Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: March 3, 2004
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: The West Wing, “Eppur Si Muove” (Season 5, Episode 16). [Stream the episode on Netflix.]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: The fifth season of The West Wing is much maligned, and for good reason. Aaron Sorkin had left the show at the end of season 4, and there was definitely a spark missing. Once the Zoey Bartlet kidnapping storyline played itself out and things moved into the easy villainy of the government-shutdown episodes, a lot of the magic was gone. Which isn’t to say that the season didn’t have its moments. The Glenn Close-starring episode “The Supremes” might be one of the show’s best. But other times, there were episodes that felt more strange than good.
I’m still not sure where on that spectrum I would put this episode, where Abbey Bartlet was tasked with a PR stunt involving the Muppets, and in particular Sesame Street. There were some fun comedy bits along the way — not surprising since the episode was written by Friends vet Alexa Junge — like when Debbie Fidderer (Lily Tomlin as the President’s executive secretary) engaged in a very serious conversation with the First Lady about how Kermit is the only crossover between Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.
But the main event was a visual gag, with the famously tall C.J. Cregg seated next to Big Bird. It was a thing of beauty.
[You can stream The West Wing‘s “Eppur Si Muove” on Netflix.]
