The West Wing: "Shibboleth"

Premiered November 22, 2000.

It’s almost Turkey Day and in the West Wing of the White House, Communications Director Toby Zeigler (Richard Schiff) and his deputy Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) are working on the President’s annual Thanksgiving address to the nation.  Toby isn’t impressed with Sam’s early drafts.  

White House spokesperson C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) is surprised when she discovers two live turkeys in her office.  They’ve been brought for the President's annual “turkey pardoning” ceremony.

President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet (Martin Sheen) wants a new knife for carving the Thanksgiving turkey, so he sends his personal aide Charlie Young (Dule Hill) out shopping for one.  Charlie struggles to find a carving knife that meets the President's exacting standards. 

On a more serious note, a container ship carrying 100 Chinese refugees has been detained off the California Coast.  The refugees claim to be evangelical Christians who have fled to America seeking religious asylum.  When Pres. Barlet is told of this, he’s reminded of the Pilgrims’ journey to the New World where they sought to worship according to their beliefs.  

Bartlet is sympathetic to the refugees, but the complex nature of U.S.-China relations and immigration laws prevent the President from welcoming them to America.   There are also questions about the veracity of their claims of religious asylum.  Bartlet interviews one of the refugees, a professor named Jhin-Wei (Henry O), in order to determine if they are truly fleeing religious persecution.  

C.J. starts to grow attached to the turkeys, who are named Eric and Troy.  She learns that the President will pardon the turkey that is more photogenic and send it to a petting zoo.  C.J. decides Eric is the more attractive turkey and he will receive the pardon.  

Unfortunately, C.J. soon learns that Troy has been purchased and will be served as Thanksgiving Dinner!  This prompts C.J. to seek a Presidential Pardon for both turkeys.

Will the Chinese refugees be allowed to stay in America?  Will Troy be pardoned?  Will Bartlet finally settle on a carving knife?

J.A. Morris says: 

“Shibboleth” is an enjoyable episode of a now-classic series.  Immigration is still a serious issue and this episode handles it in a respectful and realistic manner.  The parallels between the Chinese refugees and the Pilgrims’ voyage in 1620 are obvious, but never come off as heavy-handed. 

Bartlet's inability to immediately grant asylum to the refugees is a reminder that Presidents are not gods or kings (though some Presidents act like they are) and their powers are limited by Constitutional and international law.

The plot involving the turkeys provides a nice contrast to the serious parts of “Shibboleth.”  Allison Janney is my MVP for this episode, since she has the difficult task of acting beside a duo of turkeys.

One thing that’s refreshing about “Shibboleth” is that it avoids the usual Thanksgiving TV tropes.  We don’t get any scenes of food preparation disasters, annoying relatives or even the traditional shot of a family seated at a table covered with food.  

I don't want to spoil too much of this episode, but Bartlet and Charlie's interactions are touching.  Charlie was dating the President's daughter Zoe and Jed uses Thanksgiving as a time to welcome formally welcome Charlie into his family.  

Like other episodes of The West Wing, “Shibboleth” reminds viewers that White House employees don’t have a lot of free time.  Toby, Sam and Josh (Bradley Whitford)   are spending Thanksgiving together watching football, presumably because their demanding jobs don’t allow them time to visit family. 

Toby chases down C.J. in one of The West Wing's patented "Walk-And-Talk" scenes!

A note about this episode's title:
Webster's dictionary defines the word shibboleth as "a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning."  In the Old Testament Book of Judges, it was used as a password for those who wanted to cross the river Jordan.

“Shibboleth” is a memorable episode of a great series that’s full of drama, comedy and holiday sentiment and it’s highly recommended.

J.A. Morris’ rating:

4 pumpkin pies!

RigbyMel says: 

This episode from season two of The West Wing is a great holiday episode.  

We get to see everyone's preparations for Thanksgiving amid the usual high pressure of working in the White House.  C.J. has to wrestle with the moral conundrum of which turkey to pardon and which to send off for dinner.   

There's some great absurdist comedy here, like when C.J. is very seriously trying to determine which turkey is the most photogenic or arguing the legality of a second turkey pardon.  (I also quite like the solution to the conundrum that makes use of Presidential Powers, but I won't spoil it.)   C.J.'s  utter horror at having to lead the children in song (with lute accompaniment!) at the turkey pardoning ceremony is also pretty funny. 

Poor Charlie is being run ragged in aid of Bartlet's obsessive search for the "perfect" carving knife, which has quite a sweet (but not cloying) payoff.  

