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August 27, 2004
Actor Jimmy Smits to Join 'West Wing'
Reuters
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Jimmy Smits, best known for his turns as a lawyer on "L.A. Law" and a cop on "NYPD Blue," will join the cast of "The West Wing" as a Houston congressman with presidential aspirations, NBC said on Friday.
"West Wing," entering its sixth season, has won four consecutive Emmy Awards -- U.S. television's highest honors -- for best drama and is currently nominated for a fifth.
However, the show's ratings have fallen in recent seasons, and NBC executives told TV critics at their annual tour earlier this summer they would shake the show up in its new season.
The fictional president on the show, Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, is well into his second term, and the Hollywood showbiz papers have suggested that Smits may be a potential replacement in that role.
NBC is a unit of the NBC Universal division of General Electric Co.
Posted by Jo at 06:37 PM
'West Wing' preparing for a new prez
By Gary Levin
USA TODAY
Whatever the outcome of the November election, fictional White House resident Josiah Bartlet will move out on The West Wing this season. To refurbish the show — and stay true to term limits — a shakeup is planned.
With the (fictional) New Hampshire primary looming in January, "we're interested in how does the Bartlet administration deal with its last year, and how do people try to begin to position themselves for the future," says producer John Wells. Candidates include:
• Alan Vinick (Alan Alda), "a socially moderate and fiscally conservative Republican from California in the same political vein as Arnold Schwazenegger."
• Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits, in his first TV series role since leaving NYPD Blue in 1998), "a three-term congressman from Houston who came up by the bootstraps out of the barrio and made something of himself."
• VP Bob Russell (Gary Cole), whose campaign will be managed by Will Bailey (Josh Malina).
Mary McCormack, who played a deputy national security adviser last spring, becomes a more permanent cast member. And Marley Shelton joins as a reporter-turned-deputy press secretary.
Wing continues to win Emmys, snagging 12 nominations this year, but the show's ratings have steadily dropped from an average 17.2 million viewers in 2001-02 to 11.8 million last season.
Producer John Wells disputes that the Republican White House — or creator Aaron Sorkin's departure — has damaged the liberal-leaning show. "I think it's more to do with going from a period which presents an idealistic White House that wasn't having to deal with issues of terrorism and war. The challenge now is to make it relevant without demeaning real events ... and not make political critiques about the current administration. ... That's a difficult balance to maintain."
Posted by Jo at 06:36 PM
August 23, 2004
Alan Alda Elected to Serve on 'West Wing'
By Nellie Andreeva
Reuters
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Alan Alda is returning to series television.
The five-time Emmy winner will join the cast of NBC's White House drama "The West Wing" next season, playing a Republican from California with presidential aspirations.
Also joining the series is Marley Shelton, ("Uptown Girls"), who will play a former feature reporter mentored by Danny Concannon (Timothy Busfield) who becomes White House deputy press secretary.
Mary McCormack (USA's "Traffic"), who guest-starred in several episodes last season as the brash new Deputy National Security Adviser, will return as a permanent fixture. Jimmy Smits, meanwhile, is in talks to come on board the series.
Playing a Republican senator is familiar territory for Alda. He plays Maine Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster in Martin Scorsese's upcoming Howard Hughes biopic "The Aviator."
The "West Wing" role marks Alda's first major series commitment since his award-winning run on CBS' "M*A*S*H*." In 1999, he did an Emmy-nominated stint on "ER," which is executive produced by "West Wing" producer John Wells.
In March, Alda will begin rehearsals for the Broadway production of David Mamet's play "Glengarry Glen Ross," which will also star Liev Schreiber.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Posted by Jo at 09:11 AM
Alan Alda Aboard The West Wing
http://www.comingsoon.com
Source: Variety Sunday, August 22, 2004
Five-time Emmy winner Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H*) will be joining the cast of NBC's White House drama The West Wing next season, reports Variety.
Also joining the series, from John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. TV, is Marley Shelton. Mary McCormack, who guest starred in several episodes last season, will be returning in a permanent role on the show. Meanwhile, Jimmy Smits continues to be in talks to come on board the series.
In the sixth season of "West Wing", Alda will play Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick of California, who has presidential aspirations. Shelton will play Annabeth Schott, a former feature reporter mentored by Danny Concannon (Timothy Busfield) who becomes White House deputy press secretary.
McCormack will continue as brash new Deputy National Security Adviser Kate Harper.
Posted by Jo at 09:07 AM
Alan Alda Aboard The West Wing
http://www.comingsoon.com
Source: Variety Sunday, August 22, 2004
Five-time Emmy winner Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H*) will be joining the cast of NBC's White House drama The West Wing next season, reports Variety.
Also joining the series, from John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. TV, is Marley Shelton. Mary McCormack, who guest starred in several episodes last season, will be returning in a permanent role on the show. Meanwhile, Jimmy Smits continues to be in talks to come on board the series.
In the sixth season of "West Wing", Alda will play Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick of California, who has presidential aspirations. Shelton will play Annabeth Schott, a former feature reporter mentored by Danny Concannon (Timothy Busfield) who becomes White House deputy press secretary.
McCormack will continue as brash new Deputy National Security Adviser Kate Harper.
Posted by Jo at 09:07 AM
August 22, 2004
Telly addicts find new forum
Multichannel viewing makes common ground for debate hard to find. Roland White tunes into sites where fans relive their favourite shows
UK Times Online
There was a time, long before the mobile phone, the world wide web and even the Sinclair com-puter, when people would gather round the workplace coffee machine and have conversations that went something like this: “What about Steptoe and Son last night, eh?” “Fantastic. Pure genius.”
