The West Wing - Panda Bears

[@nates1092]

Mandy: I think we should get a panda bear. Josh: You say that now, but I’m the one who ends up feeding him and walking him.😂

[@sakar181]

"Bonnie, you are dedicated and you are beautiful, and Ginger, you are other nice things." LMAO

[@richardmatta3071]

Guess Toby used all his words writing speeches for other people

[@picsbyshrey]

“well that did the trick” will never not make me die laughing

[@TheAutumnEffect9]

"Then get us two regular bears. A bucket of black paint, a bucket of white paint, bam-bam. Next case." My favorite Toby line from season one. :) Laugh every time!

[@TomalakGeretkal]

There's a certain irony in that Bam Bam would be a decent name for a panda.

[@SeasonsChange14]

No one writes hysterically-funny, fast-paced, intellectual banter better than Alan Sorkin. This clip is the very definition of ROFL (rolling on the floor, laughing).

[@junkmail1203]

practical, done and slaps the hand

[@cd6xc]

So brilliant he even named the bear on the joke. 5 star writing by Sorkin and awesome delivery by Schiff

[@jkrasney1]

Toby's comment is hilarious, "a bucket of white paint and a bucket of black paint..." = solved dilemma

[@svyt]

"Well, that did the trick..."

[@E.JayViera]

Donna: My penmanship is distinctive Josh: Your penmanship is illegible. So subtle, but so funny.

[@jonnnyren6245]

1:35 Margaret's "are you okay" is a genuine reaction of confusion and alarm to a rather unheard of reaction from Toby on one of his typical Squidward Tentacles-like work days.

[@dragukool]

"Did I kill her?" "No." "Then what are you talking to me for?"

[@rustybear5125]

"Now you're scaring the crap out of me Toby"......gotta love Margaret.

[@Michael-kd1ho]

Happy Toby is one unplanned leak away from becoming Hannibal Lecter

[@TheGreatUnwashedThing]

+Michael Maybe that's what happened to Mandy.....

[@joemckim1183]

That would explain the time that Toby for his lunch ate some lamb with fava beans and a nice chianti.

[@Frazzzld]

"Okay, now you're scaring the crap out of me, Toby". Classic!

[@lennybaseball]

toby has got to be one of the greatest tv characters. :)

[@joemckim1183]

Schiff was really the perfect actor for the role. I can't imagine another actor feeling so authentic in this very specific role.

[@chrishumphreys4834]

Absolutely

[@jonnnyren6245]

It's official. Toby is the Squidward of the Bartlet administration's senior staff.

[@Generalscorpio]

I like a character who can unnerve people just by being genuinely pleasant.

[@theITproductions1]

"they get us two regular bears, a bucket of white paint, a bucket of black paint, bam bam next case" that last line is hilarious! especially when Toby says it!

[@michaelscott6022]

"I'm smiling, I'm laughing, I'm enjoying the people I work with... I gotta snap out of this."

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

The State Department would ABSOLUTELY have a go to person when it comes to zoo animal diplomacy...

[@allendracabal0819]

Yes, and that's why Mandy's services were no longer required.

[@LisztyLiszt]

Mandy is the Jar Jar Binks of The West Wing. Thankfully they realised this and just cut her from the show with no explanation as if it never happened.

[@ariochiv]

Yes. Ironically, what follows after the end of this clip is what I believe is Mandy's last scene in the series, in which she vows to take vengeance on Josh. I guess we can infer how that went, since she subsequently disappeared without a trace.

[@javimiami92]

Arioch IV her last scene, and I checked, is the last episode of season 1, early on when Bartlett and staff are practicing his speech from the press room. She’s..... there. God she sucked.

[@switchboard98]

what's really bad about Mandy as a character is the fact that I (at least) never even realized she had gone missing. It was like she was never even there...

[@nates1092]

In the story line, Mandy was never a permanent WH staffer. She was a media consultant on contract to help the Bartlet administration improve their approval ratings. In Season 1 Episode 21, that goal was accomplished, so her contract was completed. So conveniently that worked out, as the writers did not have any idea where to take this character.

