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April 27, 2002
Revolt With a Remote
'West Wing' spat: TV Web sites give fans a voice - and execs are listening in
By Adam Sternbergh
National Post
In a recent episode of The West Wing, Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff, stumbled on an Internet fan site dedicated to discussing, dissecting, and debating the merits of Josh Lyman. Intrigued and somewhat flattered, he decided to join the discussion, posting a few responses on the site's message boards. His online fans, however, soon turned on him, challenging his knowledge of political issues. When his retort wound up quoted in a newspaper, Lyman got in big trouble at the White House. He blamed the whole mess on the site's moderator, whom he described as "a dictatorial leader who I'm sure wears a muumuu and chain-smokes Parliaments."
Many plotlines on The West Wing are drawn from real life. This subplot, however, was drawn from the real life of the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin himself has posted regularly to several West Wing fan sites, most notably a site run out of Toronto called Television Without Pity. Sorkin, too, regularly jousts with his show's online critics. And Sorkin has also had one of his Television Without Pity posts, concerning a feud with a former West Wing writer, reported in national U.S. newspapers including The New York Times. He was none too pleased, as this recent episode demonstrates.
What Sorkin's subplot also demonstrates is that the Web has given TV fans a new and unprecedented power. While the Web has not delivered on all its promised innovations -- as it turns out, not many people want to order dog food over the Internet -- it has proved extremely successful in one area: bringing together geographically disparate people who share a particular passion. On eBay, for example, the passion is obscure collectibles. On sites such as the Toronto-based one Sorkin visited, the passion is TV.
Over the past several years, a number of Web sites have emerged as virtual water coolers for fervent fans. A site called Real World Blows, for example, hosts discussions about MTV's Real World, and is regularly visited by the Real World cast members.
The famously rabid fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer can find each other -- and, often, the show's writers -- chatting at the official Web site, Buffy.com.
But the biggest and most celebrated of these TV sites is Television Without Pity (www.televisionwithoutpity.com). The site, whose motto is "Spare the snark, spoil the network," receives more than 500,000 visitors a month, and was recently named by Time magazine as one of the Web's 50 best destinations. (Full disclosure: The site's co-editor, Tara Ariano, writes a column for the National Post. She also co-edits a separate site, Fametracker.com, with the very person writing this article.)
Rather than focus on one show, Pity recaps more than 40 different programs, providing exhaustive rundowns of recent episodes. These recaps not only detail an episode's plot, but also critique, often in biting detail, a show's foibles: whose hair looks bad, who can't act, which show's writers need to be fired en masse, etc. "After a pleasant hiatus," went the teaser to a recent recap of Ally McBeal, "Ally McBeal is back, for two freaking hours and with many guest stars. Christina Ricci lays those chub rumors to rest as she appears in a bathing suit."
Of course, the phenomenon of fans voicing their displeasure at the crappiness of TV is nothing new. In some ways, a site such as Pity is like a supercharged update of the TV Brick -- that fake, foam-rubber brick, popular in the late '80s, that you could throw at your TV. The difference is that the Web offers a much more sophisticated conduit for feedback -- and one that might actually result in your opinions affecting the show in question.
All of which means that, suddenly, fans have been handed a powerful tool. Since its invention, television has always been a famously "top down" medium. Highly paid people concoct shows that they think we will like, and then beam them out on the airwaves for us to consume or ignore. Traditionally, there hasn't been an effective mechanism for viewers to register their responses, other than the Nielsen ratings -- and even those are notoriously crude. The Nielsen ratings can decide if a show lives or dies, but they can't measure how many people like a certain character or think a new storyline is totally lame.
As for diehard fans, they could initiate a letter-writing campaign to save a favourite program (as happened with Cagney & Lacey) or organize an advertiser boycott to protest a show's content, as some groups did when naked bum-bums showed up on NYPD Blue. But these, too, are clumsy, all-or-nothing options -- a little like a doctor using a machete to perform an operation.
