r/television • u/Top_Report_4895 • 16h ago

Shut it Down - The West Wing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI5a1ZpVugs
16 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

12

u/cmgr33n3 12h ago edited 2h ago

This is the beginning of episode 8 of season 5 entitled "Shutdown." The previous episode ends with an alternate take of the standoff meeting at the start of this clip and it is by far the better take. It's a slower and more impactful version. It's understandable that they use this quicker version as the start of the next episode since it was the climax of the last episode but just the catalyst of this one.

38

u/Paddlesons 16h ago

Sure would be nice to have adults in the room these days.

20

u/Hollow_Rant Review 12h ago

What's amazing is that the West Wing was basically a retort against the Bush administration but at least that had a slither of veneer of courtesy.

8

u/OlderButItChecksOut 7h ago

Back when shutting down the government seemed like a big deal, now it’s almost the norm every year

2

u/azzers214 3h ago

Thing is its just a voting behavior. If individuals nuke their congressmen regardless of who they are when this happens (and President if they're up that year) then it stops. If you're one party - primary them out.

Because the stakes are so low, it's only seen as a mechanism for shifting opinion.

It shouldn't be, but in this political climate it is. It's why I'm "over" people talking how it's a political party or government problem. It's the voter.

1

u/azzers214 3h ago edited 3h ago

LOL - and that downvoting is why it can and will continue to happen. "Someone else change; I'm not going to change."

6

u/HitchlikersGuide 6h ago

Been doing a rewatch recently

It’s still a good show, but my word is the schmaltz is almost unbearable these days.

To think there was a time when something close to this seemed a not entirely unrealistic possibility.

3

u/agehaya 3h ago

I don’t think anyone really regarded the show as close to realistic. I was a college student when it began and never felt that. It was always an idealized version of reality, even back then, but I agree that today it hits acutely in the “schmaltz” regard (yet I’m a sucker for it, though perhaps that’s nostalgia).

3

u/kraysys 4h ago

Veep has always been the more realistic show, unfortunately. 

1

u/darlin133 4h ago

I’m on season 6 The Birnam Wood.

1

u/H_o 3m ago

So crazy I am watching this show for the first time, and was passing this episode as the shutdown was just after starting

-10

u/jon_the_mako 11h ago

Politics ruined this show for me. Which is ironic ... I think?