"My favourite (well one of my favourite) mid-stream television character introductions is from The West Wing, when Ainsley Hayes, a less conservative Republican than most of the right wingers which appeared in the Aaron Sorkin years, verbally beat up Sam Seaborne on television before being asked to serve at the pleasure of the President. What makes her first appearance work so well, during the episode, In The White House, is that despite listing at length all the ideological problems she has with that fictional administration and liberals in general, we care more for her than we ever did for the Mandy character who slowly disappeared over the course of the first season.... at which point I realised I wasn't going to be talking about clowns or the new Rani any time soon and decided to start over...
Sorkin increases her likeability by having her fall into all the traps and make all the same mistakes most of us would make in her situation such as nervously running her mouth off at a potential new boss and also when she hears something which could be very embarrassing to CJ decides to keep between the two of them. She was also brash, loud, sexy in that way that Anne Coulter could never be, and it’s a shame that when Sorkin left the series follow on producer John Wells didn’t really seem to know what to do with her – she didn’t really fit into the weird vision he had for the show which was to take it out of the geographic location in the title as quickly as possible.
One of the reasons we loved Ainsley was that she was so intelligently played by Emily Procter (who’d later go on to be royally wasted on CSI:Miami trying to coax a reaction from David Caruso) ...."
Emily Procter love
About Paul beat me to the punch with this hilarious review of tonight's episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures so my slightly more boring reflection isn't up yet. In the mean time, here's the original opening, or more accurately the paragraphs which I dumped on the grounds that it's irrelevant and I realised I was in the grip of both Emily Procter love and some box set mania (current on episode seven of season two):
Well, who isn't in love with Emily Procter? You're excused.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, and maybe I'm mis-recalling, didn't Ainsley mainly inhabit season two, with just a couple of episodes in season three? And Matt Perry applied for her job in season four? Cos Aaron Sorkin left at the end of season four, I recall, with Wells taking over properly for the start of the atrocious season five.
ReplyDeleteI think we can only blame Sorkin for the under-use of Ainsley and, again I might be mis-recalling, but I'm sure Sorkin has fessed up that he sort of forgot about her and various other plot strands, thanks to his inability to cope with deadlines (which ended up getting him fired off West Wing).
There's all sorts of issues in the Sorkin years with his starting plot lines, letting them tail off without resolution and then reviving them as though they were new later on because he was desperate for storylines. How many times did they decide to let "Bartlet be Bartlet", etc?
You're right and that was a known issue with the whole series, the big introduction of characters with loads of fanfare who then seemed to disappear. But a lot of series can be guilty of this (it seems to be a trait of John Wells shows overall actually) but the wierdness of this one was that Ainsley randomly re-appeared for a cameo about two episodes before the end I think, meeting CJ in a corridor for no reason other than because it was near the end of the series. Expect e.r. to be much the same this season.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard, the hardcore fan base took to describing it as the characters going to Mandyland, after well Mandy, who disappeared completely after the opening season and wasn't mentioned again, even when she should have been around after the shooting.
Though it was understandable because her job description was non-specific at best -- sure CJ's the press and publicity person?
Mandy's job role _should_ have been obvious - she was a political strategist, so think Karl Rove to CJ's Dana Perino or Scott McClellan. But Sorkin never could differentiate the roles dramatically.
ReplyDeleteAinsley came back as part of the "let's get back all the old characters to celebrate the end of the series" final phase of the seventh season. So they got her, Nancy and Sam back for a few eps, but because Procter was busy on CSI: Miami, they could only get her for a small chunk of an ep, rather than anything greater. I think she turns up at some do or other to offer CJ a job at her think tank or something.
As for CSI: Miami, look closely and you'll notice that there's a very clear hierarchy of characters allowed to talk to Horatio: Tripp comes top, Delko second with Calleigh (Procter) et al getting barely a few scenes each season. The ostensible reason is that the production schedule on Miami is such that they have to have two production units running on each episode at the same time, so normally you'll get Horatio and Tripp doing the action scenes on the A polot, while Calleigh runs the B plot. However, if you believe the National Enquirer, and surprisingly it's quite reliable on such matters, Caruso's such a tosser that no one wants to work with him so they've insulated him from the rest of the cast.
I'm not saying I told you so. But I did.
ReplyDeletehttp://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2008/10/blind-item-hot.html
I believed you. Sorkin needs to write an Ainsley Hayes maveriky spin-off show right now to spare her from this.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDeleteI blame Jorja Fox myself. She and Procter are bestest pals and when Procter got offered the CSI: Miami job, she asked Fox whether she should take it or not. Fox gave her the thumbs up, saying it was great fun. Which of course CSI probably is. CSI: Miami though...
They should both return to The West Wing universe.
ReplyDelete"She's a White House security guard."
"She's the President's lawyer."
"Both have instant recall of images and facts."
"Together they fight crime in Washington's walls of power."
"They're 'Toscano and Hayes'."
That's the new Cagney and Lacey right there.
They need to sing the theme song together though. And it'll be Gilbert and Sullivan, although I'm not sure which song.
ReplyDelete