Bartlet4America News Archive

A Rebellion In 'West Wing'

by Verne Gay
Newsday

July 30, 2003

Hey, it can't hurt to ask, right? Four headline actors from NBC's "The West Wing" are seeking a nearly 100 percent raise from their current $80,000-per-episode salaries, according to a report in Monday's Variety.

However, it was unclear yesterday what leverage the four have because each signed long-term contracts with Warner Bros. two years ago that tie them to the show through 2006.

The four are Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, John Spencer and Allison Janney. According to Variety, none has staged a walkout or "sick-out" or given any indication that they will, which suggests that discussions with Warner Bros. are, at least so far, amicable.

Warner Bros., which declined comment yesterday, has to be surprised and nonplussed at the demands. The show has just emerged from a rocky patch that saw the departure of Rob Lowe and creative forces Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme.

Yet as Variety pointed out, NBC also recently boosted its per-episode license payment to Warner Bros. to $6 million, which means the show is a solid profit center for the producer, a fact that perhaps emboldened the four to seek big salary boosts.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

'West Wing' loses guiding light, returns with new administration

by Vince Horiuchi
Salt Lake Tribune

Note to fans of "The West Wing": Be afraid.
So many things are changing on NBC's presidential series that chances are slim it will come back in fine form.
Consider:
* The series creator, Aaron Sorkin, left last season for reasons he is not about to explain (i.e. tension between him and the studio or network). Executive producer Thomas Schlamme left with Sorkin.
* Rob Lowe, who played the president's deputy communications director, Sam Seaborn, left the show to star in his own series called "The Lyon's Den," premiering this fall.
* Executive producer John Wells is taking over as head of the writing team. He produces "ER," which has been sliding downhill for the last, oh, five seasons or so.
* The storylines finally became too much. The president's daughter was kidnapped. The vice president resigned over a sex scandal. President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) temporarily stepped down after invoking the 25th Amendment (he was under too much stress due to the kidnapping to run the country), and the Speaker of the House, played by John Goodman, stepped in to become president. And that was all in the last couple of episodes. Though he is a good actor, casting John Goodman as Speaker of the House reeks of commercialism.
* With few exceptions, most dramas begin to slip after their third or fourth seasons. Maybe Bartlet should have not run for a second term.
The reality is that "The West Wing" will be a new show. Losing Sorkin was tough since he wrote nearly every episode. Losing Lowe means the show will lack some heart because he was one of the more compassionate and interesting characters, even though he wasn't given much to do (one reason he says he left the series). But NBC is doing as much as it can to alleviate anxiety.
"We're incredibly proud of that show and what they're doing and incredibly confident about the future," said NBC president Jeff Zucker.
The network last week touted the "accomplished" team of writers that will take over the scripts. The good news is that one of them, Lawrence O'Donnell, was one of the better "West Wing" writers in the first two seasons before he left to help the now-cancelled "Mr. Sterling."
Can "The West Wing" pick itself up and forge ahead after the exit of Sorkin, its guiding light? Time will tell when the fifth season premieres Sept. 24 on KSL Channel 5. But chances are this won't be a White House administration I can vote for.

Anne Heche, Dule Hill Get 'Sexual'

By Chris Gardner
Reuters

Reuters
Tuesday, July 29, 2003; 5:01 AM

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Anne Heche, Elizabeth Banks, Dule Hill and Kerry Washington are poised for "Sexual Life," an independent feature to be directed by Ken Kwapis.

The four actors, whose deals are being worked out, would join a previously announced cast that includes Tom Everett Scott, Azura Skye, James LeGros and Kevin Corrigan. Shooting is scheduled to begin next month in Los Angeles.

The project follows the various intertwined relationships of a group of adults. Kwapis, who has worked mainly as a television director, and producer Carol Baum developed the project together about 10 years ago. But thanks to financing from Showtime and free time on Kwapis' schedule, the duo are finally able to get the indie film before cameras.

Heche next stars in Fine Line Features' "Birth." Banks is is onscreen in "Seabiscuit" opposite Jeff Bridges and Tobey Maguire for Universal, DreamWorks and Spyglass.

Hill is best known as White House aide Charlie Young on the Emmy-winning NBC political drama "The West Wing." Washington next stars in Miramax Films' "The Human Stain" and Paramount Pictures' "Against the Ropes."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

'West Wing' small talk was big draw

by Bill Goodykoontz
The Arizona Republic

Jul. 29, 2003 12:00 AM

Editor's note: TV writer Bill Goodykoontz is reporting from the Television Critics Association summer TV tour.

HOLLYWOOD

As a former fan of The West Wing who harbored some hope of the show recapturing its former majesty - even without creator-genius Aaron Sorkin - this was unwelcome news indeed.

Jeff Zucker, NBC's entertainment president, has read the first two scripts of the new season. They were written by John Wells, ER's executive producer, who has taken over The West Wing (where he was also an executive producer) from Sorkin.

Zucker likes what he's seen. But from the sound of it, I'm not sure true West Wing fans will.

"I think that nobody was better at the small banter and the small talk than Aaron Sorkin," Zucker says. "Whatever is gone with not having that small talk and that small banter, I think that what John has brought to these first two scripts is some incredible, emotional moments, some incredible character development.

"And I think that where you may miss a little of the small talk in the hallway, you're going to be quite taken with how gut-wrenching and emotional it is. And I think that's the hallmark of a John Wells show, and that's what you're going to get."

Oh great. Blow stuff up and then have everyone cry about it. That seems to be the ER method, anyway.

