The West Wing season 3: Difference between revisions
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|EpisodeNumber = 55 |
|EpisodeNumber = 55 |
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|EpisodeNumber2 = 11 |
|EpisodeNumber2 = 11 |
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|Title = |
|Title = 100,000 Airplanes |
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|DirectedBy = David Nutter |
|DirectedBy = David Nutter |
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|WrittenBy = Aaron Sorkin |
|WrittenBy = Aaron Sorkin |
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|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2002|1|16}} |
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2002|1|16}} |
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|ShortSummary = While the White House staff works intensely on [[Josiah Bartlet|President Bartlet]]'s [[State of the Union]] speech, Bartlet and the First Lady have dinner with a group of her scientist friends who speculate that [[sphingosine kinase]] could lead to a cure for cancer. As a result, Bartlet demands that a passage ambitiously promising a crusade to cure cancer within 10 years be included. [[Sam Seaborn|Sam]] is the point person for this speech, which is billed as the most important one of the President's career and one whose failure will end his hopes for re-election. As Sam is very reluctantly interviewed for a ''[[Vanity Fair magazine|Vanity Fair]]'' profile by [[Lisa Sherborne]], who was once his fiancée, he lays out the process by which a State of the Union address comes about. Sam knows that the pledge to cure cancer is noble and the kind of over-reaching government should do, but also that for political reasons it can't be included in the final speech and removes it, taking out most of his frustrations on Lisa Sherborne, who finally tells Sam she's taking herself off the story, and then reminds him that it was he and not her who ended their engagement. Sam recognizes she's right and then reads a smart, touching section that would have made the cancer-curing pledge official. As she leaves, Sam stares at the passage on his laptop and then deletes it. |
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|ShortSummary = Sam is interviewed for a ''[[Vanity Fair magazine|Vanity Fair]]'' profile by Lisa Sherborne, his former fiancée. The White House staff works intensely on Bartlet's crucial State of the Union speech, and Bartlet suddenly demands that a passage ambitiously promising a crusade to cure cancer within 10 years be included. |
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Attracted to a prominent women's rights leader, [[Amy Gardner]], [[Josh Lyman|Josh]] tries to persuade her that her burgeoning romance with a Congressman is solely a result of political machinations. He later decides that he was wrong and Amy seems more taken with him at that point. Josh is also cheered by seeing Lisa, whom he hates and was thrilled Sam did not marry, and of course by the political salvation via the SoTU address. |
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'''Guest stars''': [[Mary-Louise Parker]], [[Marlee Matlin]], [[Traylor Howard]], [[Bill O'Brien (actor)|Bill O'Brien]], [[Howard S. Miller]] and [[Brian Baker (actor)|Brian Baker]] |
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Revision as of 12:05, 17 January 2012
| The West Wing (season 3) | |
|---|---|
| Season 3 | |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 3, 2001 – May 22, 2002 |
| Season chronology | |
The third season of The West Wing aired in the United States from October 3, 2001 to May 22, 2002 and consisted of 22 episodes. It aired in the United States on NBC, a terrestrial television network.
Production
The season premiere was delayed by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. When the season did return, the first episode was a special episode titled "Isaac and Ishmael", in which the main cast paid tribute to those affected by the attacks and informed viewers about what to expect from the delayed premiere.
From a critical perspective, series creator Aaron Sorkin acknowledged in October 2002 that the terrorism-related plots designed to keep the series relevant after the real-life attacks were awkward at times, saying "from week to week, you felt like you were writing the show handcuffed, a little bit. I didn't know how to write it anymore. It was a constant search for what I wasn't doing that used to make the show work. [...] Maybe there was a way to make it work; there probably was. I wasn't able to find it in twenty-two episodes."[1]
Cast
The third season had star billing for nine major roles. Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, Stockard Channing as Abbey Bartlet, Dulé Hill as Charlie Young, Allison Janney as C. J. Cregg, Janel Moloney as Donna Moss, Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler, Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet, John Spencer as Leo McGarry and Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman all returned to the main cast.
