They Call Her the Jackal: C.J. Cregg
Title: They Call Her the Jackal
Author: bessiemaemucho
Character: C.J. Cregg
Fandom: The West Wing
Spoilers: All seven seasons.
Notes: Big ups to pocky_slash for the helpful beta and suggestions.
They Call Her The Jackal: C.J. Cregg
1. Your first introduction to the character: “You’d be amazed at how normal I can be.”-C.J., pilot episode
When we first meet Claudia Jean Cregg in the pilot episode, she is working out and explaining to a man that, “This time, this hour, this is my time. Five am to six am. I can workout, as you see. I can think about personal matters. I can meet an interesting man.” But before C.J. can really get to know the interesting man, her beeper goes off and she falls off the treadmill.
From her very first scene, we see C.J. as someone who is desperately trying to carve out some personal space from her demanding job; someone who is attractive and interesting but sometimes, like everyone, has an off-moment (or off-day).
2. Your first impression: “Look at C.J.. She's like a '50s movie star; so capable, so loving and energetic."- President Bartlet, “The Crackpots and These Women”
I personally didn’t get into West Wing until Season Five in realtime, but I got hooked by watching the re-runs on Bravo. So I followed the first few seasons and season five concurrently, which led to some temporal confusion. However, throughout my seasonal wanderings I remained convinced of one thing: C.J. Cregg was basically the coolest character I’d ever seen. She was smart, funny, and dedicated. She was the only woman on the senior staff, and she more than held her own with the boys. She was confident and sassy, but would admit when she was wrong. I loved seeing a powerful, capable woman who wasn’t just a bitch. In season one, we saw C.J. bantering with the press corps and trying to keep the rest of the senior staff in line, and in season five she was still the same awesome C.J., even if Aaron Sorkin’s departure weakened the show as a whole.
3. Strengths: “She’s good.” “Yes she is.”-Danny and Leo, “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part II”
As President Bartlet noted in “The Crackpots and These Women,” C.J. is definitely capable, loving, and energetic. She is quick on her feet both in the pressroom and as chief of staff.
The season five episode “Access,” which took the form of a documentary about C.J.’s term as press secretary, was generally quite complimentary about C.J. and her abilities. In the documentary, her assistant Carol said, "She's the best boss.... I really look at C.J. as my mentor. They say that a mentor's a wise and trusted guide or friend. I would say that C.J. is all of those things.” Donna told the filmmakers, “I think that she has such great instincts. I think that she is so agile.”
Both President Bartlet and Leo recognize C.J.’s skill-when Bartlet asks Leo for a list of names to consider as Leo’s replacement, Leo tells him there’s “only one name” (“Third Day Story”). Josh, who is after all Leo’s Deputy COS, initially feels slighted by this. However, C.J. is equally as politically savvy as Josh, and she has better “people skills.” C.J. is much less likely to lose her temper and do something disastrous.
And yet, while C.J. is willing to work as a team, she also does her best to make sure that her own views are represented. She is the most vocal feminist presence on the senior staff, as seen when she condemns the Saudi religious police for letting some schoolgirls burn to death (which resulted in a series of serious death threats directed at C.J.) (“Enemies Foreign and Domestic”) or when she makes Toby and Will change “mankind” to “humankind” in Bartlet’s Second Inaugural Address (“Inauguration: Over There”).
C.J. is usually very self-confident, acknowledging that she is “great in bed.” (“Galileo”) She’s attractive and good at her job, and knows it.
C.J. also excels at performing “The Jackal.”
4. Weaknesses: “Paranoid Berkeley shiksa feminista!”-Josh, “A Proportional Response”
If anything, sometimes C.J. cares too much, which can lead to difficulties in her job. She’s been known to get invested in her assigned crackpots for Big Block of Cheese Day (the tale of Pluie the Wolf from “The Crackpots and These Women,” the Cartographers for Social Equality from For example, she is immensely troubled by the US sale of arms to Qumar, where, “apartheid was an Easthampton clambake compared to what we laughingly refer to as the life these women lead. And if we had sold M1-A1s to South Africa fifteen years ago, you'd have set the building on fire. Thank God we never needed to refuel in Johannesburg!” (“The Women of Qumar”). However, she still goes out and gives a press release about the renewed US base in Qumar, despite having been in tears about it moments before.
