Sidebar:
While we were out of town, a cloud must've
appeared in the sky, which causes
all homes in K-Drag to lose power, so all
my VCRs shut off and didn't tape last week.
I need copies of these shows from May 11th
to May 19th:
the second-last Voyager,
the West Wing,
(Oh, I'll just spit if I can't get a copy of that...)
the final episode of The Practice,
the hour-long, season-ending Frasier,
the second-last X-Files,
from the 13th,
the Cat Heat episode of Dark Angel,
for Mrs BartCop (cough)
The Sopranos where Jackie
robs the poker game,
the final Lone Gunmen,
anything that was good on Dave or Jay that
week.
If you have any of these shows, send me
an e-mail.
I'll pay cash, or owe you a tape, or owe
you a favor etc.
If I don't get these shows, I 'll no longer
have everything on tape.
But that West Wing was something, wasn't it?
(Some of these quotes are from Lynn Elber of the
AP)
However, I did feel a little cheated that we only got to see Toby
and Donna's reaction
to the pivotal "I was lied to by a friend" news shocker. But
after that, ...
Sorkin and Bartlet went waaaay farther with the anger at God than
I would have.
If you didn't see it, after the funeral of his step-mother/big-sister
role model...
Sidebar:
Mrs. Landingham is the person who brought
Bartlet into politics.
She came to young Jed (in high school?)
with a social problem and drafted him.
She said she knew he'd made up his mind
to join her when he thrust his hands into his pockets.
That gesture was Jed's way of smacking
the gavel - the decision has been made.
Mrs. Landingham had just bought her first new car, and was on
her way to let Bartlet "kick the tires,"
when some drunk girls ran a red light, killing her, and severely
crushing Bartlet's faith in God.
After her funeral, he ordered everyone out of the national cathedral,
and he meant everyone.
He told the Secret Service to go outside and lock the doors.
Then he lit a cigarette, stared at the statue of Jesus on the
cross,
(I don't have the tape, but this is how I remember it)
Bartlet's opening line in his one-on-one with God was
"You son of a bitch."
Who begins a sit-down like that?
Then Bartlet got out the BIG hammer.
"She bought her first new car and you
hit her with a drunk driver?
What? Is that supposed
to be funny?" Bartlet asked, then added bitterly,
"Have is displeased you, you feckless thug?"
Whoa!
He wasn't through.
His next twenty seconds were in Latin
Odds are, you non-Catholics don't know a lot of Latin.
Here's what Bartlet said to God's face:
"Am I really to believe that these are the
acts of a loving God?
A just God?
A wise God?
To hell with your punishments.
I was your servent here on Earth.
And I spread your word and I did your
work.
To hell with your punishments.
To hell with you."
Then, in a gesture of contempt, he threw his cigarette to the cathedral floor, crushing it with his shoe.
Pretty strong stuff.
Was it this year's finest TV moment?
Not yet.
Mrs. Landingham's ghost appeared and scolded him for his self-pity.
"There are people way worse off
than you.
...If you don't want to run again,
I respect that.
But if you don't run because you think
it's gonna be too hard,
or you think you're gonna lose, well,
God, Jed, I don't even want to know you."
Was that this year's finest TV moment??
Not yet.
Bartlet's all wet now, he's been standing in the rain, searching
for a clue.
He's got the speech of his life in 10 minutes and he was wetter
than Bettina Gregory
giving an explanation of Peyrones disease on a live update for
an ABC radio special.
Sidebar:
Bettina, you're a whore.
You know it.
I know it.
Bob Dole knows it,
and the American people know it,
...now get outta here...
They rushed Bartlet into a limo and dashed off to the press conference.
CJ reminds him to call first on "Lou" or someone, to avoid the
inevitable question,
"Mr. President, do you have the gall
to
run again, after lying to us?"
It started getting real good here.
Bartlet stood there - beaming at the crowd and the TV
cameras.
The press whores were acting like they did with Clinton, screaming
rude questions at him.
His staff is starting to panic, starting to wonder if he was
losing it.
All he had to do was call on Lou to break the ice and get the
first question out of the way
and then hope for the best on the second question.
The camera kept circling Bartlet, creating an intentionally dizzying
effect.
As the others started to panic more fully, Jed's old buddy Leo
realized what was happening
and looked up with a face full of hope and said, "Watch
this!"
Damn, that was good.
Spencer can act.
Was it this year's finest TV moment?
Not yet, but we're seconds away.
The camera continued to circle as the president thrust his hands
into his pocket
and called on the reporter most likely to ask him if he
was going to run again.
The reporter asks, and Bartlet showed him what determination looked like.
Was it this year's finest TV moment?
Yep, I think so.
Lynn Elber of AP called the ending "a cliffhanger to ponder."
"a cliffhanger to ponder?"
No, it was this year's finest TV moment, ..and I don't have
a copy of it.
Help an old altar boy out.
If you have the West Wing or any of those other shows,
and you can make copies, help Ol' BartCop out.
If you can send several of those shows on one tape, write for
sure!
I'll PayPal you the cash, make a trade, whatever.
From: melic@newsguy.com
Subject: WEST WING - Bartlett's Latin
bc -
Some of us non-Catholics did endure a little prep
school Latin :-) anyway,
on NPR a couple of days ago, this professor of
Classics:
Name: Ed Phillips
Title: Professor of Classics
was discussing Bartlett's Latin rant to God.
He seemed very impressed with whomever wrote it:
its structure, in groups of 3 sentences, was
ecclesiastical, and the last line translated as:
"why don't you go hang yourself."
I didn't see the show and I haven't looked for
a transcript (I'm sure one will show up),
but it seemed that it was one of those rare TV
moments saved for the few, the proud, the survivors of Latin.
Venes voluptes invenit ubi sunt,
Melic
Et cum spiri tu tuo.
bc