The small talk in the hallway WAS The West Wing. Sure, it got carried to ridiculous extremes at times, but at its peak this show was about language, not melodrama.

Granted, the episodes haven't even been produced, and I haven't read the scripts. Maybe the show will improve. It had a lot of room for improvement lately - something an old hand on the show acknowledged.

"I felt the show definitely had changed course, without a question," says Rob Lowe, here to promote his new NBC legal drama Lyon's Den. "I think it's like being a crew member on a big ship. You know the ship is changing course probably before the passengers do. And I think it continues on that course. It just wasn't for me."

Of course, from Zucker's perspective - from the perspective of anyone who runs a network - the bottom line is ratings. If they have to start hauling in President Bartlet's distant cousins to have them kidnapped every other week and audiences respond to it, you can bet it'll happen.

In TV, anything that works doesn't go away until it doesn't work anymore. Thus, in 2004, we'll see Joey, the Friends spinoff. Frankly, I'm done with the Central Perk crowd, but Zucker's right when he says Joey is the one character that "America roots for and loves."

Maybe they can hire Aaron Sorkin to write for that show. Until they need to blow something up.

"West Wing" Salarygate

by Lia Haberman
E! Online

Jul 28, 2003, 10:00 AM PT

If only Tinseltown salary negotiations were as smooth as a presidential election. Kiss a baby here, shake some hands there. Get creative with the ballot configuration.

Four West Wing staffers--Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford and John Spencer--have approached Warner Bros. and John Wells Productions and demanded significant pay hikes, reports Variety.

It's estimated that the Emmy-nominated actors, who currently earn about $80,000 per episode, want their paychecks raised to roughly $150,000 per episode, or at least just over a third of what their commander-in-chief, Martin Sheen, reportedly pulls in per episode of the NBC drama.

The demand comes two years after the quartet joined forces and strong-armed the studio into doubling their respective paychecks--in exchange the foursome agreed to stick around through the show's seventh season in 2005-06.

At that time, the disgruntled West Wing four refused to show for work until their demands were met, while the studio threatened to declare them in breach of contract for their tactics.

Negotiations are reportedly more civilized this time around, with no walkouts or lawsuits threatened. But the constituency has changed since President Bartlet's first term.

Since then, fellow staffer Rob Lowe has been pushed out of his role as White House deputy communications director Sam Seaborn following his salary dispute with the show's producers.

Then there was the sudden May departure of creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme for reasons unknown. Finally, the series saw a rating dip last season after ABC began counterprogramming the Wednesday night time slot with The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

Indeed, studio execs are allegedly shocked by the new demands given the turmoil the show experienced last season. But those upsets could also work in the actors' favor.

Despite its dip in the polls, the show generated a respectable 13.5 million average viewers this past season in the enviable young and affluent demo. And it could be argued that with the departure of Lowe, Sorkin and Schlamme, the regular cast members have become more vital to the series this year.

Plus, there could be more money to go around this year. In January, Warner Bros. inked a new licensing deal with NBC, in which the Peacock net reportedly agreed to pony up close to $6 million per episode, while a Bravo syndication deal promised to net an additional $1 million per ep. The original salary deals were made while the studio was losing money on production.

At least one source notes in Variety that the studio may have already offered to bump the thesps' salaries to $100,000 per episode each. In addition, the White House staffers showing up for work on the series' fifth season suggests progress is being made.

The Friend Who Stays in the Neighborhood

By Lisa de Moraes
The Washington Post

Friday, July 25, 2003; Page C07

HOLLYWOOD, July 24

NBC has promised the Thursday night "Friends" slot to a spinoff in which Matt LeBlanc reprises his role as intellectually challenged thespian Joey Tribbiani, network entertainment chief Jeff Zucker announced today.

Warner Bros., which produces "Friends," paid a high price to get LeBlanc back for the spinoff: The studio has agreed to star him in two feature films. None of the "Friends" cast has emerged as a film star, but LeBlanc's big-screen career since becoming a household name on "Friends" has been particularly unspectacular, including that monkey baseball thing and "Lost in Space" -- both box office bombs. LeBlanc also had a bit part playing Lucy Liu's dim boyfriend in the film "Charlie's Angels" and the sequel.

"I cannot think of a bigger announcement this summer," Zucker bragged at Summer TV Press Tour 2003, 48 hours after Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez announced that U.S. forces had killed the sons of Saddam Hussein. Which just goes to show you that even a former news exec like Zucker loses all perspective after drinking the Hollywood Kool-Aid.

Zucker insisted that LeBlanc was the only one of the six "Friends" stars whom NBC had approached about a sequel.

"You probably would never have predicted this when ['Friends'] began, but over the evolution of the show, Joey has emerged as the character that America roots for and loves . . . and I think people will want to see what happens to him as his life moves on," Zucker explained to critics.

He declined to confirm speculation in the media that soap actor Joey will move to Los Angeles, though Zucker did acknowledge that it would be the easiest way of explaining to viewers why Joey has no daily contact with bosom buddies Rachel, Ross, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe.

But he did sort of assure critics that the new show's cast might very well include an actual member of an ethnic minority, unlike the cast of "Friends."

Actually, what Zucker said in response to a direct question about minority casting was that, while they haven't yet thought about casting the spinoff, "that's clearly something that, in this day and age, would be important to any new show."

NBC has ordered 22 episodes of "Joey," which will be executive produced by Kevin Bright, who has been at "Friends" for its entire run, and Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan, who have been with the show for the past four years. Marta Kauffman and David Crane, who created "Friends," will not be involved with the spinoff.

