perhaps the person who seemed the smartest and won--could actually win the election...

Ooh!!!

Ooh!!!

That was the point of the episode. America "won" the debate. Two candidates who want what's best for the country discussed what they think is best for its future and how they would go about accomplishing it. Now, it's up to the people to vote for what they want. "Debates" in this country have devolved into dog-and-pony shows where superficial bullshit is analyzed to decide who "won", but the loser is always the public, because we never know what the candidate actually thinks and never have the information necessary to make an informed vote. What tonight's episode showed us was two candidates engaging in actual debate over the issues and different philosophies of governing the nation, giving the voters an understanding and a choice. It's typical West Wing idealism, and I'll go against the grain and say that I loved it.

das

It struck me at the beginning of the episode that this episode featured absolutely none of the original cast and the only connection to Old School West Wing was Bruno (Ron Silver).

There were some good moments, but I think I'll try to forget this one the same way I try to forget Isaac and Ishmael.

Is it over, a snoozefest and waste of an ep.

only good thing was alda's acting

I thought both Alda and Smits did a great job. Overall, the episode was dull (IMO) but I tend to think most "real" debates are dull to begin with. It was best during the heated moments. Good attempt for LIVE TV.

I thought it was fantastic. Obviously they played up the drama on all sides (including with Forrest Sawyer), but overall I liked it a lot. Unfortunately, I only caught the last half.

I thought it was very evident that Vinick was the clear winner, but it's no surprise that Santos is winning on the NBC site, given the demographics of the audience.