C.J., like all the West Wing staff, has difficulty keeping up her personal life. At the end of season seven, her fledgling relationship with Danny is hurt by this (“Institutional Memory”)-she tells Danny that she doesn’t really know how to have a relationship with another person (or how to ski).
And, although C.J. is a generally self-confident character, she has her weaknesses. For the first season (and presumably, the first two years of the Bartlet presidency), C.J. was sometimes hesitant about her role on staff. In “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics” she worries that Leo is keeping her out of the loop after Danny found Mandy’s memo. Josh tries to comfort her by saying that Leo “thinks of you like a daughter, C.J.,” but she says, “That’s not a good enough reason to keep me here.”
Toby, and apparently others, were also concerned about C.J. being too friendly with the reporters, and withheld information from her in “Lord John Maybury.” C.J. was outraged, and told Toby, “They don’t know me. I’m from nowhere. I was just starting to get credible. I was just starting to get their respect. You know how long it’s going to take me to get it back?” Toby later apologizes and tells C.J. she’s a “trusted member of the communications staff.” Earlier, in “Celestial Navigation,” Josh also alludes to C.J.’s friendliness with the reporters, claiming that in his press briefing he imposed “a discipline I felt had been lacking in C.J.’s briefings.” (Of course, Josh’s briefing was disastrous and C.J. permanently barred him from her press room following it.)
C.J. can also be insecure about her height (Will: “What do C.J. and Big Bird have in common?” C.J.: "This will be fun because no one’s ever made a joke about me and Big Bird before.” [“Eppur Si Muove”]). She also wishes her Secret Service codename weren’t “Flamingo,” which she considers a “ridiculous looking bird” (“In Excelsis Deo”). (Of course, Sam is quick to reassure her, saying “You're not ridiculous looking,” to which C.J. responds, ”I know I'm not ridiculous looking.”)
She is also sensitive about her position as a “woman in a man’s job” (“Enemies Foreign and Domestic”). After she receives death threats, she is reluctant to take on Secret Service protection for fear it will make her look “fragile.”
C.J. may also have been cursed by the Egyptian cat goddess Bast (“The Stackhouse Filibuster”).
5. Character Evolution (history, motives, growth): “C.J.. There’s something I need you to do for me.” “What’s that?” “Jump off a cliff.”-President Bartlet and C.J., “Third Day Story”
The Bartlet campaign was C.J.’s first national campaign. From the “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen” flashbacks, we learn that immediately before the campaign she was working as a publicist for Triton-Day Public Relations, but was fired because one of her clients dropped from 3rd to 9th on the Most Powerful People in Hollywood list. However, her boss Isobel reminded her that “this is never what you wanted to be doing, C.J.. You’ve always felt it was beneath you.” C.J. responded, “It is beneath me” (“In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part II”).
C.J. has a master’s in communications from UC Berkeley, but she grew up in Dayton, Ohio, where she played basketball and was, according to a classmate, “the smartest, funniest, saddest girl in Dayton” (“The Long Goodbye”). Before doing PR in Hollywood, she also worked for EMILY’s List (or, as Toby calls it, “that girls’ group with the stupid name”) and on some statewide campaigns.
C.J. excelled as press secretary, becoming increasingly confident in her job throughout the years. She also became better at seeing the political “big picture” and figuring out the best way to help others, rather than getting completely emotionally involved. In “Internal Displacement,” she is able to work out a clever strategy for helping the situation in both the Sudan and Kazakhstan, and she doesn’t let Steve Laussen from the Refugees' Rights Alliance rile her when he tells her “When the babies die, the mothers don't know how to put them down so they carry them around - on this planet, on your watch." Later, Steve says “"You remember the picture of the Vietnamese monk who lit himself on fire to protest the war? I used to think that guy was nuts. Now, it seems like the only logical response,” and C.J. responds "It won't help." She’s learned how best to help people without getting emotionally overwhelmed (as she did in “The Women of Qumar”)-which isn’t to say that C.J. loses her compassion.