And speaking of "Friends," NBC has removed the oral sex joke from the opening scene of "Coupling" -- NBC's remake of the British comedy that is the U.K. remake of "Friends" -- not because of advertiser skittishness and not because NBC's standards-and-practices division actually woke up and noticed the joke, but because NBC doesn't want viewers' first impression to be that the show's all about sex, Zucker said.

Because other scenes that include references to masturbation, having sex in a restaurant bathroom and the baring of a breast by a restaurant patron will definitely not leave viewers with that impression.

One critic, who has apparently not gotten word that reruns of "Seinfeld" -- which did an entire episode about masturbation, not that there's anything wrong with that -- and "Friends" air in the afternoon on broadcast TV stations in many markets, asked Zucker one of those "we already know the answer" questions as to whether a show that features masturbation, oral sex and sex in a public bathroom is appropriate television for America at 8:30 p.m. on a major network.

The critic was referring to the show's running time in some markets in Middle America, where prime time is 7 to 10 p.m. instead of 8 to 11 p.m. like God intended. The broadcast networks continue to run prime time an hour earlier in Middle America because people there have to get up earlier to milk their cows. In Washington, "Coupling" will air at 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

Zucker, who did get the memo about those "Seinfeld" and "Friends" reruns, responded, "We obviously feel that America is ready for this."

Another critic asked cynically whether Zucker was counting on critics' outrage over "Coupling" to help promote the show.

Yup.

"One of the things you have to do these days to cut through, for any new show, is you can't be bland and you can't just be another show," Zucker said. "If there's outrage over 'Coupling,' so be it. . . . That is good for us. It's not why we picked it up and decided to put it on -- because we thought there would be outrage over it -- but if that happens that's okay."

NBC's upcoming TV movie about Pfc. Jessica Lynch is actually NBC's upcoming TV movie about the Iraqi lawyer who told U.S. troops where to find her, Zucker said, when asked how the network could go ahead with the flick when the facts about Lynch's rescue kept changing.

NBC is proceeding without rights to Lynch's side of the story; it has, however, bought the rights to the story of Mohammed Odeh Rehaief, "the brave Iraqi lawyer who saved her life," Zucker said.

"It's really a story of mistakes that were made, and action and adventure. Quite frankly, Jessica's part of the story is probably the smallest part of the story."

Lynch has not talked publicly about her capture in southern Iraq in March or her return.

"Obviously, there's a lot of questions. That's what makes for a great story," Zucker said. "In most made-for-TV movies, they're based on some fact and often there's a little fiction because we will never know for sure what exactly happened."

Good news for "West Wing" fans: Zucker says you won't notice the difference now that Aaron Sorkin, who created the show and penned nearly every episode, is gone.

"Nobody was better at the small banter and the small talk than Aaron Sorkin," Zucker generously conceded, but John Wells, the executive producer of "ER" and "Third Watch" who has taken over "WW," has penned two episodes of the White House drama that are "gut-wrenching and emotional."

In other words, "WW" is now another "ER."

"Where you may miss a little of the small talk in the hallway, you're going to be quite taken with how gut-wrenching and emotional [the coming season] is," Zucker said, acknowledging that "gut-wrenching and emotional" "is the hallmark of a John Wells show and that's what you're going to get."

Goody.

Some critics were pretty steamed that NBC had not scheduled a "West Wing" Q&A session during the network's two days at the tour here so that Wells and the show's new writing staff could talk to them about all the gut- wrenching in person.

"Did you think we'd be bored, or are they just not ready to talk about what they're going to do?" asked one peckish critic.

Zucker explained that they've just gone back into production this week and "I think it's far more important to be in production and concentrating on that." You can just imagine how well that played with the crowd.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

'West Wing' Returns with New Writing Team

Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NBC's White House drama "The West Wing (news - web sites)" returns for a fifth term of office this fall with executive producer John Wells replacing series creator Aaron Sorkin as commander-in-chief of the Emmy-winning show.

But NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker promised Tuesday that the transition from Sorkin to Wells and his new writing team would be seamless, with viewers noticing little difference in the show except for perhaps less of the dialogue "banter" that was a hallmark of Sorkin's writing style.

Zucker said Wells, who also executive-produces the NBC hits "ER" and "Third Watch," personally wrote the scripts for the first two episodes of the new season.

"I don't think there's a huge change in the show," Zucker told critics and TV journalists gathered for NBC's presentation at the annual Television Critics Association press tour.

"Whatever is gone with not having that small talk and small banter, I think that what John has brought to these first two scripts is some incredible, emotional moments," Zucker said. "Where you might miss a little of the small talk in the hallway, you're going to be quite taken with how gut-wrenching and emotional it is."

"West Wing" seems set for a riveting start. The season finale in May ended with President "Jed" Bartlet (Martin Sheen (news)) temporarily handing over the reins of power to a political rival played by John Goodman (news) in the midst of a crisis sparked in part by the apparent kidnapping of Bartlet's daughter.

Sorkin and a second executive producer of the show, Thomas Schlamme, stepped down from the series in May to pursue other projects.

Although the series stumbled in the ratings last season, "West Wing" has earned the Emmy Award for best television drama for the past three years and is nominated again this year. It also achieved the rare feat of winning the prestigious Peabody Award twice.

NBC is owned by General Electric Co.

