I liked Bruno and wish there was more of him. Not sure if it was an availability thing or something else, but that part of the casting was oddly used.
I really enjoyed Bruno, especially during season 7. Felt like we got so much of Josh during the Santos campaign and not nearly enough of Bruno during Vinick’s.
One of my favorite quotes on the show is when Toby tells Sam, “They’re going to be throwing rocks at you, and I want to be standing next to you when they do”
I agree, but I was mostly talking about how they started the season with the two people Bruno brought in to help with the campaign and started to create tension with the existing cast with those characters, and then those two people just disappeared without a mention of why. Bruno would be around and heavily involved in some episodes and decisions, and then he'd be gone for 4 episodes with not even a mention of why he wouldn't be around or what he might be doing.
They were still around sporadically. Like in the episode where Sam takes Connie in the meeting with him with California dude. And they were both there in the episode about hard/soft money campaigning.
Right. They were there early in the season, but gone by the middle and never came back, even in season 4 with the lead up to the election. I just looked it up. Thy guy who played Doug was in 3 of the first 4 episodes of season 3 (and in the third episode, he was in the Oval advising Bartlett to veto), and then was gone and never came back. The woman was in 4 episodes (the last of which she and Sam were pretty involved in a story) and she was gone after episode 7. Just seemed odd to me that they introduced them, and then they vanished. With Bruno, he was running the campaign and wasn't even in the Debate Camp or Game On episodes in season 4. I get that the show had a ton of characters they had to service. They were still really good episodes. I just found that kind stuff weird and inconsistent.
First time watching I’m currently in season 3 and just watched Bartlett for America. I absolutely love this show.
If we're counting Donna and Margaret, I'd put them in the middle of that group. Some of the Margaret stuff over the years was terrific.
CJ gets a little better in the middle seasons, IMO. Her and Toby are definitely the bottom of the main group for me, though.
I like Charlie best because a) seemed like he had great chemistry with everyone on the cast, and b) I can't see Dule Hill and not think of Gus from Psych, so I'm pretty much already laughing any time he's on screen. "A Proportional Response" in season 1 is one of my top 5 episodes and the Bartlett/Leo stuff was great, but Charlie's interview with Josh was just as good. That episode is what hooked me on the show.
Josh Leo Toby Bartlet Cj Sam Charlie, although he’s got one of my favorite moments on the show. I won’t say what it is so it doesn’t ruin it for those watching. But I love them all. Except Mandy. She sucked ass.
The show was sort of known for disappearing characters with no explanation. https://westwing.fandom.com/wiki/Mandyville
I just started watching WW a few weeks ago. I'm up to mid season 4. I love this show ( except for Mandy ). I also have a love/hate relationship with Amy's whiny ass voice.
Charlie bringing in the man from Pittsburgh who wrote to FDR and then Bartlett talking with him was a great moment
On S3E19 Toby is moving up my list, maybe top 3-5 The VP actor does a really good job of portraying a politician, and the alcoholism reveal was helpfully towards making him a more fleshed out character