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The Five: More Fanesia moments

West WingLast year I introduced the term "fanesia" on this blog. It's a word that means "fan amnesia," those moments of a TV show that you simply forget ever happened, because they're illogical, hurt the show, or just make you feel bad and/or angry. I think it's time for another five:

1. Toby was the leak (The West Wing): I don't know what happened here. Whether the character was written off because actor Richard Schiff wanted to leave or NBC wanted to cut some payroll, the way it happened was a real kick in the stomach to longtime fans of the show. Not only that Toby would leak info about a secret military plane (he wouldn't), but that President Bartlet would just fire him so coldly and bring up their history in such a nasty way. Sure, these two butted heads many times, but it was always out of caring and love for each other. Great to see Bartlet pardon him as his last act as President and invite him to the opening of the library, but still. Aaron Sorkin must have thrown something at his TV when this happened.

In my mind, Toby just quit the White House to go teach at Columbia.

2. Irina was evil (Alias): Yeah, I know, this one is harder to justify, because not only was Irina evil for decades, the last season plot of her wanting the Rambaldi device for nasty purposes was a major plot and hard to forget, but I'm including it anyway. I mean, she helped them so many times and had finally reconciled with Syd and Jack, and then she turns into some James Bond villain wanting world domination and willing to kill her family to get it? Eh, stupid. I would have just had Sloane as the evil guy and have Jack and Irina stop him together.

3. Khandi Alexander leaving NewsRadio - and Lauren Graham joining (NewsRadio): Hey, I like Graham, and her episodes are some of the best of the show's fourth season, but Maura Tierney reveals on a fourth season DVD commentary that one of the reasons Alexander left was because there was buzz that Graham was going to be made a regular on the show, and Alexander already wasn't getting enough screen time.

4. Mark Greene dies (ER): Very rarely do characters on this show live happily ever after (it's from John Wells, who took over West Wing...hmmm...), and this was just awful. What, he couldn't just leave town to be with his family? He couldn't get a new job? They had to give him a freakin' brain tumor? Was it some reference to that nasty incident where he got his head bashed in inside the men's room? That wasn't enough? Why do shows have to kill off characters when actors want to leave?

5. That Dick Van Dyke Show reunion show: They leave New Rochelle and move to NYC? Richie is only on it for a minute? They all act like they truly dislike Alan Brady? Gah!

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