He's also a huge asshole to his staff. Aside from the 'lovable' trolling he frequently engages in - which some people in the real world actually like, so YMMV - there are a bunch of episodes where he slams on therapy and psychology as scams. This while knowing his two closest advisers (Leo McGarry and Josh Lyman) are…

Santos is modeled on Obama, though. So.

Another true point about the show that gets lost in the bleeting about how it was a liberal dream. It was only ten years ago, people. Are there really so few people who have actually watched this show?

I think Scandal is barely concealed 'West Wing' fanfiction most of the time, so I actually agree. (Right down to Shonda ripping the West Wing's infamous assassination episodes in story structure.)

Yeah, Alpha House has been steadily improving - and I actually think the first arc in Afghanistan was pretty strong too, because it's a total piss-take on something that actually happens on 'The West Wing' in its later seasons.

Yeah, unfortunately, any critical review of West Wing seems to be more review of the West Wing's mythos and effect on the world, rather than what actually happens on the show. Bartlet is not particularly left, even accounting for 15 years of political drift, and doesn't leave much of a legacy due to obstruction from…

There was a short-lived show with Matt Smith, pre-Who, that I thought came awfully close to being a British West Wing.

I have a problem with this show constantly writing out characters it doesn't like, while characters who stick around are given wildly implausible reasons to stay when they'd be better off elsewhere. I mean, does anyone buy Thomas not striking out for the big city post-war, or Daisy not inheriting the farm, or…

I get the Mary/Edith thing because I have the same dynamic with my own sister with the ages reversed, but what I don't get is how everyone else in the family seems to lockstep agree with Mary's Point-of-View on Edith. In reality it's a lot more complex than that.

After he was such a bigot to Thomas last season?

Right, but the Dowager Countess is ALSO a horrible person who everyone sort of puts up with because she's Dame Maggie Smith and needs to drop a witticism when everyone else is ignoring her.

I would have never connected these two.

Great recall, then.

Bolus, then, or whatever capital of Bolians there is? It has a big bank, right?

Not sure the 24th C series paid much attention to Rigel. You get the impression that the Federation consists of Earth, Andor, Tellar and Vulcan, plus the homeworlds of the other members, plus a lot of dinky colony worlds where people farm… for some reason, in a world of replicators.

Andor and Tellar are also too close to Earth for that to be the punch they're looking for, I think. Same as Vulcan.

I appreciate the way you've conveyed the 'you are there'ness because my memory is chemically shot. (I was also twelve). Not rambly or self-indulgent at all.

Great callback. I forgot that the Tal Shiar is kind of a non-existent player now.

Snap! Ah well, a 50% hit ratio is pretty good, considering how often I rewatch DS9… while working in my studio. (AKA: not paying attention at all.)

I think it's established much, much earlier, maybe during "Broken Link" though I think it's following up on stuff mentioned in "The Wire".