At this point, somebody might even screw up their face, hunch their shoulders and say, in the style of Old Man Steptoe: “Don’t leave me, ’Arold.” Ah, those were the days. Unfortunately, this conversation has failed to adapt to the fast-moving age of multichannel television. Its modern equivalent goes more like this: “What about TV’s Naughtiest Blunders last night, eh?” “Sorry, didn’t see it. I was watching Xena: Warrior Princess on Bravo.”
As multichannel television has moved into six in every 10 homes, there has been a gentle decline in the number of programmes we all see together and dis- cuss afterwards. There are, nevertheless, viewers out there who are aflame with passion for Sex and the City, who wish to debate the authenticity of Corporal Jones’s medal collection, or who have unanswered questions about the exact lyrics of “A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat”.
These enthusiasts have no luck at the coffee machine nowadays, but they can turn to a growing number of television- related websites that are springing up: fan sites, listings sites, discussion sites, even one (www.tellytunes.com) where you can find out about advertising jingles and theme tunes.
The pattern is usually the same. A television obsessive with a bit of web- design knowledge decides to build a site dedicated to his, or occasionally her, favourite programme. Soon, other fans have not only discovered the site, but are taking part in furious debate about which is better: Star Trek or Blake’s Seven.
This is what happened to forty- something civil servant Laurence Marcus, of east London. “I did a course in web design, then wondered what I could do with it,” he says. His first attempt was a site called Bring Me Sunshine, a tribute to Morecambe and Wise. He grew more ambitious and, with a friend, created Television Heaven. “We drew up a list of 20 television programmes and wrote about them,” he says. “That was about four years ago. Now the site takes about 44,000 hits every month.”
Television Heaven carries programme reviews, a potted history of the medium and profiles of television heroes. Its style is rather pithy. Here it is explaining the plot, in a neat nutshell, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Takes the teenaged angst of series such as Beverly Hills 90210 and deftly interweaves it with the wonderfully unlikely concept that beau- tiful all-American teenage high-school girl Buffy Summers is the Slayer, the latest in an ages-old line sworn to protect humanity from the forces of darkness that lurk unsuspected under our very noses.” Why can’t more civil servants write English like that? Many of the inquiries sent to Tele- vision Heaven are a little on the obscure side. “People get in touch and say things like, ‘My grandmother was in an episode of Beat the Clock. Can I get a tape?’,” Marcus says. “I also receive quite a lot of e-mails from people asking if DVDs of classic shows are available. If they’re not, I pass them on to the DVD companies, which usually ignore me completely.”
Not all firms are quite so churlish. Television websites can be very influential. One in America, Television Without Pity (TWoP), is said to have influenced the scriptwriters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson’s Creek. It began life as a site where a few friends could poke fun at Dawson’s Creek, but it occurred to the creators — a group of journalists and web designers — that if people had strong opinions about Dawson, then they might be interested in other programmes. They were right. TWoP now claims 800,000 hits a month, and has even been the subject of a doctoral thesis submitted to a university in Washington DC.
In her thesis, Jessica Stilwell, a Georgetown University student, says that TWoP makes her watch television more critically. She discovered the site when, during a trip overseas, she wanted to follow the latest developments in ER. Central to TWoP are the programme recaps, so detailed that up to 10,000 words might be written about one episode. “I read an
ER recap and, by the end of it, I found it hard to believe I had not actually seen the episode,” Stilwell writes.
According to her research, nearly one in three site visitors — who are mostly women — spends up to two hours a day there; 4% of visitors stay online for four hours a day or more. When do they find time to watch the shows? Sarah Bunting, a former Penthouse proofreader and one of TWoP’s creators, maintains that television companies keep a close eye on the debates that rage on the site. After all, it’s a free focus group. But do the debates have any significant influence? “Television productions have long lead times,” she says. “It would be difficult to say whether we influence plots or whether it’s just natural progression.”
One rival American site definitely hopes to have an impact on a television company. Don’t Save Our Show is a site created to raise signatures for a petition to end The West Wing, the White House drama series starring Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet. The site’s creators had all worked on a detailed and well- designed West Wing fan site, Bartlet 4America.org, but are now unhappy about the way the series has gone.
“The show careers ever closer to being completely unwatchable,” they claim. “We would rather see it end now with some measure of dignity than limp on for two more seasons.”
There are some people who turn up their noses at television, who don’t think that Sex and the City, Friends or Only Fools and Horses are worthy of proper cultural analysis. Perhaps this is why television finds such a happy home on the web — a medium that also provides refuge for collectors of airsickness bags and different types of pencil sharpener.
Paul David, editor of a comprehensive television site called The Custard, says: “While it is socially acceptable for people to say they love movies or music, liking television is regarded by some as a philistine habit — so maybe they visit television-related websites to indulge that love without having to risk being regarded as couch potatoes.”
In 2002, he helped to create the site (The Custard, incidentally, is supposedly cockney rhyming slang for telly: custard and jelly), and now works on it full time. “It’s financed by savings,” he says. “A bit of money comes in from selling DVDs and advertising, but not much. We’re hoping to develop the site and perhaps interest somebody in putting some money in.”
He says that the site was established to provide the detail no longer offered by television listings magazines, through lack of space. “We all spent a lot of time looking through the television schedules, trying to find programmes worth watching — and trying to avoid missing decent programmes on the multitude of channels — and we reckoned lots of people must be doing the same,” David says. “We also provide opinions. In the past, you could watch a great programme, go into work the next day, where plenty of people had also seen it, and have an enjoyable discussion about it. Now viewing is spread more widely, that’s no longer always the case, and visitors like to see what other people thought about programmes they liked — or hated.”
Some people hate all television, and there is even a website for them. The White Dot campaign wants us to escape from the clutches of the box altogether. Which will leave all the more time to discuss your favourite programmes on television websites.
