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August 09, 2003
Stars and Strife
'The West Wing's' approval ratings have slipped. Its co-creators are gone. So is a major co-star. New producers and writers are taking over. We asked the Hollywood pundits: Can this presidency be saved?
by Dave Walker
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Of all the coming TV season's unknowns, the most unknowable is the fate of "The West Wing."
A crackling depiction of life inside the president's inner circle, "The West Wing" combines breakneck dialogue with stirring tales of what could only be described as extreme wonkery.
It has been broadcast television's best drama since its 1999 premiere, at least in the eyes of Emmy voters, who awarded the series the Outstanding Drama trophy after each of its first three seasons.
Again this year, "The West Wing" is the most-nominated broadcast network series of the year (with 15, trailing HBO's "Six Feet Under" by one).
Other honors have included a Peabody Award and several trophies from the Television Critics Association.
To launch its "West Wing" rerun package -- and perhaps remind recently disappointed fans of the series' earlier excellence -- the Bravo cable network has scheduled a mini-marathon of the show's first six episodes, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday. (Starting Monday, episodes will air at 10 a.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.)
The marathon leads in to a 4 p.m. documentary in which real West Wing occupants, including Presidents Clinton, Carter and Ford, recall their own experiences there.
At 4:30 p.m., Bravo will screen 1995's "The American President," written by "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin.
The Sunday splurge concludes with a 7 p.m. episode of "Inside the Actors Studio" featuring Martin Sheen, "West Wing's" President Josiah Bartlet.
As the Bravo reruns will reinforce, the body of "The West Wing" remains monumental TV. Yet, season No. 5 is often a fateful juncture for a TV series, the season in which, for a variety of reasons, shows usually begin to tank.
With Sept. 24 set as "The West Wing" season premiere, the series began production a few days ago facing a much more complicated set of challenges than your average fifth-year flopper.
Gone are two of its co-creators and most influential creative voices -- writer/producer Aaron Sorkin and director/producer Thomas Schlamme.
Schlamme was the genius behind the show's visual style, which brought the energy of "Top Gun's" jet-fighter battle sequences to hallways clogged with jabbering civil servants.
Sorkin wrote nearly every word ever uttered on the show, but apparently couldn't deliver his dense scripts on time.
John Wells, the force behind NBC's "ER" and a founding executive producer of "The West Wing,", has been sworn in as the show's new chief executive.
Wells will attempt to replace Sorkin's distinctive voice with a writing staff whose credits include some of TV's best-ever series, from "China Beach" to "ER" to "L.A. Law" to "Sex and the City" to "Friends."
New cast members are coming, too.
Annabeth Gish, ex of "The X-Files," will play the eldest daughter to Sheen's Bartlet.
Steven Eckholdt, ex of CBS' "My Big Fat Greek Life," will play her husband.
NBC didn't make the "West Wing" cast and producers available to TV critics at the recent Hollywood press tour. But to ignore the fate of "The West Wing" would be to ignore my civic duty.
So I spent part of my time at the recent TV tour discussing "The West Wing" with . . . well, just about everybody else.
. . . . . . .
"I don't think there's a huge change in the show," said NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker, who had seen the show's first two scripts at the time of his meeting with the critics.
"Nobody was better at the small banter and the small talk than Aaron Sorkin. What John (Wells) has brought to these first two scripts is some incredible, emotional moments, some incredible character development. I think that whereas 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.
"I think that's the hallmark of a John Wells show, and that's what you're going to get."
One bonus to NBC: "We actually got to read the season premiere before they shot it this year," Zucker said.
. . . . . . .
As Deputy White House Communications Director Sam Seaborn, Rob Lowe experienced a rare career revival, but he left "The West Wing" last season.
While promoting his new NBC series, the legal drama "The Lyon's Den," Lowe hinted at why.
"It was never about screen time with me," he said. "I found that Sam was having less and less to do with the stories on the show that were really important.
"I had a story line once where I was trying to get people to wear seat belts. It was hilarious and really, really funny, but at the end of the day I wanted Sam, because I was in love with Sam, to have the president's ear. I wanted Sam to be involved in the big story lines, not just shuffled in and out for relief. . . .
"I felt that ('The West Wing') definitely had changed course, without a question. 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."
As for Sorkin's deadline-pushing writing style, Lowe said, "I love Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin is a genius. And he could be 15 years late on a script for me, and that would never be a problem because when you got it, it was like Christmas morning."
. . . . . . .
David E. Kelley, creator of "Ally McBeal," "The Practice," "Boston Public" and the new CBS drama "The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H.," shares at least one trait with Sorkin.
Both men have shouldered the entire writing burden for an hour-long drama.
Handing off characters to other writers is something that Kelley has attempted before. But he concedes that the transition may prove more difficult for Sorkin.
"I think it's going to be very difficult to approximate his voice," Kelley said. "In addition to him being intimately connected with all his characters, he had a very specific rhythm to his writing style. If it could be easily copied we would see more of it, because it's such an effective rhythm."
Based on his own experiences of delegating scripting that he'd previously handled solo, Kelley said that asking new writers to approximate Sorkin's style would be a mistake.
"I almost go just the opposite direction," said Kelley, who turned over his Fox drama "Boston Public" to a traditional writing staff. "I would say, 'Don't do it the way you think I would do it. Write the story how it emanates from you. I can take it over and shape it into the structure and voices of our characters if I think you're off.'
"I think writers should be true to themselves when they're writing scripts. If they go back with the idea that they've got to hit other writers' targets, then they're in trouble."
. . . . . . .
Veteran actor John Amos has made several "West Wing" appearances as Adm. Percy Fitzwallace.
"I know it's going to be a change," said Amos. "You don't replace a talent like Aaron Sorkin.
"We've all learned to speak Sorkinese, which is a very special language developed by Aaron for the cast.
"I don't know what it's going to sound like. Is it going to go in a less liberal direction? Or more liberal? The show may very well become more conservative.
"There are rumors of Adm. Fitzwallace meeting his demise. Who knows? Anything is possible."
. . . . . . .
WB executive Garth Ancier was working in the programming hierarchy of NBC when "The West Wing" first aired.
"There was wide resistance inside the company at picking it up," he said. "A lot of the senior executives at the company felt that it took a liberal stand, so they were very upset at the idea of putting it on television.
"It had to be talked through with Aaron. 'OK, you've got to present both sides of the story to create dramatic conflict. You can't just take a shot at Jerry Falwell and pounce on all of the conservatives.' "
As for the show's future, Ancier said, "John Wells is a very smart guy and a very, very good producer. He's about the smartest you can get in terms of getting someone to come in behind Aaron.
"That said, Aaron has a very specific voice. He wrote every script himself, in his pool house, for three years, which was one of the reasons they couldn't keep making the show. They were waiting for scripts to come out of Aaron's typewriter."
That said, Ancier, the executive who first placed "West Wing" on NBC's schedule, has no clue as to the show's new direction.
"When a show is one person's vision, it's very difficult to translate that," he said. "It could be a creative revival, where John Wells figures out how to take the show to the next level. Or it could be a show where the magic is gone."
Posted by Jo at August 9, 2003 10:29 AM