He created The West Wing (plus a bunch of other stuff*), but you knew that already. This was his best show, and “17 People” was its best non-Dire-Straits-featuring episode.

Unironically yapping about my love for this in 2014 is tricky, because my love for the series it belonged to has become so uncomfortably, uh, asterisk-laden lately. Back in those halcyon early-00’s days, I loved The West Wing . We all did! And now that it’s streaming to boot, freeing me from fiddling with those box-set envelope-sleeves, it’s even easier to revisit—which creates a nostalgia problem. The West Wing ’s faults are glaring in the harsh light of day, but “17 People,” having aged tremendously well, remains a knockout. We’re given 45 minutes in which there’s no Mandy, there’s still a Sam, and there’s still (for now) a Landingham. At no point does Bartlet affirm Donna’s folksy economic centrism. At no point does Toby try to “save” Social Security by cutting it. At no point are we asked to root for Jimmy Smits’ or Alan Alda’s Broderian distaste of the “tone” of politics. Instead, “17 People” is just Sorkin caught momentarily at peace with the world, and producing a fun hour of too-clever, too-tired characters bouncing off each other.