I want to have Aaron Sorkin's babies

[dragojustine]

I went to Target today. I want these shoes like MAD. Except of course they didn't have them in size 11. But, really, how utterly wonderful is it that the whole Keds/Converse plan canvas sneaker look has come back in? I find shoes very tricky, cause I hate heels and strappy sandals and I think pretty much all girly shoes are shoddy, overpriced torture devices and by god I hate the beauty trap because I do NOT HAVE the money for that shit. But it's nice to have cute shoes. And colorful ballet flats and canvas sneakers seem to be my strategy. Yaay!

Kevin McKidd told TV Guide about the mytharc for Journeyman. I could WEEP. That shit could have been SO GOOD. And Kevin! I miss having him on my TV, but I am sure as hell not going to start watching Grey's Anatomy for him. Journeyman... and then SGA and now Pushing Daisies. What will be left? I could weep. Seriously, if anybody knows of a genre show that actually has a future that I should be watching, please do let me know. Other than the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Maybe Fringe? I'm unenthusiastic about that. Bleh. Why do they kill all the good stuff?

I've been re-watching The West Wing. This is my third time through. This is one of those shows that really... feels like personal history. Sustains multiple watchings. Feels like I have a... relationship with that show.

The first time through, starting in 1999, I was in the midst of Clinton hero-worship. My favorite characters were Charlie Young and Sam Seaborne. They were the youngest and prettiest, and I was slightly bored by the oldest generation. I sort of bought the Josh/Donna they shoveled at me without question. I kind of stopped watching after the second season, when it became all about the MS and scandal and reduced the hero-worship vibe.

The second time through, in 2003, I was at the deepest pit of political cynicism and the show was escapism. This time, my favorite characters were Josh and CJ, because they're both so passionate and involved, wrangling with the moral issues and facing up to the hardest fights and doing the most. And because CJ was a great self-insert for me for her moral opinions. Oh, and CJ/Simon (Mark Harmon)? YOW. I was a bit disturbed at being attracted to somebody that old. Also, I'd discovered slash, and shipped Josh/Sam like a mad thing- you remember that scene where Josh just STANDS outside his window, and Sam immediately jumps up, abandons his 400k job and partnership at a hotshot legal firm, and without so much as asking a single question or having a clue what he's getting into, leaves his life forever and follows Josh? Seriously.

I wasn't bored by the older generation anymore- Jed is complex and entertaining when he's punchy, and Leo is truly stunning and strong and wise, but Abby seemed shrewish and annoying. I didn't like the Josh/Donna this time, because he was an asshole to her, or Josh/Amy, because she was cutesy and wildly unprofessional and I wanted better. But I DID love Nancy, and I still think she's an incredible character, and goes on both my "amazing COCs" and "amazing female characters" lists with no hesitation. I stopped watching after season 4, when it started sucking.

This time through, in 2008, I'm at the height of giddy political optimism combined with my life completely falling apart at the seams and gradually coming around to the decision to go to law school, and the show is aspirational. The Josh/Sam is still there, big time, but I'm less focused on the slash. Oh, and more open to toying with the girlslash, especially Ainsley/Donna. Most of my old opinions stay, but this time? I don't find Abby annoying and shrewish. I find that she's gone through an amazing amount and has very good reasons to feel betrayed by her husband and is using the only leverage she has to some very good ends, and I think the Jed/Abby relationship is prickly and complicated and antagonistic and unshakably devoted (oddly, they remind me a little of Jack/Daniel. Apparently I like that dynamic).

But this time my favorite character of all? Toby. The ugly duckling of the senior staff, the one who I never paid any attention to before- I think he's stunning. So much less flashy than the others, but no less passionate or intelligent. He's so hangdog and so pessimistic and so beatdown by life and so very surprisingly sweet underneath it. And he and CJ are so amazing together- tiny looks and touches and gestures, sparkling moments every few episodes, so startlingly good to each other and SWEET together. I am shipping Toby/CJ like MAD.

Anyway, I'm just saying: I love this show. I love every character and everything about it and I love the moral preachiness and the banter and the snark and the complexity and EVERY CHARACTER, and my changing reactions to it seem to chart a really interesting path of changing feelings about politics, and female characters in media, and relationships, and slash and femslash, and... everything. Isn't that impressive, for only four seasons of a show? (Yes, I know it went longer. Seasons 6 and 7 were a whole different show, and we don't speak of season 5)

So now I have to plundercrack_van for CJ/Toby. I didn't read TWW fic before, because I didn't think fic could do it justice. I've gotten a lot more confidence in fic since then.

Utterly random: Kavan Smith (SGA, Major Evan Lorne), Colin Cunningham (SG1, Major Paul Davis), and Mark Feuerstein (TWW, Majority Counsel Cliff Calley) make the best sexy clean-cut all-American boy-next-door threesome EVER. Really.  Pretty.