I just watched my two favorite episodes of The West Wing, the two-parter that ended season one and began season two. An American reconnaissance pilot has been shot down over Iraq, there's a critical malfunction in the space shuttle Toby's brother is on the crew of, Josh screws up in Leo's eyes, and Charlie gets his first line into one of the President's speaking engagements. But then as they're leaving the town hall meeting, a group of gunmen open fire on the President from a nearby building. Almost all of the West Wing staff end up on the ground as a secret service agents shouts "Who's been shot? Who's been shot?" In the second part, we learn that the president and Josh are both critically wounded. As their fates emerge, we flash back to some of the moments when the characters first became a part of Bartlet's campaign, a sort of secret origins story.
Despite being a huge fan of Sports Night, these were the first two episodes of The West Wing that I watched. I just didn't think I would like it. Silly. The first part has the same title as the season one finale for all of Aaron Sorkin's shows: "What Kind of Day Has It Been." I suppose the season finale shooting was partially motivated by the writers not knowing if all the actors and actresses would be returning next year, but of course they all did come back. Jorja Fox from CSI plays one of the secret service agents, something I didn't realize the first time around.
Now I'm watching Carpenter's The Thing. Later on I'll have to catch up AMC's The Prisoner. I do love working at home on Fridays.
