Cat Smith
On the one hand, Favourites pieces are supposed to be on the shorter side, where you’re supposed to write a brief blurb for each thing you’re writing about. But we’re talking Aaron Sorkin here. There is no way to properly kvell, even just a bit, about his shows, let alone his holiday shows, and keep it succinct. And really—should I have to? I’m with President Bartlet in the philosophy that anyone who uses one word when they could have used ten just isn’t trying hard enough. That having been said—The Sorkin Christmas Shows, in no particular order (since I love all of them).
The West Wing, “In Excelsis Deo” (S1E10) — “I Miss My Boys”
“You didn’t tell me this was a crying show!” – a friend, new to The West Wing and seeing this episode for the first time. Yeahhh, sorry about that.
I’m not even sure where to start with this one. There’s reasons this episode got two Emmy awards (one for the writing, one for Richard Schiff). Crying, yes. I defy anyone to watch Mrs Landingham (Kathryn Joosten) say “I miss my boys” and not at least get misty. It can’t be done. And while I would love to one day meet Janel Moloney and ask about what is written in the book Josh (Bradley Whitford) gives her for Christmas, I am very happy that the episode didn’t tell us. Even if I could ask, I would just ask whether it was something legit and in character, or if it was something for filler, like the lyrics to “Happiness is a Warm Gun” (like in the Buffy episode—points to you if you know which one).
A big thing with Sorkin is his huge respect for the military, and anyone who served in it. The look on Toby’s (Richard Schiff) face when the guy running the merch booth at the War Memorial asks him if he served, and Toby has to say no. And I wonder if in some way, his arranging the funeral for Walter Hufnagel is Toby’s way of serving… he never fought in a war (though I daresay that working for the President, he does plenty, albeit a different kind of service), but at this moment, through serving one man, he is able to do a little bit.
Another big thing in Sorkin World (and, the cynic in me wants to say, probably the one furthest from reality) is how loyal everyone is to each other. If you were in trouble and the people you work with want to do anything and everything to come to your aid, including take the heat for you… well, cherish those people, that’s all I’m saying. Leo’s (John Spencer) past with addiction is about to be made public by their political enemies, and Josh is absolutely not having it. As of this episode, most of the staff don’t know about it yet, but as they find out, it’s clear that every single one of them would unflinchingly face down a firing squad on Leo’s behalf, even when Leo expressly tells them not to.
We also get CJ (Allison Janney) and Danny (Timothy Busfield) being adorable at each other, and the President (Martin Sheen) being adorable in a rare book store. Those of us who remember Matthew Shepard get to be extra sad over Lowell Lydell (I met Matthew’s mother once – we were introduced, and I struggled for something appropriate to say, and finally went with “hi… um… everything?” She knew what I meant, I imagine she’d heard it a lot, and she hugged me).
The West Wing,“Noel” (S2E10) — “Yeah, stop doing that.”
I want Aaron Sorkin to write me a therapist. Seriously, between Stanley Keyworth (Adam Arkin) and The Newsroom’s Jack Habib (David Krumholtz), these are guys I would consider worth $375 an hour to tell me to stop screwing around, call me on my BS, and get down to the business of getting better.
I don’t remember where I read it so you’ll have to take my word on this (maybe it was on the West Wing Weekly podcast), but I recall Bradley Whitford saying, in response to Aaron Sorkin telling him that his character was going to be shot, something along the lines of “bet! There’s an Emmy in my future!” Okay, he probably didn’t say “bet”. But he was right about the Emmy.
It’s a beautifully crafted episode, start to finish. And it’s nicely streamlined, so while we do have the charming B plot with CJ, Bernard (Paxton Whitehead, who is delightful at playing Pompous British Guy in everything), and the lady with the painting, there isn’t anything to distract from the main theme of Josh and his PTSD. The story is told largely in flashback, with the framework of Josh’s therapy session with Dr Keyworth, the trauma specialist. Josh’s hackles are way up, he doesn’t need a therapist, he’s offended by this whole process, and Stanley is taking none of his crap.