The Web replaces the machete with a scalpel. It lets fans voice minute grievances or praise tiny details in a public forum, in real time. Episodes can be debated moments after they've aired, and choices given an instant thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Of course, all this scalpel-wielding would have little effect if the fans didn't have the ears of the shows' creators -- but increasingly it seems that they do.
At Television Without Pity, for example, Aaron Sorkin has regularly contributed to the West Wing message boards. While most producers resist the urge to wade into the fray, there are several who read the discussions about their shows (or, in online parlance, "lurk"). Judd Apatow, creator of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, and Ryan Murphy, the producer of Popular, have both revealed themselves as serial lurkers on the Pity boards.
Several of the shows recapped on Pity have incorporated on-air "shout outs" to the site -- in-jokes that only posters would recognize. For example, Popular once included a character named "Nellie Gustav" -- an apparent reference to the show's recapper at Pity, Gustav, and his not-exactly-secret sexual orientation. The character wound up getting hit by a car, while another character shouted, "I hate you, Nellie Gustav!" While this may sound like a slight, in fan culture, a shout-out of this magnitude counts as the highest compliment.
Most producers seem grateful, and even flattered, by the almost Talmudic scrutiny their shows are subjected to on Internet discussion boards. (Apatow and Murphy, for example, both agreed to be interviewed by Pity.) But as Sorkin's recent televised vendetta on The West Wing reveals, not everyone appreciates this online running commentary.
Which is funny, given that, in effect, a site such as Pity acts as a kind of super focus group. As with any focus group, producers are not obliged to heed the advice they're given. But in a town as test-market-obsessed as Hollywood, you'd think producers would welcome the chance to eavesdrop on thousands of viewers. Then again, this group isn't a random sampling, but rather, a gang as knowledgeable and passionate about the show as the producers are. And their responses aren't limited to "Unsatisfactory, Satisfactory, or Very Satisfactory."
Posted by MorganG at 08:54 AM
April 24, 2002
Isn't That George W. in 'West Wing' Plot?
NY Post
As "The West Wing" gears up for a re-election battle next season, the show's creator is preparing fictional President Bartlet to run against a character that sounds an awful lot like President George Bush.
"I want to have two characters in which I can dramatize that conflict [between] the know-it-all and the guy without gravitas who somehow relates to the everyman," says creator Aaron Sorkin.
The race between Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) and a Republican opponent echos what Sorkin considered an intriguing aspect of the Gore-Bush campaign two years ago.
But "that doesn't make one of the characters Bush and one of the characters Gore," he said.
The fictional Republican opponent is Florida Gov. Robert Ritchie, who has been mentioned several times but never seen - and so far not cast.
Sorkin says he's "uncomfortable getting into personal politics" and calls his interest in the current president narrow.
"Nothing else about Bush interests me: the oil thing, baseball, drugs when he was a kid or not. All I need are the qualities for that conflict" between a smart politician and a man-of-the-people-type candidate.
Sorkin insists he isn't courting controversy. He says he had his fill of that after criticizing the news media for "waving pom poms" instead of providing objective news coverage of the Bush administration.
Although the Emmy-winning "The West Wing" is as much a character study as political pageant, Sorkin has been criticized for lecturing, especially in the terrorism episode. He denies any such intent.
"There are no lessons I want to teach you or lessons I feel capable of teaching you or lessons I feel need to be taught," he said.
"I have a story to tell every week. . . . I just like telling my stories."
Posted by MorganG at 08:50 AM
April 23, 2002
'West Wing' Walks Fine Line of Fiction, Political Reality
By LYNN ELBER
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - How real is "The West Wing"? And how much closer to real-world politics will it dare to venture?
The first question may be answered, in part, by an episode Wednesday that mixes scenes from three seasons of the NBC White House drama with recollections of past and present occupants.
"Hey, we're kind of getting this thing right" was the reaction of executive producer Thomas Schlamme after former presidents, cabinet members and others were interviewed for the special.