[@untexan]

Mandy had nothing to do with the President’s approval rating going up, and her soul was transplanted into Doug Wegland’s body in Season 3, constantly walking around naysaying and complaining about everything

[@geniusfollower]

"Sing sing mourns, for Sing sing, it seems like the time was unendurable." "I know exactly how he felt." LOL TOBY

[@wickedpissa25]

Tobey Ziegler is my spirit animal.

[@itsyogirlaimeee3179]

Donna Moss, along with Josh Lyman, totally drowned the Mandy character. The on screen chemistry is one of a kind. There was clearly no room for Mandy after season one, thus getting written off the show.

[@joemckim1183]

Very true statements. Donna was probably never planned to being a main character and she ends up having better chemistry with Josh then his originally intended love interest(Mandy) then you had to shake up the plans. Just like how the President was only supposed to be a recurring character The West Wing shows how great they're at pivotting from the original plan to doing something far better for the show and not getting stuck in the mud determined to follow the original plan for just pure ego.

[@ariochiv]

Except that Donna's presence didn't prevent Sorkin and crew from replacing Mandy with a series of new love interests for Josh. Mandy was a poorly written character (abrasive, unlikeable, and not half as smart as we are repeatedly told she is), and apparently the actress just didn't get along with anyone else on the set.

[@switchboard98]

@@joemckim1183 Donna was originally only supposed to be in the pilot episode...but everyone saw the great chemistry between Janel Maloney and Bradley Whitford, that they kept her during each subsequent episode in season one, before just adding her as a series regular in the 2nd season.

[@joemckim1183]

@@switchboard98 It's why the show was as good as it was since they listened to the fans. They didn't stick to their guns on storylines that weren't working. Martin Sheen was only supposed to be a recurring character as the Presidentt but he became a regular once everyone loved him in the role.

[@switchboard98]

@@joemckim1183 Yes he was...and we are forever grateful that Sorkin changed the show to revolve around him!!!

[@NxDoyle]

I think Moira Kelly was written out of The West Wing not because of the difficulty in creating storylines for a large ensemble, but because her characterisation was arch and snooty. Moira is not a poor performer, she just didn't lock in to the role in a way that complemented the others.

[@markdziadulewicz6160]

Toby : "I am laughing, I am smiling, I'm enjoying the people I work with....... I've got to snap out of this". Blink and you've missed it...

[@LYLeelers]

I came back to watch this after I saw Vox's video on China's panda diplomacy. Dammit Aaron, even your jokey sub-plots are still shockingly relevant today

[@RandalBauer11]

Mandy killed Toby's afterglow. Booo!

[@TheAudioman15]

“I know exactly how he felt” 🤣 🤣

[@dhaang126]

"I know exactly how he felt"

[@MissGrapeNehi]

Happy Toby is scaring me.

[@AndreAFirenze]

TV at his best. plain and simple.

[@Technosquid]

I like the common device in the show of the assistant holding a stack of papers dropping her arms to her sides when she's pissed. Adds comedic effect somehow.

[@tigerlily0569]

I love Toby SO MUCH!

[@ktulhu]

"that did the trick"

[@illahstrait]

Now I want a Panda Bear.

[@BrennanMerone]

Just get a regular bear, a bucket of black paint, a bucket of white paint, bam-bam, next case

[@hitch4645]

watchin this on bravo right now. i love this episode

[@jacksonreid6412]

Josh: Hey. Nala: Did you get my message? Josh: Yeah, you didn’t wanna talk to me about banana bars by any chance, did you? Nala: Panda Bears. I think we should get a panda bear.

[@allendracabal0819]

Nala: We're doing the Pamchenko.

[@user-lf5uw9nx7h]

This was gorgeous..

[@nascarkraz]

After watching this vid..I think its time for another WW marathon! TG I have every episode of DVD! :)

[@CarlieSheehan]

yes...I was semi yelling it at the tv when they said it....

