Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

(WARNING: I reveal below SPOILERS for episodes of 24 and The West Wing. Tread carefully.)

Boy, the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is sure getting a workout on TV these days.

First, on 24 the other night, Vice President Prescott engineered a cabinet meeting to discuss the fitness of President Palmer to execute the duties of his office. Following the detonation of a nuclear bomb on American soil, evidence has turned up implicating "three Middle-Eastern countries" in the plot; a military operation has been drawn up and launched, but President Palmer has called it off because Our Man Jack Bauer is after evidence that the whole thing is made up. But everybody else in Palmer's administration is insisting that the attack proceed, lest they lose the element of surprise. Thus the scheme to remove Palmer from power, which at the end of this week's episode, succeeded as Prescott took the Oath of Office and Palmer was escorted to a holding room. This all invoked the part of the 25th Amendment dealing with how a disabled or incapacitated President can be removed from office.

Then, last night on The West Wing, newcomer lawyer Joe Quincy -- played by Matthew Perry -- started sniffing out some details regarding a couple of minor press leaks in the White House, and he eventually turned up evidence that it was Vice President Hoynes who was doing the leaking, in the process of carrying out an extra-marital affair with a woman who has just received a seven-figure advance for a tell-all book. Thus, Hoynes resigned the Vice Presidency, leaving President Bartlet and crew also up against the 25th Amendment, the part that deals with a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. Bartlet now has to name a new Vice President, who will take office upon confirmation of both houses of Congress.

Who says you don't learn useful stuff on TV?

(Oh, and I'm glad to see Matthew Perry getting a chance to "stretch his wings" a bit on The West Wing. I've always been of the opinion that he's the most talented actor on Friends -- Jennifer Aniston being a close second -- and since he keeps getting crappy film work, maybe he'll get to demonstrate more of his range in a drama like TWW. Aaron Sorkin's writing is a different animal than what's on Friends, and even last night I couldn't detect any of the trademark "Chandlerisms" that I had feared.)