Vote Santos!

On Election Day, 2010, President Matt Santos
converses with obscure Illinois senator

Today, Americans all around the country will, if the conventional wisdom proves correct, vote out Democrats en masse. Most will do this because they legitimately--if not misguidedly--believe that Republicans will do a better job. But far too many will do this because they're idiots (sorry, Jon Stewart, I tried) who, for whatever reason, don't think that advocating armed insurrection against the federal government shouldn't automatically be grounds for not holding office.

But that's in the real world. In The West Wing universe, things are probably going much, much better, which bodes well for President Santos to get reelected today, four years after he kicked Alan Alda's ass. After all, in the West Wing universe, there is no Iraq War. The economy is probably doing pretty good, since there was no George W. Bush to help fuck it up in the first place. The only thing people associate the phrase "tea party" with is a small, friendly gathering where tea is served. Or maybe that thing in Boston in 1773. But certainly not crazy people talking about dismantling Social Security and accusing politicians of being Hitler.

After The Simpsons, The West Wing is probably my favorite TV show of all time. And even though it would have been interesting to see the show continue with the Santos administration, it's probably best that it ended when it did. A reunion movie might be kind of cool, though. It'd give Aaron Sorkin one more shot at the characters, and other than Dule Hill, it's not like most of the actors have anything else going on. Jimmy Smits just had another TV show cancelled, Bradley Whitford's show is probably next, and poor Richard Schiff went from being on one of the most critically acclaimed TV series of all time, to one where he helped solve crimes committed by reincarnated souls. Or something. (Also cancelled.) And frankly, I'm guessing Martin Sheen could really use the distraction right now.

So it would be nice to see those characters again, and relatively speaking, probably wouldn't be too difficult to pull off.

Then I remembered that we already sort of know what happens to them after the series ends, because of that flash-forward scene in one of the episodes that's set in the future at the opening of Bartlet's presidential library. Most of the characters are present, and we find out that CJ and Danny got married, Will's a congressman, Toby's a professor, and so on. Then the current president shows up for the dedication ceremony, and we see only his feet as he gets out of the limo, and...cut to the opening credits.

Conspicuously absent in that scene is Leo, because by that point in the series, he was Santos's running mate, and I guess the writers didn't want to tip their hand as to whether Santos won or not by having the other characters awkwardly avoid referring to Leo by either his first name or "Mr. Vice President." Then, not long afterwards, John Spencer passed away and the writers had Leo die from a heart attack. (To make it even more tragic, it seemed like Leo was right on the verge of hooking up with Kristin Chenoweth. Which...you know. Way to go, Leo.)

But ever since The West Wing ended, I've always wondered: What would have happened if Leo had been in that scene? What if he'd just popped up at the end with Josh, or was standing off quietly to the side, thus not requiring any of the other characters to address him one way or the other?

Think about it. This would have resulted in probably the biggest headache in the history of television. If the show wasn't able to give John Spencer the respectable send-off he deserved because they were already locked into Leo still being alive a few years in the future, the writers would have been completely and totally screwed, and left with a very limited number of ways they could have proceeded.

Off the top of my head, I can only think of three options:

1) Retcon the scene

It's not like continuity was ever The West Wing's strong suit. Characters would disappear without any explanation. Certain details would change, depending on the needs of any given script. "Isaac and Ishmael," the episode where Sorkin took it upon himself to explain 9/11 to everyone, may not have even been canon. So it probably would have been really tempting for the producers to still go ahead and kill Leo off and simply tell the audience, "Yeah, that flash-foward we did a few weeks ago? In light of John Spencer's death, just ignore it, huh?"

This sort of thing happens in comic books all the time. If there's an old story that's inconvenient and conflicts with something an editor wants to do, all he has to do is declare that story never happened, and readers usually just accept it. (In a truly unnecessary step, DC even went so far as to codify this sort of thing in the context of its fictional universe.) But television viewers obviously don't give TV shows the same sort of latitude. They can't just un-remember something they saw happen. So in all likelihood, all this would have done is cause a lot of confusion and annoyed reactions.

2) Always have Leo be off-screen

This probably would have been the easiest to do: "Where's Leo?" "Oh, you just missed him." And for the shots where Leo and Santos absolutely had to be together, like during the victory celebration, they could have used a double and just filmed them from behind.

But obviously, that would have cheapened Spencer's death. And at a certain point, it would have just become awkward and uncomfortable for both the cast and the viewers.

3) Recast the role

This seems like it would have been both the most and least satisfying solution. On one hand, bringing in someone else would have allowed Leo to fully participate in the last few episodes of the season/series, and kept the flash-forward scene intact. On the other hand, I'm guessing no one would have really wanted to see this, and again, while the integrity of the story would have been maintained, it would have been Spencer who got the short end of the stick.

So there you have it. A huge clusterfuck avoided simply because someone on the show had the foresight to say, "You know, Leo probably shouldn't be in this scene."

Like everyone else in D.C., I'll be watching the returns tonight. If the Democrats somehow hold onto the House, I'll have it on Fox News so I can see lots of sputtering and unsubstantiated accusations of election fraud. (Drinking game suggestion: Have a shot every time someone uses the phrase "stole this election.") If the Republicans have a great night, I'll have it on Comedy Central, given that I'll need a good laugh. Regardless, though, I suspect I'll really be longing for The West Wing's version of America. If for no other reason than that Al Bundy is the vice president. How can you not want to live in that America?