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January 27, 2005

NCGA Blasts "The West Wing

by AgWeb Editors
AgWeb.com

The following statement was released today by the National Corn Growers Association regarding Wednesday night's episode of "The West Wing" on NBC:

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) today expressed concern over the irresponsible misrepresentations of ethanol, the corn industry and U.S. farm policy that aired during NBC's Jan. 26 episode of "The West Wing."

"We understand The West Wing is a fictional program, but we also recognize the fact that the program has an influence on shaping public opinion," said NCGA President Leon Corzine. "The West Wing is one of the most popular programs on television and certainly many viewers believe they are seeing realistic depictions of our political process, as well as current social and economic issues."

In the episode titled "King Corn," ethanol was characterized as a "waste of taxpayers' money" and a corporate "subsidy" for oil companies, agribusinesses and farmers. The program implied that politicians who support the ethanol industry are pandering to special interests. In reality, Corzine said, elected officials who support ethanol recognize their constituents' interest in rural economic development, national energy security and a cleaner environment. "The program neglected to mention all of the good things ethanol has done," he said. "Among other things, ethanol has created more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs, reduced gasoline prices, cut crude oil imports, increased farm income and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The West Wing episode chose not to point out any of those facts."

A character on the program also made the false claim that "producing a gallon of ethanol requires almost a gallon of oil." According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ethanol generates at least 67 percent more energy than it takes to produce. The episode also made the suggestion that federal safety net programs and corn sweeteners are somehow responsible for America's obesity crisis. Despite a firestorm of media reports to the contrary, no credible scientific evidence exists that links corn sweeteners to obesity, Corzine said.

Furthermore, farm support programs are designed to provide assistance only in the times when farmers need it most, Corzine said. Growers make planting decisions based on signals from the marketplace, not in response to so-called "subsidies" as the program implied. Americans enjoy the safest and most affordable food supply in the world, a fact that is often overlooked in discussions of federal support programs, Corzine said.

He said corn growers were also troubled by the program's portrayal of American farmers as simple, unsophisticated people interested only in receiving a "handout" from the government. "The program reinforced some of the negative stereotypes farmers have been battling for years," he said. "The show's producers have a responsibility to do more thorough research on the subject matter they are addressing in their program. If they had done their homework, they would have recognized that farmers today are hard-working, intelligent people who make enormous contributions to our quality of life in America."

Corzine, a corn and soybean grower from Assumption, Ill., said NCGA plans to send informational packets on the corn and ethanol industries to the producers of "The West Wing." NCGA is also planning to deliver similar informational packets to legislators on Capitol Hill. Corzine encouraged viewers of "The West Wing" to visit www.ncga.com to learn the facts about the corn sector and its importance to U.S. citizens.

Posted by Jo at 05:35 PM

January 26, 2005

Alda, Smits hit campaign trail

By ALAN PERGAMENT
Buffalo News

HOLLYWOOD - "The West Wing" this season is giving viewers a political fantasy - two smart, likable and principled candidates running for president that supporters of either major party can embrace.
The candidates, played by a television icon, Alan Alda (Republican Arnold Vinick), and an actor on his way to becoming one, Jimmy Smits (Democrat Matthew Santos), get into full swing at 9 tonight on Channel 2. The strong episode follows them and Vice President Robert Russell (Gary Cole) on the campaign trail to Iowa.

No matter if Alda or Smits wins, "West Wing" and America can't lose.

"Our hope has always been in a small way to show how it can be and what we should be looking for," said Executive Producer John Wells.

Titled "King Corn," the episode includes a scene between the two all-star actors at a coffee shop. Surprisingly, one candidate reveals his true feelings about an issue after he compromised his beliefs by making a public statement that contradicted them. One doubts candidates would be that honest with each other, but Alda feels their friendship makes the scene more plausible.

"There's also an unspoken implication in that scene that people often in politics don't so much talk about the issue as they talk about positioning the issue and how it is presented," said Alda. "That gets to be the critical thing you evaluate."

That scene addresses one of the show's constant themes - the choice candidates make between expressing their honest feelings and telling the public what they want to hear to get votes.