A thing I love is how the music was what triggered Josh to start reliving the shooting. Josh is never a particular fan of any extra frippery in the work place, and it’s not like Toby got a harpist to play Christmas music in the North Lobby of the White House. He went with a brass quintet, and bagpipes, and I might start to feel a little anxious if those were pervading my work day, whether I had been shot or not. I also love that the final note of the episode is “Carol of the Bells” which, unless it is being sung in a South Park Christmas Special, is the one Christmas carol that I have always found a little anxiety-making on its own. So I can only imagine what these things translate into in Josh’s head. If his brain can twist Yo-Yo Ma into something scary, bagpipes must be horrifying to him.
The other thing that this episode is probably most famous for is Leo’s speech about the guy in the hole. Hell, I have that whole speech on a t-shirt. That idealised Sorkin loyalty—“as long as I got a job, you got a job”. That’s a gorgeous sentiment, and as stated earlier, the person saying it should be cherished.
The West Wing, “Bartlet For America” (S3E10) — “I like the little things.”
This one is less of a Christmas episode than the others. It’s set at Christmas, and there’s some very special gift-giving (which I’ll get to), but this is the one where Leo has to go in front of a Congressional subcommittee to be questioned about his role in the President having concealed his multiple sclerosis from everyone up until recently. Leo hadn’t known about it either, and the big question is, does concealing a potentially debilitating illness (I personally have MS, and I can tell you myself that it is different for everyone, hence my use of the word “potentially”—though it’s fair to say that we know things about it now that we didn’t know about it then) during an election constitute fraud? He was, and is, in remission, it doesn’t show up on a physical and it’s not like anyone ever directly asked him “do you have MS?” so it’s not like he lied. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Right at the off, you know your emotions are going to be smacked around, with a callback to “Noel” and the “guy in the hole” story. This time, it’s Josh getting to say it back to Leo. Everyone in the Bartlet White House knows that if Leo, former alcoholic and drug addict, is forced to answer questions about the campaign, information is going to come out about Leo himself which will humiliate him, and none of his friends want that for him. However, he keeps insisting that it’s his job to take a bullet for the President, not the other way round. President Bartlet has been trying to keep things light-hearted with Leo (theirs is a bro-ship for the ages), trying to fix him up with his $650-an-hour lawyer Jordan Kendall (Tony award winner Joanna Gleason) and being “a fifties screwball comedy”. When no one is looking, however, you can see that the guilt is eating him up inside.
Like with “Noel” there’s a lot of flashbacks in this episode, to earlier days of the Bartlet campaign. It is a wistful delight to see Mrs Landingham again, after the end of Season 2 took her from us in a tragic car accident. We get to see the moment when Leo goes to visit his old friend Jed Bartlet, then the Governor of New Hampshire, hand him a cocktail napkin bearing the words “Bartlet For America”, and suggest that he run for President. It always boggles my mind to think what that must feel like, to have someone have that kind of belief in you, to think you should be the President. For all that he has (according to his wife) an ego the size of Montana, at this point, even Jed Bartlet doesn’t think he’s got a snowball’s chance in Hades. He thinks he’ll get in the race to make a few speeches, get his ass kicked on Super Tuesday, and go home. So really… why bother telling people about the MS, especially since it’s in remission anyway?
I love seeing Leo during the hearing. He is such a seasoned pro at this, and he plays the game better than anyone. He decides that the Congressman questioning him is being snotty, so he puts his hand on the microphone and pretends to be conferring with his lawyer. He kind of is—he’s trying to get her to go out with him, which she eventually agrees to do, but not till later—but mostly, he’s making the guy wait, and he’s hogging the camera while he does it. When the Congressman says something about the President concealing a fatal illness, Leo absolutely spanks the guy for implying that MS is fatal (it isn’t, and I stood up and cheered for him here), and how dare he say so on national television and scare people like that.
During this whole thing, the President and Josh have been trying to figure out a way to spare him from the impending line of humiliating questioning, but no one can find one, and Leo doesn’t want the help anyway. When it’s clear that their efforts have come for naught, President Bartlet tells Josh, “His face has a map of the world on it. Leo comes back.” Five seconds later, however, when Josh isn’t looking—“Damn it.” The sorrow on his face breaks the heart.
