Yeah, people come up with their own explanation that Josh needed to find his own guy (and Leo and Josh do have some conversations that support this theory) but in reality it was just... Allison Janney was a bigger part of this show than C.J. would have been in the administration, and so she was the one to give it to. She has four Emmys, she'd become a household name. Plus, they likely knew they were going to spin Josh off on to the campaign trail, so it would have been silly to give the job to him, only for him to leave it a few episodes later. If Josh was out of the running because of the storyline they were planning, it only leaves C.J. and Toby (they acted like Will was a candidate, but c'mon, who are we kidding?) and Richard Schiff didn't have the star power. The main characters of The West Wing have always struck me as Jed, Josh, and C.J. Leo and Toby get a lot of focus, but it feels a lot more like Jed, Josh and C.J.'s stories, with Leo and Toby (and Sam and Will and Donna and Charlie and etc.) as strong supports.
But yeah, in reality, it would absolutely be Josh. And if not Josh, then they would have brought someone else new in. It wouldn't be C.J. because she doesn't have the experience, it wouldn't be Toby because of the fraught nature of his relationship with Jed, and it wouldn't be Will because he also probably doesn't have the experience and isn't a trusted enough part of the team. It'd be Josh or someone new. Only reasonable candidates.
Also she's not just any old press secretary. She had an active role in policy and foreign relations for 6 years.
I don't deny she's not any old press secretary. And I'd buy her promotion to Communications Director no problem. But jumping all the way to Chief of Staff is a big leap.
I personally have no trouble believing they might pass Josh up for the job, it's just C.J. getting it that seems iffy.
I would say that by that point, Josh was far too toxic. Republicans on the Hill already hated him and he had starting alienating the Democrats on the Hill with the defection of the Democratic Senator.
Eh, he redeemed himself pretty mightily with how he handled the Shutdown. I don't think that's the kind of thing that would tank his candidacy as Chief of Staff a year later, it seemed to be forgiven and forgotten.
That said, there definitely are concerns about how Josh would fare as a Chief of Staff. He's a very volatile guy, and he's better as an attack dog than a leader. He also had long established himself as the class clown of the Senior Staff, and while that's endearing and why we love Josh it probably does serve to make him seem a little less substantial. Season 7 did go a long way to showing him mature into more of a Leo figure though. But he maybe wasn't there in early Season 6.
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Dilbert_27
8 years ago
Actually my thought has always been that they all have "Star Power" the whole cast and a majority of the walk on, one shot guests were very good at their trade.. Just my two cents.
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TorontoJediMaster
8 years ago
I agree with Glozone. Josh was really more of the attack dog who was always looking for the political angle. In the episode where Bartlett temporarily steps aside and allows the Republican Speaker of the House to take over, it's only Josh who worries about the GOP taking advantage of that. (Everyone else on the senior staff is more concerned about Zoe being recovered safely.)
In the men's room, one of the Republicans (I forget if he was a Congressman or one of Walken's staffers) tells Josh outright that they -the Republicans- respect Bartlett immensely for what he's done. He's cut the terrorists' plans off at the pass and actually given power over to his opposition -something they never would've figured on. He tells Josh that if they -the GOP- tried to take political advantage of this, they'd -rightly- be crucified. He sums up by saying that anyone who would even dream they'd try something like that would have to have a very venal view of politics.
CJ was a better choice because she was a far calmer person able to see the big picture and remain in control. Both her and Leo realized that sometimes political expediency had to be sacrificed for the national interest. That's something Josh really couldn't see.
What's more CJ is better at dealing with people than Josh is. He's far too liable to fly off the handle, especially when stressed.
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Glozone
8 years ago
Actually my thought has always been that they all have "Star Power" the whole cast and a majority of the walk on, one shot guests were very good at their trade.. Just my two cents.
Oh, I don't disagree that they're all very talented. Has nothing to do with talent. Rob Lowe has more star power than anyone on the cast but Martin Sheen, but I don't for a moment think he's a better actor than Brad, Allison, Richard or John. Sometimes star power has nothing to do with talent. Look at someone like Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, mediocre actors at best, and two of the most quintessential "movie stars" of the past 20 years.
Allison Janney won an unheard of amount of Emmys for the role, and had become one of the faces of the show. I didn't start watching the show until Season 6 and I had heard of Allison Janney and her character C.J., but not Richard Schiff and Toby. I think those kinds of things factor into decisions like this. The promotion to Chief of Staff gave her a far bigger role in Season 6 than Toby had, and if they really had the two of them to choose from, I think they'd be inclined to give it to Allison.
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pantsonparade1
8 years ago
I don't deny she's not any old press secretary. And I'd buy her promotion to Communications Director no problem. But jumping all the way to Chief of Staff is a big leap.
I personally have no trouble believing they might pass Josh up for the job, it's just C.J. getting it that seems iffy.
Especially since they didn't even trust C.J. with information she needed for her job in the first few seasons.
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