Senior Writer Joanna Robinson (Vanity Fair) joins us to deck the halls as we talk about the very first West Wing Christmas special, and tenth episode overall, IN EXCELSIS DEO.

Phil takes some time to outline the insane social media/Emmys scandal that erupted around this episode, involving Aaron Sorkin and co-writer Rick Cleveland. Joanna recounts the dramatic rewrites that Cleveland's original script went through to protect Toby's character, and eventually lead to Schiff's only Emmy win for The West Wing. We also touch on the brief cameo from Lance Reddick, the buffoonery surrounding the Sam/Laurie storyline, and the show's pointedly unliberal way of dealing with the issue of hate crimes.

Find Janna at: www.vanityfair.com/contributor/joanna-robinson

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