Posted by Jo at 06:47 PM
Telly addicts find new forum
Multichannel viewing makes common ground for debate hard to find. Roland White tunes into sites where fans relive their favourite shows
UK Times Online
There was a time, long before the mobile phone, the world wide web and even the Sinclair com-puter, when people would gather round the workplace coffee machine and have conversations that went something like this: “What about Steptoe and Son last night, eh?” “Fantastic. Pure genius.”
At this point, somebody might even screw up their face, hunch their shoulders and say, in the style of Old Man Steptoe: “Don’t leave me, ’Arold.” Ah, those were the days. Unfortunately, this conversation has failed to adapt to the fast-moving age of multichannel television. Its modern equivalent goes more like this: “What about TV’s Naughtiest Blunders last night, eh?” “Sorry, didn’t see it. I was watching Xena: Warrior Princess on Bravo.”
As multichannel television has moved into six in every 10 homes, there has been a gentle decline in the number of programmes we all see together and dis- cuss afterwards. There are, nevertheless, viewers out there who are aflame with passion for Sex and the City, who wish to debate the authenticity of Corporal Jones’s medal collection, or who have unanswered questions about the exact lyrics of “A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat”.
These enthusiasts have no luck at the coffee machine nowadays, but they can turn to a growing number of television- related websites that are springing up: fan sites, listings sites, discussion sites, even one (www.tellytunes.com) where you can find out about advertising jingles and theme tunes.
The pattern is usually the same. A television obsessive with a bit of web- design knowledge decides to build a site dedicated to his, or occasionally her, favourite programme. Soon, other fans have not only discovered the site, but are taking part in furious debate about which is better: Star Trek or Blake’s Seven.
This is what happened to forty- something civil servant Laurence Marcus, of east London. “I did a course in web design, then wondered what I could do with it,” he says. His first attempt was a site called Bring Me Sunshine, a tribute to Morecambe and Wise. He grew more ambitious and, with a friend, created Television Heaven. “We drew up a list of 20 television programmes and wrote about them,” he says. “That was about four years ago. Now the site takes about 44,000 hits every month.”
Television Heaven carries programme reviews, a potted history of the medium and profiles of television heroes. Its style is rather pithy. Here it is explaining the plot, in a neat nutshell, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Takes the teenaged angst of series such as Beverly Hills 90210 and deftly interweaves it with the wonderfully unlikely concept that beau- tiful all-American teenage high-school girl Buffy Summers is the Slayer, the latest in an ages-old line sworn to protect humanity from the forces of darkness that lurk unsuspected under our very noses.” Why can’t more civil servants write English like that? Many of the inquiries sent to Tele- vision Heaven are a little on the obscure side. “People get in touch and say things like, ‘My grandmother was in an episode of Beat the Clock. Can I get a tape?’,” Marcus says. “I also receive quite a lot of e-mails from people asking if DVDs of classic shows are available. If they’re not, I pass them on to the DVD companies, which usually ignore me completely.”
Not all firms are quite so churlish. Television websites can be very influential. One in America, Television Without Pity (TWoP), is said to have influenced the scriptwriters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson’s Creek. It began life as a site where a few friends could poke fun at Dawson’s Creek, but it occurred to the creators — a group of journalists and web designers — that if people had strong opinions about Dawson, then they might be interested in other programmes. They were right. TWoP now claims 800,000 hits a month, and has even been the subject of a doctoral thesis submitted to a university in Washington DC.
In her thesis, Jessica Stilwell, a Georgetown University student, says that TWoP makes her watch television more critically. She discovered the site when, during a trip overseas, she wanted to follow the latest developments in ER. Central to TWoP are the programme recaps, so detailed that up to 10,000 words might be written about one episode. “I read an
ER recap and, by the end of it, I found it hard to believe I had not actually seen the episode,” Stilwell writes.
According to her research, nearly one in three site visitors — who are mostly women — spends up to two hours a day there; 4% of visitors stay online for four hours a day or more. When do they find time to watch the shows? Sarah Bunting, a former Penthouse proofreader and one of TWoP’s creators, maintains that television companies keep a close eye on the debates that rage on the site. After all, it’s a free focus group. But do the debates have any significant influence? “Television productions have long lead times,” she says. “It would be difficult to say whether we influence plots or whether it’s just natural progression.”
One rival American site definitely hopes to have an impact on a television company. Don’t Save Our Show is a site created to raise signatures for a petition to end The West Wing, the White House drama series starring Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet. The site’s creators had all worked on a detailed and well- designed West Wing fan site, Bartlet 4America.org, but are now unhappy about the way the series has gone.
“The show careers ever closer to being completely unwatchable,” they claim. “We would rather see it end now with some measure of dignity than limp on for two more seasons.”
There are some people who turn up their noses at television, who don’t think that Sex and the City, Friends or Only Fools and Horses are worthy of proper cultural analysis. Perhaps this is why television finds such a happy home on the web — a medium that also provides refuge for collectors of airsickness bags and different types of pencil sharpener.
Paul David, editor of a comprehensive television site called The Custard, says: “While it is socially acceptable for people to say they love movies or music, liking television is regarded by some as a philistine habit — so maybe they visit television-related websites to indulge that love without having to risk being regarded as couch potatoes.”
In 2002, he helped to create the site (The Custard, incidentally, is supposedly cockney rhyming slang for telly: custard and jelly), and now works on it full time. “It’s financed by savings,” he says. “A bit of money comes in from selling DVDs and advertising, but not much. We’re hoping to develop the site and perhaps interest somebody in putting some money in.”