And, although she was hesitant to replace Leo as Chief of Staff, she filled his shoes admirably. There is a reason Matt Santos made C.J. an “offer I can’t refuse” (“Institutional Memory”)-she is a valuable political operative. However, the fact that C.J. ultimately refused the offer shows growth on C.J.’s part. It shows that she’s finally ready to give a relationship with Danny a serious chance, and it shows that she’s ready to move on from the White House. Her new job with Franklin Hollis will allow C.J. to do more of what she wants most-to help people. And her meeting with Hollis is a perfect example of C.J.’s pragmatic compassion-she tells him that highways are what will help developing African nations the most: "It's not sexy. No one will ever raise money for it. But nine out of ten African aid projects fail because the medicine or the personnel can't get to the people in need.... Blanket the continent with highways and then maybe get started on plumbing" (“Institutional Memory”). As Toby said, “C.J. doesn't like running… believe it or not, because it takes time away from helping” (“Game On”). Hopefully, C.J.’s new well-funded position will give her an opportunity to help people without spending time on campaigning.
6. Relationships and how they have shaped the character (Family, friends, lovers, enemies): "Do you think the joke reflex you use as a defense mechanism is why you have so much trouble keeping a man?”-Josh to C.J., “He Shall From Time to Time”
Toby Zeigler convinced Leo to bring C.J. on board the campaign. Their pre-campaign relationship is never explicitly defined, but there are several hints that the two dated in the past. Andi mentions to C.J. that “He was your friend for a long time” (“Institutional Memory”), and many of C.J. and Toby’s interactions are flirtatious (“You want to make out with me right now.” “When don’t I?” [“Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail”]). When C.J. visits Toby to talk about a pardon from Bartlet, Toby gets angry because, "For a moment, I actually thought you came here 'cause you gave a crap and wanted to see how I was doing." (“Institutional Memory”). However, it’s clear that C.J. does care and is hurt both by Toby’s betrayal of the President and by his exile. In the same conversation C.J. later adds, “We had it good there for a while,” though it’s ambiguous as to whether this refers to their friendship, their time working together, or a romantic relationship (or all of the above!). Whether or not they dated in the past, C.J. and Toby are good friends and worked well together in the West Wing.
C.J. and the reporter Danny Concannon have had a flirtatious not-quite relationship for all of C.J.’s stint at the White House. However, C.J. was uncomfortable with dating him when he was a reporter and she was the Press Secretary (Danny: “C.J., I have no problem with a reporter dating a press secretary.” C.J.: “Well…I have a problem…so…” Danny: “Yeah. Okay.” [“The Lame Duck Congress”]) so the relationship didn’t go beyond a few office kisses and one dinner date.
However, in Bartlet’s last year of office, Danny fights to make their relationship something more serious: “At some point, you have to choose to have a relationship. We're not twenty-five anymore. At our age, you can't date a little and screw a little and wait around to see if you get sentimental at Christmas. You have to decide you're going to make another person a part of your life” (“Institutional Memory”). Three years after Bartlet’s last term, we see that C.J. and Danny are living in Santa Monica, married with a baby (“The Ticket”), so clearly they managed to work out the kinks of having a relationship sometime in the three years following the end of the series.
C.J. has had a few other romantic relationships on the show, most notably her Secret Service agent Simon Donovan (who was killed in an armed robbery in “Posse Comitatus”) and Ben Dryer, a college ex-boyfriend who resurfaced in season five.
We don’t really see C.J. with any female friends outside of the office; inside the office she is close with Carol and Donna. In the “Access” documentary Carol reveals that she thinks of C.J. as a mentor. C.J. and Donna occasionally plot together; C.J. told Donna she was “someone whose criminal mind was equal to my own” (“The Stackhouse Filibuster”). C.J. has also become close with Kate (another woman in a man’s job) in the last few years. Another female friend of C.J.’s is Gail, her goldfish. Gail was a misguided gift from Danny (Donna told him that C.J. likes Goldfish, meaning the crackers [“The Short List”]), but C.J. seems quite fond of her.
Of course, the whole senior staff is pretty close-knit, and C.J. is on good terms with everyone-“Spanky” (Sam), “Chaz” (Charlie), “Leopold” (Leo), et al. Both Leo and President Bartlet think of her like a daughter. Her relationship with Charlie has grown over the years too, from prank wars (“How long do you usually make people your bitch?” [“Hartsfield’s Landing”]) to Charlie serving capably as her assistant and hoping to continue working with her (before he decides to go to law school).