[@gabe2349]

This bit is pretty funny, by Mandy is right, China does actually take their panda bears very, very seriously. Technically, China owns all of the panda bears on earth, and then they lease them out to zoos. Usually, any U.S zoo with a panda has to pay one million dollars annually on a ten year contract.

[@teddykgb3865]

These scenes did a fantastic job of illustrating just how useless Mandy was on TWW.

[@cald1421]

Aaaand that was the death of her character on this show. Haha

[@Gitau_Kenn]

I love Margaret

[@tomasmicak9041]

Oh god I love Toby :D

[@Technosquid]

I just saw a story about the new craze in China being dying your dog to look like a panda or a tiger. Made me think of Toby's last line from this video. Google up the pictures... they're disturbing.

[@PDOG1676]

...." for some who hasn't quite mastered the alphabet ".........lol

[@NardoVogt]

Happy Toby is scary.

[@specialk9424]

Toby being pleasant is like Andy Sipowicz being pleasant. It just doesn't work.

[@andrewroberts8139]

I like Mandy, I think she was excellent. Let's bring the West Wing back and make her chief of staff or press secretary or something

[@javimiami92]

Don’t do heroin, kids.

[@WalterDWormack214]

Why, in THE HELL isn't *"The West Wing"* on CABLE, or Syndicated TV anywhere?

[@WalterDWormack214]

I guess I better set aside the money and buy *"The West Wing: The Complete Series DVD Collection".* I'm a 64 years old United States born citizen of *African extraction, who might not live long enough to see this great show, make it to a TV Channel that will properly air it!* I get *Sundance, & IFC,* on cable. But both of those channels have become *"White Guy 'Entitlement Channels".* They endlessly run *"Testosterone fest" programming, ("Gladiator", "Saving Private Ryan", "The Dirty Dozen", "The Green Berets", "We Were Soldiers", Anyone?)* Not to mention, ENDLESSLY running *"Law & Order"* and *"Criminal Minds"* to the point where it's practically causing *phosphor burn-in!*

[@mschwes5376]

Remember it was on Bravo before that network went into the tank? You can find it now on HBO Max if you have a subscription to HBO.

[@golfhound]

technosquid left out the punchline in this whole scene. "Josh played you like a banjo. Will you help me inflict pain on Josh?"

[@davidhoffman1278]

This seems somewhat ridiculous. The Chinese are known to monitor the condition of any pandas gifted to other nations through various overt and covert methods. The death of the bear would already probably have caused contact to be made to the office that got the bear by a designated person in the Chinese Embassy.

[@Technosquid]

This is what happens when the writer brings only a cursory knowledge of geopolitics and adds all the whimsey of Stephen Sondheim or W.S. Gilbert. It's not meant to be all that realistic 😂

[@allendracabal0819]

​@@TechnosquidTrue, but it's insulting to intelligent viewers.

[@Technosquid]

@rosaf19 Wow -- I had no idea. Is there also a banana bar on CJ's desk?

[@tomb7942]

Cut off before the best part.

[@davidbennettracing538]

Thank God the character of Mandy was dumped after the first season, she was a nothing character that contributed literally nothing to the show- she was annoying actually, to me at least. Thoughts anyone?

[@Technosquid]

If you listen to the West Wing Weekly podcast, they dump on Mandy all throughout the first season. With as marginalized as her character was, she seemed more like a guest star rather than a main cast player. The character of Ainsley Hayes had even less screen time, but was such an more natural fit.

[@nilsky95]

100% agree, she added nothing to the show and that voice just cuts through me!

[@kourtain]

Does anyone know what that red and blue poster is that you can see at 3:26?

[@javimiami92]

Jesus Christ I love the internet.