Plot
The third season, covering the administration's third and fourth years in office, begins with Bartlet announcing his intention to run for reelection and is dominated by the subsequent campaign. Other prominent story lines include a Congressional investigation into allegations Bartlet committed electoral fraud by concealing his MS, a death threat against C.J. and the ensuing relationship she develops with the Secret Service agent assigned to protect her, the Qumari defense minister Abdul Shareef's planning terrorist attacks against the US, and a troubling meeting between Toby and the President that leaves Bartlet with a bout of insomnia. The season finale resolves several of these story lines when Bartlet meets his electoral opponent and reaffirms his commitment to beat him, finally decides to order Shareef's assassination, and, just minutes after the man who threatened her is arrested, C.J.'s Secret Service agent interrupts a convenience store robbery and is killed.
Episodes
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | N/A | "Isaac and Ishmael" | Christopher Misiano | Aaron Sorkin | October 3, 2001 |
| 45 | 1 | "Manchester Part I" | Thomas Schlamme | Aaron Sorkin | October 10, 2001 |
| 46 | 2 | "Manchester Part II" | Thomas Schlamme | Aaron Sorkin | October 17, 2001 |
| 47 | 3 | "Ways and Means" | Alex Graves | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Eli Attie & Gene Sperling (story) | October 24, 2001 |
| 48 | 4 | "On the Day Before" | Christopher Misiano | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Paul Redford & Nanda Chitre (story) | October 31, 2001 |
| 49 | 5 | "War Crimes" | Alex Graves | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Allison Abner (story) | November 7, 2001 |
| 50 | 6 | "Gone Quiet" | Jon Hutman | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Julia Dahl & Laura Glasser (story) | November 14, 2001 |
| 51 | 7 | "The Indians in the Lobby" | Paris Barclay | Allison Abner & Kevin Falls and Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Allison Abner (story) | November 21, 2001 |
| 52 | 8 | "The Women of Qumar" | Alex Graves | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Felicia Wilson & Laura Glasser & Julia Dahl (story) | November 28, 2001 |
| 53 | 9 | "Bartlet for America" | Thomas Schlamme | Aaron Sorkin | December 12, 2001 |
| 54 | 10 | "H. Con-172" | Vincent Misiano | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Eli Attie (story) | January 9, 2002 |
| 55 | 11 | "100,000 Airplanes" | David Nutter | Aaron Sorkin | January 16, 2002 |
| 56 | 12 | "The Two Bartlets" | Alex Graves | Kevin Falls and Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Gene Sperling (story) | January 30, 2002 |
| 57 | 13 | "Night Five" | Christopher Misiano | Aaron Sorkin | February 6, 2002 |
| 58 | 14 | "Hartsfield's Landing" | Vincent Misiano | Aaron Sorkin | February 27, 2002 |
| 59 | 15 | "Dead Irish Writers" | Alex Graves | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Paul Redford (story) | March 6, 2002 |
| 60 | 16 | "The U.S. Poet Laureate" | Christopher Misiano | Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Laura Glasser (story) | March 27, 2002 |
| 61 | 17 | "Stirred" | Jeremy Kagan | Aaron Sorkin & Eli Attie (teleplay) Dee Dee Myers (story) | April 3, 2002 |
| 62 | 18 | "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" | Alex Graves | Paul Redford and Aaron Sorkin | May 1, 2002 |
| 63 | 19 | "The Black Vera Wang" | Christopher Misiano | Aaron Sorkin | May 8, 2002 |
| 64 | 20 | "We Killed Yamamoto" | Thomas Schlamme | Aaron Sorkin | May 15, 2002 |
| 65 | 21 | "Posse Comitatus" | Alex Graves | Aaron Sorkin | May 22, 2002 |
References
- ^ "Charlie Rose - RUKEYSER / REEVE / SORKIN". Google videos. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- General references
- "The West Wing Episodes on NBC". TV Guide. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- "Shows A-Z - west wing, the on nbc". the Futon Critic. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- "The West Wing - Episode Guide". MSN TV. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- "The West Wing: Episode Guide". Zap2it. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- "The West Wing Episode Guides". NBC. Archived from the original on August 3, 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2012.