Eckholdt joins first family on 'West Wing'

by Nellie Andreeva
Hollywood Reporter

Steven Eckholdt has joined the cast of NBC's White House drama "The West Wing" as a recurring. He will play President Jed Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) son-in-law, married to his older daughter, Elizabeth, the recurring role Annabeth Gish has been tapped to play (HR 7/22). Eckholdt and Gish will make their debut on the John Wells Prods./Warner Bros. TV series in the season opener, written by executive producer Wells, who has taken the reins of the series following the May exit of creator/executive producer Aaron Sorkin. Eckholdt most recently starred opposite Nia Vardalos in the CBS comedy "My Big Fat Greek Life." His TV series credits also include ABC's "It's Like, You Know ..." Fox's "Melrose Place" and NBC's "Providence" and "L.A. Law." He also has had roles on ABC's "The Practice" and NBC's "Friends."

Where men are men, and women are cardboard cut-outs

By Caroline Baum
Sydney Morning Herald

July 24, 2003

Everything else about Aaron Sorkin's brilliant series The West Wing is realistic and almost spookily believable, but there is something wrong with the women who walk his corridors of power. Why are they all so one-dimensional? And why is it that, while the male characters seem to bond, popping in and out of the Oval Office for cosy chats and private confidences, the women remain isolated?

West Wing men are complex and multifaceted. Their inner lives are explored through their battles with alcoholism, divorce, the anxiety of impending fatherhood or the scandal of a relationship with a call girl. Witness Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), the rumpled communications director, estranged from his father for years owing to his dad's unsavoury past and separated from his politically ambitious ex-wife, with whom he is now expecting twins, no less - now there's an interesting, evolving situation! Meanwhile, the women's roles stagnate rather than develop and can be summed up like this...

First Lady Abigail Bartlet (Stockard Channing): a bad-tempered, ball-breaking bitch. Clearly adores her husband, yet is always telling him off.

Press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney): carries the can for the men whenever they cock up. Her sassy comebacks at the press briefings are gifts of dialogue worthy of great Hollywood dames like Rosalind Russell and Bette Davis, but she's the shield protecting the men.

Donna (Janel Moloney): official series martyr and assistant to the insufferably immature Josh (Bradley Whitford), deputy chief of staff.

The sexual tension between them used to be funny and fizzy, but his sadism towards her, and her pouting acceptance of it, have become tedious and demeaning to both of them; he refuses to grow up and she indulges him.

Amy (Mary-Louise Parker): feminist minx whom Josh is smitten with. Another bitch and a half: wheeling and dealing, playing with Josh's affections, she speaks through a jaw so clenched there'd be no danger of her ever servicing anyone under a desk. She's ghastly, though not as dreadful as...

Ainsley (Emily Procter): blonde ventriloquist's doll briefly dangled on a string before the deputy communications director, Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe, who has now left the show). Ainsley speaks even faster than he does, making her virtually unintelligible, and is a Republican, which is supposed to engender some feisty repartee between them - kind of like Tracy and Hepburn on crack. But it can't happen because her voice is so squeakily high we can neither take her seriously nor laugh at her witty ripostes - Sorkin undermines her, making her a target for teasing and ridicule by colleagues and viewers alike.

Sorkin refuses to invest any of his women with true clout despite plenty of real-life examples all around him. He could turn to fascinating women like Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice for inspiration: powerful women who have navigated the perils of intense public scrutiny, discovering everything from unfaithful husbands to previously unexplored cultural roots (Albright), battling sexism and racism (Rice) along the way. This makes them irresistible, archetypal figures for us to watch in reality, so why should we settle for caricatures in Sorkin's fiction?

Q&A WITH ALLISON JANNEY

by Lev Grossman
Time Magazine

Pop star Mandy Moore plays your daughter in this movie. Did you listen to her albums on the set?
I have to say, no, I didn't. [Laughs.] I think I'm just not... That's one style... You know what? I should buy one of her CDs. It's just not my, um...I'm more of a Bonnie Raitt kind of gal.

Your character makes a dating video. Ever done that in real life?
Never! And I couldn't now, even if I wanted to. It would be like, "Oh, that's C.J. on The West Wing. I'll go out with her!"

Are you nervous about the show now that Aaron Sorkin is gone?
Yes, of course. It feels like, you know, our parents left us. That man is a genius and gave us all these wonderful characters, and now he's gone.

People think of you as a character actor, but do you yearn to be a leading lady?
Yes, I do! I totally do! I'm just waiting for that opportunity. I think it might have to wait until after West Wing, because the schedule doesn't really allow me to do much. But I'm dying to.

What are you doing to relax now that the movie's over?
My boyfriend just bought me a Ping-Pong table I'm very excited about.

Are you serious about Ping-Pong?
Oh, yeah. I'm a paddle thrower.

— Lev Grossman

Gish Elected 'West Wing' First Daughter

By Nellie Andreeva
Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Get ready to meet President Bartlet's older daughter.

Annabeth Gish (news) has been tapped as a recurring cast member on the NBC White House drama "The West Wing (news - web sites)," playing Elizabeth Bartlet Westin, President Jed Bartlet's (Martin Sheen (news)) older daughter who has been talked about on the show but has never made an appearance.

Bartlet's younger daughter, Zoey, played by Elisabeth Moss, has been a recurring character on the Emmy-winning drama from John Wells Prods. and Warner Bros. TV.

Gish will make her debut in next season's opening two episodes, which were written by executive producer Wells, who has taken the reins of the series following the May exit of creator/executive producer Aaron Sorkin.

Sources said Gish is one of several actors "West Wing" producers plan to bring in for recurring roles this season.

Gish co-starred opposite Gillian Anderson (news) and Robert Patrick (news) on the last two seasons of the Fox sci-fi drama "The X-Files (news - Y! TV)."