He says that the site was established to provide the detail no longer offered by television listings magazines, through lack of space. “We all spent a lot of time looking through the television schedules, trying to find programmes worth watching — and trying to avoid missing decent programmes on the multitude of channels — and we reckoned lots of people must be doing the same,” David says. “We also provide opinions. In the past, you could watch a great programme, go into work the next day, where plenty of people had also seen it, and have an enjoyable discussion about it. Now viewing is spread more widely, that’s no longer always the case, and visitors like to see what other people thought about programmes they liked — or hated.”
Some people hate all television, and there is even a website for them. The White Dot campaign wants us to escape from the clutches of the box altogether. Which will leave all the more time to discuss your favourite programmes on television websites.
Posted by Jo at 06:32 PM
August 16, 2004
'Wing' and a prayer
JIMMY SMITS FOR PRESIDENT?
By Alan Sepinwall
Star-Ledger
At last month's TV critics press tour, NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly, discussing the struggles of "The West Wing," noted "the Bartlet administration is clearly coming to the end of its term, and I think that's going to foster some really interesting developments."
Add that hint to the news that Smits is in negotiations to join the show's cast as a three-term congressman from Texas, according to Daily Variety, and it's not hard to connect the dots: The show introduces Smits as a presidential candidate this year, then installs him in the Oval Office next year to replace Martin Sheen .
As Hail Mary passes go, it's not a bad one. Smits is still a potent TV star, and he has a history with this sort of thing, having stepped in to replace David Caruso in the second season of "NYPD Blue."
But "Blue" at the time was in vastly better shape than "West Wing" will be. "Blue" was only a year old and scorching-hot when Smits stepped in, with the rest of the cast and producers at their peak. "West Wing," on the other hand, has been on a steady decline, both in quality and the ratings, for more than two years.
Lots of theories have been posed about why the show sank so far so fast, from competition with "The Bachelor" to real-life politics upstaging the show's fictional kind, but as James Carville might say, it's the writing, stupid.
Even if creator Aaron Sorkin 's last couple of years on the show were mired in never-ending scandal and terrorism plots, they were still infinitely preferable to the "West Wing 2.0" run by John Wells , where the lighting is dark and the characters are darker.
In a misguided attempt to woo viewers who will probably never watch the show under any circumstances, Wells introduced a posse of new Republican opponents who weren't so much more likable than Sorkin's conservative clowns as they were more successful.
The Capra-esque sense of hope that characterized the best of Sorkin vanished, replaced by a White House where the once-tight staffers suddenly hate each other and compromises are the only possible victory. (Realistic? Sure. Entertaining? Nope.)
Virtually every "West Wing" fan watched for two reasons over the years: Sorkin and affection for the regular characters. Sorkin ain't coming back, and the others should be gone if/when Smits becomes Commander-in-Chief.
Reilly and Wells could point to "The Practice," where James Spader became so popular that the rest of the cast was jettisoned for a Spader-led spin-off. Except that Spader's "Practice" wasn't actually that popular. Creatively, it was better, but all he did was stop the Nielsen bleeding from the previous year.
Smits has already starred in two successful series (don't forget "L.A. Law"), and the list of people with three TV hits is very, very short (Heather Locklear, Lee Majors and Ken Berry are all somehow on there, though).
A spokeswoman for the Warner Bros. studio, which produces "West Wing," said talks with Smits are in the very early stages, so there could be some time to reconsider. Just let President Bartlet and company finish out their second term (which, if the series is still moving in real time, should happen in two years, not one, but why quibble?) and let the show be consigned to history. Please?
Posted by Jo at 12:46 PM
Smits Heading "West"?
by Charlie Amter
E!Online
Jimmy Smits may soon be prowling The West Wing.
Smits' reps confirmed to E! Friday that the Emmy-winning actor is in talks to join the Emmy-winning drama next season, as a rival--and, according to the trades--a potential successor to Martin Sheen's President Bartlet.
Although West Wing distributor Warner Bros. declined to comment on the addition of Smits, his character is said to be an ambitious Houston congressman with eyes always on a bigger, possibly oval-shaped, office.
While The West Wing remains an Industry darling--snagging 12 Emmy nominations this year, including one for Best Drama--this season has been dogged by declining ratings and bad reviews. The show averaged just 11.8 million viewers in 2003-04, down from 13.5 million in 2002-03 and 17.2 million in 2001-02.
Critics complain that The West Wing has lost its spark, especially since creator Aaron Sorkin was forced out last year.
A big-name actor like Smiths would presumably give a jolt to the series. And with Sheen's high salary coupled with President Bartlet nearing the end of his second and final term, it makes sense that a new commander in chief could be coming soon.
Smits, who shot to fame on NBC's L.A. Law, is credited with helping boost ratings on NYPD Blue when David Caruso left the police drama in 1994.
The 49-year-old actor turned in his Blue badge six years ago and has been concentrating on film and theater. Smits recently starred in a New York production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and the Broadway play Anna in the Tropics.
As for his film career, it's been bumpy at best (see: The Price of Glory, Bless the Child, The Million Dollar Hotel, etc.). But Smits has managed to snag one high-profile recurring role that could give him the political chops necessary for a West Wing stint: He plays Senator Bail Organa in Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones and in next year's Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith.
Smits had been planning a return to the small screen this fall. He headed up the cast for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced private-eye drama City of Dreams for NBC, which was supposed to debut this fall but has been shelved by the network for some tinkering. Last we heard, the show had been slated for a midseason 2005 debut, but its fate remains unclear.
No word on exactly when Smits will appear on West Wing once he works out a deal. The show's fifth season will premiere a bit late this year due to NBC's Olympic coverage. Episode one will pick up where last season's cliffhanger left off Sept. 24. The season-opener guest stars John Goodman and Annabeth Gish.