"That is the central issue for campaigns," said Wells. "What are you willing to sacrifice? What of your integrity? What do you have to do to be politically expedient? The political professionals are telling you: "It doesn't really matter what you say. You are just trying to get votes and make a difference when you get elected.' That's a recurring theme.

"The disturbing thing about spending a lot of time with our political consultants about this, is the fact that you would even ask that question of them makes you an idiot."

Of course, critics have to ask network leaders a lot of idiotic questions. Such as will "The West Wing" be back for another season after making such a strong creative comeback this season?

Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal Television group, gave the series a vote of confidence here by noting that it remains the No. 1 show among upscale viewers and has huge value, but he stopped short of saying it was a sure thing, because it's expensive to produce.

"It is incredibly strong and a show that we would like to have back," said Zucker.

Wells is proceeding as if he were a political candidate with a 90 percent approval rating. He said the Republican National Convention will be this season's semifinal episode, the Democratic National Convention will be the season finale. The election campaign is planned for next fall, with the inauguration of the new president a year from now.

And Wells says he hasn't decided who is going to win. He adds no one should assume it will be Santos, the Democrat, because that would make it easier to keep the all-star, Emmy-winning cast. Tonight, Patricia Richardson of "Home Improvement" and Stephen Root of "News Radio" join Vinick's campaign as the chief of staff and campaign manager, respectively, suggesting they could remain aboard if Vinick wins.

"We want to keep in the audience's mind this question of not only who do you think would make the best president, but who are the people around that person who would make for the best administration," said Wells.

It is just about assured that Martin Sheen, who plays President Bartlet, will be around for the transition. The only actor whose contract lapses after this season, Sheen said he plans on returning next year through the inauguration and to deal with what a post-White House life would be for Bartlet. "A Jimmy Carter-type of ex-presidency would be ideal," said Sheen.

Wells says he's not being coy, that the presidential winner won't be decided until the writers see what happens between cast members and what's happening in the country, and then they'll "try and follow what makes the most story sense."

"It's really what's most compelling, what's most interesting, what's giving you the greatest amount of drama," said Wells, who adds he has purposely portrayed the two candidates "as people that you'd like to have a beer with."

The producer promises he won't sacrifice his integrity and appeal to the TV gods of demographics, which would favor the younger Smits.

"We have ignored the gods of demographics for many years, so it's a tradition," said Wells.

Sheen is evidence of that. As president, he wasn't exactly a demographic dream. He says Bartlet and his administration won't be exiting quietly. Sheen then told the story of a decent man who dies and was asked by St. Peter at the gates of heaven to show his scars. When he said he didn't have any, St. Peter replied: "Was there nothing worth fighting for?"

"I think we're going to leave with a lot of scars, but we're going to be standing up and committed to human rights and public service on different levels," said Sheen, who is committed to staying with one of the few NBC shows these days worth fighting for.

Posted by Jo at 05:07 PM

January 25, 2005

Primary shift on The West Wing

by Tom Jicha
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Published January 26, 2005

Editor's note: For two weeks in January, the networks promote their midseason offerings to TV writers in Hollywood.

Presidential primary season keeps getting longer, but The West Wing is pushing it to absurd lengths. With America barely out of the real election season, the NBC drama is cranking up its own fictional race for the White House.

The emphasis has shifted sharply away from the Oval Office and onto the campaign trail. Tonight's episode takes place almost entirely on the stump in Iowa. There's also a significant shift in tone. The idealism of the Jed Bartlet White House is giving way to cynicism over how candidates for the nation's highest office abandon their principles to remain viable as candidates.

The field is crowded for the fictional race for the White House but it will ultimately come down to Jimmy Smits, as former Democratic Houston mayor Matthew Santos, vs. Alan Alda, as former Republican California senator Arnold Vinick.

This is a common sense deduction, not something the producers have revealed. Smits and Alda were hired specifically to play presidential candidates for the balance of this season, with options to go on should their character win.

The outcome has not been decided, executive producer John Wells insists. "We write this show as a series of unfolding events. We didn't exactly know where it was going to go until we were fortunate enough to get Jimmy and Alan. Now we're discovering things about the characters as we go forward. We're working right now on the final episodes of this season leading up to the conventions. The Republican convention will be in episode 21 and the Democratic convention in episode 22, the end of the season."

