Those of us who enjoy The West Wing - particularly those of us who enjoy it to the perhaps unhealthy point of creating a blog covering each and every episode - have our own levels of commitment to the world of the series. Is it to the point of "Let's list our ten favorite episodes. Let's list our least favorite episodes. Let's list our favorite galaxies. Let's make a chart to see how often our favorite galaxies appear in our favorite episodes"? Well, I hope you don't think so ... I mean, it did take me eight years to finally finish writing about 156 episodes, so it's not like I was obsessed ... but I do admit, I have a particularly strong affinity to the show and all of the details around it.
Which brings me to this. While watching the original broadcast series back in the early days of the 21st century, it felt like the events we watched were happening right now, as we were seeing them. There's a reason for that - Aaron Sorkin and the writing team had created a vibrant, timely, event-filled world that felt immediate. It was of its time. And the setting of those episodes, was, indeed, almost exactly in the time at which we were watching it. So that made me think, what if we drill down to the calendar-related facts we see and hear onscreen to find out when, exactly, were the events of The West Wing happening?
Of course, this is a fictional world. These events didn't actually happen. But I personally find it kind of fascinating to take a look at where in time Sorkin and the later writers placed this show, and how by making it seem like "now," it raised the stakes for us, the viewers, and made those events much more immediate in our minds. And also, I find it interesting to see where the cracks appear in that timeline, where they made mistakes or omissions or just changed things around to make a better story.
So let's take a look, shall we? I've reviewed as many of the transcripts I could find online, along with any timeline-related notes I had in my blog entries, and I've put together a pretty darn comprehensive take on the timeline of The West Wing. It turns out that for the first five seasons, the episodes aired pretty close to the time they were actually set: debuting in the fall of 1999 and continuing through the spring and summer of 2004, most of the episodes in the first five seasons were broadcast right about when the events of those episodes were set. There were a few exceptions, which I will get to, but by and large the series starts with events in fall of 1999 (as Pilot aired September 22, 1999) and continues on a steady timeline through May or June of 2004 (Memorial Day was set on Memorial Day [duh] of 2004, and aired May 19 of that year).
I can pinpoint exactly where things get truly wonky. In Liftoff, the fourth episode of Season 6 airing on November 10, 2004, a Democratic Party staffer says to Josh, "Thanks and adulations for all your help at the midterms last year, you guys were fantastic." This episode is in a direct connected timeline to the events of Gaza and Memorial Day from the season before, which happened in spring 2004; at this point Donna is still recovering from her injuries suffered that May, it's just 36 hours after Leo's heart surgery after his collapse at Camp David, which happened just days or weeks after those episodes ... and now we're told the 2004 midterm elections were "last year." That's the infamous "time jump" West Wing fans talk about.
In order to advance the timeline to get the Presidential campaign of 2006 under way, the writers just skipped basically an entire year. The year advances instantaneously from 2004 to 2005, even though the characters are still locked into the consequences of the events we'd seen happening in spring and summer 2004. It's weird, but they needed to jump a year somehow, so they tried doing it in a way viewers wouldn't notice as much. (Of course, beating the viewers over the head with a half-dozen references to being around for "seven years" in the next episode helped hammer home the concept.)
There are other nagging little issues later in Season 6 into Season 7, but I'll get into that. Let's just take a look at the timeline in a general sense first.
Sticking To The calendar: Seasons 1-5
In general, the first five seasons were set pretty much exactly when they aired on those Wednesday nights on NBC, with a few exceptions. Thanksgiving episodes aired in November, Christmas episodes in December, State of the Union episodes in January or February, election episodes around actual elections ... you get the picture.
When does it all start? Pilot is set in the fall of 1999. Donna says she's been working for Josh for "a year and a half." We find out later Donna first showed up in Josh's New Hampshire campaign office in February 1998 (then left, to return for good in April). A year and a half from those two months place us somewhere between August and October - and Pilot aired in late September 1999.
The first clearly definitive signpost we get comes in In Excelsis Deo, broadcast December 15, 1999. We see the dates of Thursday, December 23 and Friday, December 24 onscreen, which match the actual calendar from December 1999. Given the discussion of the upcoming millennium, that also confirms that it's 1999. He Shall, From Time To Time ... aired January 12, 2000, a typical time frame for the State of the Union address. What Kind Of Day Has It Been (airing May 17, 2000) refers to NCAA softball, which ends in mid May, and is confirmed as being May in 17 People.
Season 2's two-parter debut happens on the heels of the events at the end of Season 1, so it's still May of 2000. The Midterms is one of those exceptions I said I'd talk about, and I'll get into that. There's also no way all the events depicted between In This White House and Shibboleth can actually happen in the 16 days between the elections of The Midterms and Thanksgiving - but I'll talk about that more, too.
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The Midterms Mess
The third episode of Season 2, The Midterms, resets everything we know about when the events of What Kind Of Day Has It Been and In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen happened. Aaron Sorkin did this for story reasons, I believe, to make the aftereffects of the shooting have a direct impact on the elections in November, but it just doesn't make logical sense.
First off, the events at the close of Season 1/debut of Season 2 had to have happened in May, 2000. The arc of Season 1 episodes, as we have seen, followed the actual calendar and, perhaps more definitely, President Bartlet insists on getting back to the White House from Rosslyn to watch NCAA softball - a sport which has a regular season that ends in early May. The Midterms tells us in the first post-cold-open scene that it's August 14, and somehow just a few days before that Josh was still in the hospital recovering from his gunshot surgery. That same day, August 14, CJ says, "A week ago the job approval's at 51, we get shot it's at 81." So somehow, this episode is telling us the shooting in Rosslyn now occurred in early August.
On election day in November, we hear President Bartlet say he's been considering sending the FBI after West Virginia White Pride for 12 weeks, and Josh (still recovering at home, not at work) saying "Everybody should have to stay inside for three months so that they truly appreciate the outdoors." Again, these remarks place the shooting and Josh's surgery in August, three months before the election.
As I said, this all seems to be purely for dramatic reasons, to make the connection between the assassination attempt and the midterm elections more direct - but it's simply wrong in the timeline of this universe. In fact, this August shooting revisionism is reversed itself later on in Season 2, in 17 People, when Toby explodes over the failure to follow proper Presidential succession procedures that night, yelling at the President, "He didn't last May when you were under general anesthesia!"
So The Midterms is a bizarre blip in the timeline.
The Ballad Of Ainsley Hayes
Immediately following The Midterms, we get the introduction of Ainsley Hayes and several episodes that involve her in the world of The West Wing. These are good episodes, Ainsley is a terrific character, I love the arc that develops ... but they simply cannot fit into the calendar as the series tries to present it.
First of all, these episodes have to be after the election on November 7, 2000. We already have seen Josh was still recuperating at home in The Midterms, but now Josh is back in his office by the time of In This White House, so that has to take place after the elections. That's all fine, but that also means we must be in that 16-day, two-week period between Election Day and Thanksgiving, which is portrayed in the upcoming Shibboleth - can we fit the events of four episodes in there?
No. No, we can't.
In This White House covers an entire week, from Sam appearing on Capital Beat on a Monday night to the Saturday morning when President Bartlet gets word of President Nimbala's assassination in Equatorial Kundu. Since Josh is back at work, according to The Midterms this would have to be the week after Election Day, so Monday, November 13 through Saturday, November 18.