Posted by Jo at 09:02 AM
August 13, 2004
It's hail to the chief (and farewell, too?) on 'The West Wi
BY PHIL ROSENTHAL
Chicago Sun-Times
There need to be changes in the White House, nearly everyone connected with the current administration agrees.
The question is whether this president -- Martin Sheen's fictional Jed Bartlet -- will get to complete his second term or get booted after this TV season, a year shy of the next inauguration in the parallel universe of NBC's "The West Wing."
NBC Entertainment boss Kevin Reilly readily admits the series "was ratings-challenged last year" and said executive producer John Wells, who took over when creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme exited a year ago, "is not in denial about it."
But what Reilly and Wells may not fully acknowledge is that, from a quality standpoint, the show is a mess, no matter what Emmy voters apparently thought in giving the series -- winner of Best Drama Series awards in each of its first four years -- a dozen nominations this past season, including yet another dubious nod in the Best Drama category.
Making conservatives less demonic and more intelligent was a plus, but overall the show was dumbed down, a fact only made more obvious when compared with the nightly cable reruns of the Sorkin/Schlamme episodes on NBC-owned Bravo.
Of the many low points, the absolute nadir may well have been when Mrs. Bartlet (Stockard Channing) did a public service announcement with "Sesame Street" Muppets Big Bird and Elmo in order for the fictional first lady -- and by extension the series -- to win over the masses through a softer image.
It was two things the series never was under Sorkin -- cynical and, even worse, just plain stupid.
"We're going to try to juice up that show creatively this year," said Reilly. "All I can tell you is it's not going to be business as usual. The one little hint I could say is that the Bartlet administration is clearly coming to the end of its term, and I think that's going to foster some really interesting developments."
Viewers won't get to vote on how interesting those developments are until Oct. 20. Unlike most NBC series, which will be launched right after the Olympics and the Republican convention, "The West Wing" won't begin its sixth season till then to avoid a conflict with one of the real-life presidential debates.
One thing we know: John Goodman, who breathed a little life into the series (despite an over-the-top plot twist Sorkin set in motion on his way out the door) as a temporary Republican president, says he has not been approached yet about any future guest shots.
Schlamme, who calls his "West Wing" time "the four best years professionally of my life," said he knew that "it was going to be a completely different show" without Sorkin and him. "For me to judge whether it's better or worse or whether I like it or I don't like it is disingenuous," he said.
The director, who's working on a promising series for the WB this fall called "Jack & Bobby" about two young contemporary brothers, one of whom will grow up to be president in 35 years or so, is among those who would not be shocked if "The West Wing" went away after this season.
"If I read the tea leaves, I would think that also [and] that makes me really sad because I think there will never be another show like that," he said. "But I also feel like we all did the best work we could and if that's the way it will come to an end, that's it. It might not, either. You never know."
Cast member Richard Schiff recently told the Associated Press, "I honestly don't think it's the last year, but maybe the year after that ... [and] that'd be fine by me."
Schlamme and Sorkin plan to collaborate again on "The Farnsworth Invention," a film for New Line Cinema that Sorkin has written. It's about the patent fight between Philo T. Farnsworth, the Mormon youth whose creation was the key to TV's development, and David Sarnoff, the older Jewish immigrant who managed to see that Farnsworth never profited from it.
"It's about inventions and corporations and greed and capitalism," Schlamme said. "In the movie, even though Philo loses the patent and he never made any money off of television, in some ways he's the winner. He still was the inventor. He knows that. His soul knows that.
"It's basically Aaron writing: 'You can't stop me from writing. You can take it. You can do something else with it. But I own the writing. I own the invention.' It's a great story."
To survive, that's what "The West Wing" needs: a great story.
Posted by Jo at 12:29 PM
Smits in talks over West Wing role
http://www.rte.ie/arts/2004/0813/westwing.html
Former 'NYPD Blue' star Jimmy Smits is in talks about joining the cast of political drama 'The West Wing'.
Variety reports that Smits would play a Houston congressman with great political ambitions.
Exact details of the character remain a secret, but Variety says it is likely he wants to be President.
Martin Sheen's character on the show, President Bartlet, is nearing the end of his second term in the White House.
Posted by Jo at 09:36 AM
Bush-Kerry contest inspires a new flap at ailing 'West Wing'
By Andrew Buncombe
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=550816
13 August 2004
As America's presidential election campaign revs up, the White House administration headed by President Josiah Bartlett is looking for a soaring bounce in the polls. Yes, you have read correctly.
In that shifting world where reality and fiction intermingle, the producers of the award-winning television series The West Wing , are hoping the bitter and unprecedentedly vigorous election campaign between George Bush and John Kerry will boost their now-ailing show.
The series, which stars Martin Sheen as a liberal Democratic president - far more liberal than John Kerry would be - has won four consecutive Emmy Awards and has been nominated for 12 Emmys this year. But all is not well.
Indeed, in the past two series, ratings have fallen almost as sharply as Mr Bush's personal approval figures since he announced the "official" end of the war in Iraq. And just like Mr Bush, The West Wing faces being dropped if the producers and writers cannot do something to reinvigorate the product.
Viewing figures have fallen from 17.1 million in 2001-02 to 11.7 million last year, so writers of the sixth season of the drama say they will be tapping into real events to try to capture more audience. Three of the 22 episodes have been finished and the scripts for a further nine written.
Kevin Reilly, president of NBC entertainment, told The New York Times : "The Bartlett administration is coming to the end of its term and that is going to foster interesting developments. I can't give anything specific but there will be a tumult in the administration this year."
Critics say that in its last season, the series became increasingly less believable. One story-line had the daughter of the President being taken hostage. Others involved terrorism and relations with foreign governments and rogue states.