The outcome of the election will be the cliffhanger.

The prevailing school of thought is that Smits has to win in order to keep the other regulars, all partisan Democrats, involved in the series.

Not so, says Wells. "There is a long tradition in politics of many people leaving and moving on to other parts of their life [even after an election their party wins]. We're excited watching the characters make those decisions."

This is also a device to keep down cast salaries. Ask for more money and your character could be leaving the White House to pursue other opportunities. Several regulars are invisible tonight while potential replacements get center stage. Patricia Richardson and Stephen Root have been hired for the Vinick campaign and Teri Polo is playing Santos' wife.

Martin Sheen, whose contract to play President Bartlet is up, expects to stay on beyond this season but in a limited capacity. "We're planning on returning next year, primarily being present up until the inauguration of the new president, whoever that might be," Sheen said. "Then afterwards, we'll get a glimpse of what sort of post-White House life Bartlet might get involved in. My presence will be strong only in the first half of the year. We'll see where it goes from there. A Jimmy Carter type of ex-presidency would be ideal."

There was a time when it appeared The West Wing would end with the Bartlet presidency but NBC's slide in the ratings has made any series with a pulse a keeper.

The future occupant of the White House might be in doubt but not the future of the series, according to Wells. There will be a seventh season, he said. "There's no doubt in my mind."

Posted by Jo at 10:17 AM

`West Wing' presidential campaign heats up

By Charlie McCollum
San Jose Mercury News

UNIVERSAL CITY - As White House aide Josh Lyman is given to saying on ``The West Wing'': Game on!

With this week's episode of the show (9 p.m. Wednesday, Chs. 8, 11), the campaign to replace President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) begins in earnest on ``West Wing'' as the leading contenders crisscross Iowa for its presidential caucuses. For those who haven't been following along, the candidates include Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), a moderate Republican from California, and two Democrats: Vice President ``Bingo'' Bob Russell (Gary Cole) and Rep. Matt Santos from Texas (Jimmy Smits).

The series' producers always had planned for the campaign to begin this season, the show's sixth. What wasn't clear was whether the Bartlet administration -- and the series -- would come to an end this spring or would extend into a seventh season. Now, it's all but certain that ``The West Wing'' will be back and the race for president won't be decided until next fall.

Creatively, the show is enjoying a renaissance after the less-than-stellar year that followed the departure of creator Aaron Sorkin. Viewership is back up after tanking last season, and the show still draws the most affluent audience on network TV.

While the deal isn't final, executive producer John Wells says ``there's no doubt in my mind'' that the series will return -- a sentiment expressed openly by top NBC executives who say ``The West Wing'' still is a valuable part of their schedule.

Wells says he and his writers have laid out a timeline that will find the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions taking place in this season's last two episodes, scheduled for mid-April. The general election will take place in the fall with the inaugural of the new president taking place around this time next year.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Wells insists -- without great elaboration -- that no decision has made on which of the candidates will replace Bartlet in the Oval Office. ``I'm not trying to be coy,'' he says. ``What happens is that we will actually watch what's happening between the cast members, what issues are being presented, what's happening in the country and try and follow what makes the most story sense.''

One ``candidate'' who thinks he doesn't have much of a chance is Cole. ``Bingo'' Bob Russell, says Cole, ``knows how to run a race, but if he gets it, who knows? But I don't think he'll have to worry about that. Look, they'll enter next season with two guys running in the presidential campaign. I'll let you figure out who those two guys might be, and I don't think you'll need to be Dick Tracy to do that.''

Meanwhile, Alda and Smits -- both of whom have contracts with the show that would allow them to take over the presidency in future seasons -- sound almost like politicians talking about future developments.

Alda, a well-known liberal Democrat, says people ask him constantly, ```How can you possibly play a Republican?' I was never asked that when I played a murderer.

``But, look, there are good ideas on both sides of the aisle, and this program has an amazing ability to deal not only with the daily events in the national debate and the events that threaten us, but also to deal with the core issues that throw light on those events.''

