The Crackpots and These Women

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"The Crackpots and These Women"
The West Wing episode
CrackpotsTheseWomen.jpg
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 5
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Anthony Drazan
Production no. 225903
Original airdate October 20 1999
Guest stars

Guy Boyd
Janel Moloney
Elisabeth Moss
Suzy Nakamura
Renee Estevez
Sam Lloyd
Nick Offerman
Season 1 episodes
  1. Pilot
  2. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
  3. A Proportional Response
  4. Five Votes Down
  5. The Crackpots and These Women
  6. Mr. Willis of Ohio
  7. The State Dinner
  8. Enemies
  9. The Short List
  10. In Excelsis Deo
  11. Lord John Marbury
  12. He Shall, from Time to Time...
  13. Take out the Trash Day
  14. Take This Sabbath Day
  15. Celestial Navigation
  16. 20 Hours in L.A.
  17. The White House Pro-Am
  18. Six Meetings Before Lunch
  19. Let Bartlet Be Bartlet
  20. Mandatory Minimums
  21. Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics
  22. What Kind of Day Has It Been
List of The West Wing episodes

"The Crackpots and These Women" is the 5th episode from Season 1 of The West Wing.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The staff participates in "Big Block of Cheese Day," a fictional workday on which White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry encourages his staff to meet with fringe special interest groups that normally would not get attention from the White House. Big Block of Cheese Day also is mentioned in "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail."

The rationale for the day, as recounted by McGarry (much to the consternation of the Senior Staff), is that America's seventh president, Andrew Jackson, had a two-ton block of cheese in the White House foyer from which everyone was welcome to eat. This symbolized the openness of the White House to the American people. White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler derisively refers to the day as "Throw Open Our Office Doors To People Who Want To Discuss Things That We Could [sic] Care Less About Day", and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman refers to it as "Total Crackpot Day".

White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg meets with a group about building a highway for wolves, while Sam Seaborn meets with a citizen, played by Sam Lloyd, concerned about UFOs.

Josh is given a card from the NSC with information about where he is to go in the event of a nuclear attack and becomes riddled with guilt after realizing that nobody else on the staff was given one. He visits his therapist and reveals that his older sister died in a house fire while babysitting for him, and that he survived by running out of the house.

Later, at a reception in the Residence, the President and the men on his staff marvel at the extraordinary strength and integrity of the women in their lives. During the party, Josh returns his NSC card to the President, explaining that he just wants to be with his friends through everything and to be able to look them in the eye in the meantime.

[edit] Real-life inspiration

The Cheshire Mammoth Cheese was first made and presented to President Thomas Jefferson on January 1, 1802 by John Leland. Leland considered the cheese an act of "profound respect...to the popular ratification of his election." The book Real Life at the White House[1] confirms that this story draws on actual events. Supporters of Andrew Jackson not wanting Jefferson to outshine him sent him in 1837 a 1,400 pound, four foot in diameter, two foot thick (635 kg, 1.2 m diameter, 60 cm thick) block of cheese as a gift.[2] After two years of aging, he held a public "cheese tasting". The event was heavily attended and the cheese was consumed in two hours.

[edit] Animals on highways

According to the West Wing Continuity Guide fansite, there have been efforts to construct wildlife crossings and wildlife corridors to allow animals to cross highways without being struck by passing vehicles.[3] In the fact the entire program proposed has been implemented as the Y2Y initiative (Yellowstone to Yukon) which links the Yukon with Yellowstone National Park using a series of corridors and highway crossings. In fact the story of "Pluie" the wolf is true and served as the inspiration for the program.[4]

[edit] NSC Card

Josh's dilemma with the card given to him was inspired by George Stephanopoulos showing Aaron Sorkin his card issued by the NSC showing him where he was to go in the event of an attack. In the script book Sorkin reveals that former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers pulled him to one side and said that they didn't exist. However, unknown to Myers, they did exist, but she wasn't issued one.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Real Life at the White House (ISBN 0-415-92320-4), by John Whitcomb and Claire Whitcomb
  2. ^ Leo McGarry profile, Bartlet4America.org
  3. ^ Was there really a Big Block of Cheese in the Jackson White House Accessed on March 24, 2008.[1]
  4. ^ http://www.y2y.net/

http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Mammoth_Cheese

[edit] External links

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