Fish on Fridays

Today's Fish on Fridays is devoted to that fan favorite of the silver screen, the piscine superstar of the 26 Emmy Award winning television drama series, The West Wing.

Talking of Emmys, did I tell you that my not-quite-two-year-old granddaughter Emily thinks they are talking about her when they report "Emmy" news on the TV?

Here is a picture of our Emmy.

Here is an Emmy Award

Where was I? Where am I? Oh yes. The West Wing.

Some of you may think that the star of The West Wing was Martin Sheen as the President of the USA, or perhaps one of the members of the White House staff such as Bradley Whitford who plays Josh Lyman, Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, or Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler.

No, no, no! We true aficionados of the series know that the real star of The West Wing was Gail the Goldfish.

Gail first appeared in The West Wing in an episode in which one of the White House reporters, Danny Concannon, has a crush on the White House press secretary, Claudia Jean (C.J.) Cregg. Josh tells Danny that C.J. likes goldfish.

Josh means the crackers.

Danny thinks that Josh means a real goldfish.

So in a touching, romantic scene Danny presents C.J., the object of his affections, with a goldfish in a bowl and launches Gail the Goldfish on her career of TV mega-stardom.

Gail became much much more than a prop on a set. In a series of private jokes between the West Wing production team and eagle eyed fans of the show, her bowl on C.J.'s desk frequently contained some object or other that alluded to the plot of each episode.

When war breaks out in Kashmir, Gail's bowl has some little toy soldiers and a Humvee. In an episode about a failed anti-missile-missile test, a missile apparently lands in Gail's bowl. And when the President and the First Lady plan to spend some steamy personal time together in the Presidential bedroom, Gail is seen with not only a pretty pink bed in her bowl, but also another goldfish. Yikes! Goldfish porn!

Gail even has her own fan website.

Beat that Joe Rouse.