And It's Surely To Their Credit is a Friday and Saturday, at least a week after Ainsley's hiring in In This White House - so Friday, November 24 and Saturday, November 25 at the earliest. Which would be after Thanksgiving, by the way, the events of which we see in Shibboleth which is still three episodes away.
The Lame Duck Congress follows, which has its own issues with timelines (if Senator Marino is going to be in office for 10 weeks yet from this episode, that would mean this is before the actual election). Ainsley is definitely working at the White House, and it's after she got her office in And It's Surely To Their Credit, so it has to be after November 25.
And then there's The Portland Trip, which is a Friday night. With Ainsley working at the White House and settled into her office she first received in And It's Surely To Their Credit, this has to mean December 1, but again ... the series isn't to Thanksgiving yet.
Anyway, we are given events that have to cover at least three weeks after Election Day, yet we're told those events happen before Thanksgiving (which was only 16 days after Election Day). It simply does not work with the calendar. The only way to make this work is to ignore The Midterms completely, as if it were some sort of Josh-post-surgery-fever-dream. In that universe, In This White House is set Monday, October 30 through Saturday, November 4; And It's Surely To Their Credit is Friday and Saturday, November 10 and 11; The Lame Duck Congress is sometime the week of November 12 (which then almost fits Senator Marino's 10-week comment); and The Portland Trip is Friday, November 17.
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As Season 2 continues we get an episode covering the week leading up to Thanksgiving that was broadcast the day before actual Thanksgiving, 2000; another Christmas episode set on Christmas Eve that aired on December 20, 2000; and the State of the Union two-parter broadcast in early February, clearly set in February and at the time you'd expect a State of the Union address. 17 People confirms we're in 2001 (Toby expressly refers to the upcoming 2002 Presidential election), and the series finale flat-out tells us it's May (broadcast on May 16, 2001).
For Season 3, we ignore Isaac And Ishmael for timeline purposes, as it's defined as a non-canon episode. The two-part season debut of Manchester is set in June 2001, then we move to October for Ways And Means and the season continues as the previous ones did: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and SOTU episodes in the right places, plus a New Hampshire primary set in early February. A definitive confirmation of the date and year comes in Enemies Foreign And Domestic (airing May 1, 2002) that shows us CJ's emails from the day before dated 04-30-02. I mean, you can't get more exact with the actual calendar than that. And this locks in the timeline of The West Wing at this point from the Presidential election of November 1998, Season 1 from fall 1999 to May 2000, Season 2 from August (or maybe October) 2000 to May 2001, and Season 3 from June 2001 to May 2002.
Season 4 has a few wobbles. There's an episode set at the beginning of the Supreme Court term in early October, which is correct; the election episode and the Christmas episode are in the appropriate places. As we move into 2003, things get a bit off track. CJ's high school reunion is in February (she mentions the month while fishing with her dad), which is a weird time for a high school reunion in the first place, but that also was broadcast before the inauguration episodes, which would have to be, of course, January 20. The California 47th special election doesn't seem placed quite right (although we can fix that if we take Toby's comment of it being "February" as a misstatement), and the spring equinox in Evidence Of Things Not Seen airs a month late, but by Zoey's Georgetown graduation on May 10 we are back to the actual calendar once again (even if Josh and Charlie both say it's "May 7" just because the episode aired on May 7).
Then comes the post-Sorkin seasons starting with Season 5. The new writing team tries to do some different things character-wise and plot-wise; mostly unsuccessful things, I think many viewers would agree, but the John Wells-led writing room took a while to find its footing and its voice. The season also partially unhooked itself from the actual calendar for the first time, at least in the early episodes.
The first two episodes of the season wrap up the cliffhanger of Zoey's kidnapping and President Bartlet's stepping aside at the end of Season 4, so they occur in the spring. Okay, that's not unusual ... but then we get our one-and-only episode set on the Fourth of July (Jefferson Lives, airing October 8, 2003) and Disaster Relief, with a devastating tornado in Oklahoma, aired in November, which is well past tornado season in the Midwest. We do get back on track to the actual calendar with a Christmas episode in December and another SOTU episode in January; and by the end of the season we know exactly where we are, Memorial Day, May 31, 2004, with President Bartlet throwing out the first pitch at an Orioles game after the fatal roadside bombing in Gaza the day before.
The entirety of Seasons 1-5, with a few exceptions, sticks very closely to the actual calendar of when the episodes were broadcast. As we've seen, Christmas episodes aired in December 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003; Thanksgiving episodes were seen the day before Thanksgiving in 2000 and 2001; election episodes came in the fall of 2000 and 2002 with an inauguration two-parter in January 2003; SOTU episodes came in January or February of 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004. We are locked into the yearly calendar by confirmations of 1999 in In Excelsis Deo, 2001 in 17 People, and 2002 in Enemies Foreign And Domestic, not to mention the election calendar of 2000, 2002, and the inauguration in 2003. So there's no doubt The West Wing universe matches the timeline of our own.
That doesn't continue.
The Time-Skip: Season 6
Season 6 begins not long after Season 5 ends. Donna - injured in the roadside blast in Gaza that happened Sunday, May 30, 2004 - has her emergency surgery in Germany and comes out of anesthesia as we start, with the Camp David summit getting underway. We see President Bartlet ordering the strike on the terrorist camps in Syria as the summit begins, a strike that Leo wanted at the end of Season 5. It's only a matter of days or weeks following Memorial Day 2004.
The Camp David summit lasts five days, with Friday seen on day three, so the wrapup of the summit, the agreement on peacekeepers, Leo's heart attack in the woods, and the Rose Garden announcement with Zahavy and Farad must have been on a Sunday - likely sometime in mid- to late-June 2004.
Our time skip comes in the fourth episode, Liftoff. CJ has been named Chief of Staff, to replace the ailing Leo, still in the hospital. Donna is back at work, but still using a wheelchair after her leg surgery, which was in late May, 2004. It's clearly stated it's been 36 hours since Leo's surgery - which, again, happened on a Sunday in June 2004. Yet a Democratic Party staffer says to Josh, "Thanks and adulations for all your help at the midterms last year."
Since we know for a fact The West Wing universe has Presidential elections in 1998, 2002, and 2006, and our previous round of midterm elections were set in 2000, these midterms had to have been in November 2004. But that means - according to the timeline clearly set over the first five seasons and beginning of Season 6 - that wouldn't have happened yet. Somehow we have been teleported a year ahead, to 2005, even though our characters are still acting as if the events of spring 2004 just happened.
There was a reason to jump a year, of course. The producers wanted to get to the 2006 Presidential campaign in a hurry, instead of putting things off, coming up with a season of Year Six of the Bartlet administration with 22 more episodes like The Hubbert Peak or Eppur si Muove, and crossing their fingers that a Season 8 would be greenlit by NBC. Matt Santos was introduced in Liftoff, if you remember, so the groundwork for that campaign storyline was in the works. So I get it. But it's just weird to discover the year jumped ahead while the characters didn't seem to notice.
The rest of Season 6, at least up to the last few episodes, again sticks pretty close to the calendar of when the episodes air (just a year ahead of time). The Dover Test and A Change Is Gonna Come are set in October and November, and were broadcast November 24 and December 1. Impact Winter (aired December 15, 2004) sees Christmas decorations at the White House. 365 Days plants us firmly at January 20, 2006 (365 days left in the Bartlet administration), and it was seen on January 19, 2005, almost exactly a year behind the show's calendar - as with CJ's emails in Enemies Foreign And Domestic, you can't get much more definite than that. The primary/caucus campaign episodes of Opposition Research, King Corn, and Freedonia are broadcast early in 2005, about the time those election contests would have occurred in 2006. Even the following campaign episodes covering Super Tuesday and the Florida primary are broadcast not too far off the dates in 2005 that would match those events in 2006.