For his part, Smits says the looming presidential campaign affords the show ``an opportunity to show two fundamentally different political points of view and give full voice to both sides.''

One side effect of ``The West Wing's'' changing story line is that you may need a scorecard to keep track of new cast members and what the old cast members are up to. For example, Bartlet aides Will Bailey (Joshua Malina) and Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) are working for Russell's campaign. Lyman -- Moss' unrequited love -- has left the White House to run Santos' bid.

In upcoming weeks, Patricia Richardson (``Home Improvement'') and veteran character actor Stephen Root -- who bears more than a passing resemblance to real-life GOP political strategist Michael Murphy -- will turn up as Vinick aides. Mary Louise Parker will return for several episodes to reprise her role as Democratic political operative Amy Gardner.

And where does all this shuffling leave Bartlet -- who is, after all, still president of the United States?

Sheen -- who has all but completed a deal to return next season -- says he ``would like another term but that can't happen. So, I'm going to have to live vicariously through one of those guys,'' referring to Alda and Smits.

But, he adds, Bartlet is ``not going to go out quietly. He's going to rage against the darkness of the light.''

Reflecting on the end of his ``presidency,'' Sheen says he sometimes watches reruns of ``The West Wing'' on Bravo and thinks, ``Oh, my God, look how young and energetic we look. And now look at us: We're old and beat-up.''

But then -- in a perfect Bartlet moment -- Sheen tells the story of a very good man who gets to the gates of heaven where St. Peter asks to see his scars. The man replies that he has no scars, to which St. Peter says, ``What? Was there nothing worth fighting for?''

``I think,'' Sheen says, ``we're going to leave with a lot of scars.''

Posted by Jo at 10:06 AM

Decision '05 sure to shake up West Wing

West Wing folks want a lively clash

by Rob Salem
Toronto Star

If only life really did imitate art (or at least TV), America would have Martin Sheen preparing to step down after a long and successful two-term presidency, and a choice between Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits for who would succeed him in the White House.

But alas, it's just The West Wing, which in its sixth successful season is working toward a shake-up that eclipses even the departure in 2003 of its writer/creator, Aaron Sorkin.

Martin Sheen will be giving up the Oval Office next season. "You know, I would do, like, another term," the activist actor allowed. "That can't happen. So I'm going to have to live vicariously through one of these guys."

Sheen is currently in negotiations for at least a partial run next season. "We're currently very close to a complete deal for the new year," he said. "But my presence will only be strong the first half of the year. We'll see where it goes from there.

"We're planning on ... primarily being present up until the inauguration of the new president, whoever that might be, and then after a glimpse into what sort of post-White House life that Bartlet might get involved in. A Jimmy Carter-type ex-presidency would be ideal."

Producer John Wells would seem to agree. "I think we're very interested as writers in the idea of how does someone who we've become so fond of, Jed Bartlet, how does that character re-enter the world as a citizen, and decide to engage himself as a citizen in the world and make a difference."

And the change-over in administrations does provide a unique opportunity "to explore different points of view and express in two actors, who I think we respect and we like very much, different ideas that have been difficult to express on the show. Because we are in a Democratic administration, so the Republicans are usually the enemy, no matter how favourably, or with how much compassion, you try to present the other point of view.

"We now have a contest in which there's a discussion that's going on in which both points of view are presented, and oftentimes the Republican point of view sounds very, very compelling ... particularly coming out of Alan Alda's mouth."

Ironically, Alda was one of the original candidates (along with Sidney Poitier and Jason Robards) considered to play the Democrat, Bartlet.

"Anything to turn this great country of ours around," he grins.

"There are good ideas on both sides of the aisle, and this program has the amazing ability not to deal with the daily events in the national debate, or the events that threaten us, but to deal with those core issues that throw light on those events."

"I think it's wonderful," agrees Smits, "that this affords the writers another opportunity to get two fundamentally different political points of view, with a full voice on either side."

Even when that voice may contradict your own perceived political leanings? "I'm an actor," shrugs Alda. "But one of the first things I'm asked, since I'm doing this program, is, `But we've seen you espouse points of view that don't seem to be Republican. How can you possibly play a Republican?'

"You know, I was never asked that when I played a murderer."