C.J. is also very close to her dad, Tal, who has Alzheimer’s. When she returns home and discovers how bad the disease has gotten, and that his third wife has left him, she offers to quit her job and come take care of him. But he tells her, in one of his good moments, "I'd much rather see you on TV, darling, than sitting opposite me watching the demolition derby going on in my brain” (“The Long Goodbye”). Her father was a math teacher, and watching his career made her opposed to affirmative action, because “anytime there was an opportunity for career advancement, it took an extra five years because invariably there is a less-qualified black woman in the picture, so instead of retiring as superintendent of the Ohio Valley Union Free School District, he retired head of the math department at William Henry Harrison Junior High” (“The Two Bartlets”). C.J.’s mother has passed away, and although she’s mentioned her older brothers (and once took her niece Hogan shopping, in an attempt to be “the cool aunt” [“The Black Vera Wang”]), her dad definitely seems like the family member to whom she is closest.
7. What keeps you interested in this character, keeps you writing or reading or watching?: "The Post is calling it sleek, challenging, and oftentimes witty, not unlike myself."-C.J., “The War at Home”
C.J. is smart, witty, confident, and good at what she does. She’s also clumsy, a workaholic, and a teeny bit tormented. But above all, C.J. wants to help people. How cool is it to see a woman on a successful TV show who wants to help people-and does it on a global level? How cool is it to see a woman who doesn’t look like Pamela Anderson, but is nonetheless gorgeous-and knows it? How cool is it to see a woman who can joke about the butter Last Supper (with butter on the table!) and shape major policy initiatives? How cool is C.J. Cregg?
In writing this essay, these websites were incredibly helpful:
I'm a member of Flamingo: The C.J. Cregg Fanlisting, and you should be one too.
Author: bessiemaemucho
Character: C.J. Cregg
Fandom: The West Wing
Spoilers: All seven seasons.
Notes: Big ups to pocky_slash for the helpful beta and suggestions.
They Call Her The Jackal: C.J. Cregg
1. Your first introduction to the character: “You’d be amazed at how normal I can be.”-C.J., pilot episode
When we first meet Claudia Jean Cregg in the pilot episode, she is working out and explaining to a man that, “This time, this hour, this is my time. Five am to six am. I can workout, as you see. I can think about personal matters. I can meet an interesting man.” But before C.J. can really get to know the interesting man, her beeper goes off and she falls off the treadmill.
From her very first scene, we see C.J. as someone who is desperately trying to carve out some personal space from her demanding job; someone who is attractive and interesting but sometimes, like everyone, has an off-moment (or off-day).
2. Your first impression: “Look at C.J.. She's like a '50s movie star; so capable, so loving and energetic."- President Bartlet, “The Crackpots and These Women”
I personally didn’t get into West Wing until Season Five in realtime, but I got hooked by watching the re-runs on Bravo. So I followed the first few seasons and season five concurrently, which led to some temporal confusion. However, throughout my seasonal wanderings I remained convinced of one thing: C.J. Cregg was basically the coolest character I’d ever seen. She was smart, funny, and dedicated. She was the only woman on the senior staff, and she more than held her own with the boys. She was confident and sassy, but would admit when she was wrong. I loved seeing a powerful, capable woman who wasn’t just a bitch. In season one, we saw C.J. bantering with the press corps and trying to keep the rest of the senior staff in line, and in season five she was still the same awesome C.J., even if Aaron Sorkin’s departure weakened the show as a whole.
3. Strengths: “She’s good.” “Yes she is.”-Danny and Leo, “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part II”
As President Bartlet noted in “The Crackpots and These Women,” C.J. is definitely capable, loving, and energetic. She is quick on her feet both in the pressroom and as chief of staff.
The season five episode “Access,” which took the form of a documentary about C.J.’s term as press secretary, was generally quite complimentary about C.J. and her abilities. In the documentary, her assistant Carol said, "She's the best boss.... I really look at C.J. as my mentor. They say that a mentor's a wise and trusted guide or friend. I would say that C.J. is all of those things.” Donna told the filmmakers, “I think that she has such great instincts. I think that she is so agile.”
