In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I

Act 1

Leo: I heard your dad was in the hospital again.

Josh: Yeah, they think they got it all this time.

Leo: Is he taking it easy?

Josh: No. He goes to the office at 7 every morning, comes home at 8 every night. On the weekends he cleans the gutters and yells at the squirrels.

Leo: Why does he yell at the squirrels?

Josh: 'Cause they eat the seeds out of the bird feeder.

Leo: You know, they make a thing now…

Josh: He knows, but he prefers to admonish them.

Thing = squirrel deterrent device
Act 2

Josh: Listen, I gotta go. I should let you…

Sam: I've got to get back to this thing.

Josh: It's good seeing you again.

Sam: It's good seeing you too. I miss you.

Thing = meeting with Kensington Oil
Posted by Ryo at 05:21 PM

In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II

Act 1

Sam: Actually, I have a thing. I have a thing I was going to mention. Just a proposal to throw out there. When I was a Congressional aide we had an expression: “No idea is too stupid to say out loud.” So here it is, and bear me out: instead of buying these ships, don't buy these ships. Buy other ships. Buy better ships.

Thing = suggestion (to buy a more expensive but safer ship than the bargain priced single-hulled VLCC that Kensington wants to close the deal on)
Posted by Ryo at 05:23 PM

The Midterms

Act 4

Bartlet: Toby, go with us to the radio thing.

Toby: Oh, God. Really, sir?

Bartlet: There'll be crab puffs.

Thing = reception
Posted by Ryo at 05:24 PM

And It's Surely to Their Credit

Teaser

Donna: Stay here for a second.

Sam: Why?

Donna: I'm gonna do my thing.

Sam: I've seen it.

Donna: Yeah, but I'm adding a joke.

Thing = welcome speech to the audience for the President's Saturday morning radio address
Act 2

Donna: Did you know leaf-peeping was a thing?

Josh: Leaf-peeping?

Thing = activity people engage in during the fall season
Posted by Ryo at 05:28 PM

The Portland Trip

Act 4

Josh: I'm going to tell him to sign the damn thing.

Toby: Okay.

Josh: How's his mood?

Toby: He's frustrated, he's feeling…

Josh: You know, when he goes off on a thing, Toby, he expects you to bring him in.

Thing 1= Marriage Recognition Act Thing 2 = tirade
Posted by Ryo at 05:30 PM

Shibboleth

Teaser

Sam: Well over three and a half centuries ago, strengthened by faith, bound by a common desire for liberty, a small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the new world where they could worship according to their own beliefs…and solve crimes.

Toby: Sam…

Sam: It'd be good.

Toby: Read the thing.

Sam: By day they churned butter and worshiped according to their own beliefs, and by night they solved crimes.

Toby: Read the thing.

Sam: Pilgrim detectives.

Thing = draft of the President's Thanksgiving proclamation
Act 1

Josh: They're seeking religious asylum.

Bartlet: You're kidding me.

Josh: The Christian community's going to scream that they've got to stay, China's going to say send them back, INS is going to say the law's the law. This is a whole new thing.

Thing = situation (Chinese stowaways have announced that they are requesting religious asylum)
Act 4

Bartlet: I'm still waiting for the thing.

Sam: Right here.

Thing = copy of the Thanksgiving proclamation
Posted by Ryo at 05:34 PM

Galileo

Act 1

Toby: The Milwaukee Journal is quoting an unnamed White House source as saying the President doesn't like green beans.

Josh: That's a pretty slow news day in Milwaukee.

Toby: Josh…

Josh: Ah, It's not going to be a thing.

Thing = public relations problem
Act 4

Toby: Anyway, they're hypothesizing that the thing came down at an odd angle and that its position might be preventing the antenna from establishing a downlink.

Thing = Galileo 5

Sam: They've got a lot of tests they can still try.

Mallory: How much money is it going to cost to try them?

Sam: Don't start with me.

Mallory: I'm asking as a taxpayer. It cost 165 million dollars to lose the thing. How much more money is it going to cost to make sure you never find it?

Thing = Galileo 5
Posted by Ryo at 05:36 PM

Noel

Act 3

Josh: Stanley, I got home from the thing, I made a drink. I sat down, I pushed the magazine aside to use as a coaster, I missed the coaster.

Thing = Congressional Christmas Party
Act 4

Josh: I don't need the emergency room.

Leo: Come on, it could be infected. You could have a thing.

Josh: What thing?

Leo: How the hell do I know?

Thing = complication arising from inadequate cleansing/bandaging of the wound
Posted by Ryo at 05:39 PM

The Leadership Breakfast

Teaser

Donna: Where did you get the wood?

Josh: It was sitting in the…thing.

Donna: I think that was meant to be decorative!

Thing = log holder

Donna: CJ…

CJ: Don't give me a thing.