But then we have to hurry things up even more.
The Compressed Campaign: Seasons 6 and 7
The last three episodes of Season 6 (broadcast in March and April of 2005) rush us ahead into the summer of 2006, getting us to the Republican and Democratic national conventions (which are usually somewhere from late July to early September). That's okay, we have to advance things so the series can wrap up in spring 2006 with the inauguration in January 2007, but did they have to do such a clumsy job of it?
Let me 'splain. In Things Fall Apart, during the week of the Republican National Convention, we see Leo's whiteboard with the number "178," indicating 178 days remaining until January 20. That puts us at July 26, 2006, which would make sense. That'd place the Democratic National Convention of 2162 Votes the following week, July 31 through August 2. Good, no problem.
By the beginning of Season 7, in The Ticket, we start getting onscreen captions counting down the days to the election ... and The Ticket, which is supposed to be four days after the Democratic convention (or August 7 by Leo's whiteboard), has a caption reading "105 Days Until Election Day." Which would be July 25. Before Leo's "178" days remaining in Things Fall Apart.
So for a while we have two separate timelines running, depending on whether you go with Leo's whiteboard or what the onscreen dates tell us. Initially, I was insistent on going with Leo (he wouldn't have screwed up his countdown that badly!), but upon further review, I think by and large the series is trying to tell us the onscreen countdown is giving us the dates we should go by (including the actual date we're told Greg Brock's story on the secret military shuttle ran, July 14, which was well before the trouble even began on the ISS going by Leo's whiteboard). That's fine, again, but it does move the party conventions a couple of weeks earlier in the summer than they typically happen. And, then, apparently we are supposed to disregard that clearly visible "178" Leo had on his whiteboard in the summer of 2006.
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| I mean, it's right there, "178." We're just supposed to think Leo accidentally put that up there instead of the "192" it actually was? |
Here's a quick rundown of how they differ:
Things Fall Apart - Onscreen date week of July 10-13; Leo date week of July 24-27
2162 Votes - Onscreen date week of July 17-20; Leo date week of July 31-August 2
The Ticket - Onscreen date Tuesday July 25; Leo date Monday August 7
The Mommy Problem - Onscreen dates July 29 and 30; Leo dates August 11 and 12
Message Of The Week - Onscreen date week of August 7-10; Leo date week of August 14-17
Mr. Frost finally brings the timelines together, sort of, with the onscreen countdown of 82 days before the election placing us at August 17, 2006. On the other hand, it's clearly stated that it's a Friday, and August 17 was a Thursday ...
From that point on we are kind of on track episode-wise, although still unmoored from the actual real-life calendar, of course. Here Today immediately follows Mr. Frost; The Al Smith Dinner is in early September 63 days before the election; Undecideds is mid-September, 52 days before the election. Ellie's wedding happens about six weeks before the election, in late September. The next definitive signpost we get comes in an episode broadcast in the spring of 2006, The Cold, set 21 days before the election (October 17). Two Weeks Out is, of course, two weeks out from the election (October 24) and Welcome To Wherever You Are is on Halloween, October 31, one week before Election Day (although onscreen we're told it's Thursday and five days before the election, which doesn't fit the calendar at all).
The Election Day two-parter that was broadcast in early April, 2006, is, naturally, on election day (and the early morning following), which was November 7 and 8, 2006. Requiem comes three days after the election, on November 10. The next three episodes cover November, December, and early January, and we finish, of course, with Tomorrow - set on the very certain date of the 2007 inaugural which would be January 20, 2007 (and January 20 is indeed confirmed as inauguration day in Season 4 of The West Wing universe, just like our own).
So there we are. The absolute definitive, comprehensive, exhaustive look at the timeline of The West Wing - how it matches with the calendar, the obvious mismatches, the contradictions, and the confirmations. Five seasons set very closely with when the episodes were first seen, followed by skipping a year without the characters noticing, then a final compressed season to get us through the start of a new administration. Hopefully folks can use this to settle disagreements or even bar fights over what happened when in The West Wing (Martin Sheen can hold his own wearing a presidential jacket in a bar fight, we saw that in Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping).
Now, if you want an even more definitive look at exactly where each and every episode fits - read on. Otherwise, thanks for stopping by! I appreciate it!
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Episode by Episode: Season 1
The only timeline-setting information we get here is Donna's remark that she's worked for Josh for "a year and half," when she joined the campaign. We will later discover (In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen) that she first showed up in New Hampshire just before the Bartlet staff decided to skip his home state and move on to South Carolina. Donna confirms that as February in 17 People. We also learned in 17 People that she left the campaign shortly after that to go back to her boyfriend in Wisconsin, but then came back to the campaign to stay in April of 1998. Rounding off "a year and a half" puts us somewhere between August and October - and this episode aired in late September. Pretty spot on.
Sam says he slept with Laurie "about a week ago," so this episode is about a week after Pilot. So still the fall of 1999.
This episode begins 72 hours after the military medical transport was shot down over Syria, at the end of the previous episode, and ends the next day - so a week and a half after Pilot. There's a college football pool mentioned, and the college football season runs from the beginning of September into late November.
There's nothing definitive in the script about the setting of this episode. The Washington, DC, location scenes (Josh and Rep. Katzenmoyer, Leo and Rep. Richardson) appear to be warm and sunny with green leaves on the trees, and we know we're in the fall. That's about it.
An upcoming press conference is expected to have questions over the just-passed gun control bill from Five Votes Down so it's not long after that episode.
The "Big Block Of Cheese" day is referred to as happening the first of each month; would that be the first of November? (They also say they've only done it "twice in 12 months," but the administration would have only been in office 10 1/2 months by the first of November, so ... although it would be 12 months since the election.)
The upcoming census (which occurs every ten years) is a topic, and Sam actually confirms it as "the 2000 census." We also get "tomorrow's the start of a three-day weekend": we already know we're in the fall of 1999, so the only relevant Monday holidays could be Labor Day (September 6, seems a little late for that, given that college football was happening before Five Votes Down) or Columbus Day (October 11, about three weeks before this episode aired). Veterans' Day was on a Thursday in 1999, and Thanksgiving would be a four-day weekend, not three.
Leo tells the President that his wife left him "two weeks ago," which means this episode is two weeks after Five Votes Down.
Zoey says she's "starting college in a month," which would be the semester starting the second week of January, 2000 (President Bartlet says it'll be "after the first" in The Crackpots And These Women). That would place this in December, but perhaps she was being approximate.
We know it's NFL season, as Josh makes a crack about the Redskins. Hurricane Sarah is in the Atlantic, but as hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and hurricanes can occur outside those times, that doesn't narrow anything down.
It's the third Cabinet meeting of the administration, and the first in six months. It's still football season, as Sam mentions watching Monday Night Football that night.
We clearly begin on a Monday according to an onscreen caption, which is when Josh and CJ get confirmation that Harrison will accept a nomination to the Supreme Court. The Lillienfield press conference (apparently later that day) is confirmed to be November 21 in Take Out The Trash Day, although that was a Sunday in 1999, not a Monday (four days before the planned Thursday announcement). It's three years until next Presidential election. It's chilly, as coats and gloves are seen outside the Supreme Court. Leo was in rehab "six years ago" (1993).
