Galileo (The West Wing)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Galileo
Series = The West Wing


^{Martin Sheen as Bartlet, "left", and Allison Janney as C.J.
Caption =
Season = 2
Episode = 31
Airdate = November 292000
Production = 226209
Writer = Kevin Falls and Aaron Sorkin
Director = Alex Graves
Guests = Allison Smith
Troy Ruptash
John Carroll Lynch
Charlotte Cornwell
Colm Feore
Kathryn Joosten
NiCole Robinson
Episode list = List of "The West Wing" episodes
Season list = Infobox The West Wing season 2 episode list
Prev =
Next =}"Galileo" is the 31st episode of "The West Wing".

Plot

The President is excited about the chance to watch images from an unmanned spacecraft's voyage to Mars with school children across the country, and challenges the staff to come up with a bigger idea for the day's event. Although the event is somewhat truncated by a technical fiasco, C.J. finally has an idea that the President embraces. President Bartlet and Leo face a terrestrial problem when a fire erupts at a Russian missile silo, and they quickly are enraged by the Russian Ambassador's untruthful approach, then are horrified when they learn why the fire started, and finally sympathetic to Russia's myriad problems. C.J. has to do damage control when a interview saying the President doesn't like green beans pops out in Oregon, a state that produces a lot of said beans. She also is reluctant to attend a Kennedy Center event for an Icelandic orchestral group because she just promoted an in-house assistant to Deputy Press Secretary and many people she rejected for the post--including a State Department spokesman whom she used to date--are going to be at the concert. Toby forces Josh to deal with a tricky issue of stamp-issuing on a case of a war hero who advocates statehood for Puerto Rico, so Josh makes Donna deal with it. Sam runs in Mallory, daughter of Leo, at the concert.

Notes

*President Clinton allowed the production use of the presidential box at the Kennedy Center.
* The comment about the president not liking green beans is similar to a public comment by President George H. W. Bush saying he does not like Broccoli. Infuriated broccoli farmers sent several tons of broccoli to him as a result.

Trivia

A very rare slip from Aaron Sorkin and his writing team occurs in the dialogue of this episode. Leo is talking to President Bartlet about the Icelandic Ambassador named "Vigdis Olafsdottir". McGarry then goes on to say that "…"he" is looking forward to meeting you." In Iceland, Vigdis is a female first name. And unlike other Scandinavian countries, Iceland still follows its traditional naming system in which the letters "-dottir" at the end of one's surname can only mean that she is female.

During a briefing about the "oil refinery" fire, Leo asks "That's in the Oblast region?". An Oblast is a type of administrative division, and not the name of a particular region.

External links

* [http://epguides.com/WestWing/ The West Wing Episode Guide]