This shift may have been the result of the departure from the show of its creator, Aaron Sorkin, in May last year amid falling ratings and budget issues. Managers have now arranged the return of Lawrence O'Donnell, a writer from the early days who also left. He said the show would focus on who would succeed President Bartlett after his two terms and the timing of the Bush-Kerry contest was a fortunate coincidence.
"In the evolution of the stories, politics and campaigning was the area least explored," he said. "We're trying to rectify that. We haven't had the political sharks circling the White House. That dynamic will be added."
Posted by Jo at 09:34 AM
'West Wing': Is It Facing a Struggle to Survive?
By BERNARD WEINRAUB
The New York Times
Published: August 12, 2004
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11 - "The West Wing," the award-winning NBC drama series about a fictional White House, is struggling to revive its ratings and its creative dynamism in the coming season after two faltering years. But it may be too late.
With the nation focused on presidential politics, the creators of "The West Wing" are plainly trying to tap into real events to restore the series, which enters its sixth season on Oct. 20 in its usual slot at 9 p.m. Wednesdays. But the show, which has won four consecutive Emmy Awards as the outstanding drama series and was nominated for 12 Emmys this year despite its critical and audience slide, seems to be teetering on the edge of cancellation next season unless ratings pick up.
Once lavishly praised for its serious content - some critics said too serious - and its exploration of the tensions and compromises in a liberal White House, "The West Wing" was a Top 10 show with 17.1 million viewers in 2001-2. The next year the audience dropped to 13.4 million, partly because of rivalry from reality shows like "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" on ABC. (The slide in the 18-to-49 demographic was especially severe.) Last year the total viewer average fell to 11.7 million. But critics said the series had also lost its way - its plots and characters had sometimes turned far-fetched.
Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment, acknowledged to television critics and reporters in July that "The West Wing" was "ratings challenged last year." Speaking of the fictional Democratic president, Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen), Mr. Reilly said that "the Bartlet administration is clearly coming to the end of its term, and I think that's going to foster some really interesting developments." Mr. Reilly said the show's writers were planning to "juice up" the series creatively but avoided details.
Mr. Reilly said in an interview that the presidential election would have an impact on "The West Wing," and would "certainly set story lines in motion." He said the series would involve presidential politics and that the evolving characters in the show would reflect more than the traditional liberal viewpoints of the Bartlet White House. He said he hoped the series would be picked up after next season, depending not only on the ratings but also on its creative direction. Among the reasons offered for the show's ratings decline, Mr. Reilly said, was that "The West Wing" may have seemed out of sync at times with the real West Wing and the conservatism in the nation.
"Did the show reflect the real-life shift in the winds?" Mr. Reilly asked. "That's debatable."
To reflect the realities of the nation's politics, the show's producers brought in Kenneth M. Duberstein, once chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan, as a consultant.
"The West Wing" was created by Aaron Sorkin, who left the show in May 2003 after declining ratings and budget issues, along with his partner in the show, Thomas Schlamme, an executive producer like Mr. Sorkin and the lead director. In their final season and despite a surprise Emmy for best drama, the show began to lose viewers and veer into melodrama. (The president's daughter was abducted by terrorists.)
John Wells, an executive producer on "The West Wing" and one of television's most successful producers of shows like "E. R.," succeeded Mr. Sorkin. By several accounts one of Mr. Wells's tasks was to control the show's budget. Mr. Sorkin had played a role in writing and rewriting almost every show, sometimes late, and was not seriously engaged in budget issues. Mr. Sorkin did not respond to a request for an interview.
In Mr. Wells's first year the ratings dropped even further. Instead of the stylized rapid-fire dialogue created by Mr. Sorkin for White House figures on the edge of personal or political crises, the series turned contrived and convoluted, critics said. Some White House staff members, already smug in the Sorkin years, turned insufferable. The series, which had confined itself almost entirely to the White House in its early years, branched out into plots involving terrorism and foreign intrigue.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Wells said he would not comment.
Lawrence O'Donnell, a writer-producer on the show in its early years, who has now returned, and Mr. Reilly said that in the new season "The West Wing'' would most certainly involve politics and concern who would succeed President Bartlet, now winding up his second term in the White House. It was both fortunate and coincidental, the two said separately, that events in the "The West Wing" would blur into the real politics of the nation.
Mr. O'Donnell said: "In the evolution of the stories, politics and campaigning has been the arena least explored. We're trying to rectify that balance."
He said: "It's a slightly unreal element on the show that we haven't had the political sharks circling the White House. That dynamic will now be added."
Whether the changes will generate higher ratings is understandably of great concern to NBC, Mr. Wells and his staff.
The series, produced by Warner Brothers, is expensive, costing about $6.5 million an episode. Warner Brothers also produces "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," "The West Wing" rivals on ABC. Peter Roth, president of Warner Brothers Television, declined to discuss "The West Wing."
Mr. Reilly said that 3 episodes of the new season had been completed and 9 of 22 had been written.
Will the real presidential election and its aftermath buoy the ratings of the fictional politics on "The West Wing"? Mr. Reilly said, "The election is a catalyst for setting certain stories in motion."
"I can't give anything specific this year," he said, "but there will be tumult in the administration this year." The Bartlet administration, of course.
Posted by Jo at 09:30 AM
As nation gets more political, so does TV
By Gloria Goodale
The Christian Science Monitor
LOS ANGELES – Before NBC's "The West Wing" made political wonks sound sexy, prime-time TV shows about politics were about as rare as, well, a female or black presidential candidate.
Despite such proof that TV drama can be both politically savvy and popular at the same time, only a handful of imitators have come and gone since the show debuted in 1999, most notably "The Court," about the Supreme Court, starring Sally Field, and possibly "Citizen Baines," about a former US senator.