Wednesday, December 23 and Thursday, December 24 are seen as onscreen confirmation of the dates. There are Christmas trees and decorations, talk of carolers and Santa hats and Dickensian costumes; it's also 1999 coming up on 2000 ("It is not the new millennium. The year 2000 is the last year of the millennium. It's not the first one of the next"; "technically the millennium is still a year away?"). It's confirmed that Leo was Secretary of Labor "six years ago" (1993). Zoey is starting Georgetown "in two weeks" - Georgetown's spring semester generally starts the second week of January.
It's 12 days before the State of the Union. Josh says in his deposition "President Bartlet was sworn in 12 months ago." Donna and Josh are talking about golf, Donna asks "You play in the winter?"
The episode begins two days before the State of the Union. It's confirmed to be January in The Fall's Gonna Kill You. There's a mention of the 106th Congress (January 1999 to January 2001 in reality). CJ says Danny gave her the fish "a few weeks ago" (that was The Short List, the week of November 21). Leo says he went to Sierra Tucson "in June of 1993."
It's winter: "22 degrees" in the Rose Garden. It's nine months before midterm elections, so perhaps February.
It snows, so still winter.
"Eight weeks" after Mendoza's nomination, which would mean late January, before Take Out The Trash Day ... but if Take Out The Trash Day was in February, nine months before the midterms, then I dunno, things don't fit.
Still winter, as there's snow on the ground in DC.
Toby says Mendoza has been on his radar for "three months" (which would mean late February or early March, perhaps, as Mendoza was nominated at the end of November). Toby also says they've been in office 15 months, which makes it April. There are specific mentions of Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, actual real-life pandas at the National Zoo - Mandy says Hsing-Hsing died "earlier this year," in reality that panda died in November 1999.
Easter is referred to as coming up, but Easter in 2000 was April 23, just before this episode aired. Josh says he's been on the job "14 months," which makes this March, but that doesn't agree with the Easter timing or the 15 months reference in the previous episode.
Leo's January press conference announcing his 1993 rehab is referred to as "two months" ago, which makes this March, but that doesn't fit with being after Easter.
We hear remarks of pulling poll numbers up over the past three weeks since Let Bartlet Be Bartlet; Tuesday is 13 hours into the polling process; Laurie's graduation from GW Law is supposedly that Tuesday (the law school's actual graduation was Sunday, May 28, 2000); Sam's first contact with Laurie was "nine months ago" (if this is late May, it makes that late August or so - Pilot aired in late September).
It's confirmed as a Monday in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen. It's May, since President Bartlet says he wants to watch Sacramento State vs. Pacific softball on TV that night (NCAA softball regular seasons end in early May with tournament play wrapping up on May 29, 2000). May is also confirmed by Toby in 17 People. The polling bump from Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics is referred to as being recent in Josh's conversation with Hoynes.
Episode by Episode: Season 2
Events in this season begin by wrapping up Season 1 in May, 2000, then move ahead to August and the November elections. The end of the season is set in May, 2001.
The "present day" scenes in these episode immediately follow the events of What Kind Of Day Has It Been. We are officially told it's a Monday night in the cold open. The Dixie Pig capture of the skinhead happens early on a Tuesday. Josh comes out of anesthesia Tuesday morning. Josh's flashback to Hoynes is titled three years earlier, so sometime in 1997 - Hoynes says it's "13 weeks before the New Hampshire primary" which was in February, 1998 (confirmed in 17 People), so 13 weeks could be the last week of October. Leo says it's October. Note that this timeline does not agree with what we see in Bartlet For America, when Leo's first visit to convince Governor Bartlet to run for President didn't happen until November 1998.
We learn of Grant Samuels' death in the cold open, when Josh is still in the hospital. On August 14 we learn that happened "a few days ago." We are also told the Rosslyn shooting was "a week ago." During the August 14 scenes we hear Charlie and Zoey have been dating for nine months; their first date was around Lord John Marbury in January, which would mean this is September or October instead of August. Josh is still recuperating at home on election day, saying he's stayed inside "for three months" (early August).
Sam made a bet with a crewmember on Capital Beat about the Redskins. On Tuesday we hear Capital Beat aired the night before; Leo later says it was Sunday night, but corrects himself to Monday night in a later scene. Episode ends on a Saturday morning with news of Nimbala's assassination.
The President's weekly radio address is on leaf-peeping, and is referred to being recorded on a Friday. Ainsley has to have had the job for at least one week (hired on a Friday night in In This White House). Another reference to Josh being out "the last three months." Bartlet says it's been "14 weeks" when Abbey says they can have sex (if we're going with the early August timeframe of The Midterms this would still be the week of the election, which can't be since we already had the election followed by the week of Ainsley's hiring followed by another week - of course, if the President was shot in May, as actually happened, this would be more like six months instead of 14 weeks).
The 106th Congress is adjourned (so it is 2000); Toby says "a month from now" for a new Congress (which begins January 3), so that would make it early December. Marino says he's a Senator for "another ten weeks" which, counting back from January 3, puts this the last week of October which is before the election and therefore impossible. If we go with the "ignoring The Midterms" timeline and this is around November 13, that's still only about seven weeks left.
Notre Dame and Michigan are playing each other in football the next day. They actually did not play football against each other at all in 2000 (or 2001, for that matter). Seeing as they are not conference mates, their games are always in the non-conference part of the schedule, which between 1978 and 2018 was always in September - by November Michigan would be playing its Big Ten conference schedule and most likely wouldn't have room on the schedule for Notre Dame.
This episode airs at exactly the time it's set. We're told it's Monday when CJ arrives to find the turkeys in her office, so the cold open scene is on Sunday. The final scene with the turkey pardoning and the Rose Garden ceremony is set on Thanksgiving itself (in real life that happens before Thanksgiving Day).
Charlie says he has been working in the White House for 18 months, which would actually be early 2001 since he was hired in the fall of 1999.
The "present day" scenes of Josh with Stanley Keyworth occur on Christmas Eve. The flashbacks begin three weeks earlier, then five days ago (or December 19), then the day of the Christmas party with Yo Yo Ma. Josh' blowup in the Oval Office, the party, and his breaking his window happen not long before Christmas Eve, perhaps even the day before.
It's January, as the meeting is for the "new year" and Congress would have been seated January 3 (and President Bartlet complains about being forced to stand outside in January after the smoke alarms). It's cold, as we see with Josh and Sam building a fire in the Mural Room and the outdoor congressional press conference. "The year is one week old. The legislative session hasn't begun." The breakfast occurs on a Wednesday, which might have been the day of the broadcast, January 10.
A year and a half after Pilot (there's a reference to taking Al Caldwell's head off at the meeting in that episode), which means early 2001. There's a reference to the leadership breakfast as being recent.
George Bush's joint address in 2001 (not technically a State of the Union after his election) was on February 27. Going back to 1970, States of the Union were given in late January or (a few times) in early February (Feb. 17 is the latest). Ainsley has been "working here three months"; she was hired in November, which makes this late January or early February.
The events of the early morning and following day are verified as Wednesday, putting Bartlet's Third State Of The Union on a Tuesday night.
The Surgeon General's online chat is on a Wednesday night. There's talk of the Blue Ribbon Commission on entitlements that had been announced in the State of the Union, so this is definitely after Bartlet's Third State Of The Union/The War At Home.
