The Crackpots and These Women

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“The Crackpots and These Women”
The West Wing episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 5
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Anthony Drazan
Guest stars Guy Boyd
Janel Moloney
Elisabeth Moss
Suzy Nakamura
Renee Estevez
Sam Lloyd
Nick Offerman
Nicholas Cascone
Rachel Singer
David Fabrizio
Production no. 225903
Original airdate October 20, 1999
Season 1 episodes
  1. Pilot
  2. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
  3. A Proportional Response
  4. Five Votes Down
  5. The Crackpots and These Women
  6. Mr. Willis of Ohio
  7. The State Dinner
  8. Enemies
  9. The Short List
  10. In Excelsis Deo
  11. Lord John Marbury
  12. He Shall, from Time To Time...
  13. Take out the Trash Day
  14. Take This Sabbath Day
  15. Celestial Navigation
  16. 20 Hours in L. A.
  17. The White House Pro-Am
  18. Six Meetings Before Lunch
  19. Let Bartlet Be Bartlet
  20. Mandatory Minimums
  21. Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics
  22. What Kind of Day Has It Been
List of The West Wing episodes

"The Crackpots and These Women" is the 5th episode of The West Wing.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The staff participates in "Big Block of Cheese Day," a fictional workday on which White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, encourages his staff to meet with fringe special interest groups that normally would not get attention from the White House. Big Block of Cheese Day also is mentioned in "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail."

The rationale for the day, as recounted by McGarry, is that America's seventh president, Andrew Jackson, had a two-ton block of cheese in the White House foyer from which everyone was welcome to eat. This symbolized the openness of the White House to the American people. White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler derisively refers to the day as "Throw Open Our Office Doors To People Who Want To Discuss Things That We Could [sic] Care Less About Day", and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman refers to it as "Total Crackpot Day".

White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg meets with a group that would like to build a highway for wolves, while Sam Seaborn meets with a citizen concerned about UFOs, played by Sam Lloyd.

[edit] Real-life inspiration

The book Real Life at the White House[1] confirms that this story does draw on actual events. Andrew Jackson did once receive a 1,400 pound, four foot in diameter, two foot thick (635 kg, 1.2 m diameter, 60 cm thick) block of cheese as a gift.[2] After two years of aging, he held a public "cheese tasting". The event was heavily attended and the cheese was consumed in two hours.

[edit] Animals on Highways

According to the West Wing Continuity Guide fansite, there have been efforts to construct wildlife crossings and wildlife corridors to allow animals to cross highways without being struck by passing vehicles[3].


[edit] References

  1. ^ Real Life at the White House (ISBN 0-415-92320-4), by John Whitcomb and Claire Whitcomb
  2. ^ Leo McGarry profile, Bartlet4America.org
  3. ^ Was there really a Big Block of Cheese in the Jackson White House Accessed on March 24, 2008.[1]

[edit] External links