The West Wing Weekly

A potential nuclear threat looms on the horizon, so let’s head down to the Situation Room to discuss The Warfare of Genghis Khan. We’re joined by former congressman and nonproliferation advocate John Tierney, who catches us up on nuclear politics then and now. And Josh and Hrishi manage to listen to the arguments of NASA analyst Jacob Keaton without him even having to take them stargazing or anything.

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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!

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This week, we discuss "The Benign Prerogative," and the not so benign aspects of Presidential pardons. We're joined once again by Janel Moloney to talk about Donna's moving storyline in this episode. Plus, Lin-Manuel Miranda makes a little cameo (#Hameo) to help us with the original text by Alexander Hamilton from which this episode takes its name.

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It's the 100th episode of The West Wing! Our guest this week is Bellamy Young, who made her first appearance in a TV White House here, some years before joining Josh on Scandal as PRESIDENT Mellie Grant.

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"Cauliflower."

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Shut! It! Down! Josh and Hrishi are walking right up to the hallway outside your office to talk about “Shutdown.” Gene Sperling, former White House Director of the National Economic Council, joins them to compare Bill Clinton's shutdown game plan to Jed Bartlet's apparent lack of one.

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The Supreme Court is looking at a case that relates to Korematsu v. United States, while the White House starts to make their moves towards appointing a new justice. But ai yai yai, we aren’t talking about last month’s headlines—we’re talking about “Separation of Powers,” from November 2003. And this week, we’re joined by special guest Michael Hyatt who plays Angela Blake. She gave us a wonderfully candid interview about how she got the role—and why Angela didn’t stick around for longer.

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We're joined this week by Alexa Junge and returning guest Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. They co-wrote "Disaster Relief," and together, we try to propulgate the backstory of this episode onto the frontstory. Like President Bartlet in Oklahoma, you'll never want to go back to work!

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What is a “Constituency of One”? You know, it’s all about that boss, ‘bout that boss, those troubles. It’s all about that boss, ‘bout that boss, those troubles. Toby and POTUS. Will and Bob Russell. Amy and the First Lady. Plus, we speak with Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri, whose list of bosses includes Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama.

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Listener beware - like the episode we're discussing, Han, this installment of The West Wing Weekly has more sad piano music than all previous episodes combined. When they're not lost in a sadness so deep no tears will come, Josh and Hrishi interview Paula Yoo, the writer who came up with the story of a would-be North Korean defector who visits the White House.

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