Starts on a Friday. It's Big Block of Cheese Day 2 (the first one we saw was sometime in the fall of 1999).
Given the MLB schedule , this would have to be a Friday night in March, as the Mets are still playing preseason games in Florida. If we instead stipulate that the MLB season didn't start until mid-April in The West Wing universe, we could say this was Friday, April 6. Flashbacks begin on the previous Monday.
The cold open begins immediately after the previous episode, on a Friday night in March (or April, if MLB is delayed). We go through "Two nights later" (Sunday), "Two nights after that" (Tuesday), "The next night" (Wednesday), "The next morning" and then "That night" (Thursday) ... so the events of the episode are on the Thursday night following the The Stackhouse Filibuster. It's some kind of holiday weekend - the only possible one at that time would be Easter, which was April 15 in 2001 (that actually works with the delayed baseball option placing this on April 12). Toby verifies the Presidential election is coming in 2002 and that the Rosslyn shooting happened in May of 2000.
A Monday, following the events of 17 People (although President Bartlet says that was "this past Friday night" instead of Thursday).
Babish tells CJ he found out six days ago (the Monday of Bad Moon Rising), making this a Saturday; Josh was told two days later (on Wednesday). Babish verifies being there three months (since January?). Josh tells Joey she has 96 hours to complete her poll (that's four days, so Wednesday is the deadline).
The initial meeting with Joey and the poll results has to be after the Wednesday/96-hour deadline Josh gave her. Discussion of when to have the Bartlets go on TV lands on a Wednesday during May sweeps, and that discussion is on a Monday ("night after tomorrow"). That's the same day as Mrs. Landingham picking up her car (Monday). It's said they just got Joey's numbers "in the middle of the night. Give him the day" so that apparently was Sunday. Abbey says "almost four years ago" she put Jed on Betaseron, so that would have been late 1997, maybe? In the Manchester flashbacks to CJ's Thursday press conference on Haiti where she has her gaffe, we are told multiple times that the staff has "had a week" to cope with the news of the MS ... there's no way that works with the polling timeline, the TV appearance, and the days of the week we are given (it has to be two weeks at least).
Confirmed as "the middle of May" with discussion of the tropical storm. Again, if we go back to The Stackhouse Filibuster and the Mets still playing preseason baseball in that episode, even by pushing back the start of the MLB season a couple of weeks, May 2 is the absolute latest we can put this episode.
Episode by Episode: Season 3
Events in this season begin in June, 2001, and continue into May, 2002.
This one is clearly non-canonical and doesn't fit into the timeline of The West Wing universe.
Begins at the Wednesday night May press conference of Two Cathedrals. The trip to New Hampshire begins "four weeks later" (say, mid-June) with the announcement speech planned for a Monday. Bruno and his team were brought in "two weeks ago" (end of May/early June). CJ's press conference where she loses it (addressing the fly-by after the rescue from the embassy) was probably on the day after Two Cathedrals. It's repeatedly mentioned that the staff has "had a week" of knowing about the MS ... given the timeline for the polling, the TV appearance and the days of the week we are expressly given, that can't be right, it has to be at least two weeks. The scene with discussion of bringing Bruno in happens "a week" after the Haiti gaffe, so perhaps the next Thursday. The actual meeting with Bruno is apparently "two weeks from Monday" of the announcement speech. When Toby argues against the New Hampshire announcement speech "two weeks" after the Two Cathedrals press conference, Bruno says "this subject was closed on Tuesday." Josh says he has "30 months" as deputy chief of staff, which would actually be July 2001, but June is pretty close.
The early October dates come from Donna's diary entries in War Crimes, where Cliff was mentioned on October 4 and 5, and we must start on October 2 because we're told it begins on a Tuesday (CJ tells the press "Thursday, day after tomorrow"). The next day is labeled "Wednesday" onscreen. The episode ends the day after that. This is during the NBA basketball season, which began at the end of October in 2001, and wouldn't be happening in early October - Bruno mentions an Indiana-Cleveland NBA game, where Victor Campos sat with Buckland.
It's "a few nights" after Donna's dates with Cliff Calley, which her diary in War Crimes says were Thursday, October 4 and Friday, October 5 - so it must be the following week. The estate tax repeal discussed in the previous episode is vetoed, and Gov. Buckland (who took Campos to the basketball game in the previous episode) is called in.
Begins on a Sunday (church shooting, NFL football).
It's the filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary (for the 2000 election the deadline was November 19, 1999). It's also "nine weeks" before the Iowa caucuses (or at least spending money for the Iowa caucuses) - nine weeks before late January, 2002, would be the last week of November (but they'd be spending money before that, of course).
The episode is set the day before Thanksgiving, which is the day it actually aired in 2001.
We see preparations for the opening of an exhibit on the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, which was December 7, 2001. Abbey is still in a wheelchair from mid-November (from Gone Quiet). There's mention of the Boston Celtics, so it's NBA season. Friday, November 30 might fit here, a week before the Pearl Harbor anniversary and in line with CJ's final scene briefing, which has info on "Monday's" exhibit opening ceremony (December 3?).
It's weird that there'd be congressional hearings on a Sunday, but it's definitely the day before Christmas Eve. We get flashbacks to November 1997 (Leo says "four years ago last month") when Leo gave Bartlet the napkin and brought up a run for President - although that doesn't fit with In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen which saw the Bartlet early campaign scenes in New Hampshire and Leo bringing Josh onboard set in October, 1997. Also there are flashbacks to the Democratic convention in summer 1998, when Hoynes offered the VP spot; and October 30, 1998, the third and final Presidential debate in St. Louis (Leo says it was "nine days" before the election when in fact the actual election day was November 3, just four days later).
It's after Christmas, as we see the meetings with Cliff Calley over ending the committee hearings we saw on December 23 in Bartlet For America in exchange for censure. Josh says he saw Amy "a couple of weeks ago" over the Vienna treaty (that's The Women Of Qumar, which was actually over a month prior). We were told Leo's appearance before Congress was postponed to January 5 in Bartlet For America, but here Josh says Leo would "take the stand on Monday" which would be January 7.
The night of the State of the Union (was January 29, 2002, in reality), so probably a Tuesday. It's two weeks after the congressional censure, which probably came the week of January 7. Josh references seeing Amy again, with the first "date" or "scheme" as Donna puts it, the night before - that doesn't fit with H. Con-172, their first "date," the same night Josh agreed with the censure before January 7.
The Iowa caucuses are held (they were on January 24 in 2000). It is a Monday.
The night before the New Hampshire primary (which was February 1 in 2000) and two weeks after the Iowa caucuses.
It's before the St. Patrick's Day dinner with Brendan McGann invited. It's also before mid-March when funding proposals have to be finalized for the mid-April budget.
The episode is set on a Monday through a Thursday, but that's about all we're given. It does seem mild in DC, but that could still be late March or early April.
It's NHL hockey season (Capitals tickets mentioned); the 2001-02 regular season ended around April 13. Charlie is filing his taxes, so it's before April 15.
The setting is carved in stone based on the e-mail dates on CJ's laptop, with emails from the previous day clearly shown as 04-30-02. The Helsinki summit with Russian President Chigorin comes over the weekend of May 4-5.
The episode begins late on Sunday night May 5 (the return from Helsinki, CJ says Simon annoyed her three days in Finland, they left DC on Friday). It's definitely May, from the discussion of attack ad timing. The episode ends Thursday night with the Sam/Kahn meeting and news of the planned attack on Golden Gate Bridge. It's about ten days before Shareef's scheduled visit.