Both President Bartlet and Leo recognize C.J.’s skill-when Bartlet asks Leo for a list of names to consider as Leo’s replacement, Leo tells him there’s “only one name” (“Third Day Story”). Josh, who is after all Leo’s Deputy COS, initially feels slighted by this. However, C.J. is equally as politically savvy as Josh, and she has better “people skills.” C.J. is much less likely to lose her temper and do something disastrous.
And yet, while C.J. is willing to work as a team, she also does her best to make sure that her own views are represented. She is the most vocal feminist presence on the senior staff, as seen when she condemns the Saudi religious police for letting some schoolgirls burn to death (which resulted in a series of serious death threats directed at C.J.) (“Enemies Foreign and Domestic”) or when she makes Toby and Will change “mankind” to “humankind” in Bartlet’s Second Inaugural Address (“Inauguration: Over There”).
C.J. is usually very self-confident, acknowledging that she is “great in bed.” (“Galileo”) She’s attractive and good at her job, and knows it.
C.J. also excels at performing “The Jackal.”
4. Weaknesses: “Paranoid Berkeley shiksa feminista!”-Josh, “A Proportional Response”
If anything, sometimes C.J. cares too much, which can lead to difficulties in her job. She’s been known to get invested in her assigned crackpots for Big Block of Cheese Day (the tale of Pluie the Wolf from “The Crackpots and These Women,” the Cartographers for Social Equality from For example, she is immensely troubled by the US sale of arms to Qumar, where, “apartheid was an Easthampton clambake compared to what we laughingly refer to as the life these women lead. And if we had sold M1-A1s to South Africa fifteen years ago, you'd have set the building on fire. Thank God we never needed to refuel in Johannesburg!” (“The Women of Qumar”). However, she still goes out and gives a press release about the renewed US base in Qumar, despite having been in tears about it moments before.
C.J., like all the West Wing staff, has difficulty keeping up her personal life. At the end of season seven, her fledgling relationship with Danny is hurt by this (“Institutional Memory”)-she tells Danny that she doesn’t really know how to have a relationship with another person (or how to ski).
And, although C.J. is a generally self-confident character, she has her weaknesses. For the first season (and presumably, the first two years of the Bartlet presidency), C.J. was sometimes hesitant about her role on staff. In “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics” she worries that Leo is keeping her out of the loop after Danny found Mandy’s memo. Josh tries to comfort her by saying that Leo “thinks of you like a daughter, C.J.,” but she says, “That’s not a good enough reason to keep me here.”
Toby, and apparently others, were also concerned about C.J. being too friendly with the reporters, and withheld information from her in “Lord John Maybury.” C.J. was outraged, and told Toby, “They don’t know me. I’m from nowhere. I was just starting to get credible. I was just starting to get their respect. You know how long it’s going to take me to get it back?” Toby later apologizes and tells C.J. she’s a “trusted member of the communications staff.” Earlier, in “Celestial Navigation,” Josh also alludes to C.J.’s friendliness with the reporters, claiming that in his press briefing he imposed “a discipline I felt had been lacking in C.J.’s briefings.” (Of course, Josh’s briefing was disastrous and C.J. permanently barred him from her press room following it.)
C.J. can also be insecure about her height (Will: “What do C.J. and Big Bird have in common?” C.J.: "This will be fun because no one’s ever made a joke about me and Big Bird before.” [“Eppur Si Muove”]). She also wishes her Secret Service codename weren’t “Flamingo,” which she considers a “ridiculous looking bird” (“In Excelsis Deo”). (Of course, Sam is quick to reassure her, saying “You're not ridiculous looking,” to which C.J. responds, ”I know I'm not ridiculous looking.”)
She is also sensitive about her position as a “woman in a man’s job” (“Enemies Foreign and Domestic”). After she receives death threats, she is reluctant to take on Secret Service protection for fear it will make her look “fragile.”
C.J. may also have been cursed by the Egyptian cat goddess Bast (“The Stackhouse Filibuster”).
