The West Wing Season 6 (2004-5)

Bartlet tries to broker peace between Palestine and Israel - good luck with that - and fires Leo, who disagrees with the strategy - then he has a heart attack. In a surprise plot twist it's CJ who becomes the new Chief of Staff.

We also get a new diminutive press assistant played by Kristin Chenoweth.

I miss Sam, who's never mentioned, though Leo comes back, part-time.

Josh maddeningly just will not engage with Donna - so she quits and goes to work for Will, who's supporting the VP. Josh quits, to back a Texan congressman (Jimmy Smits). Bartlet is paralysed through a Chinese state visit. Alan Alda plays tough.

Bradley Whitford wrote a couple of episodes.

Great line: "It's like working our way round town holding a sick chicken."
And - "Slow down - I'll lend you some punctuation."

Good episode '365' in which Leo points out they haven't much time left to do amazing things. Then we follow the three contenders with their 5.45 wake-up calls.

Ways and Means - committee responsible for managing the budgets and finding ways to pay for everything.
Primaries - elections in which voters decide on political contestants ahead of a general election.

Focus then very much on the contestants and Alan Alda as Republican front runner. Which is a little disappointing, in a way, because we don't get as much Donna / Charlie/ President as we'd like.

John Spencer

Dulé Hill

Mary McCormack, Allison Janney