Great Moments from The West Wing (BEST SHOW EVER)

Editor's Note: This is an ongoing guest piece by Frustra Data. Frustra Data owed me a favor for babysitting his pet fish while he went into hiding from the Feds. I transcribed this from a nearby payphone after he hit me up on my pager. I still think the Wire is the best political TV series, but Frustra disagrees.

I understand that this article has been done over and over again, that the show is incredibly polarizing, and that most people find it plain boring. I’m going to say suck it to all of that, and raise my glass to what is easily the greatest show EVER. Period.

Aaron Sorkin and later John Wells wrote what is among the most intelligent, well-crafted plots ever to grace a TV. If the sheer volume of events and parallels don’t leave you a little breathless, the punishingly unforgiving language will. About the third time you watch an episode, when the lingo is a little easier to follow, the gravity of it sinks in—every facet of this show is deep. Like Marianas Trench deep. If you’ve never experienced this show, get out from under that [right] rock, grab a dictionary, warm up google, and get a hold of this show. By any means necessary.

So, as a guest piece to SOAR, we’re going to give you some of the moments that should be entered as evidence in the case of it’s superiority over tv mundane stupidity (a la the cape).

My West Wing pick #1

Meeting Joey Lucas – Josh Lyman is normally the butt of the West Wing joke, and his “moments” are usually humorous. His initial meeting with Joey Lucas is a scene I retell a frickin lot to people I’m trying to persuade to watch the show. 

The setup: The night before the arranged meeting with a fellow demo campaign manager, Joey Lucas, Josh goes to a party. Donna, his annoying assistant, advises he not get carried away. The next morning she comes in to prep for the meeting and finds Josh sprawled on his office floor, reeking of alcohol and unable to keep his eyes open. She takes his clothes to clean, shoves him in some all-weather gear, and disappears to the cleaners. Joey is in DC on a mission, and comes half an hour early, and irate. When he comes to at the shockingly bizarre sight of a man screaming at him, a very pissed off looking lady standing over him, and both signing angrily in American Sign Language, his reaction is solid gold.

Embedding disabled by request. Shit. Watch video here. You can thank me later.