Took some time last night to catch up with some TV. Got reasonably caught up with both The West Wing and Ed, and was reasonably happy with both.

There's a lot of talk about how The West Wing is slipping this year (to go on top of you all who complain about the show given its politics). I will say that it seems less focused this season, which may be from trying to maintain both the election and Qumar plots at the same time. Either would be fine, but together you get the sense that each one is big enough to drain the other a bit. Kind of a division of forces, but with creative energy rather than infantry. It's not a good idea on the battlefield, and perhaps isn't such a swell idea with a TV show, either.

One thing I do like is the prospect of trading Rob Lowe for Josh Malina and Danica McKellar. Malina is known to many as Jeremy Goodwin from Sports Night, while Danica McKellar will, for better or worse, always be Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years to a generation of TV viewers. While neither bring the Brat Pack cred or dashing good looks that Lowe supposedly gives the show, Malina gives a good energy, his character here being less frantic but as equally committed to the job. McKellar would increase the female presence on the show and go younger to boot.

Malina also brings with him the honor of being the first actor to hit for the cycle and be in A Few Good Men, The American President, Sports Night, and The West Wing. A number of people hit two of these (including Sorkin himself), but I don't even think there's someone in three of the four. I'd have to check more comprehensively.

I don't know what the plan is with this (from the business end), and I've not watched the election episode to see if the set-up is executed there or not. Anyway, it'd be cool.

For Ed, the show is showing more promise than last season, but still seems stuck a little. The last episode I watched had Ed and Carol get over the strain in their relationship casued by her marrying Dennis. They were helped to that point by the break-up of a local DJ team played by Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz. Their roles were funnier than 97 percent of everything they've done on SNL, by the way.

The episode was also refreshingly Cheswick-free. That gave a nice feeling to things... until I stopped to watch a bit of Galaxy Quest on ABC and found Justin Long playing some show-obsessed teen. He's like that bit of toilet paper that gets stuck to the bottom of your shoe.