But in the buildup to this fall's presidential election - the first since 9/11 - TV executives have discovered that politics can make compelling television.
They're trotting out a range of politically charged drama, comedy, and reality fare, including "The American Candidate," a 10-part, unscripted Showtime series searching for a "real person" candidate, which debuted this past week; Robert Altman's "Tanner on Tanner," a faux documentary about a presidential candidate; and "K Street," which concluded its latest season on HBO, among others. In addition, numerous documentaries about hot-button topics will air in the next few months, including "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" and "Afghanistan Unveiled."
Without a doubt, programmers are capitalizing on an election that media watchers are calling the most divisive of the past 30 years. "Many are engaged with politics now because of what's happening outside television, like the war and the economy," says Gary Edgerton, coeditor of the Journal of Popular Film and Television.
"There's a focus now on this presidential election and politics in general that we haven't seen in a good long time."
The political process seems ripe for Hollywood treatment. What people found with "The West Wing" is that the federal government is an inexhaustible source of material, says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "It has scandals that can topple nations ... and it's this rich dramatic vein that's been so avoided that it's comparatively virginal. There are no formulas for the political shows the way there are for the doctor and cop shows."
Of course, politics and entertainment have always been mirror images of each other, with politicians eager to share the Hollywood limelight and movie stars eager to gain gravitas by association with important issues.
But in years past, Hollywood has shied away from overtly political shows to avoid offending either side - an attitude that seems almost quaint in these Bill O'Reilly and Michael Moore times.
Just like the breakout hit documentary movie "Fahrenheit 9/11," these shows are tapping the public's desire for information with an attitude. "This is the next stage in the great American drama," says Thompson. "We really need great storytelling that attempts to interpret our politics."
Not that this is a simple job, with politicians being more scripted than actors these days, says documentarian Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) of California. The young filmmaker's "Diary of a Political Tourist" airs on HBO this fall. Her story follows each of the candidates through the primary season. "The biggest heroine in my movie is Candy Crowley from CNN, who used to say all the time, 'There's no such thing as an honest moment in politics.' The candidates can't be real because if they're real [the media] will exploit it."
The creators of "American Candidate" suggest a way around candidate prepackaging: Go straight to the people. The show takes its candidates, culled from a cross section of the population, through the entire election process from announcement to coronation in what producers call a simulation.
Producer R.J. Cutler says that the show "has a very high civic objective in mind, which is to get people engaged in the process." The winner will receive $200,000 (roughly a president's salary) and a speaking engagement. While he or she will be a "candidate" in contest terms only, the producers hope the process will have an impact.
"I'm also hoping," says host Montel Williams, "that a reporter is going to say to either [Senator] Kerry or [President] Bush, 'Did you hear what the "American Candidate" said on Sunday?' Because what [we're] doing is actually discussing the real issues and not avoiding them."
The only surprise about these shows is that they haven't appeared earlier.
"Politics is tightly connected to the trends and popular culture of any country and our pop culture is fast-paced, extremely shallow, and superficial," says Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science at Iowa State University. "It's also highly sexualized and based on personality. The entertainment industry has hooked society on colorful individuals as the central themes of all entertainment."
The biggest drawback, even to the high-minded shows such as Cutler's, says the professor, is that real politicking is much slower, more bureaucratic, and full of compromises.
"Our pop culture can't tolerate the true pace of politics," says Professor Schmidt, "so the entertainment industry has decided to make it happen in a way that fits more closely our interests and our attention span."
Given the controversy over ballot results in the last presidential election, the stakes are seen to be even higher this fall. That's where mixing politics and entertainment becomes most problematic.
"Entertainment doesn't stress us or tax us; that's the point," says Nancy Snow, communications professor at California State University Fullerton. "I can simply take it in through my senses and that's not good for real tackling of issues or working on reasoning and critical thinking skills," all the necessary tools for a functioning democracy, Ms. Snow says.
She doesn't care what road people take to important issues, even if it's MTV's "Rock the Vote." But she suggests that even a show such as "The American Candidate" will not prepare voters for the serious questions in a real election.
This clash between the popular values represented by these shows and the elitist values of those who maintain they cheapen and dilute serious civic dialogue is as old as democracy itself, says Thompson. But he points out that the democratic process has always been a messy business at best, saying "our own Constitution is full of ambiguity and compromises."
And, he points out, the process of getting there was as full of drama and colorful personalities as any TV show: "Two of our Founding Fathers got in a duel and shot each other and one was killed," he says. "This makes sniping between Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh seem positively civil."
Posted by Jo at 09:26 AM
Joshua Malina Interview
by Scott Juba
The Trades
For most actors, it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to appear in one Aaron Sorkin production. Joshua Malina has the elite distinction of having appeared in every Aaron Sorkin production. When I ask him what allows him and Sorkin to share such a great working relationship, he responds, “From my point of view, it’s very easy. The material is great, and anytime the phone rings and it’s Aaron on the other end, the answer from me is going to be yes.” He continues, “It’s sort of embarrassing for me to come up with what’s so great about me from Aaron’s point of view. I think, though, I really get his material. He writes in a way (where) he hears it in his head, and I think I deliver the dialogue the way he hears it.”
Now currently starring on Sorkin’s popular political drama, “The West Wing”, Malina joined the cast to fill the spot vacated by Rob Lowe. Yet, even with such big shoes to fill, Malina always felt confident that he could meet the challenge. “I felt no pressure whatsoever,” he tells me, “and I don’t know if that’s because I’m oblivious or confident. It never even crossed my mind. When you’re an actor, and somebody asks you to be on their hit show, it’s great. (The West Wing has) an amazing acting ensemble. Nobody was asking me to be the next Rob Lowe. If you look at us next to each other, there’s no confusing us [laughs]. I didn’t feel any pressure to fill his shoes or be like him. It was just a new, incredibly great Aaron Sorkin character.”