[@thepunditspundit1776]

The problem with Mandy had nothing to do with Moira Kelly. She was fine. The problem was that she was an arrogant left wing spoiled brat in a world of left wing grown ups. Sure, Sam was liberal, but he was undeniably charming. Also, he had a capitalist bent to him, so he was pretty much forgiven by right wingers. Sure, Josh was liberal, but he was a master negotiator, so he understood that you have to play ball with your opponents. The closest to Mandy was Toby. He would prefer to have it all and screw the other side, but he understood that he wasn’t the man behind the desk, so he had to begrudgingly accept small victories. Hell, CJ is bleeding heart liberal, but she knew what she didn’t know and always asked questions. Mandy was impulsive(left a half a million a year job on a whim to try pulling a longshot candidate into the WH), arrogant(could never be wrong), insolent(arguing was her turn on), and never learned from her mistakes(nearly got an FBI agent killed because she had to play Kum By Ya with cultists, and Bartlet just had to try it...didn’t matter because she was the same pain in the ass every week after that) A character like Mandy works if she is a young idealist that gets beaten down relentlessly till she starts accepting small victories, then gains a big victory later. You cheer for her then. The way she was made viewers just detest her. She was drama’s version of Frank Burns, only by 98, viewers didn’t have the patience of waiting six years for her to not change.

[@moimeself1088]

What was the situation with the FBI agent? I don't remember that... and i can't watch it again cos my dvd player broke 😭😭😭😭

[@thepunditspundit1776]

@@moimeself1088 Hostage negotiation. Bartlet wanted to raid the place and take them out, and hippie Mandy thinks everyone is oppressed and use a negotiator to calm the situation. Bartlet listens, FBI agent goes in and gets killed

[@moimeself1088]

@@thepunditspundit1776 ah yes i remember that. Thanks!! I miss watching this series so much. Good writing, even the bad parts were good

[@allendracabal0819]

I don't think you can totally absolve Moira. It was a bad character, but a more adept actor could have found hooks to make her more watchable.

[@catmomjill]

ALL animals mourn.

[@leighwest5564]

Koalas are not bears. They are simply called koalas.

[@javimiami92]

They’re marsupials.

[@brontewcat]

Why would Mandy asking for a panda kill Toby's mood. It's not a crisis, and rather cute.

[@gavpowell1981]

I think "I need you to help me to ask the Chinese Government for something trivial" to a man like Toby is asking for trouble. The equivalent today would be the Russians and tickets to the Moscow Ballet or something - he'd be on the verge of boilin over at asassinations, hacking, support for Syria etc. and then some idiot would ask him to help be nice to these people!

[@moimeself1088]

Bc China

[@jerryx3253]

So IRL how much do the national zoo make by having China leasing Pandas to them?

[@abreenacrystal]

I think this is sped up by a bit.

[@JustSomeCanadianGuy]

This sure highlights how Mandy was a pretty useless character and why it was easy to lose her! 🤣

[@billyemorris]

whatever happened to mandy? seemed to just disappear after a while

[@smurvin]

The audience didn't like her

[@billyemorris]

does season 1 not last a while?

[@billyemorris]

to disappear "after a while" does not mean to disappear gradually, it means to disappear after (prep. meaning "later in time than") a while (noun meaning "a period of time") - the wording doesn't rule out gradation, but it certainly doesn't presuppose it

[@Meloncov]

billyemorris She was basically replaced by Donna (who originally was supposed to be a minor character on par with Margaret).

[@soccerlovin1]

billyemorris Just....SHUT UP

[@Emsta]

Its not a koala Bear its just a Koala

[@maddibecke3252]

I knew it, I knew it would be here somewhere in the comments XP

[@emiliewilkinson7857]

🐼🐼🐼🐼🐼

[@TPRM1]

WORST. CHARACTER. EVER. (Edit: Not her fault; just the way she was written.)

[@DT-hp8de]

By the way, pandas aren't actually bears. :) ;)

[@incandesantlite]

lol Did I kill her? No. Then why are you talking to me?

[@ensayers]

@kourtain its a feminist visualisation of idealism in the modern world