(No Longer) Weekly Video Clip: The West Wing

I've been spending a lot of time doing research, looking for jobs, etc. on the Internet; in my flat I can only get the Internet downstairs, which is bad news when I need to be in a quiet space to get stuff done. But, it's good news when I want to watch some TV while I sit on the computer. I've been itching for something familiar and good and lately, I've been watching old episodes of the West Wing.

A long time ago, when the West Wing was still on the air and TV on DVD was in its infancy, I decided that I really really wanted the West Wing on DVD. Except that there was no option for it in the United States. The U.S. was in fact, a little bit behind on this phenomenon in regards to other countries, especially the United Kingdom. So I did some checking and found that the U.K. had the first two seasons on DVD. I think we were probably in the midst of the third season, so this is how long ago it was. Of course the problem was the DVDs were encoded for Region 2, and I was living in a Region 1 world. But, after even more checking and research (thank goodness for slow days and Internet at Cingular Wireless in the early 2000s), I purchased a region free DVD player. Which then allowed me to spend a God-knows-what-and-I-don't-want-to-even-try-to-remember amount of money on said first two seasons of the West Wing from Amazon UK. Of course eventually, about a year or two later, they did finally release the West Wing on DVD in the U.S. I never bought the other seasons, and then my DVD player stopped working, and thus the DVDs started gathering dust.

So flash forward about eight years and I find myself living in a Region 2 world, with a bunch of Region 1 DVDs. Except, and I am sure you have guessed it by now, my lovely lovely West Wing DVDs. So, I brought them back to the U.K. after Christmas and to bring it back to the first paragraph, started watching them.

The West Wing in its heyday makes for some of the best television ever. It is dramatic and funny and well-acted. It is of course, well-written, and I am sure it comes as no surprise that I love it. It was after all, created by Aaron Sorkin, one of my favorites, who will always have a special place in my television heart because of Sports Night. The first two seasons were its heyday, before season three which began its slow drop off. It regained some of its grandeur in the last season, but nothing can match the first two.

I love the show for its fast talking and walking, its look at politics, and for its late '90s, early '00s fashion. I also love it for its ability to make me cry. The clip below is from the second season, "The Stackhouse Filibuster." It is one of my favorite episodes of TV ever. It brings politics, dorky rules and procedures like the filibuster rules, and heart-string pulling all together. The short synopsis is that the White House is about to pass a health care bill, but Senator Stackhouse, a 78- year-old Democrat whom the White House doesn't take seriously, is holding up the vote. The story is told with voice overs of various staffers (CJ, Josh, and Sam) writing their parents. It is finally figured out that he simply wants autism research added to the bill, because he has an autistic grandson. When the White House finally comes to this conclusiont, they decide to help him, which leads to the resulting scene: