Kat with a K

West Wing Not-Quite-Reunion, on Your TV Tonight

Facts:
1. Sarah Silverman said in an interview a while ago that Bradley Whitford would be guest starring on the Sarah Silverman Program this season.
2. Yesterday, someone at the show tweeted that someone from Billy Madison would be on tonight's episode.
3. Bradley Whitford was in Billy Madison.
4. Then they tweeted that two people from The West Wing would be on tonight's episode.
5. Josh Malina (Will Bailey) tweeted a while ago that he and Whitford were going to be on the same Sarah Silverman episode this season.

So! It is POSSIBLE, I suppose, that three completely other people are going to be on the show tonight, and the Whitford/Malina episode will be later this season. But! When you hear hoofbeats, don't look for zebras.* I think it's pretty safe to assume that it's tonight. (And SOME West Wing folks will be on regardless, so...) Set your TiVos! Comedy Central, 10:30pm Eastern.

Why do I call it a not-quite-reunion? When I asked Malina whether he and Whitford were appearing together, he told me they were on the same episode but did not actually work together. (Because of this and their well-publicized practical joke war/the way they "hate" each other, I would like to nominate them as dark horse and possibly tongue-in-cheek candidates for this. But I doubt it's actually them.) But still! Two of my favorite actors in one half-hour episode. I will not complain.

UPDATE: After I wrote this post, Josh Malina confirmed that he will be on tonight's episode. All my detective work turns out to have been unnecessary. Ah well!

* This is a phrase that my physician mother actually uses, and that the interns were taught on Grey's Anatomy. I point this out only because I feel any time something on Grey's resembles actual hospital practices, it should be noted, as it is so rare.

Josh Malina's Haiti PSA

Josh Malina is one of my favorite actors from Sorkinland (Jeremy on Sports Night, Will on West Wing), and he wants you to donate:

(Not) on Bradley Whitford's mustache

The TCA press tour has been going on this week, and I have been endlessly amused that one of the big stories coming out of it was that Bradley Whitford (aka the most attractive man on the planet) has - gasp - grown a mustache for his new show, Code 58. Really, it's a much bigger story than I thought it would be. The Washington Post wrote about it. And NPR. And the Hartford Courant. Etc. I mean - real news sources, not just fangirls on LiveJournal.

But speaking of the fangirls - a lot of Whitford's fans are extremely upset by the mustache. And I just don't quite get it. I mean, sure, I probably wouldn't CHOOSE for him to have it if it were up to me. But I certainly don't think it makes him unattractive. (I saw some video of him speaking somewhere with the mustache AND glasses, and I have to say that that look was kind of hot.) I did, though, have a moment of contemplation about whether I would be able to call him the hottest man on TV when the new show starts in May, given the mustache and the rather large number of other hot men on TV right now: Nathan Fillion. David Boreanaz. Ed Westwick. Matthew Morrison. Simon Baker.

So I thought about it for a minute, and then I realized - wait, YES. Because, sure, there's the mustache, and he's a fair amount older than most of those other guys. But is that what really matters? No. So. A short list of reasons why Bradley Whitford will still be the hottest man on TV:

1. He wrote this, and this, and this.
2. He cofounded Clothes Off Our Back and is on the board of the Alliance for Justice, and is involved with Heifer International and Hopenhagen.
3. He campaigned for President Obama, and Rahm Emanuel, and John Kerry, among others.
4. He has kept the details of his divorce private and his children out of the spotlight.
5. On CNN, when asked whether he thought some recent controversial TV moment had been "obscene," he said "I'm sorry, but why is our definition of 'obscene' sexuality, as opposed to, I don't know, unnecessary violence, uninsured children, 18,000 people who die every year because they don't have health care?"
6. Because he is who he is, someone at TCA asked him about the health care reform bill out of the blue, and he thinks it should pass.

So - really, what was I thinking? OF COURSE he's the hottest man on TV, regardless of facial hair.

Edited to add: No offense intended to fangirls on LiveJournal. I am one myself. I just meant that I thought it would be more of a niche story.

RIP John Spencer

Today is the fourth anniversary of John Spencer's death, which means it is, by tradition, Quote Leo McGarry Day. A little backstory: during the New Hampshire primary campaign in 2007, a friend told me that then-Senator Obama was the candidate who most reminded her of Jed Bartlet. I hadn't started watching The West Wing yet, but once I did, I began to understand what she meant. (FWIW, said friend has never seen the later seasons, so she doesn't know about Matt Santos.) In that spirit:

"Because I'm tired of it. Year, after year, after year, after year, having to choose between the lesser of who cares. Of trying to get myself excited about a candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low I can hardly look at it. They say a good man can't get elected. Well, I don't believe that."

and

"The President's nothing if not contemplative, Senator. The man makes the Prince of Denmark seem reactionary."

Honestly, though, given the current state of things in the Senate, I need to throw in a few quotes from Josh Lyman, too.

"LBJ never would've taken this kind of crap from Democrats in Congress. He'd have said, 'You're voting my way, in exchange for which, it is possible that I might remember your name, pal.' We need to win. And I mean win. We need to take a curtain call and a victory lap. And that's how we get momentum. We get it by being tough. We give away nothing."

Someone should give this message to a few Senators:

"See, you won with 52 percent, but the President took your district with 59. And I think it's high time we come back and say thanks. Do you have any idea how much noise Air Force One makes when it lands in Eau Claire, Wisconsin? We're gonna have a party, Congressman. You should come; it's gonna be great. And when the watermelon's done, right in town square, right in the band gazebo. You guys got a band gazebo? Doesn't matter; we'll build one. Right in the band gazebo, that's where the President is going to drape his arm around the shoulder of some assistant D.A. we like. And you should have your camera with you, you should get a picture of that, 'cause that's gonna be the moment you're finished in Democratic politics. President Bartlet's a good man, he's got a good heart, he doesn't hold a grudge. That's what he pays me for."

And, really:

"You know, I'm so sick of Congress I could vomit."

I think I've resigned myself to the mustache.

Bradley Whitford (the hottest man on the planet, even with that mustache) talks climate change, Copenhagen, his new show, kids, and the holidays...

West Wing? Thanksgiving? Anyone?

I'll be posting a little West Wing Thanksgiving story over the course of this week. If you're interested, head over here for chapter one.

The Fake President Wants You to Call Your Real Congressperson

Coping Mechanisms

The more convoluted and ridiculous the current political and economic situation gets, the more I find myself curled up on the couch watching West Wing. Because it seems so much more realistic, and the people are so much more competent, so clearly, that's the real government, right? Lalalala I can't hear you. Bartlet for America!