扫兴者第一季

　　Season 3: 2001–2002
　　Cast: Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford and Martin Sheen
　　The third season, which covers the administration's third and fourth years in office, starts off with Bartlet announcing his intention to run for reelection and is heavily devoted to the upcoming presidential election. Other prominent plotlines include Congressional investigations into whether Bartlet committed electoral fraud by concealing his MS, a death threat against C.J. and the ensuing relationship she develops with a Secret Service agent assigned to her, the Qumari defense minister Abdul Shareef plotting terrorist attacks against the US, and a troubling meeting between Toby and the President that leaves Bartlet with a bout of insomnia in "Night Five." The season finale, "Posse Comitatus" closes several of these storylines as Bartlet meets his opponent in the elections and reaffirms his commitment to beat him. The episode ends with the president finally deciding to order Shareef's assassination (a legally questionable act) and C.J.'s agent's murder, just after the man threatening C.J. was caught.
　　From a critical perspective, series creator Aaron Sorkin acknowledged in October 2002 that the terrorism-related plots designed to keep the series relevant after the real-life 9/11 attacks were awkward at times, saying "from week to week, you felt like you were writing the show handcuffed, a little bit. I didn't know how to write it anymore. It was a constant search for what I wasn't doing that used to make the show work. [...] Maybe there was a way to make it work; there probably was. I wasn't able to find it in twenty-two episodes." [1] Nonetheless, the show went on to win its third "Outstanding Drama" Emmy in a row.

　　查尔斯·纽温迪克渴望再接一桩卧底大案，他的机会终于到来：当惠勒学院校长杰克·贝伦格（马克思·格林菲尔德饰）受到神秘勒索者的威胁时，他邀请查尔斯伪装成教授潜入调查。是谁在制造这些威胁？这是否与离经叛道的亿万富翁布拉德·维尼克（盖瑞·科尔饰）有关？布拉德是惠勒的校友，正计划向学校捐款。查尔斯很快发现嫌疑人不在少数，但他的注意力却被一位自由奔放的音乐教师莫娜（玛丽·斯汀伯根饰）吸引，她对生活的热情唤醒了那些他以为在妻子去世后早已埋葬的情感。他是否准备好在生命的这个阶段再次敞开心扉？更重要的是，他是否已经爱上了那个他本该揭发的罪犯？
　　与此同时，他的女儿艾米丽（玛丽·伊丽莎白·埃利斯饰）因父亲的变化而受到启发，重新发现了自己被忽视已久的热情；而私家侦探朱莉（莉拉·里奇克里克饰）也踏上了自我成长的旅程，并与过去一位重要人物重新建立联系。
　　创剧人迈克尔·舒尔带来的这部《卧底老绅士》改编自获得 2021 年奥斯卡最佳纪录片提名的纪录片《名侦探赛大爷》。