The big deal sequence of the episode is Leo and his rebound date with Johnnie Walker Blue in his hotel suite, the day the rest of the team was over at the debate site. Governor Bartlet had an attack, and Leo had a relapse. The relapse was witnessed by one of the Republicans on the current committee, who plans to bring it up purely to embarrass Leo and make the President look bad. It’s bad enough that Leo backslid. What’s worst of all was that he backslid at the exact moment when his friend needed him. When he tells Jordan the events of that day, part of the story is him talking about how Jed Bartlet is when he gives a speech, and how he is as part of a team. “I love him so much.” That day, Leo let the team down, and he knows it.
I have said this before about Sorkin Republicans—we need more of them. Cliff Calley (Mark Feuerstein) is definitely an example of this. When he finds out what the other guy is up to, planning to use this against Leo for no other reason than to embarrass him, Cliff is having none of it. “This is why good people hate us.” No wonder Donna (Janel Moloney) thought he was cute.
In case you had forgotten about the Christmas factor, when Leo gets back to the White House after a recess has been called and he has gotten out of there unscathed, thanks to the Chairman of the committee taking Cliff’s advice, the President is waiting for him, gift in hand. And of course it’s the cocktail napkin, which he has had framed, which he hands to Leo, saying “that was awfully nice of you.” We don’t see Leo cry a lot (I don’t imagine anyone does), so this gets you right in the guts. I’d have kept the napkin too.
The West Wing, “Holy Night” (S4E11) — “Ich hub uuz duh gebracht.”
There’s been some debate over the specifics of what was going on in the Yiddish sequence in the beginning of this episode, and the specifics of Toby’s father’s involvement in Murder Inc. What we know is that after a conversation about Whiffenpoofs, two of Albert Anastasia’s guys go into a store, shots ring out, only one of the guys comes back, and Jules wasn’t allowed to go in with them, possibly because his friends know he has a new baby at home. It always reminds me of the story Simon tells in Studio 60 about the time when he and his friends from the hood were planning to go put the hurt on the guys who had killed their friend, and Simon wasn’t allowed to go. The leader of their crew saw in Simon a guy with a future, and wasn’t going to allow Simon to put that at risk.
On the subject of Toby’s father having been a gangster, I REALLY hope that his name being Jules is a nod to Big Julie from Guys and Dolls. Aaron Sorkin is a musical theatre nerd, it’s absolutely possible. In any case, we don’t know much. We know he was a gangster, a lower-level one whose crew only killed bad people (according to him), and that he’s paid his debt to society. We know that his son Toby hasn’t spoken to him in years.
By this time, the big skeleton in the Bartlet closet is that at the close of the previous season, the President had made the call to kill a foreign terrorist named Abdul Sharif. It’s just the President, Leo, and the higher-ups in the military (and of course, the guys who did the actual wet work). President Bartlet and Leo are carrying the guilt of it in their own separate ways, even though both of them know it was the right thing to have done. Leo is fixated on trying to get the roof of a church fixed, and the President suddenly wants to rewrite the federal budget over the holidays. Plus, he almost unburdened himself to his youngest daughter Zoe (Elisabeth Moss), and all she’s dropped by to do is ask if she can bring her obnoxious French boyfriend home with her for Christmas. The skeleton is about to come out of the closet anyway, since Danny Concannon is back (being as adorable as ever in regard to CJ) and is pretty sure he knows what happened. Once he tells CJ what he knows, she talks to Josh, and an episode or two from now, when the staff is finally officially told, all of them will already know.
Stanley Keyworth is back, with a different patient—the President himself. He was called in when President Bartlet was having a problem with insomnia, and they’ve been having regular sessions… though, the President hasn’t told his therapist about Sharif. The big disclosure this evening is that the President has been spacing out for a few minutes during meetings lately. I can tell you from personal experience as both a person with MS and a person who isn’t as young as they used to be (both of which can contribute to this sort of thing) that this can be terrifying, and I’m nowhere as smart as Josiah Bartlet, or have as much responsibility. This is a guy whose cleverness is so much of a part of his self-image that he took the SATs a second time when he only got an almost-perfect score the first time. That “almost” just wasn’t acceptable to him (it’s revealed later that Leo got a perfect score, which might be part of why the President always credits Leo as being smarter than he himself is). As he says, it’s a little… something.
