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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, August 19, 2002

Speculation abounds on Lowe's 'West Wing' exit

By Wanda A. Adams
Assistant Features Editor

He should be offered a great new job elsewhere.

Advertiser readers were not shy about coming up with suggestions for what should happen to Rob Lowe's character in "The West Wing."

NBC

He should be embarrassed by a sex scandal and asked to resign.

He should die.

These three options sum up Advertiser readers' suggested plot lines for a future "The West Wing" segment, when Rob Lowe bids farewell to the show after a salary snit. His character, White House deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, is expected to leave the show in March.

And who should replace him? Nominees range from Robert Downey Jr. to — inevitably — Charlie Sheen, son of "West Wing" star Martin Sheen (who plays President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet).

Several readers got a gleeful kick out of suggesting that Lowe's character meet his demise in a storyline that reflects real-life events in Lowe's life — and that of a certain ex-president.

"He's coerced into resigning after it's discovered that he's been having sex in hotel rooms with underage girls and videotaping it," suggests Honolulu reader Al J. Moss. Seaborn claims it wasn't an indiscretion, just an effort to curry favor with voters. But only after he disputes everything from the authenticity of the tape to the age of the girls. Ultimately, he admits his guilt only after a judge rejects his argument of "extrapolated executive sexual privilege," because of his closeness to the Oval Office. "Hey, wait a minute," Moss concluded, "This is all starting to seem familiar."

John Leonard Werrill of Honolulu, a sometime actor as well as chef, took our lighthearted call for ideas all too seriously, submitting a four-page handwritten script treatment. Werrill envisions Sam Seaborn slipping into alcohol abuse, while taking up online with a woman who turns out to be an undercover spy. Toby Ziegler (Robert Schiff) discovers the liaison, confronts Sam, they fight and Sam hits his head and falls into a coma — until he dies or, as Werrill cynically notes, changes his mind about staying on the show.

Marge Nguyen of Honolulu was much more succinct: Sam Seaborn should have an aneurysm — "never pulled out of surgery. Goodbye. Aloha." She wants Ben Affleck for his replacement. (Dream on.)

Nancy Moss suggests that Lowe defect to the Republican Party with Ainsley Hayes (played by Emily Procter), the blond conservative on the president's staff. The two will become mouthpieces for extreme right-wing candidates ("that way he can come back for guest appearances"). John Cusack would replace Lowe as a far-out "green" whose main concern is the environment "and who, like Sam, is a wizard with words," Moss wrote.

Barbara Vernon, who likes Lowe's character and doesn't want him to leave, argues for a dignified end: Sam is asked to return to his home state and run for governor. He leaves with President Bartlet's approval.