5.12: Slow News Day (with Eli Attie and Nancy Altman)
The West Wing Weekly
Joshua Malina & Hrishikesh Hirway
4.9 • 12.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 August 2018
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sleep in! We'll wake up the President for you to tell him about our great idea to record a podcast about the Slow News Day episode of the West Wing. Joining us in this historic endeavor is returning guest Eli Attie, who shares his memories about real and fictional West Wing attempts to build a legacy. Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, also drops by to tell us just how Toby's efforts compare to the real history of Social Security reform. PS: we had a data glitch while recording and lost Josh's mic audio, so his side of the conversation is not up to our usual standards. Sorry about that!
For more, visit thewestwingweekly.com/512
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, Josh here. Before we start just a warning, we had some technical issues with |
| 0:05.0 | the audio file from my side of this conversation, so the recording will sound a bit low-fi. Enjoy. |
| 0:17.4 | You're listening to the West Wing Weekly. I'm Rishikesh Hereway. |
| 0:20.2 | I'm Joshua Molina. |
| 0:22.2 | And today we're talking about episode 12 from season 5. It's called Slow News Day. |
| 0:27.0 | It was written by Eli Addy. It was directed by Julie A. Bear. |
| 0:32.0 | And it first aired on February 4th in the year 2004. |
| 0:37.0 | I'm going to read the Warner Brothers official synopsis for this episode. |
| 0:40.6 | Toby convinces Bartlett to secretly sanction his solo attempt to make history by reforming social security. |
| 0:46.6 | But Toby's efforts to recruit a Republican senator and a Democratic cohort are publicly divulged, |
| 0:52.0 | forcing the administration to back down while Josh and Leo are left clueless and furious. |
| 0:56.6 | Meanwhile, an equally unaware CJ parries with a reporter who's ready to print all the backstage details. |
| 1:02.6 | Also, the female staffers complain to Josh about a new employee, a mysterious, seductively dressed woman assigned to Toby. |
| 1:09.6 | Just split and finitive in there, but otherwise, a fairly comprehensive synopsis. |
| 1:14.6 | Although I don't know about any female staffers actually complaining to Josh. |
| 1:18.6 | Nor do I remember that. Maybe our special guest can enlighten that. |
| 1:22.6 | Joining us for this episode is one of our favorite guests, which is why we ask him back all the time. |
| 1:27.6 | Eli Addy. |
| 1:28.6 | A great pleasure to be here. |
| 1:30.6 | Thanks, Eli. Let's just start right here. Do you know something about why this little bit about Rina, |
| 1:35.6 | the female staffers complaining to Josh in this Warner Brothers official synopsis? |
| 1:39.6 | Yeah, I do. So this episode of the West Wing, when the very first director's cut was delivered to the producers of the show, including myself, |
... |
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