Marry, shag, or throw off a cliff?

by tigtog on February 28, 2008

updated to add image
West Wing - marry, shag or throw off a cliff?

Josh Lyman, Sam Seaborn or Toby Ziegler? (or, for those whose preferences run otherwise, Donna Moss, CJ Cregg or Abigail Bartlett?)

(Show your work.) Why yes, I am catching reruns of The West Wing on cable, all the early episodes – so no substituting Will Bailey or Amy Gardner unless you show some spectacular rhetorical flair. Charlie Young and Mandy Hampton are wild cards.

One of my favourite quotes:

Josh Lyman: No. You’re listening to me, but you’re not understanding me.

Toby Ziegler: No, I’m disagreeing with you. That doesn’t mean I’m not listening to you or understanding what you’re saying – I’m doing all three at the same time.

Swoon.

P.S. you all knew there was a West Wing femslash archive, didn’t you?

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Tagged as: abby, amy gardner, bartlett, cj cregg, donna moss, flair, gratuitous ogling, josh lyman, reruns, sam seaborn, swoon, toby ziegler, west wing

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This article was written by tigtog

tigtog (aka Viv) lives in Sydney, Australia: husband, 2 kids, cat, house, garden, just enough wine-racks and (sigh) far too few bookshelves. Viv web-wrangles for hire and edits Gagging For It (Oz Comedy News). tigtog is the founder of Hoyden About Town and Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog.

tigtog has written 1867 posts for Hoyden About Town. If you liked this post, you might like to subscribe to the feed via RSS or EMAIL to get instantly updated for more posts like this.

{ 24 comments }

1 Beppie February 28, 2008 at 7:47 am: *sigh* I still have to get around to watching that show, and I don’t have cable. Another thing for the post-thesis list.
2 harlemjd February 28, 2008 at 8:45 am: shag Sam (duh!)
marry Toby (remaining non-duh option)
throw Josh off cliff (duh – he’s ANNOYING)

shag Abby
marry CJ
throw Donna off cliff (she and Josh can kiss on the way down, for the people who actually like the idea of them as a couple)
3 kate February 28, 2008 at 9:09 am: Shag CJ, marry Abby & oh dear poor Donna…

Avoid all the blokes, they were quite mad & hopeless at relationships. But quite good at running the country.
4 tigtog February 28, 2008 at 9:30 am: Beppie, the first two seasons are the best, although the final season was well done.

Dearie me, poor Donna indeed. I once knew a few blokes who really fancied her – ou sont les admirateurs d’antans?

Just for harlemjd, I’ll share this magazine shot I found where the starch has been taken out of Sam’s white shirt:

Kate, I think you have a point about the blokes being madly bad at relationships.
5 MatildaZQ February 28, 2008 at 9:40 am: Charlie was the only man in the entire administration worth having. CJ the only woman. Well, Kate Harper a little bit. And no fair making Jeremy (they can call him Will all they like, he will always be Jeremy) off limits.

MatildaZQ’s last blog post..Unwitting A-Team, Gustatory Division: Atwood Cafe and TRU
6 tigtog February 28, 2008 at 9:44 am: Oh go on, make your arguments for Jeremy/Will.
7 Ricky Buchanan February 28, 2008 at 10:08 am: I think Toby’s got the right idea: I’m doing all three at the same time!

Interpretation in context is left as an exercise for the student ;)

r
8 Deborah February 28, 2008 at 11:24 am: No option to shag the Prez?

Deborah’s last blog post..54th Carnival of Feminists
9 tigtog February 28, 2008 at 11:31 am: Dearohdear, haven’t any of you played this game down the pub?

If you desperately want to shag someone not on the list then you have to make up a new troika. Taking into account Matilda ZQ’s desires, let’s make it:

Shag, Marry or Toss off a Cliff: Prez Bartlett, Charlie Young or Will Bailey?
10 tigtog February 28, 2008 at 11:33 am: P.S. Ricky’s idea is dangerously subversive to the whole ethos of the game, but I like it anyway!
11 Unknown Troper February 28, 2008 at 12:13 pm: I feel a little uncomfy with Martin Sheen – his real-life “I consider myself a liberal Democrat but I’m a forced-pregnancy supporter” view
12 Lauredhel February 28, 2008 at 12:15 pm: Since it’s WestWingWorld, I can make my sexual orientation whatever I want it to be. Me, Josh, CJ and Abigail in one big ol’ polymarriage. We wimminz could keep Josh’s annoying tendencies in line, and we’d have the best dinner parties ever.