It's their drive and dedication that the series has captured, Schlamme said.
Among those heard from: former Presidents Ford, Carter and Clinton and the political adviser to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove.
"We are absolute fiction," Schlamme said. "So what we care about getting right is the emotion of what it's like to be part of the West Wing. ... It's not a history lesson or civics lesson or accuracy of government."
But what makes "The West Wing" intriguing is that it has it both ways: Democratic President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his staff are imaginary but the political issues and crises they face are drawn from fact.
There's terrorism, on which series creator Aaron Sorkin based an episode in quick response to Sept. 11. There was a partisan clash over accusations of lies and a cover-up by the Bartlet White House, reminiscent of the rocky Clinton years.
The environment and other hot-button topics have been woven into "The West Wing," with Bartlet's advisers jousting — not always successfully — in often provocative debates with Republican adversaries.
But as Bartlet gears up for a re-election battle, "The West Wing" may be venturing into the most controversial corner yet of its parallel universe.
Sorkin is setting up a race between Bartlet and a Republican opponent that is intended to echo what Sorkin considered an intriguing aspect of the Gore-Bush 2000 campaign — but which Sorkin insists is not about the politicians themselves.
"I want to have two characters in which I can dramatize that conflict (between) the know-it-all and the guy without gravitas who somehow relates to the everyman," Sorkin said in an interview. "That doesn't make one of the characters Bush and one of the characters Gore."
The "West Wing" version has been slowly unfolding. In the Jan. 30 episode, White House communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) accused the president of refusing to confront his differences with the likely Republican presidential nominee, Florida Gov. Robert Ritchie.
"It's between educated and masculine. Or Eastern academic elite and plain-spoken," Ziegler tells Bartlet, adding: "A funny thing happened when the White House got demystified. The impression was left that anybody could do it."
In the March 27 episode, Bartlet was questioned by a television reporter about Ritchie (the character has yet to be shown or cast) and his newly published book.
"Have you read the book?" the reporter asks Bartlet in a supposedly off-camera exchange. "I'll read it when he does," Bartlet replies, waggishly, then adds: "I think we might be talking about a .22-caliber mind in a .357-Magnum world."
It later appears the Bartlet knew he was being taped, a sign he's willing to enter the fray with I.Q. held high. (Is Al Gore a fan? Returning to the political arena this month, his speech included a Bartletesque snippet of classic poetry.)
The liberal politician torn by conscience is a recurring figure in Sorkin's work. In his other White House fiction, the 1995 film "The American President," the chief executive (Michael Douglas) initially refuses to defend his philosophy against an opponent's sleazy attack.
Sorkin says he's "uncomfortable getting into personal politics" and calls his interest in the president narrow. "Nothing else about Bush interests me: the oil thing, baseball, drugs when he was a kid or not. All I need is the qualities for that conflict."
He isn't courting controversy, according to Sorkin. He says he had his fill of that after criticizing the news media for "waving pompoms" instead of providing objective news coverage of the Bush administration.
Although the Emmy-winning "The West Wing" is as much as character study as political pageant, Sorkin has been criticized for lecturing, especially in the terrorism episode. He denies any such intent.
"There are no lessons I want to teach you at all or lessons I feel capable of teaching you or lessons I feel need to be taught," he said.
"I have a story to tell every week. ... I just like telling my stories."
Posted by MorganG at 08:48 AM
April 22, 2002
Celebrities Help `Educate' Public On New Drugs
By David P. Hamilton
The Wall Street Journal
MOST PEOPLE don't know what febrile neutropenia is, and even fewer have heard of a new drug for the condition called Neulasta.
But many, many people know Rob Lowe, which is why the actor from the hit television show "The West Wing" is kicking off a campaign today to raise public awareness of the ailment -- and indirectly, Amgen Inc. hopes, the fortunes of its new medication.