His lack of intimidation when joining such a talented cast is understandable. Malina has worked with some of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood, including Warren Beatty and Clint Eastwood, both of whom he has high praise for. “I learned a lot from Warren Beatty working on Bullworth, because there was an amazing openness to the way he worked,” Malina explains. “Here’s a guy who is incredibly smart and has a million ideas, but he still wants to begin by hearing your ideas.”
Malina credits working with Clint Eastwood as a terrific learning experience as well. “Working with Clint and observing him was a really good lesson in film acting, because he is so understated,” Malina comments.
Besides his role on “The West Wing” and the time he’s spent working in high profile film roles, Malina is also an executive producer on Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown”. “My friend Andy (Hill Newman) and I came up with the idea for it,” he tells me. “Andy and I are long time poker players and poker buddies, and we’ve been playing cards in Hank Azaria’s home game for about fifteen years. During a break in a poker tournament, we came up with the idea and the thing just sort of snowballed. It all happened at the right time with poker exploding on TV and everywhere. It’s been a complete joy.”
According to The Internet Movie Database, Malina used to play poker to pay his rent when he was a struggling actor. “That is perhaps a slight overstatement,” Malina responds to the report. “I was not a professional poker player, but there certainly were lean times when I wasn’t working much as an actor, and the fact that I made a regular profit playing poker definitely helped pay the rent.”
Although acting is one of the most difficult professions for someone to achieve success in, Malina makes his success look easy. Given the political nature of “The West Wing”, I ask Malina if he believes it takes the same qualities to excel in acting as it does to succeed in politics. “That’s a pretty astute observation,” he remarks. “I think it does, because I think there’s a tremendous amount of rejection in both. You need to keep coming back. You need to keep getting up off the canvas in order to succeed in most cases in both politics and acting. I’d say a thick skin and serious commitment are necessary in both.”
With an impressive list of acting roles already on his resume and the talent to assure more quality roles in the future, Malina is an actor whose career continues to flourish. He earns my vote as one of television’s most skilled and talented supporting actors. I have no doubt that he will continue to make his presence known on film and on television for years to come.
Posted by Jo at 09:23 AM
Joshua Malina Interview
by Scott Juba
The Trades
For most actors, it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to appear in one Aaron Sorkin production. Joshua Malina has the elite distinction of having appeared in every Aaron Sorkin production. When I ask him what allows him and Sorkin to share such a great working relationship, he responds, “From my point of view, it’s very easy. The material is great, and anytime the phone rings and it’s Aaron on the other end, the answer from me is going to be yes.” He continues, “It’s sort of embarrassing for me to come up with what’s so great about me from Aaron’s point of view. I think, though, I really get his material. He writes in a way (where) he hears it in his head, and I think I deliver the dialogue the way he hears it.”
Now currently starring on Sorkin’s popular political drama, “The West Wing”, Malina joined the cast to fill the spot vacated by Rob Lowe. Yet, even with such big shoes to fill, Malina always felt confident that he could meet the challenge. “I felt no pressure whatsoever,” he tells me, “and I don’t know if that’s because I’m oblivious or confident. It never even crossed my mind. When you’re an actor, and somebody asks you to be on their hit show, it’s great. (The West Wing has) an amazing acting ensemble. Nobody was asking me to be the next Rob Lowe. If you look at us next to each other, there’s no confusing us [laughs]. I didn’t feel any pressure to fill his shoes or be like him. It was just a new, incredibly great Aaron Sorkin character.”
His lack of intimidation when joining such a talented cast is understandable. Malina has worked with some of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood, including Warren Beatty and Clint Eastwood, both of whom he has high praise for. “I learned a lot from Warren Beatty working on Bullworth, because there was an amazing openness to the way he worked,” Malina explains. “Here’s a guy who is incredibly smart and has a million ideas, but he still wants to begin by hearing your ideas.”
Malina credits working with Clint Eastwood as a terrific learning experience as well. “Working with Clint and observing him was a really good lesson in film acting, because he is so understated,” Malina comments.
Besides his role on “The West Wing” and the time he’s spent working in high profile film roles, Malina is also an executive producer on Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown”. “My friend Andy (Hill Newman) and I came up with the idea for it,” he tells me. “Andy and I are long time poker players and poker buddies, and we’ve been playing cards in Hank Azaria’s home game for about fifteen years. During a break in a poker tournament, we came up with the idea and the thing just sort of snowballed. It all happened at the right time with poker exploding on TV and everywhere. It’s been a complete joy.”
According to The Internet Movie Database, Malina used to play poker to pay his rent when he was a struggling actor. “That is perhaps a slight overstatement,” Malina responds to the report. “I was not a professional poker player, but there certainly were lean times when I wasn’t working much as an actor, and the fact that I made a regular profit playing poker definitely helped pay the rent.”
Although acting is one of the most difficult professions for someone to achieve success in, Malina makes his success look easy. Given the political nature of “The West Wing”, I ask Malina if he believes it takes the same qualities to excel in acting as it does to succeed in politics. “That’s a pretty astute observation,” he remarks. “I think it does, because I think there’s a tremendous amount of rejection in both. You need to keep coming back. You need to keep getting up off the canvas in order to succeed in most cases in both politics and acting. I’d say a thick skin and serious commitment are necessary in both.”
With an impressive list of acting roles already on his resume and the talent to assure more quality roles in the future, Malina is an actor whose career continues to flourish. He earns my vote as one of television’s most skilled and talented supporting actors. I have no doubt that he will continue to make his presence known on film and on television for years to come.
Posted by Jo at 09:20 AM