She will next be seen in the indie film "Knots" alongside John Stamos (news) and Scott Cohen (news).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

What's in and out of Allison Janney's comfort zone

BY CHRIS HEWITT
Pioneer Press

BY CHRIS HEWITT
Pioneer Press

If it weren't for the airplanes, Allison Janney would spend more time in St. Paul.

Janney, who stars in the new "How to Deal" and does a voice in the year's biggest hit, "Finding Nemo," is not above taking jobs so she can be close to her brother, Hal, who lives here. "Prairie Home Companion," for instance.

"I'm afraid of flying, and I didn't want to do it because of all the flying back and forth involved, but my being able to be with my brother pushed me over the edge, so I did the show for a while, actually," says Janney. "I love my brother very much, and I miss him, and it was a good job, too."

The other time Janney worked in Minnesota, filming a role as the wise-cracking best friend of Kirstie Alley in "Drop Dead Gorgeous," it was job first, brother second.

"Well, I was glad I got to see Hal while I was there, but that movie I just loved," Janney says.

Janney, who has won three Emmys for playing C.J. Gregg on "The West Wing" (and was just nominated for another), doesn't always make career decisions based on the proximity of siblings, though. "How to Deal," in which she plays the emotionally confused mother of a teenager played by Mandy Moore, appealed to her because she wasn't as together or authoritative as C.J.

"I liked how vulnerable the character, Liddy, was and that she still had to be strong and keep her family together, anyway. I like people trying to do two things at once," Janney says. "And I really liked the director and the things she wanted for the movie."

Some actors are reluctant to talk about what their directors contributed to their performances. Not Janney, who says Clare Kilner was a big help: "I like directors who spark my imagination and don't sidle up to me to say, 'Do it louder or faster or funnier,' you know? I wouldn't tell them to direct louder. Clare wasn't like that. She would come up to me and say, 'Your character could be alone for the rest of her life,' and it wouldn't have anything to do with my lines, but it helped put me in an emotional place so the scene had a life to it."

SMART, FUNNY, CANDID

There are some ways in which Liddy is like C.J., and Janney admits she tends to choose parts from within her comfort zone. "I should be more in the vein of wanting to be challenged and doing things I'm afraid of, but I usually go for things where I think, 'Yeah, I can do that.' But the truth is, I've always done my best work in parts where I think, 'I can't believe they hired me. This is not me.' "

One of those would seem to be the maternal starfish for whom she supplies the voice in "Finding Nemo." Not so. "I went into the meetings with the 'Nemo' people thinking I needed to have a bunch of voices prepared, but no. The reason I got the job was that (writer/director) Andrew Stanton was such a 'West Wing' fan, and he wanted to have my voice in the movie."

Janney comes across in a phone interview as smart, funny and candid. (Why didn't she read the book on which "How to Deal" is based? "To be honest, I didn't have time.") She unleashes that great guffaw easily, and she gets excited even at the end of a long day of interviews when she learns about a new record she might love, the Bad Plus' Dave Brubeck-y "These Are the Vistas."

"I love music," says the daughter and sister of musicians. "It's one of the most important things in my life, and it informs everything with me. I can't even tell you how many CDs I have. Anyway, whatever the emotional content of a scene is, I put together my IPOD play list so I have mood music to put me in the right place."

It even helped her figure out how a starfish could sound like her. For "Nemo," she listened to lots of jazz by Mose Allison and others. ("It had nothing to do with the movie but, still, it helped.") For "How to Deal," it was lots of solo guitar music ("Anything that made me feel alone. And I also listened to one of my favorites, the soundtrack to 'The Mission,' because it makes me feel full of emotion, so I can access emotions very easily").

SECOND NATURE

One job that no longer requires music is "The West Wing." Janney hasn't used music for years there because playing C.J. is second nature to her. She says the show is still fun, and she obviously likes the people — she just returned from a vacation in Italy with Janel Moloney (who plays Donna) and Melissa Fitzgerald (C.J.'s assistant, Carol). But this season, the first without creator Aaron Sorkin, who was reportedly forced out of the show because of missed deadlines, is a question mark. Especially since it comes on the heels of a fourth season in which reviews and ratings were down.

"We go back to work the 21st. I have no idea what's going to happen," says Janney. "We were all devastated that Aaron is leaving us because he's the star of the show and we could not imagine it without him, but now it's our reality that he's gone. That's what's in front of us, and we can either dread it or accept it and be excited about the new opportunities, which is what I'm choosing to do."

Janney says nothing but good things about the show, which gave her career a huge boost, but if there's a little ambivalence about going back to "The West Wing," it wouldn't be surprising since it makes it difficult for her to do other work (even her small part in "The Hours" required getting a week off from the show, the only time one of the actors has been granted that freedom).

There might be one other reason for ambivalence, too.

"The West Wing" films most of its scenes in Los Angeles, but its cast occasionally goes on location in Washington, D.C.

Which, for Janney, means flying without a brother anywhere in sight.

Crisis in the White House

By Oliver Burkeman
The Guardian

June 26 2003

There was a time - not many years ago, though it often seems that way these days - when the White House of The West Wing was considered to be so much in tune with the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that the fictional version began to take an active role in policy development. Members of Congress wanting to test the water on planned legislation, it was rumoured, would submit their proposals first, not to focus groups or to Washington Post correspondents, but to Aaron Sorkin, the creator, writer and all-round deity of the award-winning television series. If the avuncular, public-spirited administration of Josiah "Jed" Bartlet could only be persuaded to take an idea on board, the reasoning went, that guaranteed it a public airing and an intelligent mulling of its benefits - more, perhaps, than it might be assured in the real world.

