Bartlet4America News Archive

West Wing delves into Bartlet's disease

By PETER JOHNSON
USA Today

Fans of NBC's The West Wing have been privy to President Josiah Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) secret: He has multiple sclerosis.

But the American public in this hit drama has been kept in the dark, as have many of his top aides — including communications director Toby Ziegler, played by Richard Schiff.

On Wednesday's episode (9 p.m. ET/PT), Toby puts two and two together and confronts his boss. It makes for an intense scene, Schiff says.

"The best way to put it is to say we turn a corner from which we can't go back," he says.

"It's disturbing. There are always secrets in this world that are meant for certain ears and not for others — for practical and political reasons. But this miscalculation is going to cost us dearly."

Schiff says that ABC News correspondent George Stephanopoulos, who was the communications director during the Clinton administration, was taken aback when he watched the episode being filmed recently for his report on the hit drama for ABC's Good Morning America.

"He was stunned," Schiff says. "He said, 'Oh my God, we never had to deal with anything like this.' "

Schiff says the episode sets up a chain of events that aren't going to be resolved anytime soon. "It'll change the perception of the presidency in our fictional world."

The end of the TV season is approaching, and talk of another West Wing cliffhanger is inevitable. Schiff doesn't think anything could come close to last season — when Bartlet and others were shot during an assassination attempt, "but anything is possible."