Death or Rebirth: TWW Denouement

Shout out to the lovely Amanda P. We miss her like she left yesterday. [Ha. OK, I just read that? And it totally sounds like I meant that we don't miss her that much, cause it's like she was just here yesterday. No, no. I meant, you know. We miss her. Shut up.] Peeps, seriously, get your ass out here for a visit.

So, Amanda suggested in comments below that I peruse the Slate article that ran recently about my beloved West Wing – which I had just read when I saw her note; great minds and all that. Now, for those of you who don’t pay attention to TV news (I know there’s a couple of you out there), NBC officially announced that this is the last season for TWW, and the last episode will run May 14th. This is not surprising, my friends. The show’s been on its last legs for a while now -- moving it to Sunday nights was really the nail in the coffin -- and although this season is, in my opinion, the best of the Wells’ years, it’s not enough to justify another year. They moved up the election in the world of the show by a year, thereby insuring that the Barlet team would be gone after this season. At that point, I knew I was done after this season. No more Barlet, no more Toby, no more Charlie, no more Abby, nor more CJ, and *sigh* no more Leo.

Well, we know now that there can be no more Leo anyway, since we lost John Spencer in December. They’ll be dealing with the death of Leo in the same episodes that the election plays out, which should make for some very compelling television.

But that also brings us to why the suggestion brought forth in the Slate article is a nonstarter -- at least in respect to this show. They bring up the idea that eventually we’ll see television shows produced solely for subscribers, and they play out the math of having the 8 million still watching TWW cough up 2 bucks per episode, and that finances the production costs. It’s an interesting approach, and I can see that in order for that to happen, they’ll have to use a show with a proven audience (with an older, more disposable-income-spending core) as the pilot. But this isn’t the show for that. We’re done after May 14th, especially now that we have such a strong bookend in the death of Leo. The writers are ending the series with the upcoming episodes, wrapping up characters, showing where our favorites end up. There’s just no where to go from there.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, what about whoever wins? They’ll have a White House to explore.” As much as I enjoy Alan Alda and, at times, Jimmy Smits, the characters created by Aaron Sorkin are the core of the show, and with them gone, there is no West Wing with which to continue.

I'll never Woo-Hoo again

Went to the taping. Have you ever been to a talk show taping? They are exhausting, people. They basically beg, cajole and bribe you to clap and laugh for well over an hour. It’s even less fun than it sounds.

Ms. Janney was charming. She talked about Our Very Own, the film that she did with my lovely, lovely friend Maggie, so that was exciting to hear about. They don’t have distribution for the film yet, but Allison got an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her role, so I think they’re hoping to parlay that attention into enough heat to launch the film. She also mentioned that this is her first film nomination, which is cool.

I got a chance to see an early screening of the film last year, and I really enjoyed it. Beth Grant is also in it, and I can’t say enough about our wonderful Beth. She’s always a joy and completely unsurprisingly stole every scene she was in. Love Beth.

Anyway, moral of the story: Liked getting to sit twenty feet from someone I idolize and be reminded that she’s a normal person (who drops her mic pack and then sits on it, and makes at times awkward small talk, bless her heart). However, I’m never going to another talk show taping again -- unless it’s Conan. Because seriously, you can only go woo-hoo so many times without meaning it before you begin to lose a little bit of your soul.

Christmas Church Story

OK, real quick. As referenced below, I missed church while I was home due to a self-fulfilling illness and this, for obvious reasons, sucked.

But what made it worse? They had a man dressed up as Noah who gave all the kids an impromptu little Bible lesson. Yes, you read that right. Noah. What the heck does Noah have to do with Christmas? Yeah. Nothing. Which, how much fun would I have had making snide comments about Noah and his outfit with my cousins and sister during the service? So much fun.

So I bring up this possibile Biblical character disconnect with my six-year-old cousin Madison. Here's what was said:

Me: So, I hear they had Noah at church for the kids this morning.
Maddie: (somewhat irritated tone) What?
Me: Noah? They had Noah there this morning, huh? That's kind of random, right?
Maddie: Ohhh, well, they had a man dressed up as Noah.

Yeah. She totally thought that I just didn't get that it was a fake Noah. Six-year-olds freaking rock.

I'm going to worry about winning a million dollars

So the Tuesday after Christmas, I’m supposed to fly back from the homeland (Lubbock, baby) and go straight into work. My flight is scheduled to arrive in at around 10:15am, and I can still pretty much put in a full day after that. Well, a full day for me, anyway.

Now, I did the whole fly in and still go to work thing after the DC trip (with a throbbing, aggravated right knee, no less). When you’re booking the flight, it’s basically a way of setting up your trip so that you get the most time at your destination as possible before returning home. It seems like a good plan. In theory. Honestly? It sucks. You’re exhausted, smell like plane, and really don’t feel like getting in your car and fighting the 405 for an additional hour. It’s just not something I recommend, kids.

So, knowing this, the week before Christmas, I had been saying, I’m just going to call in “sick” on Tuesday and go home from the airport, unpack, rest up and start the week on Wednesday. And yes, I used those stupid air quotes while I was saying “sick” and no, it never occurred to me to do any sort of anti-jinx mechanism while saying it, like spitting or going outside and turning around three times, or whatever.

Sure enough, I wake up Christmas morning with a raging chest cold and no voice really to speak of. Christmas morning, people. And even worse, it’s a Sunday Christmas. Church on Christmas! Yeah, totally missed church.

So I bring this up because of something I’ve thought a lot about lately which is this: how susceptible are our bodies to suggestion?*

Here’s another for instance that’s really getting to me. Peter Jennings. He quit smoking (I’m assuming to avoid carcinogenic-related illnesses) and dies of lung cancer. Another man I heard about this past year who also quit smoking six years ago, he recently passed away while battling lung cancer.

Isn’t it possible that both of these men (as evidenced by their vocal quitting) were worried about getting cancer and somehow invited that possibility in by focusing on it?

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking the cancer sticks they were smoking for decades were probably the biggest factor in them getting, well, cancer. But I think about the idea of worrying about something or focusing too much on bad possibilities and by doing so, you could, in effect, be inviting them in. It’s a really awful thing to contemplate.

So, now you’ve read this, and I’m not the only one contemplating. I feel better. Here’s hoping that translates to my aching right knee.



*No, no. I still think Christian Scientists and Scientologists are smoking crack. This isn't about false illness.