JIMMY SMITS made his long-awaited debut last night on “The West Wing,” but the episode belonged to Allison Janney.
Janney was center stage for the entire hour as her character, presidential press secretary C.J. Cregg, was promoted by President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) to replace Leo McGarry as White House chief of staff.
McGarry (John Spencer), who was still in intensive care after suffering a near-fatal heart attack two episodes ago, will not be returning to his job, although he is expected to make a full recovery following bypass surgery, President Bartlet told his staff last night.
In the “West Wing” episode seen last night on NBC, C.J. struggled with her new job at first. But by the episode’s end, she was taking charge, first neutralizing an overly aggressive defense secretary and then ordering a call placed to the British prime minister – not bad for a first day’s work. Smits, meanwhile, made his entrance about 35 minutes into the show in the role of Rep. Matthew Santos, a charismatic, three-term Democratic congressman from Houston.
In his one and only scene, which lasted only a few minutes, Santos informed White House political director Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) that he would not seek re-election and was planning to retire from politics at age 42.
Lyman was paying Santos a visit in his Capitol Hill office to try and persuade the congressman to seek a fourth term.
The retirement storyline sounds like a red herring because Santos is expected in future episodes to emerge as a strong contender for a presidential nomination, now that the two-term Bartlet administration is coming to an end.
Few hints were provided last night, however, about what the future holds for San tos, although it’s pretty obvious the producers of “The West Wing” did not go out and hire a charismatic TV star like Smits in order to let his character retire to Texas.
And true to form, Smits, the former star of “L.A. Law” and “NYPD Blue,” aced his appearance last night, brief as it was.
Still up in the air is the question of who will replace C.J. as press secretary. After last night, the odds favor a new deputy press secretary played by new cast member Kristin Chenoweth, who also made her debut last night.