Mr. Lowe is scheduled to appear today on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and "Entertainment Tonight" to talk about febrile neutropenia, a term for infections that can plague patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy. Tomorrow, he will spend the day in a studio taping interviews with local TV stations around the U.S. He plans to make additional media appearances during the coming year.
Such celebrity campaigns are an increasingly popular way for drug makers to draw public attention to the maladies their medicines are designed to address. Celebrities often appear in paid drug ads, such as Lance Armstrong on behalf of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and its cancer drugs and Bob Dole on behalf of Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra. Amgen is using another approach -- that other drug companies also have tried -- which counts on the fame of celebrities such as Mr. Lowe to win time on TV programs eager to feature stars talking about serious medical topics. Those programs, when asked, generally say they air such segments because the celebrities have a "compelling story."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which strictly regulates pharmaceuticals advertising, says such celebrity appearances don't need to conform to its rules unless the spokesman mentions a particular product by name. If, for instance, Mr. Lowe were to mention Neulasta in one of his TV appearances, FDA rules would require him to summarize the main side effects of the drug and to tell consumers where to find more detailed information via an 800 number or a Web site, an FDA spokesman says.
"I'm not selling a specific medicine," says Mr. Lowe, whose father, Chuck, suffered a neutropenic infection during chemotherapy for lymphoma in the early 1990s. (He recovered and is free of cancer.) "I am raising awareness of the biggest side effect of chemotherapy, which happens to be the one people know the least about."
Still, the line between outreach and advertising can be blurry. Amgen, a major biotechnology company in Thousand Oaks, Calif., has briefed Mr. Lowe on Neulasta and its effects, "so he's equipped with that information if he's asked about it," says Osnat Benshoshan, an Amgen marketing manager for Neulasta. Mr. Lowe, who is being paid by Amgen for the appearances, says any decision to mention particular products will depend on "whether I feel comfortable" doing so, and emphasizes that his goal is "to help people engage their doctors."
Such so-called educational campaigns are especially important to pharmaceuticals companies when the medical condition is relatively rare and largely unknown even among the patients it can afflict, as with neutropenia.
Febrile neutropenia is unquestionably a serious problem. Since chemotherapy can decimate the body's disease-fighting white-blood cells, many cancer patients are at higher risk of serious infection, which can lead to hospitalization and interruption of their treatment.
But this campaign is important to Amgen for another reason, one familiar to many other pharmaceuticals makers. Neulasta, which Amgen launched earlier this month, is an update of an older Amgen drug called Neupogen that is commonly used to treat neutropenic infections. However, whereas Neupogen required daily injections, Neulasta may be administered every two to four weeks.
Amgen's goal is to persuade doctors both to switch to the new drug and to use it to prevent neutropenia instead of merely treating such infections after the fact. That would open up a far larger market for Neulasta than Neupogen ever enjoyed -- and Neupogen is one of the best-selling biotechnology drugs ever, with world-wide sales last year of $1.3 billion.
Company marketers such as Ms. Benshoshan, however, worried that traditional doctor-focused marketing might take too long to get the attention of harried oncologists.
The answer: enlist the help of patients and their caregivers. "We know that patients can change physician prescribing behavior," she says.
Amgen, which has never marketed its products directly to the public before, began considering the benefits of marketing a specialty cancer medicine more broadly to the public. Such campaigns are rare, although not wholly unknown -- Amgen rival Johnson & Johnson has run TV ads for its Procrit, which fights anemia induced by chemotherapy.
Using a celebrity to raise awareness of neutropenia was immediately appealing, Ms. Benshoshan says. A year or so earlier, she had headed up a campaign in which New York Yankees manager Joe Torre made media appearances to talk about his battle with prostate cancer. While Amgen considered the campaign a success, it pulled the plug last year when its experimental prostate-cancer drug -- since dropped -- proved disappointing.