Now, though, there is a decidedly anachronistic feeling to a White House where the president seems never to sleep, or where his staff openly revel in the exchange of witty barbs with the press corps (Typical Josh Lyman: "I'm not your girlfriend, I'm not your camp counsellor, and I'm not your sixth-grade teacher you had a crush on. I'm a graduate of Harvard and Yale, and I believe that my powers of debate can rise to meet the Socratic wonder that is the White House press corps." Typical Ari Fleischer: "I'm not going to comment on that.")

Martin Sheen is as likely to be mentioned in the media as a result of his famous - and in many circles deeply unpopular - opposition to the war in Iraq as for his role as President Bartlet, the thoughtful Catholic from New Hampshire. The vocally liberal presidential aides of The West Wing, holding meetings as they walk at improbable speeds down the corridors are, in the real world, off writing memoirs, or waiting in a holding pattern at Washington thinktanks until a Democratic president is elected. In the Bartlet White House, reproach is most frequently delivered through bitter sarcasm, delivered at machinegun speed; in the Bush administration, former staffers have said, late arrivals are greeted by the rather more sinister and only half-joking, "Missed you at Bible study."

It is not just the changing times that seem to be to blame for the recent news that Sorkin is leaving The West Wing at the end of this season, severing his connections with the series that he dreamed up and for which he wrote 70 pages of dialogue a week, dominating the writing process in a way unheard of on team-based shows such as Friends or The Sopranos. According to sources on the show, there were missed budgets, missed deadlines, and extremely well-paid actors kept waiting for scripts they then couldn't memorise in time, thanks to the often stunning complexity of Sorkin's trademark crackling dialogue. Then there were the recurring disputes over actors' pay, including the rancorous departure of Rob Lowe, and Sorkin's high-profile drugs bust - a development less embarrassing than if Bartlet had not made clear his contempt for the war on drugs, perhaps, but hardly helpful for NBC, the US network that owns the show.

While ratings continued to soar, though, it seemed that executives there were content to tolerate Sorkin's famously close-to-the-wire working methods, which often echoed the crisis-to-crisis long-hours culture of the Clinton White House. Comparing his working methods to those of the writer of Ally McBeal and The Practice, David Kelly, Sorkin described how Kelly told him: "'Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I write Ally McBeal. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I write The Practice. Sunday, I'm with my wife and kids.' And I thought, I have a real schedule, too. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I freak out 'cos I haven't thought of what next week's show is. Thursday I start yelling at people because I haven't thought of what next week's show is. Friday, I go, 'Oh my God, there's going to be half an hour of dead air ...' and then it finally gets done."

But The West Wing never left the top 10 in the United States until this season, where it languished at one point at number 23.

This time last season it attracted an average 17 million viewers; this season the figure has plummeted to 13.5 million. The same tolerance, it appeared, could no longer be extended. "This has been the experience of any writer's dreams," Sorkin said in a statement.

"I had the best job in showbusiness for four years, and I'll never forget that."

But behind the scenes, exasperation was setting in. "Was it a dysfunctional family? Sure," says a West Wing insider speaking on condition of anonymity. "It wasn't really just money why Rob left - it's tough to be an actor and wait around for scripts. It was very costly. Aaron is brilliant, and I'm sure they'd have wanted him to continue with the show, but the problems were pretty well known for everyone involved."

Not that Sorkin seemed to have lost the support of Sheen, whose publicist would say only that "Martin loves Aaron and wants to do what he can to help him out".

At the height of its success, The West Wing's links to the real-life corridors of power were genuine - Clinton chiefs of staff John Podesta and Leon Pannetta both acted as advisers to John Spencer, who plays Bartlet's sharply intelligent aide Leo McGarry - and the cast made little secret of where their political sympathies lay.

The show is what viewers "hope life is like in the West Wing, because these are all good people, trying to do the right thing, and I think they really want it to be what it's like", Alison Janney said of the Clinton administration at the time, discussing her role as CJ. "And from the people that I've personally met in the West Wing, I would say that we're pretty right on track. They're pretty great, wonderful people that work in the White House in this administration. I mean, it's the only one I've met or had the opportunity to get close to, but they all seem like really wonderful people who really care about their jobs and what they're doing."

Bradley Whitford, who plays Lyman, says that while reading former Clinton aide George Stephanopoulous's memoir All Too Human, an adrenaline-sodden and deeply personal account of the Clinton White House, he privately retitled it Everything Brad Whitford Needs to Know to Do this TV Show.

The only slight problem was that Sorkin seemed to operate his punishing weekly schedule, producing script after script redolent with optimism and hymns of praise to public service, side-by-side with a fairly serious drug habit. After cocaine and hallucinogenic mushrooms were discovered in his suitcase at Burbank Airport in Los Angeles in April 2001, as he was preparing to take a flight, he pleaded guilty to two felonies, paid a fine of $12,000, entered rehab and embarked on a round of public contrition. "I'm really no longer going to be the guy who wrote A Few Good Men," he told the now-defunct Talk magazine, referring to the play, later a film, that first propelled him to fame. "I'm going to be the guy who got into drug trouble."

Earlier, when writing the 1995 movie The American President, his schedule of round-the-clock writing and little sleep had been fuelled by cocaine smoking, he told Talk. "There was no way to hide it. I had cut off the entire world. Literally, I would just sit in the hotel room and close the curtains and put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door. I wouldn't be with anyone. Wouldn't talk with anyone on the phone. You couldn't get me out for a slice of pizza."

