West Wing News Blog: Comments and Recaps of "West Wing" Episode Transition

Discuss the episode at Television Without Pity.

Commentary from TV Squad.
Commentary from TV Guide.
Commentary from the San Jose Mercury News
Personal Comment from Alan Sepinwall
Roger Catlin from the Hartford Courant
Comment from Matt Roush at TV Guide.
From the Deseret News:
"During the transition to his new administration, President Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) has been staying in the former Hotel Utah while he's waiting to move into "The West Wing." Really.
You know, the downtown Salt Lake City structure now known as the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
Seems like a bit of a commute to Santos' office in the old Executive Office Building next to the White House, doesn't it?
In Sunday's episode, the first lady-elect, Helen Santos (Teri Polo), was dealing with various millionaires offering their Washington, D.C.-area estates for the family's use until the inauguration. (Still pretty much a normal wife and mother, Helen balked and the family ended up in Blair House across from their future abode at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.)
In the meantime, however, the president-elect has been staying in a D.C. hotel. And a brief exterior shot of that unnamed hostelry revealed it to be ... the former Hotel Utah, now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
There was no question about it. You could even see a bit of the church administration building next door.
It was simply a case of using a stock shot of a cool-looking hotel to establish the scene. And it was odd only to those of us who live here, were watching the show and were paying attention to minutiae.
Which is sort of my job description. ..."

From the San Jose Mercury News:
"This isn't the first time I've tossed incendiary devices at the promotion departments of the major networks. Nor am I the only one who goes nuts when the promo departments run amuck. Some series producers have gone so far as to keep key scenes in upcoming episodes under lock and key so the promo guys can't use them. (One year, John Wells -- producer of "ER'' -- keep a surprise cameo appearance by George Clooney in his refrigerator until just before the episode was to air.)

But despite all the complaining, the promo folks keep churning out those infuriating spots -- as witness the ones that accompanied "The West Wing'' on Sunday and "Prison Break'' (above) on Monday.

The former was a two-fer. It gave away the fact that Matt Santos makes a job offer to Arnold Vinick, his opponent in the presidential election. But it also inferred that the job was the vice-presidency which -- if my sources and spoilers making the online rounds are accurate -- may or may not be true. NBC is notorious for "juicing'' its promos by suggesting things are going to happen that actually don't and, occasionally, by including scenes that aren't even in the next week's episode. Ugly."

Fromt the New York Daily News:
"Blind items aside, how are fictional "secret lovers" Donna (Janel Moloney) and Josh (Bradley Whitford) going to tell the rest of "The West Wing" that they've finally given in to their highly charged attraction?

When you're involved with a co-worker, coming out of the closet with your affair can be brutal."

West Wing News Blog

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Comments and Recaps of "West Wing" Episode Transition

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