Drug companies prefer celebrities with a personal connection to the medical condition in question. But finding the right person isn't easy. That's why Amgen turned to Amy Doner Schachtel, a consultant and former public-relations executive in Essex Fells, N.J., who specializes in helping pharmaceuticals companies identify and hire celebrities. Ms. Schachtel knew Mr. Lowe previously had helped raise money for breast cancer -- his grandmother and great-grandmother died of it -- but was floored to find out after contacting the actor's agent that his father had suffered febrile neutropenia.
Mr. Lowe agreed to meet with Amgen as he was on his way home to Santa Barbara, Calif., from the "West Wing" set in Los Angeles. Amgen staffers lined the halls to get a glimpse at the actor, who says visiting the biotech company was like "walking into Futureworld."
Amgen's marketing team liked Mr. Lowe's story about his father and found him enthusiastic and well-spoken. Even better news rested in the actor's high "Q score," a measure of how credible an audience finds a public figure. Mr. Lowe's score was particularly high among women age 50 and older, one of Amgen's prime targets in the Neulasta campaign.
A star like Mr. Lowe, however, doesn't come cheaply. An individual familiar with the arrangement said the actor is likely to receive upward of $1 million for the campaign, although he may donate at least part of that to charity; a representative for Mr. Lowe declines to comment. Ms. Benshoshan says only that Mr. Lowe is a "highly paid actor" who is being compensated for his time.
Amgen is contemplating a consumer-advertising campaign for Neulasta in the fall and already has drawn up draft TV commercials for Neulasta and is screening them in focus groups. The company, however, won't decide whether to proceed with the ad campaign until it can estimate how much sales will increase for a given advertising "buy."
Amgen also submits its advertising to the FDA for review, a voluntary step the company says helps it preserve a "good relationship" with regulators.
Posted by MorganG at 10:24 PM
April 12, 2002
'Wing' Does Right Thing
By MICHAEL STARR and ANDREA PEYSER
N.Y. Post
It turns out a special "West Wing" episode airing later this month is including a member of the Bush Administration after all.
Karl Rove, one of President George W. Bush's senior advisors, is interviewed for the special about how the real White House functions versus the fictional White House of the hit TV series.
Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and a number of former White House officials were announced this week as participating in the show - but no members of the current administration.
"We did not approach the sitting President to participate because we thought it would be inappropriate during wartime," "West Wing" producer Llewellyn Wells told The Post yesterday.
But "the White House very gracefully and willingly sent us Karl Rove, who will be in the special. We spoke to him the first week we went out to [interview] people."
There had been reports that the White House had refused to participate in the episode because of "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin's past critical remarks about President George W. Bush.
"They have been gracious and helpful to us," Llewellyn said of the White House. "Last April, we were hosted in the West Wing by [advisor] Andrew Card, Karl Rove and [press secretary] Ari Fleischer."
Wells said that President Bush's father, former President George H. Bush was contacted about the special, but declined an offer to be interviewed.
Posted by MorganG at 10:18 PM
April 09, 2002
'West Wing' to run interview episode without Bush administration participation
Electronic Media
Following controversial published complaints from series creator/executive producer Aaron Sorkin last February about Bush administration policies, NBC's "The West Wing" is pushing forward with an April 24 special episode featuring interviews with past White House players. But notably absent is the participation of any current Bush Cabinet officials. The current administration was approached for
participation by "West Wing's" series producers.
"The West Wing's" docudrama special, directed by Bill Coultouris and airing 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, April 24, will feature a mix of scenes in which the series' fictional characters will be balanced by the reflections of past White House officials.
NBC spokespeople were unreachable for comment on the absence of any current Bush Cabinet members from the show. NBC did issue a release mentioning a list of "real-life" Cabinet members and presidents from previous administrations.
Former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton will participate. Other officials set for interviews are Reagan and Clinton administration adviser David Gergen, Clinton Press Secretary
Dee Dee Myers, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (from the Nixon and Ford administrations) and Clinton Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.
