 | The Doubleheader |  |
The Name Game ~ Dana, Donna, Dan, Danny...
Recycled Dialogue~ "A colossal waste of time"
SituationalSimilarities ~ Staffers playing poker and other familiar scenes.
Familiar Faces~ Actors who've graced both Sorkin projects.
"Her name's Dana, not Donna." -Dan Rydell, Sports Night
| Sports Night |
The West Wing |
| Abigail Jacobs - Dan Rydell's therapist (Kafelnikov) | Abigail Bartlet - The First Lady |
| Alberto Fedrigatti - tennis player who forced Pete Sampras to a fifth set (How Are Things in Glocca Mora) | Alberto Fedrigatti - Italian Ambassador who meets with Josh (The Butterball Hotline) |
| Charley McCall - Casey's ten year old son (What Kind of Day Has It Been) | Charlie Young- Personal Aide to the President |
| Cliff Gardner - the guy whom Sam Donovan uses as an example of how he can help the show by doing this one thing (Cliff Gardner) | Cliff Calley - Republican lawyer on Ways
and Means with whom Donna has a brief affair (War Crimes)
Amy Gardner - Josh's "feminist" (ex-)girlfriend (We Killed Yamamoto) |
| Dan Rydell - Sports Night anchor | Danny Concanon - White House correspondent for the Washington Post |
| Dr. Abbey Jacobs - Dan's therapist (Kafelnikov) | Dr. Jenna Jacobs - Conservative Ph.D. whom Jed Bartlet takes out for a spin (The Midterms) |
| Jenny - Porn star whom Jeremy briefly dates (Celebrities) | Jenny McGarry - Leo's (ex-)wife |
| Landingham - an athlete who was dumped from Conference USA (Intellectual Property) | Mrs. Landingham - Assistant to the President |
| Lisa McCall - Casey McCall's ex-wife (The Pilot) | Lisa Sherborne - Sam Seaborn's ex-fiancée (100,000 Airplanes) |
| Madeline/Mandy - a woman from CSC's Morning Aerobics, and Dan's imaginary stalker (The Apology) | Madeleine/Mandy Hampton - former media consultant |
| Malory Moss - a lawyer in business affairs who informed Dan he owed residuals for singing Happy Birthday on the air to Casey, a behavior she characterized as "vaguely gay" (Intellectual Property) | Mallory
O'Brien - Leo McGarry's daughter
Donnatella Moss - Senior Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Planning |
| Ryan O'Brian - Star football player inexplicably passed over in the first draft round (Draft Day: The Fall of Ryan O'Brian) | Mallory O'Brien - Leo McGarry's daughter |
| Sam Rydell - Dan's younger brother, who died in a
drugged-driving accident at age 16 (The
Apology)
Sam Donovan - the ratings guy that Isaac brings in to alleviate pressure from the network (When Something Wicked This Way Comes) |
Sam Seaborn - Deputy Communications Director |
| Sam Donovan - the ratings guy that Isaac brings in to alleviate pressure from the network (When Something Wicked This Way Comes) | Simon Donovan - the Secret Service Agent that Jed brings in when CJ Cregg receives a death threat (Enemies Foreign and Domestic) |
| Shearson - a company with which Continental Corp's market analysts do business (Dana and the Deep Blue Sea) | Shearson - a company for whom Sam Seaborn's law firm, Gage Whitney Page, did a major deal (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II) |
| Stanley - CSC network wonk who ordered Dan to apologize (The Apology) | Stanley (Keyworth) - Josh's therapist(s) (The Crackpots and These Women; Noel) |
| Toby Bennis - pitcher who was working on a no-hitter in the 7th -- until Dan and Casey mentioned it on the air (The Apology) | Toby Ziegler - Communications Director |
| What Kind of Day Has It Been - First season finale | What Kind of Day Has It Been - First season finale |
| Will - A studio technician who's afraid of lumber sports | Will Bailey - A Democratic strategist who managed to get dead Democrat elected out of Orange County |
"We're just getting started here on Dan and Casey's Dance Fever. We're gonna take a commercial break, so stay with us." - Casey McCall
For more on the dear, departed Sports Night, checkout tktv.
Did I miss an important similarity or recycled line of dialogue?
Have I turned a corner somewhere? Let me know.
Thanks to Ryan, Dina, Krissie, Kasey, hilaryclaire, Michael, and Dana for various additions to the Sports Night pages.