'The Diplomat' and 'The West Wing': More alike than you think

"The West Wing" ended twenty years ago while "The Diplomat" dropped a fourth season mid-October (Netflix just ordered a fifth.) Two celebrated shows separated by two crowded decades on TV, but not much else in common, right?

Wrong, of course. As fans know, they have everything in common — from creative ties to cast, notably Allison Janney, as "The Diplomat's" U.S. president Grace Penn, and Bradley Whitford as her husband/"First Gentleman," Todd Penn. To love one show is to love the other, but even hardcore devotees may be surprised to learn just how strong the ties that bind are.

"The Diplomat's" fourth season was filled with "West Wing" callbacks — intentional or otherwise — which makes sense. The Netflix hit was created by Debora Cahn, who won a 2003 best drama Emmy as part of "Wing's" writing crew, while the executive producer (and director) is Alex Graves, another key member of "Wing's" creative team.

Here are eight ways season 4" channels "Wing," but first an obvious spoiler alert — lots of plot specifics ahead:

1. The shooting

President Josiah Bartlett (Martin Sheen) is shot in an assassination attempt at the end of "Wing's" first season, while Penn is shot at the outset of "Diplomat's" fourth. Key difference: Deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (Whitford) is also wounded in that especially dramatic "Wing" arc. The aftermath is what's important: both Grace and Lyman suffer from PTSD, calling into question their fitness for the job they must return to.

2. The Dearly Departed

One of "Diplomat's" shockers this season is the death of Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), British foreign secretary who got (umm) close and personal with U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Kate Wyler (Keri Russell). That sets in motion a whole lot of stuff (notably the deterioration of U.S.-British relations). The huge death late in "Wing's" second season was beloved Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten), Bartlett's longtime secretary and maybe his closest adviser — a shocker too, with lots of fallout.

3. Spouse as adviser

Stockard Channing memorably played Bartlett's tough-as-rawhide spouse, Abby Bartlett, who intimidated the rest of the West Wing, even the tough-as-rawhide chief of staff, Leo McGarry (John Spencer). The roles are largely reversed on "Diplomat," at least at first. Whitford's Todd keeps his distance from the Oval Office, until boredom, insecurity and male ego begin to assert themselves. Soon he's in London, bugging Kate, and getting a fancy new title ("special envoy"). He's also tipster-in-chief for President Penn.

4. Loose nukes

Both series love storylines involving loose nukes — doomsday weapons that are out there in the wrong hands, and could pop off at any time. In "Wing's" season 5, those nukes got in the hands of the Iranians, who (maybe) detonated them. In "The Diplomat," the entire season revolves around a superbomb, the Poseidon, which the U.S. secretly takes off a Russian sub that sank in the North Sea.

5. Power vacuum crisis

Assassination attempts make for great backroom-maneuvering episodes — irresistible to "Wing," which had at least two such arcs. Veep John Hoyne (Tim Matheson) stepped uneasily into the breach in season 3, and (more memorably) Republican House Speaker Glen Walken (John Goodman) at the end of the fourth. In "The Diplomat," Kate's husband Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) gets the call this season.

6. Hidden information

Recall how Bartlett tried to keep the lid on his multiple sclerosis diagnosis — from everyone, including Congress, voters and his closest advisers, and was later forced to reckon with the obvious: Were his actions illegal? Ditto Penn, who twists herself into a pretzel (and everyone else around her) by making certain the Brits never learn about the heisted Poseidon weapon. (Were her actions actually illegal, too?)

 

7. Whitford's Todd ends NATO; Whitford's Josh ends inflation

In a funny late season scene in "The Diplomat," Todd — big-footing Kate — tells the new British prime minister, Bethan Vaughan (Jodie Whittaker), that the U.S. may fire on British ships if they impede U.S. warships in the North Sea. Kate tells him such an act would end NATO. Later, sprawling on a bed, in a deep funk, Todd says "I've killed NATO!" In "Wing's" season 1, Josh has to sub for press secretary C.J. Cregg (Janney) at the daily briefing, where he sardonically announces a "secret ... plan" to battle inflation. No such plan! Bartlett is unamused.

8. Blackmail

Blackmail is catnip for both series. In "Wings," Hoyne is blackmailed, then forced out of office when he reveals classified information during an affair (season 4), and on "The Diplomat," British prime minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) quits when Kate threatens to reveal that he choked his adviser, Margaret Roylin (Celia Imrie) — and Kate's got the incident on tape, too.