Last February, Mr. Sorkin was quoted in a New Yorker magazine feature taking issue with the media "waving pompoms" on the Bush administration's war on terrorism. In particular, Mr. Sorkin took
issue with NBC News' access to President Bush for a Tom Brokaw-hosted "Inside the Bush White House: Inside the Real West Wing," which Mr. Sorkin suggested had the president padding his schedule "to show him being much busier and more engaged than he is."
The online Drudge Report was the first to pick up on the New Yorker feature and quoted unnamed White House officials as saying Mr. Sorkin was "bitter" because his TV show had been rebuffed on interview requests. During a subsequent February sweeps conference call, NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker said he would "never get in the way" of Mr. Sorkin speaking his mind but also noted the "West Wing" producer had apologized to Mr. Brokaw for suggesting that NBC News
participated in a staged special on the day in President Bush's White House life.
The "West Wing" special will also feature highlights of all three seasons of the series. The Emmy winner as outstanding drama for two years running stars Martin Sheen, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Rob
Lowe, Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Dule Hill, Janel Moloney and Stockard Channing.
"The West Wing" is from John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Director Thomas Schlamme and John Wells are executive producers.
Posted by MorganG at 10:17 PM
April 08, 2002
Are Bureaucrats TV's New Heroes?
The new interest in the role of government, and those who make it work, is reflected in recent programs that focus on Washington, D.C.
By PHILIP KENNICOTT
Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- On "This Week With Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts," the latter has an idea, Sam is clucking approval, and even the saturnine face of George Will is registering a slight smile. The idea: The '60s are finally over. The proof: Polls show that Americans trust the government again (though it's not clear from the polls whether that trust extends beyond the prosecution of the war on terrorism).
They certainly seem infatuated with government out in the Great Wasteland. Following the multiple-Emmy success of "The West Wing," there are now two TV entertainment series devoted to the inner workings of the Supreme Court ("First Monday" and "The Court"), and one to the CIA ("The Agency"). An attempt to apply the same formula to the diplomatic corps ("The American Embassy") came and went, but "JAG," a look at the judge adjutant general, has proved popular. Network television never loved bureaucrats as much as it does now.
By and large, these shows seem aimed at a relatively literate audience and steer clear of the twin demons of television violence and prurience. Despite their grandiose settings, they mostly revolve around the petty dramas of everyday people just doing their best to get on getting on. On balance, it seems a positive trend. Several of the programs place a premium on intelligence and dedication. A current leitmotif of "The West Wing" is the problem of the president's brainpower: Should he hide it from an electorate suspicious of intellectuals or celebrate it as a strength? Plot twists revolve around clever, well-studied underlings who think their way out of jams. And far from the faceless bureaucrats villainized by the budget-cutting, outside-the-Beltway crowd, today's television bureaucrats are hip young urbanites, devoted to public service and solving the nation's problems. They all put in very long hours.
These are the perfect shows for what historians would call "post-industrial" America. We've come a long way from the agrarian society of 1970s television, the little houses on prairies, the fur-wearing, muskrat-trapping Grizzly Adams and his hunter-gatherer ilk. Today's TV workers don't actually grow or make anything; they provide administrative services, interact with each other, talk and write and push papers around offices with no natural light.
Cynics might note that these are basically the same dramas that used to happen in hospitals, or law firms, simply transferred to government settings. Throw up some columns, roll out some marble, drape a few flags, and "The West Wing" is basically "L.A. Law" in D.C. But that underestimates the power of setting. The government is not incidental to these programs, it is essential.
The fascination with government as TV subject has so far been limited to areas of the bureaucracy that have a cult of secrecy: the imperial remove of the executive mansion, the cloak-and-dagger hush of the CIA, the arcane hidden traditions of the Supreme Court.
Perhaps the most secretive new addition to the roster of government powers, the military tribunals proposed for trying terrorism suspects, is the subject of an upcoming episode of "JAG," written with some input from the Pentagon.