I like Sam's riffing on his trouble writing the Thanksgiving proclamation as well: 

"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."   To be honest, I think I'd quite like to see that developed! 

Josh, Toby, and Sam plan to watch football together -- and don't want anyone to let Bartlet know they have no big Thanksgiving plans lest the President lecture them on "the history of the yam in Latin." (For the record, the Latin word for yam is "dioscorea" -- Bartlet knows all!) 

There's some great thematic parallelism going on in this episode.   Thanksgiving commemorates the Pilgrims coming to the New World in order to worship as they wish, so the Chinese refugees seeking religious asylum fits right in.   There's an additional subplot where Toby is trying to get Leo's sister a recess appointment to a minor federal education position where we get into the notion of the complexities inherent in the notion of "freedom of religion," which provides an interesting contrast. 

There's a nice balance of the serious and the comedic in "Shibboleth" and as J.A. Morris says, it manages to skip most of the typical turkey-day TV tropes, while still managing to preserve the sense of tradition and family (in this case, a work family) associated with the holiday.  

   

This is a most enjoyable holiday episode of a fantastic series and is well worth seeing. 

RigbyMel's rating: 

4 pumpkin pies.

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't

Premiered November 21, 1972.

On Thanksgiving Day, a squirrel tells his son the story of Jeremy Squirrel and the first Thanksgiving.

British settlers arrive in Plymouth, MA in 1620.  The first year is a difficult one, many settlers die. But with help from the resident Native Americans, the colony manages to make it through that first year and the settlers and the natives plan a big harvest feast.

On the morning of the first Thanksgiving, a boy named Johnny Cooke goes out to play "hunter" in the forest.

He's hunting for a turkey when he encounters an Indian boy named Little Bear.  They quarrel over which one is the better hunter.  Jeremy Squirrel arrives and tells the boys they should be friends rather than rivals.  Johnny and Little Bear agree and shake hands.

Peacemaking squirrel. 

The day of the Thanksgiving feast arrives and everyone is working hard to prepare the food.  Little Bear and Johnny go to play in the woods.  Jeremy realizes they'll get lost and he chases after them.

Their parents grow worried.  A search party of pilgrims and Indians sets out to find the boys.  Johnny and Little Bear try to find their way home in the dark, but go in the wrong direction. Luckily, Jeremy finds them and leads them on the correct path.  He gets some of his animal friends to accompany the boys on their journey homeward.

Everything seems to be okay until the boys encounter a wolf!  It chases Johnny and Little Bear with deadly intentions.

Will the boys be saved?  Or will the wolf turn the boys into his Thanksgiving Dinner?

J.A. Morris says:

This is special aired in syndication in the 1970s and 1980s.  But I only recall seeing it once, so I don't bring a lot of nostalgia to this review.   

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't isn't a great special, but it's okay if you're seeking light holiday entertainment aimed at kids.

The voice acting credits don't really tell you who voiced which character, but this special features some of the greatest voice actors of all time.  It's always nice to hear the voice work of June Foray, Don Messick and Hal Smith.  I'm pretty sure we hear the voice of Thurl Ravenscroft (most famous for singing "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and Tony the Tiger). Some of the background music here is easily recognizable from other Hanna-Barbera productions.  The "chase music"  heard near the end was used in countless episodes of Scooby Doo and it's used well here.

Goofy wolf.

But The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't has problems.  Jeremy and the other animals are cute and likeable, but the human characters aren't particularly interesting.  The wolf that threatens the boys is more goofy looking than scary.

The special also relies too much on recycled animation.  I expect to see some of that in old cartoons, but it's ridiculous in this case.  Sometimes we see the exact same scene a few seconds after we've just seen it.  The special's theme song is catchy, but  it's overused.  We get to hear it three times during the special's 25-minute running time.

The Settlers and the Indians search for the boys.

On a positive note, American Indians aren't portrayed in an ugly stereotypical manner, which is often the case in depictions of the first Thanksgiving.  It's also worth noting that the character Johnny Cooke is based on a real person and his father Francis was among those who signed the Mayflower Compact.

This special is available on dvd.  You can find it as a supplement on Casper's Halloween Special.  In recent years, it's been shown on Cartoon Network and it's sister channel Boomerang, so check your local listings.

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't is okay, worth watching at least once.  Fans of the aforementioned voice actors will want to check out this special. 

J.A. Morris's rating:

2 and a half pumpkin pies.