The onscreen captions lead us from Sunday morning through Tuesday and then into early the next morning. This immediately follows the events of The Black Vera Wang. There's talk of scheduling a vote on the day of the War of the Roses stage show in New York, and later we hear that vote is scheduled for the next Wednesday.
This episode airs on the actual date it was set. We get to this date by calculating from the previous episodes, starting with the April 30, 2002 date verified on-screen in Enemies Foreign And Domestic. The Finland summit came the following weekend (May 4-5), the President learns of Shareef's involvement in the planned Golden Gate Bridge attack on Thursday, May 9 (which is said to be about 10 days before his visit to the United States), and We Killed Yamamoto runs through the following Wednesday, May 15. The congressional vote that was scheduled to conflict with the New York performance was on a Wednesday ... so that leaves us at May 22. That's 13 days after the end of Enemies Foreign And Domestic, close to the "about ten days" we heard before Shareef's visit. Leo confirms this is May in College Kids.
Episode by Episode: Season 4
Events in this season begin in September, 2002, and continue into May, 2003.
It's a Monday in September, six weeks before the November 5 election (Monday is confirmed by Josh, September is confirmed by President Bartlet at the Navy base speech). Kiki talks about having to get to school.
The cold open has references to Josh, Toby, and Donna walking into DC from the end of 20 Hours In America. On the Air Force One flight to Michigan we have mentions of an upcoming memorial service at Kennison State on "Saturday." Josh tells Toby their talk with Matt Kelley was "last night." Donna says the Rock The Vote event is "tonight."
The episode begins on the Friday before the Red Mass, which is the day before the Supreme Court session begins (on the first Monday in October). Leo says they've had the Iowa bombers surrounded for 11 days (Saturday the 5th would fit with Tuesday, September 24 and College Kids; Leo also confirms Ben Yosef is flying "on the Sabbath," which starts Friday evening, so we're not exact - on Saturday Leo says he's thinking about something Yosef said "yesterday"). The Iowa bombers are captured and Ben Yosef's plane is shot down on Saturday. President Bartlet is seen watching football on television on Sunday night, before the church service.
President Bartlet says he's giving the staff 48 hours for debate prep. Israel attacks Qumar bases in retaliation for being blamed for the Shareef killing (which happened in the previous episode, in early October). It's about a week before the presidential debate, so roughly two weeks before the election. We have flashbacks that cover the period from January 15 through the first week of February in 1999.
Another episode that airs exactly when it was set. Reporters ask Will about his plans for the final week before the election, so it's probably October 29. It's "about a week" after Debate Camp (and stopping the Qumari ship). Will says if Horton Wilde wins the California 47th race posthumously, there will be a special election "after no more than 90 days" (which would have to be February 3, 2003).
This episode aired the day after it was set. Toby says Andy is due "end of May."
Immediately following the events of Election Night.
Reporters have questions about the President's margin of victory. Hoynes said he just took "a whole week" off (which you think would have been after the November 5 election). It's NFL season.
Another episode that airs exactly when it was set. Josh says to Donna, "Tomorrow's Thanksgiving." Sam is packing up for California. Toby brings Will on to help with the inaugural address.
It's Toby's 48th birthday.
We know it's January by talk about the foreign aid bill being the first priority of the new administration, and Congress is in session (so after January 3). Toby mentions CJ getting "spammed" with remote prayer "a few months ago" when it actually happened in a flashback to 1999 (Debate Camp).
When Tal says he hasn't been able to go fishing CJ replies, "It's February." This is out of order with the upcoming January 20 inauguration episodes.
January 20, 2003, was actually a Monday, but the onscreen caption says "Sunday" (and inauguration parades/ceremonies are never officially held on Sunday anyway; if January 20 is a Sunday, the swearing-in is a private ceremony at noon as constitutionally required, with the celebratory events held on Monday the 21st). We have flashbacks to "Monday; Six Days Before Inauguration" (six days would actually be Tuesday, January 14). The second flashback is "Tuesday" (or Wednesday, January 15 by the calendar). The next one says "Wednesday" (or Thursday, January 16).
Again the show timeline is a day off from the actual calendar. This begins on "Thursday, three days before inauguration" which would actually be Friday, January 17. The next scene says "Friday Night," but that would be Saturday, January 18.
We see "Friday Night" in the caption with Air Force One flying to California. There's still a week before the special election (which has to be before February 3 according to Will's 90-day deadline from Game On) ... but Toby says it's already February.
Let's say we ignore Toby and say February 3 is the election. That would make this Friday and Saturday January 24 and 25. President Bartlet gives a 36-hour ultimatum to Kundu before he takes Bitanga, which would be late Saturday the 24th/early Sunday the 25th. This also fits with the military operation into Kundu only taking a few days since being ordered in on the 20th. Andy, who Toby announced was pregnant in October (Debate Camp) and is due in late May (Election Night) is showing.
If we continue to ignore Toby's February reference in the previous episode, that makes this Saturday, January 25 and Sunday, January 26, 2003, with the special election coming the next Monday, February 3. Toby refers to the election as "next week." Amy is hired as Abbey's chief of staff.
Amy's first day in her White House office, after being hired in late January by Abbey. Toby again says the twins are due in May.
Charlie says Zoey is graduating "in two weeks" - in Commencement we learn Charlie and Zoey had buried a bottle of champagne to dig up for her graduation on May 7, 2003. This episode is also set on the night of the spring equinox, which in 2003 was actually Thursday, March 20, and not a Friday in April at all.
The scene with Hoynes' resignation being delivered to the Oval Office comes early on a Tuesday; the rest of the episode is "24 hours earlier." Joe Quincy's first day in the Counsel's Office; he was interviewed by Josh in Evidence Of Things Not Seen.
While Charlie's note about digging up the champagne references May 7 (which is the actual date this episode was broadcast), and both Josh and Charlie say it's May 7, we also get references to it being a Saturday (Toby talking about bringing Will in on a Saturday, multiple references to the weekend, Georgetown graduation would likely be on a Saturday).
This episode begins late on the night of Zoey's graduation, after her kidnapping, and continues into the early morning hours of the next day.
Episode by Episode: Season 5
Events in this season begin with wrapping up Season 4 in May, 2003, then move ahead to July. The events of the season end on Memorial Day, 2004.
The episode begins about 5:30 am the day after Zoey's kidnapping and ends that evening with the Bartlet family church service.
Leo's meeting with Angela Blake is Sunday night. Andy confirms that Commencement was on a Saturday. Zoey is rescued in the early morning hours of Tuesday, about 50 hours after she was kidnapped Saturday night. The episode ends on Tuesday with Bartlet's speech and Josh giving Leo three names for Vice President. Rep. Haffley named the new Speaker to replace Walken.
Definitely July 4 (fireworks that night), and a Friday (we hear it's two days before the Sunday TV shows). July 4 was a Friday in 2003.
It's nearly two months since Zoey was rescued on May 13, yet she's still in a sling with bruises; Abbey talks about "72 hours" with those bruises (it's been seven and a half weeks). Josh provided three names for Vice President back in mid-May, yet the administration is still "hurrying" to name Berryhill, and still dealing with the fallout of the Shareef assassination news and Zoey's rescue that happened in May. Huck's bris happens the morning of Independence Day (?) and is, again, seven-plus weeks after his birth (the bris is traditionally held eight days after the baby is born).