Is it merely a coincidence that television is obsessed with showing the inner workings of government at a time when the inner workings of government are becoming more and more opaque? Energy policy is decided behind closed doors with oil executives--a fact that comes out only after the government grudgingly releases records riddled with deletions and excisions. Terrorist suspects are rounded up and held for questioning, and the government doesn't even release their names. And the Bush administration invokes executive privilege and refuses to allow top-level lieutenants in the war on terrorism, such as Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, to testify before Congress.
Less than half a year after the election was decided, by the Supreme Court, the camera takes us there in camera . And as the government orders all of its agencies to review and expunge from the Internet any weapons information that may be of use to potential terrorists, "The Agency" appears as a behind-the-scenes fantasy of the spook technology that we so desperately hope is being used to protect us.
It's not clear whether all of this is driven by a newfound love of the government, or simply wish fulfillment--please let our government be as benign as it seems to be on television. One can't, for instance, explain the public's love of medical dramas through any particular love of spending time in a hospital, or lawyer dramas through any profound affection for the legal profession. Television may play on our fears, but it also soothes them by making our dependence--on doctors, lawyers or bureaucrats--feel more human.
When it comes to the things that are most troubling about television--violence and exploitative sex--we mostly fall back on two very old theories: Either it is setting us a bad example and leading us to ruin, or it is a catharsis, a pressure valve, that dissipates toxic impulses in a fantasy world before they mess up the real one.
Let's apply the same theories to the seemingly positive things about the new crop of government dramas--the positive vision of hard-working, dedicated, intelligent civil servants. Is this setting us a good example, leading young people, perhaps, to contemplate careers as policy wonks? Or does fantasy government become a kind of substitute, a reassuring bromide, that deflects attention and energy away from thinking too much about the problems of the real one?
Posted by MorganG at 10:16 PM
April 07, 2002
'West Wing' View
By Mary McGrory
Washington Post
The creator of "The West Wing" likes it when the show has impact, but that isn't what Aaron Sorkin has in mind. He knows he is providing a happy hour for drooping Democrats, but all he really wants to do is entertain. "We're just this side of carnival people," he says of himself and the team of writers who dish up the weekly fare of tension, teamwork and hot-button issues that audiences are gobbling up.
Last week's thriller was written by Dee Dee Myers, President Bill Clinton's first press secretary. She had the idea of dramatizing the question of nuclear waste, which is about to be voted on in the Senate. Myers figured that the fight over a repository in Nevada's Yucca Mountain had the right stuff for the show, and she was right. She imagined an accident in a Nevada tunnel in which a truck transporting radioactive waste is hit by another truck, with God knows what consequences on a nearby city.
This is just the kind of problem that Jed Bartlet, the too-good-to-be-true chief executive, loves to get his teeth into. He is a Democrats' dream, the antithesis of the incumbent. He is a former New Hampshire governor, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, profoundly literate and proudly intellectual. On Wednesday he engaged a staffer's retiring high school English teacher in a discussion of "Beowulf" and "Twelfth Night." He argues with his prickly doctor-wife, and he's nice enough to do his body man's income tax returns. When he has to call the parents of young Americans killed abroad, he's humble: When, after being exhaustively briefed by his staff, he finally gets through, he says to them: "I have three children of my own, I don't know what to say to you."
He is, as he tells his chief of staff, "a half-hour ahead" of those around him in technical information about the strength of the casks carrying the radioactive waste. He doesn't take sides on the question of storing radioactive waste from all nuclear plants in one state -- that isn't the "West Wing" way. Nor does anyone touch on the larger question -- the future of nuclear energy, which permanent storage would help decide. Senate Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada, who is leading the fight against the Yucca Mountain site, was nonetheless ecstatic. Thursday morning his phones were ringing with congratulations that held out hope of checks to help the campaign fund and celebrity endorsements from Hollywood. Reid conveyed his joy to Dee Dee Myers.
Reid and his Republican colleague Sen. John Ensign are at the door-to-door phase of their drive. They call on their fellow senators, sometimes together, seeking support. Yucca is a tough vote. The White House is all for the repository -- Vice President Cheney is a nuclear energy fan. Democrats are torn between pleasing Reid and pleasing their constituents, who favor Yucca because they sure don't want to see radioactive waste dumped in their states.