RigbyMel says:

This animated special has its heart in the right place, but just doesn't gel for me. As J.A. Morris says above, there is a lot of recycled animation used.  A LOT!  This wouldn't be as big of a deal if the story was better.    There is plenty of drama in the real interactions between early British settlers and the Native Americans -- even if some of it wouldn't make for warm and fuzzy family viewing.

The talking squirrel angle, which is intended to be cute and appeal to the child audience this special is aimed at, feels tacked on instead.  It's also inconsistent.   Why can Jeremy the squirrel be understood by the two boys, but not by the adults looking for them?

Why aren't Johnny and Little Bear more surprised by the talking squirrel?    Why on earth should we care about the silly framing device with modern squirrel and human families that have no interaction to speak of?   It just doesn't quite work for me!  I have no problem with talking animals in cartoons generally, but this just feels unnecessary.

Then there is the song ... which is grating in the extreme,  yet the lyrics are oddly unmemorable.  It's mildly annoying the first time they use it in this special, but the annoyance factor ratchets up as it is repeated.  I think we hear it 3 or maybe even 4 times!

I don't remember ever seeing this special before and I wouldn't recommend seeing it unless you are a huge fan of the voice actors.

RigbyMel's rating:

1 and a half pumpkin pies

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.  Before we start posting new reviews of Christmas episodes, specials and movies, we thought we'd show you what our Thanksgiving feast looked like this year.  Since we're big fans of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, we thought we would honor it by recreating the menu used in that special!

Happy Thanksgiving from Rigbymel and J.A. Morris!

Looney Tunes: "Tom Turk and Daffy"

Released February 12, 1944.

"The yams did it!  THE YAMS DID IT!"
-Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) is building a snowman and singing "Jingle Bells".  Suddenly, a turkey named Tom (Billy Bletcher) runs into Daffy and asks him to help him hide from a hunter.

Daffy complies, but does so in a rather tortuous manner.

The hunter arrives in the form of Porky Pig (Blanc again) dressed as a Pilgrim.  Daffy hides Tom inside a snowman, and refuses to tell Porky where to find him.  Porky expresses disappointment over the possibilty of a Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey, giving a vivid description of items on the menu.  Daffy still doesn't budge, telling Porky "I ain't no stool pigeon."

 But Daffy gives in when Porky mentions yams.  Tom has other ideas and pins his tail feathers onto Daffy's tail, making Porky think Daffy is the turkey.  A chase through the snow ensues.

Daffy's lips are sealed!

J.A. Morris says:
I'm a huge fan of Warner Brothers' cartoons, but I hadn't seen this one until recently.  It's a great short, it's got some hilarious sight gags, especially one that involves a bucket of water thrown at Porky.

  It's also very fun to see Porky go from docile to furious here, as Daffy drives him into a murderous rage!

And Daffy's rendition of "Jingle Bells" will be stuck in your head for a long time.

Daffy sells out Tom for yams.

Some historical notes on this cartoon:
-Tom calls Daffy a "quisling" when Daffy shows Porky where the turkey is hiding.  During World War II, a quisling was someone who was collaborating with the Axis Powers. 

Tom hides out in a snowman.

-Daffy sings the song "Angel In Disguise" while hiding Tom in a snowman.  This song was introduced in the 1940 film It All Came True where it was performed by Ann Sheridan.

"Tom Turk And Daffy" is available on a dvd called Porky & Friends:Hilarious Ham. 

 If you're a fan of Looney Tunes, you'll want to make it part of your annual Thanksgiving entertainment.

J.A. Morris' rating:
  

4 pumpkin pies!

RigbyMel says:

This is perhaps an underrated/overlooked Looney Tunes short, which is a shame as it features classic, anarchic direction by Chuck Jones.   I was amused to see some gags from more familiar shorts show up in this cartoon.

For example, we see Porky turn into a literal "sucker" when he realizes he's been had and Chuck Jones shorts are always good for comical uses for signage.

Wait, where is the turkey again? ;-) 

In addition to Mel Blanc's sterling voice work as both Porky Pig and Daffy Duck,  we get a vocal appearance by Billy Bletcher as Tom Turkey.

Bletcher is probably best known today for his work as "Peg-Leg Pete" in assorted Disney shorts from the 1930s through the 1950s and he does a great job here.

This short is relatively new to me, and makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it.   It stands up well to repeated viewings.

RigbyMel's rating

4 pumpkin pies!