The Whiffenpoofs have been serenading the White House staff this whole time, Donna in particular—she’s about to leave to go spend holiday time with her boyfriend Jack Reese (Christian Slater), and Josh is being how Josh gets where Donna and men who aren’t him are concerned (read: kind of a dick, then tried to disguise that with cuteness). Leo finally gets her on the road, and when Josh tries to throw bravado at him, he sees right through it—“Oh get it together, would you?” “I’m trying.”
By this point, we’ve gotten used to Sam not being around, and Will Bailey (Joshua Malina) being around instead. He’s there to help Toby write since Toby doesn’t have a Deputy just now, but he’s all nervous and neurotic when it comes to being in the West Wing and meeting the President, which always struck me as odd. His father is the former Supreme Commander NATO Allied Forces Europe, after all. One would think that with Will’s pedigree, meeting the President of the United States would be just another day at work for him. It’s good that he’s there, though. Not only does Toby need the help on the speech because Sam isn’t around, Toby is also being called up to the Hill to be deposed about his ex-wife, Congresswoman Andrea Wyatt (Kathleen York). She’s getting sued because she’s pregnant (with twins, and they’re Toby’s), and constituents are tetchy right now about elected officials who conceal what could be considered debilitating health issues (gee, wonder why) while getting people to vote for them. Andy isn’t bothered by this—she’s actually looking for the fight. As for Toby, he makes his sentiments on the proceedings pretty clear. “I’m told that on my sunniest of days I’m not that fun to be around. I wonder what’s gonna happen when you make my children a part of your life.”
The big thing of the episode, of course, is Toby’s surprise visit from his father (Jerry Adler). He read about his impending grandfather-ness in the newspaper (plus it’s Toby’s birthday, plus it’s Christmas), and he called the White House to make an appointment to see his son. Toby gets all indignant with Josh for making the appointment, and at first, Josh lets him be indignant. Later, however, Josh lets him have it: “…you don’t know what I know…that I would give anything to have a father who was a felon, or a sister with a past.” Essentially, Toby, do not cancel your father for things he did 50 years ago, that were not done with evil intent, and anyway he paid his debt to society, and by the way, Toby, you just walked out of the Oval freaking Office, so clearly your life doesn’t suck all that much, so give your dad a break. It’s one of the times I really like Josh Lyman.
This is enough to get Toby’s head out of his ass, and he tells his father to come home with him for Christmas. I always appreciate that at least he remembers his father’s fondness for Cole Porter. The Whiffenpoofs are still singing in the other room (bless their cotton socks, they’ve been singing all day—now it’s “O Holy Night”, hence the title of the episode), and when Julie Ziegler hears the name, his face does a thing, and he says (first in Yiddish, then English) “I’m having the strongest memory.” The Whiffenpoofs sing, everyone listens and does their respective things, and my English major brain never fails to have James Joyce ponderings about what the snow could symbolise.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, “The Christmas Show” (S1E11) — “Ladies and gentlemen, the city of New Orleans.”
Studio 60 is kind of the red-headed stepchild of the Sorkin shows, and it’s a good thing I’ve already swooned over it extensively elsewhere, or we’d be here all day. As of this writing, Matthew Perry sadly died a few weeks ago, so there’s been a bit of reinterest in S60. If there’s a bright side to such a tragedy (there really isn’t), maybe it’s that.
At this point in the one measly season we got, Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet) has just told Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford) that she’s pregnant by her ex-boyfriend. Danny’s giant crush on her has been developing, and it’s really starting to show. He insists on accompanying her to the OB-GYN’s office, introducing himself as “the executive producer” (I wouldn’t have minded an exec-pro during my pregnancy, especially one as cute as Danny Tripp), and bonding with the doctor. He thinks he’s being subtle about his crush, but his best friend is so very hip to him, and it just makes the whole thing cuter.