Donna: I'm just a messenger, but I think he's saying we don't snub Jancowitz…

CJ: 'Cause of the thing.

Thing 1 = message from Josh regarding the need for changes in the seating arrangement at the Leadership Breakfast Thing 2 = unspecified political program that is important to the administration and that Jancowitz plays an important part in, hence the need to make sure he doesn't feel snubbed
Posted by Ryo at 05:41 PM

The Drop-In

Act 1

Sam: “The time for such debate is over. As of today, it shall be the unequivocal position of the United States government that global warming constitutes a clear and present danger to the health and future well-being of this planet and all its inhabitants.” Did somebody get that?

Ginger: Yes.

Sam: I didn't see anyone writing.

Bonnie: You already wrote it.

Sam: I just added a thing.

Ginger: We got it.

Sam: I just added “The time for debate is over.”

Ginger: We got it.

Thing = sentence
Act 3

Bartlet: Listen, I gotta go a few blocks across town and give an address on global warming and the future of our planet. That's not something you're interested in, right?

Lord Marbury: Oh good God, no.

Bartlet: Okay. Well, stay here and fight with Leo about something; we'll get you some dinner. I'll be back in an hour, we'll do your thing and then enjoy the reception.

Lord Marbury: Excellent.

Thing = ceremony recognizing Marbury as the new British Ambassador to the United States
Posted by Ryo at 05:47 PM

The War at Home

Act 2

Sam: Is he coming?

Leo: He's stopping in on his way from the thing.

Thing = unspecified meeting
Act 4

Bartlet: It was an ambush. A guy with a shoulder thing shot down a Blackhawk. Everybody's dead.

Thing = surface-to-air rocket launcher
Posted by Ryo at 05:49 PM

Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail

Act 1

Josh: So now you have two choices - meeting with an unruly mob or meeting with lunatic mapmakers.

Toby: Or getting paid a lot more money working almost anywhere else I want.

Leo: Seriously, Toby, there'll be security there.

Toby: What about press?

CJ: Just wires.

Toby: No, I mean TV.

CJ: No cameras.

Toby: You negotiated that?

CJ: Yeah.

Toby: They agreed to it?

CJ: You want to make out with me right now, don't you?

Toby: Well, when don't I? Give me the thing.

Thing = folder with the paperwork in it for his Big Block of Cheese Day assignment
Posted by Ryo at 05:52 PM

The Stackhouse Filibuster

Act 4

Bartlet: I made a deal with Abbey…cause of my thing.

Leo: One term.

Bartlet: My thing, by the way, is the reason that Hoynes stepped up on oil.

Thing = MS diagnosis
Posted by Ryo at 05:53 PM

17 People

Act 1

Josh: Sam and I are gonna punch up the thing for tomorrow. Hey, we need funny people.

Donna: Yeah?

Josh: You know any? See, right there was a joke. It's the oldest joke in the book.

Donna: I'll say…You want help with the thing?

Thing = speech for the Correspondents' Dinner
Act 3

Josh: Why are we talking about the ERA?

Sam: She's doing a thing.

Josh: Yeah, but it's not back or anything, right?

Sam: Certainly not if Phyllis Schlafly over here has her way.

Ainsley: Look, I'm a low maintenance lady. I've got the 14th amendment; I'm fine.

Thing = panel at Smith College on resurrecting the ERA

Sam: We're doing fine. Toby's going to come in and nail it. This is his thing.

Thing = forte
Act 4

Sam: Where's Josh?

Donna: You sent him to get the thing.

Sam: For how long? I've had time to spill coffee, you know, a lot.

Donna: I'll find him.

Thing = copy of a past speech that might have some usable jokes
Posted by Ryo at 05:57 PM

The Fall's Gonna Kill You

Act 1

Leo: Toby, you want to talk about when we tell Sam?

Toby: I wouldn't do it right now.

Leo: Why?

Toby: His head is in the SME speech for Chicago…

Josh: The thing…

Toby: Hang on. His head is in Chicago and that's where we need it. Would you want to write the speech with this other thing around your neck?

Josh: No.

Leo: The President wants him to know by the end of the day.

Thing = Bartlet's MS diagnosis

Donna: This giant thing is falling to earth. They're watching it on radar. Isn't there something we do?

Josh: Like what?

Donna: Like sound the alarm. I don't know.

Josh: Sound the alarm?

Donna: There is no alarm.

Josh: There's really not.

Thing = Chinese satellite
Posted by Ryo at 06:00 PM

18th & Potomac

Act 4

Sam: Leo, I want to state right here, right now, in terms so plain and clear as to command their assent…

Leo: We're having a meeting tonight.

Sam: The whole country's going to assume he's not running when he announces the thing.

Leo: We're having a meeting.

Sam: The press is going to assume…

Leo: We're having a meeting!

Thing = MS diagnosis
Posted by Ryo at 06:02 PM