5. Character Evolution (history, motives, growth): “C.J.. There’s something I need you to do for me.” “What’s that?” “Jump off a cliff.”-President Bartlet and C.J., “Third Day Story”
The Bartlet campaign was C.J.’s first national campaign. From the “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen” flashbacks, we learn that immediately before the campaign she was working as a publicist for Triton-Day Public Relations, but was fired because one of her clients dropped from 3rd to 9th on the Most Powerful People in Hollywood list. However, her boss Isobel reminded her that “this is never what you wanted to be doing, C.J.. You’ve always felt it was beneath you.” C.J. responded, “It is beneath me” (“In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part II”).
C.J. has a master’s in communications from UC Berkeley, but she grew up in Dayton, Ohio, where she played basketball and was, according to a classmate, “the smartest, funniest, saddest girl in Dayton” (“The Long Goodbye”). Before doing PR in Hollywood, she also worked for EMILY’s List (or, as Toby calls it, “that girls’ group with the stupid name”) and on some statewide campaigns.
C.J. excelled as press secretary, becoming increasingly confident in her job throughout the years. She also became better at seeing the political “big picture” and figuring out the best way to help others, rather than getting completely emotionally involved. In “Internal Displacement,” she is able to work out a clever strategy for helping the situation in both the Sudan and Kazakhstan, and she doesn’t let Steve Laussen from the Refugees' Rights Alliance rile her when he tells her “When the babies die, the mothers don't know how to put them down so they carry them around - on this planet, on your watch." Later, Steve says “"You remember the picture of the Vietnamese monk who lit himself on fire to protest the war? I used to think that guy was nuts. Now, it seems like the only logical response,” and C.J. responds "It won't help." She’s learned how best to help people without getting emotionally overwhelmed (as she did in “The Women of Qumar”)-which isn’t to say that C.J. loses her compassion.
And, although she was hesitant to replace Leo as Chief of Staff, she filled his shoes admirably. There is a reason Matt Santos made C.J. an “offer I can’t refuse” (“Institutional Memory”)-she is a valuable political operative. However, the fact that C.J. ultimately refused the offer shows growth on C.J.’s part. It shows that she’s finally ready to give a relationship with Danny a serious chance, and it shows that she’s ready to move on from the White House. Her new job with Franklin Hollis will allow C.J. to do more of what she wants most-to help people. And her meeting with Hollis is a perfect example of C.J.’s pragmatic compassion-she tells him that highways are what will help developing African nations the most: "It's not sexy. No one will ever raise money for it. But nine out of ten African aid projects fail because the medicine or the personnel can't get to the people in need.... Blanket the continent with highways and then maybe get started on plumbing" (“Institutional Memory”). As Toby said, “C.J. doesn't like running… believe it or not, because it takes time away from helping” (“Game On”). Hopefully, C.J.’s new well-funded position will give her an opportunity to help people without spending time on campaigning.
6. Relationships and how they have shaped the character (Family, friends, lovers, enemies): "Do you think the joke reflex you use as a defense mechanism is why you have so much trouble keeping a man?”-Josh to C.J., “He Shall From Time to Time”
Toby Zeigler convinced Leo to bring C.J. on board the campaign. Their pre-campaign relationship is never explicitly defined, but there are several hints that the two dated in the past. Andi mentions to C.J. that “He was your friend for a long time” (“Institutional Memory”), and many of C.J. and Toby’s interactions are flirtatious (“You want to make out with me right now.” “When don’t I?” [“Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail”]). When C.J. visits Toby to talk about a pardon from Bartlet, Toby gets angry because, "For a moment, I actually thought you came here 'cause you gave a crap and wanted to see how I was doing." (“Institutional Memory”). However, it’s clear that C.J. does care and is hurt both by Toby’s betrayal of the President and by his exile. In the same conversation C.J. later adds, “We had it good there for a while,” though it’s ambiguous as to whether this refers to their friendship, their time working together, or a romantic relationship (or all of the above!). Whether or not they dated in the past, C.J. and Toby are good friends and worked well together in the West Wing.
