The West Wing Weekly

In "Undecideds," Santos gives a speech meant to uplift and inspire, but Josh and Hrishi are "Unconvinceds." Plus, we look at Toby’s apartment, Godwin’s Law, and Will’s butt. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/708

How did Santos and Vinick do in the debate? To help us judge the candidates on both substance and style, we’ve enlisted the people in charge of debate prep on either side of the 2012 Presidential election. Ronald Klain led President Obama’s debate prep, and Beth Myers was in charge of Senator Mitt Romney’s prep. It was fascinating to speak to both of them together for this bipartisan episode of our podcast. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/707-part2

In our first of two episodes on "The Debate," we talk to Lawrence O’Donnell, who took on the challenge of writing a live episode — one that takes place entirely in the context of a Presidential debate. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/707

At long last, everyone is ready to unleash their negative ad campaigns. Here's one Hrishi came up with. JOSH MALINA—he's not nearly as mean as he makes himself out to be! He says he "ruined The West Wing," but even Richard Schiff says 'Arctic Radar' is one of the best episodes of the series. What else is Josh hiding? JOSH MALINA—actually pretty nice. (My name is Hrishikesh Hirway, and I approve this message.) For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/706

Richard Schiff joins us to discuss this gorgeous, eerie, heartbreaking episode and to tell us his true feelings about Toby’s storyline. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/705

Joshua Malina and Hrishikesh Hirway (collectively, “The Hosts”) have been served a subpoena to appear on this episode of the podcast, to testify in regards to the above television episode. Pursuant to this agreement, you (“Listener”) are required to listen to our nonsense. Failure to do so may result in missing out on some dumb thing that gets called back later, like a reference to a 2004 movie about dance battles. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/704

At long last, West Wing director and executive producer Alex Graves joins us to talk about his time on the show. From "In Excelsis Deo" to "17 People" to our current episodes in Season 7, we discuss some of the big moments in the series that he helped shape. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/015

This week, the message is The Message of The Week. Just to brief you: we're keeping it brief. As they say in athletics. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/703

In this mother of an episode, Alex Graves cranks the style up to 11. We’re introduced to the character of Louise Thornton (played by Janeane Garofalo). We get real-time text answers to our quests from the unstoppable Eli Attie. So get ready cuz, as Steve Miller says, "we go down Carolina!" For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/702

It’s the Season 7 premiere! Which begins, naturally, with a scene from the Season 10 premiere! Suspense hovers over this episode, like a space station in need of maintenance—or a baker about to be sent home from the tent—as Josh and Hrishi sort through both the wise and foolish acts of our heroes. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/701

We wanted to honor the end of Vice President Bob Russell's storyline in The West Wing with Gary Cole, who played Bingo Bob. Gary also plays Kent Davison in the brilliant, vicious, hilarious Veep, so we decided to celebrate two great(?) Vice Presidents in one episode. It's a Veep special! We're also joined by Veep showrunner David Mandel, a huge West Wing fan, to talk about where these two very different, political, Emmy-winning shows intersect. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/014

We wrap up Season 6 with a live taping from Washington, DC, joined by special guests Mary McCormack (@marycmccormack) and Lawrence O’Donnell (@lawrence). Cue the balloons! Go balloons! Uhhh, where are the balloons?! For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/622

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the DNC, The delegate tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of democracy is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.  With special guest, Jennifer Palmieri. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/621

The legendary Alan Alda joins us this week to discuss Arnie Vinick, the Constitution, and eating ice cream. Plus, we speak to Reverend Katey Zeh, the executive director of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/620

"Ninety Miles Away" really takes us somewhere, and we're not talking about Cuba. Josh and Hrishi try to navigate their way through wigs, termites, and Hemingway. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/619

When you’re running for President, how you present yourself to the public is crucial. The West Wing often underscored that it’s not just what one says, it’s how one says it. So in this special episode, we look at what goes into designing a Presidential campaign – both fictional, and non-fictional. Michael Bierut designed Hillary Clinton’s ubiquitous 'H' logo, and Leslie Wah designed the logos and signage for all of the West Wing candidates in Season 6. This might be the nerdiest episode of the West Wing Weekly yet! For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/013

Eli Attie joins us again to talk about his third episode in the trilogy of Santos campaign episodes that he wrote for Season 6. We also hear from Angelica Salas of CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights) on the real story behind California’s fight over driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/618

Richard Schiff returns as our guest this week to tell us about his experience directing "A Good Day." For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/617

This week, we’re joined by Debora Cahn, to talk about her script for "Drought Conditions," and by Richard Schiff, to talk about his heartbreaking performance in it. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/616

"Tell me about Barack Obama." That's what Eli Attie said to David Axelrod in 2004, while searching for inspiration to help flesh out the character of Congressman Matthew Santos. In this episode, we talk to both of them to find out what Eli learned and how it shaped the sixth season. And David Axelrod tells us about his own experiences as the guy behind the guy, and what The West Wing means to him. For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/012