30 Days of TV - Day Twenty Seven

[caz963]

Today - The best Pilot episode.

This is going to come as no surprise. The first episode of The West Wing is, quite simply, perfection. In 42 minutes, we were introduced to a set of characters we were going to come to know and love over the next seven years, and each and every one of them (well, almost) was beautifully drawn and expertly played. These were people with baggage and flaws and Sorkin laid them out for us to see right from day one. That doesn't mean they didn't develop - of course they did - but in essence, what we got of them in the pilot was absolutely who they were.

The sequence where we meet Josh, CJ, Leo and Toby is masterful as in a few short moments we learn something about them which completely encapsulates them as people. CJ at the gym trying to make time for a personal life, Josh clearly not having one as he wakes up from his desk (not for the first time judging by the way the cleaners are just working around him), Leo being dapper, urbane - and a real stickler for the details, Toby's wonderful, gruff pedantry.



Right from the word go, the dialogue literally sparkles -

MIKE
It's a nice morning, Mr. McGarry.

LEO
We'll take care of that in a hurry. Won't we, Mike?

then -

LEO
How many Cubans, exactly, have crammed themselves into these fishing boats?

JOSH
It's important to understand, Leo, that by and large, these aren't fishing boats. You hear fishing boats, you conjure an image of -- well, of a boat, first of all. What the Cubans are on would charitably be described as rafts. Okay? They're making the hop from Havana to Miami in fruit baskets, basically. Let's just be clear on that.

LEO
We are.

JOSH
Donna's desk, if it could float, would look good to them right now.

LEO
I get it. How many are there?

JOSH
We don't know.

LEO
What time, exactly, did they leave?

JOSH
We don't know.

LEO
Do we know when they get here?

JOSH
No.

LEO
True or False: If I were to stand on high ground in Key West with a good pair of binoculars, I would be as informed as I am right now.

JOSH
That's true.

LEO
The intelligence budget's money well spent, isn't it?

and...

C.J.
Is there anything I can say, other than the President rode his bicycle into
a tree?

LEO
He hopes never to do it again.

C.J.
Seriously. They're laughing pretty hard.

LEO
He rode his bicycle into a tree, C.J.. What do you want me to -- 'The President,
while riding a bicycle on his vacation in Jackson Hole, came to a sudden arboreal
stop' -- What do you want from me?

and...

TOBY
You think the United States is under attack from 1200 Cubans in rowboats?

SAM
I'm not saying I don't like our chances.

I could go on all day.

The WW pilot also contains possibly the best entrance by a TV character EVER when we finally get to meet the man himself, Jed Bartlet, so often referred to as 'the best president the US never had.' Ain't that the truth?

Instead of clips, because I couldn't find many, here is a mini-picspam I did a while back of the entire episode, for anyone who fancies a trip down memory lane.

Comments

[smileyem2811.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can't think of any other show that I've seen open with quite such a complete episode. I was amazed how quickly it drew me in.

The introduction to the characters is fantastic, you really 'get' them from such a brief glimpse. The moment when Sam says 'President of the United States' before it cuts to the music always gives me shivers, Leo's initial 'walk and talk' was so well crafted and Bartlet's entrance is possibly the greatest character introduction ever. It will take some beating for me!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

I honestly can't think of another show that made such an impact with what seems like so little. It's all words - not blackouts or plane crashes on remote islands - just people walking around and talking to each other. But what they say and how they say it is so distinctive and defining - it's amazingly well-crafted.

[smileyem2811.livejournal.com]

That's what made it so impressive. It didn't need anything big. Its gimic, its unique point, was the talking and more specifically what they were saying. It was as simple as it was extremely complicated - just brilliant characters, well-written and well-acted.

I confess it took many re-watches of Leo's initial walk through The White House before I took anything like all of what he was saying in. That's one of the reasons why the show is so easy to watch again and again, there's always something more to get from it.

If you described to someone who had never seen the show what the first episode consisted of, it would probably sound to them very dull. There aren't a lot of events as such in the first ep. Watching it unfold is a different thing altogether.