Not that long after July 4, with the congressional confirmation of Bob Russell as Vice President. There's still talk about the "fallout" from Zoey's kidnapping and the bombings of Qumar ordered by Acting President Walken in May. It's the first mention of a potential stimulus package.
It's a Friday, not too long after Han. Will is Vice President Russell's first senior-level hire. The stimulus package first mentioned in Han has failed. Admiral Fitzwallace is still Chairman of the Joint Chiefs but planning to retire. Josh's birthday.
The episode begins at Josh's birthday party on Friday night, then goes to the following Monday morning and continues through Wednesday. It's NBA season, as Ryan mentions basketball tickets - but a disastrous tornado in Oklahoma is quite unlikely in November. CJ says General Alexander has been Chairman of the Joint Chiefs for a week, even though just days before Admiral Fitzwallace still had the job. Somehow both NBA season (which starts in October) and only a matter of a few weeks since Russell was confirmed as Vice President (his name would have been sent to Congress the week of July 7, and the confirmation vote wouldn't have taken that long, selecting him was the whole point of that).
The talk of a continuing resolution to keep the government running says "two months" through January 3. It's chilly (42 degrees). Since it's prior to the midterms, and November, Joe Quincy's remark about the limited time to name a new SCOTUS justice before the politicized midterms election season of 2004 plants us firmly in 2003.
Begins as Separation Of Powers ends. Royce says, "I hate November." From the night of the shutdown, the final agreement comes on the evening of Day Four (first scenes are Day Two, Day Three is Bartlet's walk to the Capitol, on Day Four Haffley comes to the White House).
Another episode that airs exactly when it was set. We hear "22 days of Christmas events ahead of me," so that's around December 2 or 3. Th episode begins with discussions of being heroes after they "restarted the government," so it's not that long after Shutdown. We see Christmas trees and decorations be put up in the White House, and the lighting of National Christmas Tree (which actually happened on December 4, 2003). Margaret is going over the holiday party invites with Leo, mentioning "the 15th," "the 22nd," and "Christmas Eve," so it's early December. Doug Westin is talking about running for Congress in the midterms, confirming it's 2003.
The discussion of the protests in Saudi Arabia link us to Charlie's mention of the "attempted coup in Riyadh" in The Benign Prerogative, around the State of the Union, so this is before that. Everyone is dressing warmly to go to Ford's Theatre.
The State of the Union episode, so we know it's January or February. Flashbacks to a New Year's party include a mention of "two weeks" before the State of the Union, so that puts us in mid January. We hear that Presidents' Day is upcoming (that was February 16 in 2004).
Toby is reviewing tapes of the State of the Union, so it's not long after The Benign Prerogative. Josh confirms the midterms are still approaching, with his comment about keeping the tax issue alive for the campaign season, so at this point it's prior to November, 2004.
It's a Thursday into a Friday night. Taylor Reid has just started his "new" TV show, criticizing CJ.
The episode begins on a Tuesday with Leo in Chicago. O'Neal is in DC and talks to Leo on a Thursday. It's snowy in Chicago, and the Tidal Basin is frozen over.
There is an emergency appropriation for DC snow removal, so it's probably still winter.
Leo says recess appointments would last nine months. Since they last until the seating of a new Congress, which would be January 2005, that places this episode in March, 2004.
We go from a Monday through Friday in March. The episode begins as Eppur si Muove ends, with Justice Brady's death. Huck and Molly are 10 months old (they were born in May, 2003). The Middle East CoDel is referred to as "next month."
Another episode that airs exactly when it was set, as we hear a staffer reporting the daily calendar for "Wednesday, March 31," which matches the calendar for 2004. The documentary crew filmed in the West Wing for two days.
Admiral Fitzwallace is asked to join the upcoming CoDel to the Middle East. Donna is left off the trip to Brussels but Josh gives her a diplomatic passport for the CoDel.
The Saturday night of the White House Correspondents' Dinner (which was May 1 in 2004). Abbey says, "We're five years in," so it's definitely 2004.
Andy says they're spending four days in Gaza; in Memorial Day the bombing is referred to as "yesterday," so that was Sunday, May 30; that sets the start of the CoDel on Thursday, May 27.
The episode begins as Gaza ends, with Bartlet and Kate leaving Fitzwallace's house on the Sunday night of the bombing. An onscreen caption later tells us "Monday, Memorial Day."
Episode by Episode: Season 6
Events in this season begin in the summer of 2004 with the Camp David summit. In episode 4 the timeline skips a year, jumping to 2005. The end of the season is set in the summer of 2006, July or August.
The episode begins at Fitzwallace's funeral (Wednesday, June 2). Kate refers to "the last 24 hours" even though she's talking about Monday's events. The bombing of the terrorist camps in Syria is initially set for Thursday, June 3. Farad and Bartlet talk on Wednesday night, June 2. Nasan is turned over to the FBI on Thursday, June 3.
Donna's medical timeline doesn't fit in very well here. We saw that her emergency blood clot caused her to be whisked out of her room for surgery in Memorial Day (which was Monday). We know it's Wednesday at the start of this episode, because of Fitzwallace's funeral, yet Donna is just going into that emergency surgery. We see her coming out of anesthesia/coma at the end of the episode, which perhaps is set a week later ... that's possible, I suppose. Her storyline is almost separated in time from the rest of the plot.
The schedule of the Camp David summit is also a bit tenuous. We know it can't be too much later; President Bartlet orders the strike on the terrorist camps in Syria as he leaves the White House, and Donna and Josh are still in Germany. We could push the start of the summit to Wednesday, June 9, but I don't think it could be any later.
We know the Camp David summit is five days, and we know the third day came on Friday - hence, a Wednesday through Sunday. The episode begins on "Day Two," or Thursday, June 10 - that day includes the attacks on the terrorist camps in Syria and Josh's return from Germany. Leo arrives at Camp David on Friday, June 11. Josh says Donna "may fly back on Wednesday," which would be June 16. Leo's heart attack comes the morning of Sunday, June 13, as the President and his staffers return to the White House.
President Bartlet tells Farad his granddaughter Annie "started high school last week." First of all, this can't be the fall (Donna is still in a hospital in Germany, Josh just got back, it hasn't been four months since the bombing); second of all, Annie was 12 years old in Pilot in 1999, which would make her 17 years old at this point, and perhaps a high school senior.
The episode begins on Sunday morning, June 13, with the staffers returning to the White House. Leo is discovered not long after. The announcement of the Camp David agreement comes that afternoon, at 2 pm. It appears Donna is back at the White House the next day, June 14. That's also the day Leo comes out of anesthesia and recommends CJ for Chief of Staff.
Here is our confusing and impossible to reconcile time jump.
President Bartlet announces CJ as his Chief of Staff "36 hours" after Leo's surgery, which was Sunday, June 13. That puts us at Tuesday, June 15. Donna is still using a wheelchair as she recovers from her injuries suffered on May 30, 2004. Yet at the same time a Democratic Party operative thanks Josh for all his help "with the midterms last year."
As recently as Access and No Exit we were absolutely tied to it being 2004. The midterms would not happen until November of that year. References to the CoDel began in The Supremes, which was immediately after Eppur si Muove, which confirmed there was still nine months before a new Congress (and therefore seven months until the midterms), so the CoDel was absolutely spring 2004, and Donna is still recovering ... there is no possible logical way it can now be 2005.
Except it is. The characters are acting as if time is continuing in a straight line through 2004, but now we are to accept it's actually 2005 and the midterms have already happened. So there's the jump we all talk about.
