S2.E11

The Leadership Breakfast

Name: The Leadership Breakfast
Genre: Drama
Released: 2001-01-10
Duration: 1 h
Rating: 7.9
Cast: Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney

Episode aired Jan 10, 2001
TV-14
1h

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

YOUR RATING

Drama

Toby wants to use a bipartisan breakfast to discuss real issues instead of making it a staged event; Sam floats the idea of moving the press room across the street; Leo wants Josh to apologi... Read allToby wants to use a bipartisan breakfast to discuss real issues instead of making it a staged event; Sam floats the idea of moving the press room across the street; Leo wants Josh to apologize to a columnist on his behalf; Leo and Toby realize they need to start thinking about re... Read allToby wants to use a bipartisan breakfast to discuss real issues instead of making it a staged event; Sam floats the idea of moving the press room across the street; Leo wants Josh to apologize to a columnist on his behalf; Leo and Toby realize they need to start thinking about reelection.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos6

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Josh and Sam try to light a fire in a White House fireplace only to find that it is only decorative when they set the fire alarms off. In January 2009, life imitated art when the Obama administration's new Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter R. Orszag, tried to light a fire in a fireplace in his office that filled other office suites with smoke and set the fire alarms off.

Goofs
In the beginning of the episode, Sam and Josh build a fire in the Mural room fireplace. They find the the chimney has been sealed since the 1800's causing the room to fill with smoke causing the smoke alarms to go off. In season 1 in the episode where Mendoza is confirmed, everyone is watching the vote in the Mural room while a fire is burning in the same fireplace.

Quotes
Charlie Young: [Sam and Josh have just set off the smoke alarms in the West Wing] Mr. President, you know how you told me not to wake you up unless the building was on fire?

Connections
Featured in The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2001)

Soundtracks
West Wing Main Title
(uncredited)
Written by W.G. Snuffy Walden
Performed by Pete Anthony

User reviews1

Featured review

6/10

Very good, EXCEPT for guest star

Good complex stories intertwined masterfully by Sorkin, directed with usual greatness, and acted perfectly EXCEPT for Felicity Huffman. Ms Huffman has a relatively limited career on TV, and we see why. She seems stuck in 'stage' mode - acting for theatre audiences. Sorkin probably likes her, inasmuch as she was a lead in Sportnight, which was Sorkin's entreé into TV years earlier. Sportsnight was ahead of its time in several ways - it was remarkable, driven by powerful, breathtaking dialogue.

Sorkin's dialogue here in The West Wing is, of course, stunning and even more refined and subtle. Huffman's acting, however, is, as usual, just Huffman acting. She delivers her lines in a way that shows how much she prepared to deliver them. Everything is thoroughly practiced and delivered with stilted deliberation. She seems to have overlooked that her lines are part of conversations, not monologues. She doesn't have the sense of pace, and certainly lacks an ability to seem as though she is actually listening and this participating in a conversation.

She also seems excited to be 'here' - on The West Wing! It's like an electrical energy flowing beneath her words and smirks. And, it's distracting. She seems like an over-excited cast wannabe. I'm glad this is her only appearance.