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March 16, 2016 7:15 AM   Subscribe

An episode-by-episode discussion of The West Wing, one of television’s most beloved shows, co-hosted by one of its stars, Joshua Malina, along with Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder.
posted by roomthreeseventeen (31 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
This aligns with my interests.
posted by Etrigan at 7:18 AM on March 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


It makes me a little sad that Joshua Molina's Twitter profile reads simply: "Hi. I ruined The West Wing."

I actually liked Will Bailey and think that the ruining of The West Wing can be solidly laid on other shoulders.
posted by 256 at 7:19 AM on March 16, 2016 [19 favorites]


There sure are a lot of podcasts which are episode-by-episode discussions of popular TV shows.
posted by blue t-shirt at 7:19 AM on March 16, 2016


Whoever ruined Toby Ziegler is the person to blame.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:21 AM on March 16, 2016 [25 favorites]


There sure are a lot of podcasts which are episode-by-episode discussions of popular TV shows.

My favorite of these is still the too good for this earth Losing the Sheen, "the world's only Two and a Half Men fancast from people who never watched an episode of Two and a Half Men until Ashton Kutcher joined the show" with Justin and Sydnee McElroy.
posted by kmz at 7:27 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's a podcast about the thing with that guy! The guy? Yeah, the guy from the thing!
/brisk walking
posted by Wretch729 at 8:19 AM on March 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


This post seems a little... premature. There's only a 1 minute preview up at the moment? Very exciting but seems like it would be nice to be able to evaluate the show after at least a few episodes.
posted by crazy with stars at 8:34 AM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


It would be great if we get the sense that each podcast is being recorded while the participants are walking and talking through a series of winding corridors.
posted by New Frontier at 8:44 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


This post seems a little... premature.

"Well, I like to think I have a certain flair."
posted by AndrewInDC at 8:46 AM on March 16, 2016


It makes me a little sad that Joshua Molina's Twitter profile reads simply: "Hi. I ruined The West Wing."

He's one of those people who takes a ton of shit on Twitter, including routinely being told he ruined the West Wing (or Scandal), or having people demand to know who he is, and rolls with it.

I imagine it'll be possible to evaluate after a few episodes once a few episodes come out, but it's still okay to talk about ahead of time. I really like Hrishikesh Hirway's work and I think this is going to be about as interesting as people talking about a TV show can be.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2016




Josh Malina could never ruin anything, never, not even if he tried.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:56 AM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


This post seems a little... premature.

Can Tommy Kail and I be on your podcast @JoshMalina


Seems like we're getting in on the ground floor... !
posted by cudzoo at 10:38 AM on March 16, 2016


The next 156 weeks just got a little bit better.
posted by noneuclidean at 10:47 AM on March 16, 2016


"Malina" is Polish for "raspberry", which is the only reason why I can remember the guy's name. Based on looks alone I have a hard time telling the difference between him and Josh Charles.
posted by orrnyereg at 12:17 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


This panel with several West Wing actors is relevant.
posted by R a c h e l at 1:54 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


I kind of want to listen to this because I just watched almost all of the series last month. But really all I want is that they destroy Donna. I have an irrational hate of Donna. I never finished the series because of my loathing of Donna. She is the WORST. I know the character was created so they would have a stand-in for the audience to explain things to on a very basic level, but I still found her infuriating. Would someone so clearly a complete dolt be given a job of such responsibility? I especially hated her when they tried to cover that by making her some kind of manic giant dream idiot-savant.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 2:24 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Donna wasn't there so they could explain to viewers. She was there to show how insane Josh was.
posted by envygreen at 9:26 PM on March 16, 2016


One of the main things to remember about Josh Malina is that he don't want no trouble in his place!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 12:27 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh... I loved this show so much. I am checking this out.
posted by ComicsSleepRepeat at 12:52 AM on March 17, 2016


maaaan, i love donna.
posted by you're a kitty! at 8:13 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Since I had to spend a few seconds looking for it, here's their website instead of closed garden iTunes: The West Wing Weekly.
posted by skynxnex at 10:54 AM on March 17, 2016


Oh man, I'm excited. I love love love this sort of careful look at TV shows. I've just finished listening to all the episodes of Pack Your Mics, which carefully dissects every episode of Top Chef, and it's so good. I have high hopes for this!

The main thing I worry about is structure. Too many podcasts are just way too unstructured for me. For instance, I was desperately excited when Talk Salad and Scrambled Eggs started up, but it just has way too many tangents to me. I need at least some format and clarity of purpose to be able to pay attention to a podcast. Please, Malina, make it what I want!

[Donna] is the WORST. I know the character was created so they would have a stand-in for the audience to explain things to on a very basic level, but I still found her infuriating.

The absolute worst, however, was when CJ had to be all "explain the census to me like I'm 5." That makes me cringe, even just thinking about it.
posted by meese at 1:21 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]


As if I needed an excuse to rewatch this series for the Nth+ times. I cannot wait.
posted by Fizz at 4:08 PM on March 17, 2016


> I never finished the series because of my loathing of Donna. She is the WORST. I know the character was created so they would have a stand-in for the audience to explain things to on a very basic level, but I still found her infuriating. Would someone so clearly a complete dolt be given a job of such responsibility? I especially hated her when they tried to cover that by making her some kind of manic giant dream idiot-savant.

This isn't how I saw Donna at all. A big, interesting thing about Donna is she is literally the only assistant to get treated as a full-fledged person, have a character arc and growth. Anyone else is just occasionally there to help the people they work for. Even Mrs. Landingham, who gets a lot of screen time and is shown in flashback, is assistant-caretaker-gatekeeper. And Donna (pretty much like the other assistants at that level) wasn't intended to be a regular character, but Janel Maloney had great chemistry with Bradley Whitford, and I think we got something really great out of it.

> Donna wasn't there so they could explain to viewers. She was there to show how insane Josh was.

Yeah, and there's also that.
posted by cardioid at 5:49 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


because of my loathing of Donna Mandy Hampton (Moira Kelly). She is the WORST.

Thankfully Mandy was only around for a single season. I'm not sure if it was because of Moira Kelly (I've watched her in other film/television performances and not had any major issues with her acting) or if it was because of how badly her character was written. Either way, I'm glad that she was quickly sent to the land of forgotten characters (Mandyville).
posted by Fizz at 2:31 PM on March 18, 2016


The worst West Wing character for me was Ainsley Hayes. We were supposed to be excited that she was presenting a different viewpoint and at the time all I could think of was, "Get out of my liberal President fantasy wish-fulfillment show!" Though I think she was the gateway to John Larouquette wielding a cricket bat, so that was something.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 3:58 PM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm getting antsy... When is the podcast supposed to start?
posted by meese at 11:21 AM on March 21, 2016


The first episode appeared in my podcast app this morning.
posted by noneuclidean at 3:03 AM on March 23, 2016


I'm torn on listening to this, because on one hand, West Wing is awesome and Josh Malina, but on the other hand, I've been listening to Gilmore Guys, and I think I'm over the "let's discuss a great TV show to death on a podcast" model. Maybe I shouldn't hold the sins of the Gilmore Guys against the whole genre, though.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:50 AM on March 23, 2016


First episode was pretty good. It's interesting to get Malina's insider-but-not-quite perspective on the early seasons. I found myself wishing it had been longer, but that's better than groaning as we start Hour Three.
posted by Etrigan at 10:52 AM on March 23, 2016


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