Was struck at the end by how much emotional caretaking the women on this show do, especially in the last season -- as the pressures of the job / campaign get more intense, we see a *lot* of almost all the women going out of their way to take care of the men's emotional (and physical / health) needs. (To the extent of both Donna and Helen Santos pretty blatantly throwing their men some sex in order to de-stress them.) Even Josh's ex-girlfriend is concerned enough about his sex life to try to set him up with someone.
And it's not that the men don't need / deserve emotional caretaking (they are, in fact, rather desperately in need of it, because they're incredibly dysfunctional workaholics for the most part, driving themselves into early graves), but it's almost entirely a one-way street. We see very little of the pressures on the women, or of the men trying to take emotional care of them. Thank GOD for C.J. Cregg and Danny Concannon.
I am watching West Wing for the first time, now somewhere in the middle of Season 2. I’m really appreciating it, and your comments will illuminate it as I go farther along. (I’ve heard there are not just some weak episodes, but some weak seasons, which I find entirely plausible.)