Posted by Jo at 10:02 AM

January 24, 2005

'Idol,' 'Model' aside, who'll be president?

by Ellen Gray
Philadelphia Daily News

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - While Fox launches its search for yet another "American Idol" and UPN for "America's Next Top Model," producer John Wells is on the lookout for the next president of the United States.

Wells' chief executive won't be chosen in Ohio or Florida but in the offices of NBC's "The West Wing," and whether he's a Democrat or a Republican, you can be pretty sure he'll be an actor. In the running for the role that Martin Sheen is expected to vacate this time next year are Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda, whose on-air auditions began earlier this season, and though it's difficult to recall another scripted series that essentially held a competition to find a new lead, Smits, for one, doesn't think of it that way.

"I'm just having a great time working with a really wonderful ensemble, ensemble in the truest sense of the word," said the "NYPD Blue" veteran, who plays a Democrat from Texas who's so far running for president more to get some of his ideas on the national agenda than with any real expectation of winning. "We had a scene [filmed] last week, our first scene together, and it was just two actors riffing off each other."

He and Alda, who plays a California Republican, sounded a bit more like politicians than actors, in fact, with Alda telling reporters he'll "do as many episodes as it takes to accomplish our goals" (both are signed for next season, while negotiations continue with Sheen, who joked that he'd prefer "another term").

No one yet knows for sure whether "The West Wing," averaging 11.9 million viewers and boasting television's most upscale audience, will be back for the end of the Bartlet administration, but Wells, who last season replaced series creator Aaron Sorkin as show-runner, is charging ahead with his own campaign to keep the show going, with an eye toward a January 2006 inauguration.

Just don't expect a say in who'll be taking the oath then. Although Wells insists he hasn't decided which of his candidates will be president - whatever you think about the show's politics, Wells said "oftentimes the Republican point of view sounds very, very compelling, particularly coming out of Alda's mouth" - the show's plotted too far ahead to allow for interactivity, he said.

"What we're really hoping is that the average viewer isn't going to be certain who they want to vote for," Wells said.

"What we're trying to set up is where the entire fall, you're trying to figure out who you'd vote for if you had a chance to do it," he said.

Posted by Jo at 07:35 PM

On TV as in Life, Presidents Don't Last

By JACQUES STEINBERG
New York Times

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 21 - Hours after President Bush delivered his second Inaugural Address on Thursday, the actor who portrays his fictional counterpart, Martin Sheen, sat in a dimly lighted mock-up of Air Force One 3,000 miles from Washington and reflected on the jockeying already under way to succeed his character on "The West Wing."

Asked how the producers of that NBC drama might ultimately choose among the two apparent front-runners - a cranky Republican senator played by Alan Alda and an earnest Democratic representative played by Jimmy Smits - Mr. Sheen leaned on the cane his character uses to combat the effects of multiple sclerosis and proposed ripping a page from the playbook of "American Idol."

"You could do it the way you would on, what do you call it, one of these reality shows," said Mr. Sheen, still wearing the three-piece navy suit his character, President Jed Bartlet, had worn for a scene set at a party. "You could put Mr. Alda, Alan, and Jimmy Smits before the audience and say, 'Who would you like?' It would be interesting, wouldn't it?"

While the show's writers have ruled out a national referendum to elect their next president - the ultimate vote will be cast by John Wells, the show's executive producer, who has yet to throw his support to a candidate - the sixth season of "The West Wing" has already had enough suspense, intrigue and conflict among its main characters to rival "Survivor." As President Bartlet's physical health has deteriorated - he experienced partial paralysis on a plane ride to China for a state visit - most of his aides are adjusting to new jobs, the result of a shake-up in the final year of his second term that has touched off uncharacteristic backbiting.

In one coming episode, Josh Lymon, who is played by Bradley Whitford and is the campaign manager for Mr. Smits's Matt Santos, actually brawls with the president's communications director, Toby Ziegler, played by Richard Schiff.

The creative jolt to "The West Wing" this season - along with a modest increase in its ratings - has come at a critical juncture in the life of the program. The contract between NBC and Warner Brothers Television, which owns "The West Wing," is due to expire at season's end, and the network has yet to make a decision on whether to extend it.