Back at the theater, Matt Albie (Matthew Perry) is trying to get everyone excited about the idea of a Christmas show, with little success. Everyone’s self-aware LA cynicism makes everyone see a Christmas show as kind of pointless, and Matt, the great contrarian, is on a mission to get everyone into the Christmas spirit. It’s a secular kind of Christmas, which I appreciate (myself being both not religious, and also Jewish). Matt first wonders why the Jewish guy is the only one who’s into Christmas, and then wonders why he’s the only Jewish guy in a comedy writers’ room. It’s kind of a throwaway line (and to be fair, at this point, the writing staff is made up of three people apart from Matt), but it always stands out to me, especially after they made a whole thing about hiring Darius (Columbus Short) because Simon Stiles (DL Hughley) feels that the show needs more Black writers. Lord knows that’s true… and let’s be real, maybe they weren’t worried about hiring more Jewish talent for the room back when Wes Mandel (Judd Hirsch) was in charge. I also wonder if Matt was this concerned about Hanukkah… somehow I doubt it. Anyway, Matt’s whole “yay Christmas yay” thing only works up to a point. He gets the show he wants, but has to fight everyone for it, while they spend the whole episode debunking Christmas in every way they can think of.
I won’t go on my usual I LOVE JACK RUDOLPH (Steven Webber) SO MUCH thing, so let’s assume I did. In a “this will turn out to have been rehearsal for The Newsroom” subplot involving the network being sued by the FCC for ridiculous reasons, Jack gets to go off on a rant worthy of both Will McAvoy AND Toby Ziegler. “Son of a holy bitch… There is no medicine, there is no law.” Later, big boss Wilson White (Ed Asner) tells Jack he plans not only to back Jack’s plan to lawyer up and not pay the FCC a cent, but this was why he wanted Jack to meet his grandchildren. I think Jack Rudolph, network Chairman, doesn’t have a lot of opportunities where people he respects tell him they are proud of him, so this one is kind of cool.
Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson) has gone to lunch with her ex-boyfriend Luke Scott (Josh Stamberg), former S60 staff writer, now a movie director. He’s doing a movie about the Rolling Stones, and he wants Harry to play Anita Pallanberg. It says things about Harry that not only did she not think that the lunch was anything apart from social at first, but when he first mentioned the movie, she assumed he wanted her to play Tammy Wynette—presumably a comedic role, as opposed to the lead. It’s a huge step forward for her career, and even Matt is happy for her. “No matter what, I’ve always been your biggest fan.” He’s less happy that she’s getting this big break with Luke, and being Matt, has to ruin the moment with a bitchy comment about how Luke is trying to sleep with her. He’s right, but it’s still bitchy. Later, when Matt takes her aside and kisses her, we the audience are excited because we want this for them, but we also know that he’s doing it because Luke has come to see the show, flowers in hand, so Matt feels the need to mark his territory. They share a smile at the end of the episode that gives us hope, but then he doesn’t call her over the Christmas break, and their relationship takes another downswing.
A friend of mine remarked once that the magic of Studio 60 is that there are all these things that, were they to happen in real life, would be creepy as hell – but within the world of the show, they somehow work. Most of this is Danny/Jordan related. He is SO attached to her baby right from the off, bless him. And his declaration of love—“I’m coming for you, Jordan” would sound stalker-y coming out of anyone else (especially when it’s followed by weeks of her turning him down and him refusing to stop wooing her), even when it’s said to a woman who looks like a chipmunk (yet still hot) because she’s just taken a huge bite of a sandwich (also, only in TV and movies do pregnant women get to eat the way Jordan does and not balloon up, but that’s just me being bitter because my metabolism didn’t work that way).
