The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense.
I know from experience that it isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Moreover, when you get the praise of fellow writers, it means a lot.
As I have recently mentioned over the past few days, I have been binge-watching the West Wing.
I watched it avidly when it was first screened.
It seems such a long time ago that I had to be in front of a TV screen at an appointed hour.
This time I have been watching the series as a published writer.
Last night I realised what I really like about this award-winning series and it is the dialogue between CJ, Josh, Sam, and Toby.
The writing is spellbindingly brilliant.
However, the end of episode homilies by Bartlet sometimes had me guffawing at the toe-curling platitudes.
The scene in the Oval Office where Bartlet gives Thanksgiving carving knife to by young PA, a black man, called Charlie had me howling in derision.
It is a Bartlet family heirloom and on the box is the initials of the maker called “P R”.
Bartlett tells Charlie that the utensil was made by “a Boston silversmith called Paul Revere…”
All I could think of was “Three Fifths Compromise”.
Of course, a writer as historically literate as Aaron Sorkin knows all of this and to further make the point Charlie is dating the President’s daughter Zoey.
Someone as decent as Jed Bartlett in the Oval Office is a beautiful feelgood dream.
Moreover, the doesn’t seem to be any shitshow in the Situation Room that Mr President cannot solve with some homespun goodness.
The reason that Designated Survivor was such a failure was that President Tom Kirkman’s nice little observations on a plethora of global crisis were the entire basis of the drama.
Thankfully, the razor-sharp cynicism of Bartlet’s advisors rescues the West Wing in every single episode.
Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, an Irish Catholic from Boston, is a dependable foil for the brilliant quartet who regularly go at it in his office.
Like all dramatically successful characters, Bartlet has a brilliant backstory.
On his father’s side, he is from revolutionary royalty who founded the State of New Hampshire.
He should have been a Harvard or Yale alumni.
Instead, he headed to South Bend Indiana to study at Notre Dame.
He explains that he did so because he initially wanted to be a Priest.
The Best moment so far in this re-watch is CJ being punished on Air Force One (the Portland trip) by having to wear a Fighting Irish hat for criticising the Commander in Chief’s beloved football team.
Hollywood has an enduring faith in the rousing speech from the leader.
If only this halftime talk could turn around the current mood in the Celtic camp.
Somehow, I think that the Fighting Irish of Glasgow needs something more than this right now.
However, any successful leader should surround themselves with people who are way smarter than the person in the hot seat.
Sadly, I now think that there are grounds for Impeachment at Paradise.
In the real United States, President Donald J Trump is about to be replaced by this guy.
“We should challenge students in these schools…we have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”
My thoughts turned to Charlie young and Paul Revere’s carving knife…
It is a testament to Trump’s reign of error that just about anyone on the Democratic ticket would be an improvement for all of us.
What we are witnessing now could only be in that most bizarre category called “non-fiction”.
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House of Cards was another brilliant show ,and in my view showed how easiy situations and people could be manipulated, It was probably fairly close to truth in the good old U S of A.
Sorry to have to disagree that “just about anyone on the Democratic ticket would be an improvement for all of us.” Joe Biden is a warmonger, as his voting record shows. He is also in ‘cognitive decline’ and US foreign policy will therefore be in the hands of the Neo-cons who will be guided by the content of a recent Rand Corporation paper that dealt with how best to destabilise Russia. In essence, the plan is to finance, arm and transport Jihadist fighters into the Caucuses in the belief that the ensuing struggles will drain Russian resources and lead to the break up of the Russian Federation. Needless to say Putin and Lavrov are aware of this purported wheeze and have already taken counter measures. I therefore think the chances of direct US-Russian conflict will increase with a Biden victory.
Trump may have been a racist, sexist, narcissistic megalomaniac, but he could at least see that foreign adventures (wars) were mega-costly and brought no real benefit to the US.
He also stated one fact no other Leader seemed to want to publicly state.
China IS directly responsible for the current Global Pandemic.
That’s the kind of “fact” that Trump and his followers are stating about voter fraud, which are immediately fact checked, and found to be not, er, fact.
Bit of deflection with a classic case of whataboutery 👆🏼
“Separately, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit on Monday in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking an emergency injunction to stop state officials from certifying Mr Biden’s victory in the state. The state’s Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, called the lawsuit “meritless”.
Prosecutors in Republican-controlled states meanwhile threw their weight behind the president’s challenge to the election results.
The 10 state attorneys general filed a so-called amicus brief at the US Supreme Court backing the Trump campaign’s case in Pennsylvania.”
https ://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/barr-memo-elections-fraud/9bf5cac375012c4c/full.pdf
[ Remove Space between s and : for Link ]
“Given this and given that voting in our current elections has now concluded, I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification
of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases, as I have already done in specific instances.” US Attorney General M P Barr.
The truth will out itself in due course.
As it will in regards The Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“Trump may have been a racist, sexist, narcissistic megalomaniac”, but he at least took his turn at the stairs. Christ you sound like my Granny.
Sorry to disagree with your disagreement, but I could walk up to my local town centre, scrape any drunk off the pavement and he would be less belligerent and more conciliatory than that clown.
Fake tan Don is gone and the world WILL be a better place.
That said, I don’t believe JB will serve full term. I suspect he’ll retire on “health grounds” in a couple of years. The V.P. will take over and if she makes any kind of reasonable job of it she’ll be a shoo in come 2024.
Jeez, I just finished watching the Thanksgiving episode five minutes ago before doing facebook before bed and found your post. Aye, Jed is a nice bloke, but it is the craic between Josh, Sam, CJ and Toby that is great. I was listening to Sorkin on the ‘reunion’ last week and his original intention was to aim the show at the staff. I think Martin Sheen, smashing actor that he is, made it difficult to write Bartlett as a lesser character. Nevertheless, a great show. Enjoying watching it again. Also enjoying reading again so I will seek out your novel.
Aye, Leo McGarry would be a good addition to our backroom motivation team.
I really did have to read Donald’s tweet twice !
Becoming more like House of Cards than West Wing