For NBC, struggling through a season in which it could well finish fourth in the prime-time ratings, "The West Wing" has sometimes hurt more than it has helped, at times finishing fourth in its time slot, 9 to 10 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesdays. But working in the show's favor is that so far this season its ratings are up 1.2 percent from last year, according to Nielsen Media Research, and, more important, that its 11.9 million viewers remain among the most affluent watching television. In something of an anomaly, it also often draws substantially more viewers than the program that precedes it. (This past week, it nearly doubled the ratings of its lead-in, "Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Model Search.")

While the network's situation has created its own suspense, both NBC and Mr. Wells sent signals this week that pointed toward the program's return. Jeff Zucker, president of the NBC Universal Television Group, told reporters gathered here Friday for a midseason presentation by the network that he considered the show to have "rejuvenated itself" and that he was optimistic it would be renewed. On Thursday, Mr. Wells said in an interview in his office on the Warner Brothers lot that he was "as confident as I can be without a signed contract" that there would be a seventh season.

"It moved from hope to confidence recently," he said, before adding, "More than that, I expect the show has got a couple of more years in it."

Meanwhile, with the exception of Mr. Sheen, every main actor and actress associated with the program, including both Mr. Alda and Mr. Smits, has formally committed to return for at least part of next season, Mr. Wells said. Mr. Sheen, whose representatives are currently negotiating with Warner Brothers, said that his own return was a foregone conclusion. "I'm in," he said.

The idea that "The West Wing" might endure seemed almost unthinkable at the beginning of last season, when the program was sent reeling - creatively, as well as among its executives and cast - by the departure of Aaron Sorkin. Mr. Sorkin, who had created the show, wrote or rewrote all 88 episodes in those first four seasons, Mr. Wells said. His departure, along with that of Thomas Schlamme, another executive producer who directed many episodes, left only Mr. Wells from what Mr. Sheen described as "the triumvirate" that had guided the show.

Mr. Wells acknowledged in the interview that the show had struggled at times last season as he presided over a team of writers who took turns trying to figure out how to compensate for the loss of Mr. Sorkin's distinctive voice. Among the mistakes he made, he said, was leaving all of the main characters in the same jobs they had held since the early days of the Bartlet administration.

"No matter how talented your actors, if people are doing exactly the same jobs with the same relationships to each other, you begin to exhaust the ways in which you can get them into conflict," Mr. Wells said. "The only thing you can really do with that is to shake it up."

Drawing on his deep background overseeing prime-time dramas - he is also the executive producer of "E.R." and "Third Watch" - Mr. Wells gathered his writing staff over this past summer and began plotting what everyone believed would be an especially taut story line, one that had never been portrayed on television, at least fictional series television.

"The one area that the show hadn't addressed in its five years on the air was the notion of an administration coming to an end and the continuity of government and the difficulty of someone leaving the office who'd been there for a long time," Mr. Wells said. "We started doing a lot of research on the last years of administrations and how difficult it is for presidents and for the people who've been influential in the administration to sit in the White House and watch a whole other group of people begin the journey that was so essential to their lives."

Mr. Wells and his writers have already mapped out a fairly detailed election schedule. The current season will end with episodes set at fictional Democratic and Republican conventions. There will be an election early next season and an inauguration that will be broadcast about this time next year. There are even plans to visit Mr. Sheen's character in retirement in his home state of New Hampshire.

The only question remains who will be the president, and Mr. Wells swears that he and his staff have yet to cast their votes.

"We're not trying to be coy about it," he said. "We write a chapter at a time and then see what we've got. It's unfolding for us."

At their best, the events portrayed on "The West Wing" have often had a ripped-from-the-headlines quality, not because they have re-enacted the administrations of Bill Clinton (who was president when the show made its debut) or President Bush, but because they have extracted inherent drama from political discourse on unlikely subjects like ethanol and the earned-income tax credit.

Part of the program's authenticity comes from the résumés of its writers and consultants, who have been vetted like cabinet nominees to insure that the writers' room reflects all bands of the political spectrum. One writer, Eli Attie, was a speechwriter for Al Gore. A consultant, Kenneth M. Duberstein, was a chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan.