The big thing with this episode, and what makes it Kleenex-worthy, are the last few minutes. It was written on the heels of New Orleans coming close to being decimated by Hurricane Katrina. Danny the observant has noticed a particularly talented guy subbing in for their usual trumpet player, and it turns out that all around town, a lot of shows are experiencing this too. The guy doesn’t want a regular gig because he doesn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but he and others like him are in from New Orleans, and fellow musicians are doing what they can to help these guys (who, to use Danny’s words, could blow the walls off any room they want to) send some presents back home. I’ve seen mentions of this moment in other articles like this giving Matt the credit for what they decide to do about it, but it is actually Danny who has the idea, and asks Matt if there’s four minutes he can spare at the end of the show. With the simple introduction, “ladies and gentlemen, the city of New Orleans”, the trumpet player and a bunch of other guys play a gorgeous version of “O Holy Night” (Sorkin likes that one, I guess) while behind them, a photo montage is shown of the city, both damaged from the hurricane, in stages of rebuilding, showing both tears and joy. At the very last, Matt and Danny are side by side (another bro-ship for the ages), and Matt says “You were right. We do live here now.”
Sports Night, “The Reunion” (S2E7) — “You put some thought into me. What could be a greater gift?”
Sports Night is the Sorkin show that I’ve watched the least number of times, and not just because it’s hard to find streaming anywhere. For some reason, half-hour format makes me impatient, and I’m not a fan of laugh tracks. This was his first foray into television, and I think he was still figuring things out. Plus, I get the feeling that he and the network didn’t see eye to eye on what the show should be, so once he got distracted with working on The West Wing, Sports Night was left in the dust. I look at it as rehearsal for Studio 60, which was rehearsal for The Newsroom. Everything had its purpose in the big picture.
Anyway. It’s Christmas at Sports Night, and the light-hearted B plots centre round Christmas things. Secret Santa, which nobody feels like keeping secret (better that way, if you ask me), and who they are going to name as Athlete of the Millennium. My favourite part of this is co-anchor Casey McCall (Peter Krause) trying to figure out what to buy Senior Managing Editor Isaac Jaffe (Robert Guillaume) as a not-at-all-Secret Santa gift. Determined to get Isaac something he likes, Casey buys him a top-of-the-line cheese grater… which Isaac told him to get, because Isaac likes cheese. Casey takes this to mean that Isaac knows one cheese grater from another (this is not the case). As it turns out, Isaac loves his cheese grater not because he knows from a good cheese grater… but because Casey cared about getting him something he would actually like. I’m with Isaac on this one. It’s the thought that counts… but only if you REALLY thought about it (most people who say “it’s the thought that counts” didn’t actually put much thought into the thing).
Senior AP Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd) spends most of the episode trying to get co-anchor Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) to give her an honest opinion on her reel, because she eventually wants to be an anchor too. It’s good, but it’s not there yet, and he didn’t have the nards to tell her so at first. Finally he realises he’s not doing her any favours by being less than honest.
The main plot is Executive Producer Dana Whitaker’s (Felicity Huffman) younger brother coming to visit. He’s a pro football player, and he has recently gotten busted for steroid use. Dana is ready to kill him, but Casey suggests that probably so is the rest of the world, and he probably feels bad enough, so maybe she doesn’t want to pile on. He’s kind of a patronising douche about it, but he’s still right, and she eventually gets that. Out of all of Sorkin’s women who are super-capable at their jobs while also being socially awkward and sometimes a little nutty, Dana is my least favourite, largely because she’s the craziest. I don’t blame Sorkin for this. You don’t achieve the perfection that is CJ Cregg right out the gate.
When Dana’s brother finally shows up, she does indeed rip him a new one, and I have to sit there going, “Yo Dana, this isn’t about you, and like Casey said earlier, your brother feels bad enough”. After a minute, though, she seems to remember that herself. “It seems to me that these are the moments big sisters get paid for, so what do you say I’m the one person who isn’t pissed at you right now?” Well, better late than never, I guess.
Maybe next year I’ll do Sorkin Thanksgiving episodes. He’s got a few of those too, and they’re all fantastic. In any case—before I, like Matt Albie, flies off to eat traditional Jewish Chinese food in a cloud of Christmas cheer and shaved coconut, I leave you with this humble bardic effort, with apologies to Brenda Lee and Johnny Marks. Whatever you’re into—happy holidays to you and yours!