But it was not just the drugs, or the change in the political colours of the real White House that left executives feeling the show had lost its touch: more central was the transformation in the political atmosphere that followed September 11. Rapid-fire witty dialogue - Sorkin's true genius - could no longer occupy quite the same central place in the show's scripts, for a start, and moreover, the episode, "Isaac and Ishmael", written hurriedly to respond to the attacks was widely interpreted as condescending and saccharine. Terrorist crises, malfunctioning presidential planes and snipers outside the White House now seem to occur pretty much every week under President Bartlet - a resort to the stereotypical high drama of political fiction that The West Wing had earlier triumphed by avoiding.

On top of that, Rob Lowe's departure - in a dispute over pay, though cleverly disguised in the current series as necessitated by Sam Seaborn's decision to run for Congress - seriously injured the show in the ratings. "They lost the guy whose major appeal was to the younger audience," says the show insider, noting how The West Wing has been losing out in the US to reality television such as American Idol and Survivor. "The others, these older guys, were not going to pull in that audience." As for Sorkin, the source said, "he was The West Wing. God knows what it's going to be without him."

- The Guardian

Allison Janney on Letterman

Thanks to Erica for the transcript.

DL - David Letterman
AJ - Allison Janney

DL: Welcome back to the program.
AJ: Thank you!
DL: Boy, you look, great, you have your lovely summer suit on.
AJ: Yes I do and I’m just going to make sure that I am in it. (checks to make sure not too much skin is showing)
DL: (laughs)
AJ: Good.
DL: Oh, my goodness.
AJ: Yes.
DL: Have you ever ridden in a freight elevator?
AJ: (laughs) I can’t remember the last time I rode in a freight elevator but I, I do have a -- I had an interesting encounter on a regular kind of elevator. Kind of a it was a close encounter on an elevator
DL: What happened?
AJ: Ok, I was doing this movie, it was years ago. I had a 6AM call. I got on the elevator and my co-star who I never met got on the elevator and the doors closed and we, uh—he started uh—we had a kissing kind of thing happen in the elevator.
DL: Really?
AJ: For the whole way down to the first floor and the doors open and it was like everybody could see on the set and that was it. Never spoken of again
DL: So the two of you were on the elevator and the guy was all over you? That’s what you’re saying?
AJ: Yeah it was really kind of exciting.
DL: And it’s going down to the lobby?
AJ: Yeah.
DL: And at the lobby you break into separate corners?
AJ: Doors open, and it never happened.
DL: Wow, and did you talk to him about it after that?
AJ: Nope, never mentioned it
DL: And how did you find the experience?
AJ: It was really fun. I recommend it highly (laughs)
DL: Because see, if I were to try that, I would be arrested before we got to the lobby. The security would be there waiting for me and I would be lead away in handcuffs.
AJ: I, for one, would not press charges.
DL: Thank you. You would be the only one then.
AJ: No, I don’t think so.
DL: Did you have time off with the West Wing and the movie? You don’t get time off…
AJ: I don’t get much time off but I didn’t get anything I auditioned for this summer (laughs) so I had some free time.
DL: Oh, well, good for you.
AJ: And it was nice to have because I usually am such a work-aholic but I did get to go --one of my dreams has been to go to Italy, I had never been and I thought what fun it would be to go to Italy with some girlfriends and just go crazy. And I went with Janel Moloney who plays Donna on the West Wing and Melissa Fitzgerald who plays my assistant so the three of us did a kind of Charlie’s Angels number in Italy. And it’s kind of great, exciting things happen when thee women travel in Italy.
DL: Well, I would guess so. How long were you there? What part of the country did you travel?
AJ: We first, I hooked up with them at Positano on the coast, which is absolutely unbelievable. We three would go out for dinner and get free drinks, free food, free offers for dates from the waiters and rides on motorcycles—it was crazy. And the owner of the hotel—I know this is…I kinda—they were the MVP players. I don’t what I brought but Janel has very long blonde hair and Melissa has long dark hair. And the owner of the hotel wanted to take us out on his fishing boat. And he met us at 11 AM with a huge bottle of champagne which we drank. And we got on his fishing boat and went to the Island of the Sirens and swam in the
Mediterranean and had another couple bottles of white wine and then went to a restaurant, some local restaurant on the coast that no one knows about and had more red wine and octopus and it was just an extraordinary, magical day.
DL: And is it because he knew you as actresses?
AJ: No, he had never heard of The West Wing, didn’t know who we were, didn’t care. You know we were…
DL: Just babes.
AJ: Three…
DL: Just hot babes.
AJ: Three, you know, hot babes.
DL: Well, good for you.
(audience applause)
AJ: It was just spectacular. And then we went to Rome, you know, I never thought of it this way but three girls traveling to Rome and we don’t speak the language and I thought of three women traveling to New York City who don’t speak English, and I though what, you’ve got to be crazy, it’s sort of difficult -- Rome is a huge city, and it’s a little overwhelming but then again you know, I found that, Melissa was our MVP player in Rome because the men like the dark haired ladies in Rome.
DL: Were they very touchy, trying to grab you?
AJ: With her they would do this you know (rubs Dave’s cheeks) rubbing on the cheek kind of thing, pinching her cheeks. At least those cheeks. I’ve heard stories about the others
DL: In passing this would happen?
AJ: Yes. And we this is extraordinary because I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Sistine Chapel, but you go there and you get in line and it’s like the line goes for miles, and we were like, 400th in line. And Melissa was trying to read the guide book and saying oh you’re supposed to run right to the Sistine Chapel and not look at any of the art work. And she wanted to find out from the guard or someone up front if it was, do you go up or down. And the guy fell in love with her and said “Are you with anybody?” and she said “Just my two girlfriends” and he said bring ‘em on up here. And he let us in to the Sistine chapel, we went through security, we didn’t have to check our bags, we didn’t have to pay for tickets, we went right into the Sistine Chapel and laid down on the floor and we were there for like, 10 minutes by ourselves.
DL: Well, you know, the Catholic church is trying to clean up its image.
AJ: (laughs)
DL: So it’s whatever you want. Come in lay down on the floor.
AJ: Well that’s supposed to be the best way to view it to, get down on the floor. You are not supposed to, but…
DL: No, I wouldn’t think so but I can understand that it would be the best perspective, absolutely. … Now this movie How to Deal opens on Friday, let’s take a look at a clip of the film.
AJ: Oh, sure, I think the clip is, my character has just gone through an awful divorce. Her husband leaves her and my girlfriend is going through the personal video dating service things and she’s just done hers and she wants me to do one. So I think that’s…
DL: That’s what we’re going to see here…How to Deal…opens on Friday…
[CLIP of AJ’s character being filmed by her friend, her character is
men-bashing]
DL: There you go, AJ, it was nice to see you again.
AJ: Nice to see you, too, Dave.
DL: Thank you very much, the film opens on Friday.