The episode starts on a Monday. There are at least a half-dozen specific mentions of the administration being here "seven years" in the dialogue, emphasizing the fact we have now moved ahead to 2005. Donna is still in a wheelchair, then moves to crutches as she recovers from her injuries suffered in May 2004; and Leo is still off work, at home recovering from his heart surgery from mid-June 2004. It hasn't been long since Toby replaced CJ in the press room after her promotion, and there's still discussion over the rules of engagement for the Mideast peacekeeping troops that were first announced in June, 2004.
It's three months before the Iowa caucuses, which (based on King Corn and 365 Days) would be January 30, 2006; so, it's October. Donna is still on crutches. Leo is still recuperating (we're told it's been one month since his surgery, even though we know that was the summer of 2004).
It's the National Medal of Arts ceremony (November 10, 2005 in reality). We see preparations for the China summit. President Bartlet suffers the first signs of an MS attack (the first we've seen since election day of 2002).
We have mentions of Christmas party invitations and Christmas plans. It's Zoey's 25th birthday. The trip to the China summit begins.
The episode begins with the President arriving in China for what is changed to be a three-day summit. We see Christmas decorations in the White House and at the Santos home.
The episode begins right after Josh's December visit to Houston in Impact Winter, but then moves ahead to a month after the China summit in December. We're told it's about six weeks after the National Prayer Breakfast of A Change Is Gonna Come, which points to late December 2005 or early January 2006.
It's winter in New Hampshire, ahead of the early caucus/primary events; definitely after Faith Based Initiative.
We can pinpoint this with Leo's whiteboard, counting down the 365 days left of the Bartlet administration. This episode aired almost exactly on the date of its events, just a year in the "past." The State of the Union happened the night before, so that was Thursday, January 19. Somehow there was a NASCAR race in Martinsville, Virginia, in January (the actual NASCAR season doesn't begin until February).
Another episode that airs on the date (a year behind) of when it's set. If we go by Leo's whiteboard, and consider this to be the Wednesday after that, and we're told it's five days before the Iowa caucuses and 19 days before the New Hampshire primary ... Iowa would be Monday, January 30 and New Hampshire would be Monday, February 13. Santos goes pheasant hunting, although Iowa's pheasant hunting season closes on January 10 each year.
Quite definitely Valentine's Day; although this is out of order with the events of the following episode.
The debate occurs two days before the New Hampshire primary, which we set at February 13 based on 365 Days and King Corn.
About a week after the February 11 debate of Freedonia.
Sometime between the New Hampshire primary on February 13 and Super Tuesday on March 7, 2006. Santos has won the primaries in Arizona and New Mexico.
The four days leading up to Super Tuesday.
It's a Monday, with Santos campaigning before the Florida primary (which was on the second week of March in 2004), which would put us at March 13, 2005. However, we see Leo change his whiteboard countdown from 330 to 329 days left in the Bartlet administration, which would be February 25 ... or before the events of La Palabra.
The New Jersey primary wraps up, which appears to be the final contest before the conventions. It's a month before the Democratic convention.
If we start with the 105 days before the election that we're shown in The Ticket, and the fact that The Ticket is set four days after the Democratic convention, and then put the Republican convention the week before that, we are at July 10-13. This also agrees with the Mr. Frost mention of Greg Brock's story on the military shuttle running on July 14, which would be the day after the RNC in this scenario.
However, we also see Leo's whiteboard with a clear "178" days remaining in one scene, which would mean Wednesday, July 26, 2006, which would put Brock's story now running on July 28, 2006.
It's the week following the Republican National Convention, so either mid-July or the end of July/beginning of August depending on which timeline we choose.
Episode by Episode: Season 7
Events in this season begin in the summer of 2006 and end with the inauguration on January 20, 2007.
The onscreen caption reads "105 Days Until Election Day," which makes this July 25 (and being four days after the Democratic convention means the DNC finished on Friday, July 21). If we go by Leo's whiteboard from Things Fall Apart, placing the Democratic convention from July 31 through August 3, that would make this August 7.
The cold-open flash forward says "Three Years Later," followed by the present-day scenes with "Three Years Earlier." That places the Bartlet Presidential Library scene somewhere in 2009.
It begins eight days after the Democratic convention, and therefore four days after The Ticket. The onscreen captions read "101" and "100 Days Until Election Day," which would be July 29 and 30. It's also mentioned that it's fourteen weeks before the election, which is pretty close to the July 29-30 timeline. Using Leo's whiteboard countdown, four days after The Ticket would be August 11.
It's the Monday through Thursday after Santos' Marine Reserve training. Given that training started at the end of The Mommy Problem, it must have been either July 31 and August 1 (based on the onscreen caption timeline) or August 12 and 13 (based on Leo's whiteboard). The late July/early August dates fit with Santos having his plane go to Texas on the Saturday of The Mommy Problem, getting two full days of Reserve training, and then seeing the media coverage play out in this episode a few days later. The August 12-13 dates gives us some problems, as it's clearly already Saturday the 12th when Santos turns his plane around, and since this episode begins the following Monday he'd had have to not have had two full days of training.
The Sunday immediately following the Al Smith dinner. (The debate episode aired live on Sunday, November 6, so for extra verisimilitude the series had that debate set on a Sunday as well. Hence the line about scheduling the debate at the end of The Al Smith Dinner, "How's Sunday?")
The episode begins on a Saturday, 52 days before the election. Josh says, "We pushed [an event] last week for the debate," so that helps us place the debate on September 10.
The Friday to Sunday of the Vice Presidential debate. About six weeks before the election, but after The Wedding, so either September 29 through October 1, or October 6 through 8.
Begins immediately as Internal Displacement ends, so Friday night, then into Saturday. Given the three-day tracking poll results shown in The Cold, which is set on October 17, the October 13-14 dates fit.
An onscreen caption shows Josh, Helen, and Josh at the MTV event on a "Wednesday Night," which is when Josh learns of the San Andreo accident, but that doesn't fit with the CJ/Danny dinner schedule of Internal Displacement.
It's 21 days before the election.
It's clearly Halloween.
However, an onscreen caption says "Thursday" and we're told it's five days before the election, which would be November 2. The closest years to 2006 with Halloween on a Thursday were 2002 (which we already saw in the series, as Election Night was set on November 3, 2002) and 2013.
Ten weeks before the inauguration.
The week before the Electoral College meets. That's always the Tuesday after the second Wednesday of December, or December 19 in 2006.
Just a point to how the timeline interacts with the characters: we saw Josh and Donna take off on what was supposed to be a one week vacation in Transition. That was "ten weeks" before the inauguration, or mid-November. If we extend their vacation through Thanksgiving weekend, which is quite a bit longer than that one week, they still would have been back no later than November 27. This is a week before the Electoral College meets in mid-December ... they should be in the middle of things, with Josh especially taking a huge role in the plan to make Vinick Secretary of State. But they don't appear at all in this episode, as if they're extending their blissful tropical vacation for a month or so.
It's about two weeks before the inauguration, which would be Saturday, January 20, 2007. There's also a mention about some administration member who was intending to leave "Friday" leaving "today" instead, so sometime between Friday, January 5 and Friday, January 12.
Still no sign of Josh and Donna (who should have been back no later than November 27, remember) or Sam, and you'd think Josh and especially Sam would have been around transition headquarters to greet CJ when she came to meet with Santos.
Inauguration Day.
