Hmmm, super smart democrat calls the southern redneck republican stupid. Wait, this seems so familiar to me.

However, I think the outcome will be different in the fall this time. Call it Gore's revenge in 2002.

C.J. rocks the party like no one can. Love all 6'0 of her.

And even though Ansley Hayes makes my pants go all funny, I'd have to duct tape her mouth shut. Her accent and me? Not so much friends.

I checked LemonLymon.com. It's not there.

Anyone else love this show?

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

Answers

Droogie, you know that lemonlyman.com was a direct reference to Aaron "Benjamin" Sorkin's various escapades on TWoP, right?

I was dying laughing. I hope Wing and Glark were too.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

I loved the whole lemonlymon.com subplot. As I was watching the show I thought "hmmm, I wonder if Sorkin had a runin with fans at a Sorkin Web site?" Heh. The only thing about that plot which ran false was that the people at the Web site seemed to believe that was really Josh himself posting. If I was on a forum for a celebrity or public figure and "they" started posting I wouldn't believe it without proof. Anybody can log on and pretend to be a celebrity. By the by, the woman who plays Ainsley has been signed to appear in the new CSI show next season so her days on West Wing are numbered.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

The West Wing is my favorite TV show of all time (and I include The Love Boat here, which I never thought would be ousted).

Allison Janney as CJ could not get any better. She is fantastic.

The Ainsley character bothers me a tad as well, but I have to tell you, girls from North Carolina, and I've known a few, talk just like that. Her accent is dead-on accurate from where I sit.

The Sorkin thing (seen also in the brilliant Sports Night) of every member of the cast being a fast-talking, quirky-acting person would bug me if it wasn't so darn entertaining. The deadpan-low- talking-wisecrack has been raised to an art form.

-- Anonymous, April 01, 2002

I loved that whole bit last night with Bartlett helping Charlie with his taxes. And is that true about the $300 refund really being more like an advance? I got a $300 check and the government still owes me a bit of money this year. Phew.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

There was a write-up in Slate about the TWoP/Sorkin thing.

Apparently, he can't take the heat, but he sure likes hanging out in the kitchen.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

The TWoP article in Slate was a bit weird, since she quoted Glark who was clearly joking, whereas Wing and Shack were more visibly upset (in the recap, for example).

But think of what would happen if the brains behind Smallville found Omar's army. (Or have they already?)

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Apparently, he can't take the heat, but he sure likes hanging out in the kitchen.

I think the reverse is true also. The TWP folks are sure good at being snarky towards the show, and I don't think they can get too pissed off when Sorkin responds in kind.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

The difference is they haven't made any personal attacks on him, in the recaps, or on the forums. In fact, when the drug talk got out of hand after his being busted, they closed threads related to it and tried to calm down the trash- talking about him in posts.

He hasn't extended them same courtesy. He's gone out of his way to personally attack Deborah in posts and on his show where she has no recourse for response.

Pretty assholey if you ask me, but then I'm biased.

Fas as I know, some of the writers and producers on Smallville read the recaps and the forums, but generally that forum isn't as volatile as the WW one. We all tend to get along on SV.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Well, I should start by saying that I don't read the forums on TWP, just the recaps. So I have no idea what Sorkin is posting there.

But the recaps themselves are pretty snarky. Deborah has had no hesitation in calling Sorkin out for his writing -- for the Middle East conflict and for his use of women characters in particular -- and I think Sorkin had the right to write the storyline in question into the show. Deborah can respond the same way she could in the past, in her recaps or on the forums.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

in calling Sorkin out for his writing

That's the operative bit right there. What she does is write about a show on TV, not go after the guy on a personal level. She's not going around saying he wears a mu-mu or that he's a dictator behind the scenes on his show.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

I see what you're saying -- but the show didn't actually show anyone from the website in that kind of outfit, did it? It was just the character speculating, and I'm sure he's not the first to make that dismissive assumption about a forum moderator. He didn't say the Television Without Pity moderator wore combat boots or anything like that.

I mean, maybe people who don't like me on this forum call me a chain- smoking, out-of-shape, jersey-wearing freakazoid.

(Of course, they'd be right, except for the chain-smoking part.)

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

I don't think anyone at TWoP really objects to a writer making a snarky jab at a recapper's expense; it's just that Sorkin did so after creating a really sticky situation on the boards. He went in with an agenda, and when he didn't like how it turned out he sniped about it.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002

Word.

To Sorkin's mother.

Just kidding.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002

I guess I'm just doomed not to get it.

It's really a big deal that a West Wing character speculated on some message board owner's wardrobe and personality?

I think maybe some of the TWP moderators (judging by the WW recap for the episode, and by the forums on the rare times I've been on them) have awfully thin skins for people so willing to lay the smack down on others. Sorkin certainly would not be the first to hold that opinion, particularly the one about some of the mods being dictatorial.

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2002

I think you smell.

But it's nothing personal.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2002