C.J. and the reporter Danny Concannon have had a flirtatious not-quite relationship for all of C.J.’s stint at the White House. However, C.J. was uncomfortable with dating him when he was a reporter and she was the Press Secretary (Danny: “C.J., I have no problem with a reporter dating a press secretary.” C.J.: “Well…I have a problem…so…” Danny: “Yeah. Okay.” [“The Lame Duck Congress”]) so the relationship didn’t go beyond a few office kisses and one dinner date.
However, in Bartlet’s last year of office, Danny fights to make their relationship something more serious: “At some point, you have to choose to have a relationship. We're not twenty-five anymore. At our age, you can't date a little and screw a little and wait around to see if you get sentimental at Christmas. You have to decide you're going to make another person a part of your life” (“Institutional Memory”). Three years after Bartlet’s last term, we see that C.J. and Danny are living in Santa Monica, married with a baby (“The Ticket”), so clearly they managed to work out the kinks of having a relationship sometime in the three years following the end of the series.
C.J. has had a few other romantic relationships on the show, most notably her Secret Service agent Simon Donovan (who was killed in an armed robbery in “Posse Comitatus”) and Ben Dryer, a college ex-boyfriend who resurfaced in season five.
We don’t really see C.J. with any female friends outside of the office; inside the office she is close with Carol and Donna. In the “Access” documentary Carol reveals that she thinks of C.J. as a mentor. C.J. and Donna occasionally plot together; C.J. told Donna she was “someone whose criminal mind was equal to my own” (“The Stackhouse Filibuster”). C.J. has also become close with Kate (another woman in a man’s job) in the last few years. Another female friend of C.J.’s is Gail, her goldfish. Gail was a misguided gift from Danny (Donna told him that C.J. likes Goldfish, meaning the crackers [“The Short List”]), but C.J. seems quite fond of her.
Of course, the whole senior staff is pretty close-knit, and C.J. is on good terms with everyone-“Spanky” (Sam), “Chaz” (Charlie), “Leopold” (Leo), et al. Both Leo and President Bartlet think of her like a daughter. Her relationship with Charlie has grown over the years too, from prank wars (“How long do you usually make people your bitch?” [“Hartsfield’s Landing”]) to Charlie serving capably as her assistant and hoping to continue working with her (before he decides to go to law school).
C.J. is also very close to her dad, Tal, who has Alzheimer’s. When she returns home and discovers how bad the disease has gotten, and that his third wife has left him, she offers to quit her job and come take care of him. But he tells her, in one of his good moments, "I'd much rather see you on TV, darling, than sitting opposite me watching the demolition derby going on in my brain” (“The Long Goodbye”). Her father was a math teacher, and watching his career made her opposed to affirmative action, because “anytime there was an opportunity for career advancement, it took an extra five years because invariably there is a less-qualified black woman in the picture, so instead of retiring as superintendent of the Ohio Valley Union Free School District, he retired head of the math department at William Henry Harrison Junior High” (“The Two Bartlets”). C.J.’s mother has passed away, and although she’s mentioned her older brothers (and once took her niece Hogan shopping, in an attempt to be “the cool aunt” [“The Black Vera Wang”]), her dad definitely seems like the family member to whom she is closest.
7. What keeps you interested in this character, keeps you writing or reading or watching?: "The Post is calling it sleek, challenging, and oftentimes witty, not unlike myself."-C.J., “The War at Home”
C.J. is smart, witty, confident, and good at what she does. She’s also clumsy, a workaholic, and a teeny bit tormented. But above all, C.J. wants to help people. How cool is it to see a woman on a successful TV show who wants to help people-and does it on a global level? How cool is it to see a woman who doesn’t look like Pamela Anderson, but is nonetheless gorgeous-and knows it? How cool is it to see a woman who can joke about the butter Last Supper (with butter on the table!) and shape major policy initiatives? How cool is C.J. Cregg?
In writing this essay, these websites were incredibly helpful:
- Bartlet 4 America (especially their C.J. page)
- The Unofficial West Wing Continuity Guide (again, especially their C.J. page)
- The West Wing Episode Guide
- The West Wing Transcripts
- Television Without Pity's West Wing recaps
- Delightful & Delicious: The Allison Janney and C.J. Cregg Fansite
- The Unofficial West Wing Continuity Guide (again, especially their C.J. page)
I'm a member of Flamingo: The C.J. Cregg Fanlisting, and you should be one too.