I stalled out on 3 too.

I didn't stop, I've just slowed down.
Something interesting happened in the episode I just saw. Charlie had apparently been reading Richie's book and had decided that drilling for oil in Alaska wouldn't have serious effects on nature, so it was up to CJ to set him straight. It's a tactic this show has used in almost every episode, one of the dumb characters is confused so one of the smart characters spells things out for them. What's interesting is that for a long time, the confused character was always CJ. That always seemed slightly false to me, because of her position and competence, and mildly offensive because the dumbest staffer was the only female staffer.
For a few episodes, it was Donna, which almost makes sense. She's not a senior staffer and she came to this job almost by accident through the campaign.
Having Charlie be the dumb one doesn't really make sense, either. He's always been portrayed as very bright and wise beyond his years. I find it hard to believe that he'd believe something that he read in one book written by a Republican, not even like a doctor or a journalist, but just a politician.
All the plots were strange in this episode, actually. Toby had a crush on the hot yon Poet Laureate who saw some kid get blown up and Josh got sucked into the lemonlyman.com site.

Why is it exactly that drilling in the artic is riskier than drilling elsewhere? Oh, Sorkin you are so adorable in your ability to attract sycophants.

Did you just call me a sycophant?

Only if you unquestionably agree with his policy prescriptions. He writes it as if his point of view is the only reasonable one to hold. Those who disagree with him only do so because they are shills.

I understand that you might have just been providing an episode recap, in which case my rage is directed toward an unspecific 'other' rather than you, who can tolerate his politics rather than embracing them wholeheartedly.

If its any consolation, my lady started a chatroom named after this lemony lyman business.

This is not N&D, I was just talking about the inconsistent and strangely offensive way those characters have been written, especially in that episode. I don't think sycophant is really the right word there regardless.

I just finished season two. The last ten minutes with Bartlett deciding to run again and with Brothers in Arms playing was some of the best TV I've seen in a long time.

That whole episode is so fucking good.

The show is about an ideal liberal Presidency, I dont think people should take the actual policies and such so seriously.

As I said, my dislike for Sorkin's policy prescriptions is a problem. Perhaps it shouldn't be taken literally. But its close enough to reality.

On a related note, what was that West Wing fillibuster about? Apparently anything I watch on CNN is evocative of West Wing. Damn you Sorkin for providing me a frame of reference!

They did it again! Almost the end of season three! It must have been some episode where they anticipated a lot of new viewers or something. It's silliness.

Yeah, I think there was one in season 4 too. Thankfully after that though, they just dont do a previously on if there's nothing relevant to the upcoming episode.

I remember the lemonlyman thing. Totally unbelievable that a senior staffer would troll his own message board. C list bands don't even do that....

For a network show, this show has very little nothing happening filler episodes, which is one of my favorite things about it. I remembered this show being good, but it's far better than I remembered or expected. I will say though, I dont like the campaign focused episodes in season 6 that much so far.

For a short time, my lady was the proprietor of a West Wing forum named lemonylyman. Currently it is populated only by spambots.

I dont think the Toby or Josh plots were that strange, any dude can have a crush, even someone as cold and cynical as Toby. Josh is portrayed as an ego-maniac so it isnt that far out of the realm of possibility that he would get into that site. The Charlie thing was a bit odd, they almost always used Donna for that in other episodes.

I guess, I actually liked the lemonlyman thing. It just struck me as weird that the poet cared so much about land mines but never told anyone that she saw someone get blown up while fishing. I'm not a poet, but if I ever saw that, I'd be like "holy shit I'm writin' a poem about exactly this!"

Lyman is a good choice for a fan club. CJ too, I suppose, but she's already big bird, and that should be enough.

Bartlett needs to stop being convinced by Leo all the time. Assassinating the Qumari defense minister was a bad idea.
I'm a few episodes into season 4, and my prediction that this show would become less episodic over time has definitely come true. The typical season one one-issue episode is basically over. It was interesting to see the change happen.