If gratitude were the operating principle, Reid would have no trouble rounding up unanimous Democratic support. He made what most senators regard as the supreme sacrifice: He gave up the chairmanship of the Senate's environmental committee, stepping aside in favor of Jim Jeffords, the Vermont Republican who switched to independent and made the Senate Democratic. Majority Leader Tom Daschle asked Reid to deliver Jeffords, and Reid came through. Democrats with gavels owe their chairmanships to Reid, something they would just as soon forget now, as he comes knocking on their doors.
Dee Dee Myers is one of several Clinton alumni who write for Aaron Sorkin. She may not be the only one who keeps a list of things that Bush has gotten away with and Clinton "would have been crucified for." At the top is Bush's stealth signing of the campaign reform bill, co-authored by his nemesis, John McCain. Myers is now married to New York Times correspondent Todd Purdum. Eli Attie, ex-Gore speechwriter, and Gene Sperling, Clinton economic adviser, are on call. Three Republican contributors: Bush I press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, Reagan biographer Peggy Noonan and pollster Frank Luntz. "The West Wing" has taken on such controversies as land mines, slave reparations and the tobacco lobby.
Aaron Sorkin says he has no political agenda. His most controversial show was post-Sept. 11 on two terrorists, "Isaac" and "Ishmael." It outraged more viewers than anything he has presented: "I have to face the fact that it wasn't good." He did not invent Jed Bartlet to torture Democrats. The character is based on his father, a New York lawyer.
Clinton chief of staff John Podesta is a fan particularly of last week's "West Wing," since he is a consultant to Harry Reid on Yucca Mountain. He thinks the show conveys the "intensity and the commitment of the White House staff."
There is, of course, no Dick Morris on President Bartlet's staff.
Posted by MorganG at 10:14 PM
April 03, 2002
Remember, 'West Wing' is fictional -- New Mexico
Associated Press
This just in: Martin Sheen is not president.
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- This just in: Martin Sheen is not president.
Just in case New Mexico television viewers were wondering, the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department wanted them to know that an episode of "The West Wing" scheduled to air Wednesday night is fictional.
The NBC drama series about life in the White House was to feature a story line about a crash of a heavy rig bearing uranium fuel rods in a remote Idaho tunnel.
"The scenario described is completely fictional," the department said in a news release issued Tuesday, later adding, "New Mexico has no tunnels." Neither, it added, does Idaho.
In fact, New Mexico does have a tunnel on U.S. 82 between Alamogordo and Cloudcroft.
Anne Clark, the department's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant coordinator, said Wednesday that the news release should have said New Mexico has no tunnels on roads designated for vehicles hauling radioactive and other hazardous materials.
Diane Kinderwater, spokeswoman for Gov. Gary Johnson, approved the release, issued on the governor's letterhead.
"We're not trying to offend anybody's intelligence but they see vignettes and think that it could happen," Kinderwater said. "Why not try to give correct information?"
Kinderwater said the idea for the release came from state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Betty Rivera.
The release was prepared by Clark, who said Wednesday the issue portrayed on the show is "going to be hot on people's minds because of September 11."
"We want to assure people that this is not a possible scenario and we're prepared for anything that could happen in terms of an accident or some kind of security issue," she said.
WIPP, which opened in March 1999 near Carlsbad, is a federal underground storage facility for plutonium-contaminated waste from defense work. It does not store nuclear fuel rods from civilian power plants.
"As officials of the state, they (Rivera and Clark) felt this was the time to let the public know that they don't have anything to fear from anything on the program," Kinderwater said. "Sometimes the power of television is very strong. They're just trying to be responsible."
Maria Stasi of Warner Bros. Television Publicity said no one was available Tuesday evening to comment. A "West Wing" publicist also did not return a phone call late Tuesday.
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