Sam and Toby both off a cliff. I figure they’d want to go down together.
13 tigtog February 28, 2008 at 12:23 pm: OK, UT: consider the Prez cliffed.

Lauredhel: can I come to your dinner parties?
14 Lauredhel February 28, 2008 at 12:33 pm: tigtog: You would only enhance them.

I have a new troika: Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or Rob Corddry?
15 Fimail February 28, 2008 at 12:40 pm: only got 5 words for you

got. the. boxset. for. christmas.

having taken a year to watch series 1 borrowed rom a friend we managed to watch series 2 in a month. now just starting series 3.

not ready to cast judgements yet and obviously nobody likes Leo.
16 harlemjd February 28, 2008 at 2:20 pm: tigtog – thanks for the photo.
17 Boris February 28, 2008 at 10:07 pm: tigtog @ 4
ou sont les admirateurs de Donna d’antans?
Ici! Moi!
(sorry about the grammar)
18 tigtog February 28, 2008 at 10:19 pm: But are you going to shag her or marry her, Boris?

Fimail,

if you want to start a troika including Leo be my guest!
19 orlando February 29, 2008 at 4:49 am: CJ might well be my favourite not-real person of all time. Partly because she’s the moral centre of the piece, but mainly because of her combination of wit, grace and political deftness. I think Maxine McKew might be our nearest possible substitute in the real world.

Always had a soft spot for Sam because of what another character described as his “virtuoso geekdom”. I hate the way Toby raises his voice to make it sound as if he has the high moral ground when he usually doesn’t, but I love his crushing wit.

We’re savouring the whole thing all over again from beginning to end (currently up to the start of season 5). Funny how an American show, even when it’s trying to be balanced, ends up being outrageously soft on Israel.
20 Unknown Troper February 29, 2008 at 4:52 am: Orlando:

That’s because of the massive Israeli lobby in the USA – for most of the ’80s and ’90s Washington D.C. was referred to as “the Fourth Occupied Territory”
21 su February 29, 2008 at 10:47 am: Beppie; a friend of mine broke her leg and watched all three seasons while laid up. Not recommended though :) If only they could have thrown the pres, donna AND Josh off a cliff in episode 1, it would not have taken me until season three to like WW.
22 tigtog February 29, 2008 at 3:14 pm: Harsh, su. Like Lauredhel, I can’t cliff Josh, although I always thought Donna needed someone less oblivious to her strengths.

Speaking of Lauredhel, I don’t really know either the Daily Show or the Colbert Report well enough to form an opinion on your last troika: they are shows I know of (and catch the occasional YouTubed moment) rather than shows I know.
23 Lauredhel February 29, 2008 at 4:58 pm: Speaking of Lauredhel, I don’t really know either the Daily Show or the Colbert Report well enough to form an opinion on your last troika

I figured that was a risk, but couldn’t come up with any Australian equivalent who I wouldn’t cliff. Seriously: Rove McManus, Ray Martin, or Daryl Somers?

Lauredhel’s last blog post..?It is a great mistake to allow the girl to attend lectures ??
24 baroquestar March 5, 2008 at 4:12 pm: How did I miss this post??

Marry: Sam Seaborn, because he’s the only one I could tolerate long-term.
Shag: Josh Lyman, because I love the mind and grin but couldn’t cope with the dysfunction long-term.
Cliff: Toby Ziegler… Sorry Toby. I don’t want to shag you, and I couldn’t live with you. Here, have a parachute.

Marry: CJ Cregg, because she has to be one of the best fictional people ever, fullstop.
Shag: Abigail Bartlett, because. :D Again with the grin. Am a sucker for a good grin.
Cliff: Donna Moss. Sorry Donna. But it’s a small cliff, and look, there’s Josh to land on. Donna/Josh = OTP forever.