-transcribed by Erica-

Sorkin gone, 'Wing' moves on with new producer

Media Life

July 14, 2003

"The West Wing" has taken its first step towards de-Sorkinization. John Sacret Young will join the NBC show as a consulting producer this fall, the show’s first without creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, who left last spring. Young most recently wrote the 2000 ABC movie “King of the World.” He also executive produced “China Beach” from 1988 to 1991. “Beach” was as popular as three-time best drama winner “West Wing” at the Emmys, earning 29 nominations in its brief lifespan. Young worked with fellow “Wing” producer John Wells on “Beach.” Wells is expected to oversee the show more closely with Sorkin’s departure. Last season “West Wing” audiences dipped by nearly a third among major demographics owing to increased competition from ABC’s “The Bachelor” and what many felt was its excessively political tone.

BRAVO ADDS THE EMMY AWARD-WINNING DRAMA ‘THE WEST WING’ TO LINE-UP BEGINNING MONDAY, AUGUST 11

'THE WEST WING’ MARATHON AND A NEW EPISODE OF ‘INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO’ FEATURING MARTIN SHEEN AIRS SUNDAY, AUGUST 10
Bravo/NBC Press Release

BURBANK, Calif. -- July 9, 2003 -- This August, Bravo will present the inaugural season of “The West Wing,” one of television’s most-acclaimed dramas, it was announced today by Jeff Gaspin, President of Bravo and Executive Vice President, Alternative Series, Specials, Longform and Program Strategy, NBC Entertainment. The series airs Monday-Thursday (7:00 - 8:00 p.m. ET and 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. ET) beginning Monday, August 11.

“The West Wing” on Bravo, enhanced with special interstitials featuring interesting factoids about former and current Presidents, kicks off with a week of Presidential-themed programming including the premiere of the original three-part special, “All the Presidents’ Movies” airing in sequence Thursday, August 7 (7:00-10 p.m. ET).

Bravo will also air Presidential-themed films including “Absolute Power” starring Clint Eastwood on Friday, August 8 (8:00-11:00 p.m. ET) and Sorkin’s “The American President” on Saturday, August 9 (8:00-11:00 p.m. ET).

A marathon of the first six episodes of “The West Wing” will air Sunday, August 10 (11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ET) leading into the premiere of “Inside the Actors Studio: Martin Sheen” on that night (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET). This special “Inside the Actors Studio” celebrates the career and craft of the actor who has played an integral part of the film and television world for more than four decades. He has earned an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work, including the role of President Bartlett on “The West Wing.”

In its landmark first season, “The West Wing” garnered 13 Emmy awards, including Best Drama, and became the most honored single season series in television history. Now Bravo brings you every episode of this remarkable debut season. Beginning where “The West Wing” originally commenced on NBC, Bravo will start with the first episode of the series and continue with all episodes produced through 2009.

Narrated by Martin Sheen (NBC’s “The West Wing”), this documentary reveals the movie-viewing habits and preferences of the Nation’s former Presidents. For the first time, Americans will see the secret screening logs of the White House screening room, and hear from Paul Fischer, the man who kept them as well as the Presidents themselves, family members, friends, world leaders and Hollywood stars. See separate release for more details.

“The West Wing” depicts the dedicated men and women who work at The White House, serving their country through times and crises that mirror our own, and providing a fascinating inner glimpse of life inside the world’s most powerful office. Each episode brims with the brilliant writing of creator Aaron Sorkin, the acclaimed performances of the ensemble cast and a brisk dramatic pace that galvanizes the viewer. The series stars Martin Sheen, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Rob Lowe, Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Dule Hill, Janel Moloney and Stockard Channing.

Bravo, an NBC Cable Network since December 2002, is currently seen in more than 70 million homes and was the first service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. Today, Bravo offers innovative arts and entertainment programming with a unique point of view featuring original series, feature films (both independent and mainstream), theater, dance, music and documentaries. Bravo boasts critically acclaimed original programming -- including “Inside the Actors Studio” hosted by James Lipton, “Cirque du Soleil Fire Within” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” (launching July 2003). For more information visit www.bravotv.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Jennifer Skorlich, Bravo Publicity, 818/840-4630

Jennifer.skorlich@nbc.com

Bill Brennan, Bravo Publicity,212/561-3303

bill.brennan@nbc.com