Although the Bartlet administration has always been tough to categorize politically - while generally liberal, the fictional president has also declined to stop an execution and has intervened militarily in the Middle East - the introduction of Mr. Alda's character, Arnold Vinick, has given the show a chance to establish its bona fides with conservatives.

"The difficulty we've been having writing the Vinick character is that he makes an awful lot of sense," said Mr. Wells, 48, who won't disclose his party affiliation but says he tends to be more liberal. "Vinick's very articulate. And he presents a point of view very straightforwardly."

The on-camera bake-off between Mr. Alda's character and Mr. Smits's, each of whom is in effect competing to take over the lead role on the show, is fairly unusual in network television history. In interviews this week, each actor chose his words as carefully as a politician when asked if he was available for all of next season - each said he was, if need be - and whether he would accept the fictional presidency if offered it.

"In order to preserve the suspense," said Mr. Alda, 68, "I would have to say, 'I have no plans, at this time, to be president.' "

Posted by Jo at 07:31 PM

'West Wing' cast differs on a viewer vote for president

By Gail Shister
Philadelphia Inquirer

Should The West Wing's next president be the people's choice? It's a split vote.

Several cast members support an interactive voting system that would allow viewers to choose the successor to Democrat Jeb Bartlet when his second term ends in May. (Eight years, six seasons - White House math.)

Martin Sheen (Bartlet) votes nay. So does executive producer John Wells. But Alan Alda (GOP Sen. Arnold Vinick) and Jimmy Smits (Democrat Rep. Matt Santos), the two leading contenders, say yes. Ditto for Allison Janney, Bartlet's chief of staff, C.J. Cregg.

"Why leave it up to a couple of Hollywood writers?" Alda said in an interview during the TV critics' winter meetings Friday. "They shouldn't run the country. We should rely on the values of the American people."

Wells, a Hollywood writer, will create his own storylines, thank you. Besides, Wing's production schedule couldn't accommodate an interactive feature, he says.

Wells hasn't decided on the victor. No rush - the election won't take place until next season, with the inaugural targeted for January '06, he says. Alda and Smits are signed for next season, as are Sheen and Janney.

"I think it would be a kick just to see how the rest of the country would vote," she says. "I'm curious to see what the people out there are thinking."

With or without official sanctioning, there will be voting among Internet bloggers, Alda says. "It will happen spontaneously, by itself. I'm a geek, so I know you can put software that allows for voting on any Web site.

"It will be interesting to see how the [Wing] writers respond."

Alda is no stranger to the Oval Office. He played the president in Michael Moore's 1995 comedy Canadian Bacon, and was the national security adviser in Murder at 1600 in '97. He was a senator in '79's The Seduction of Joe Tynan.

To Smits, a viewers' vote is cool "if it's better for the show. I'm easy. I guess it's possible for them to shoot two or three different endings." (Smits has a development deal with ABC for next season, but it can be rolled over, he says.)

Sheen, who hopes his character's post-presidency will be modeled on that of humanitarian Jimmy Carter, says the decision on Bartlet's successor is not up to viewers, although they may not know that. "A great writer makes the people think they made the choice."

An outspoken liberal, Alda has no problem portraying a conservative Californian. Mostly, it bothers his M*A*S*H fans, he says.

"It's not a stretch for me at all. I play all kinds of humans. I have voted for Republicans. I'm not a one-idea person... . We don't need to get so wrapped up in these opposing points of view. Bush is our president now. He's everybody's president. If [Sen. John Kerry] had won, he'd be everybody's president.

"This political gridlock is not helpful. Maybe some small effort will be made when West Wing shows Republicans and Democrats debating, arguing, working things out, and behaving like statesmen, not like steamrollers."

Like true steamrollers, er, politicians, Alda and Smits both insist their characters should be the next commander-in-chief.

Alda: "My guy would be better for this great country of ours."

Smits: "My guy's ideals come from a very pure place in this jaded political landscape. There's still room for finding this purity."

Posted by Jo at 07:23 PM

January 23, 2005

‘West Wing’ to portray caucus

By Ed Tibbetts
Quad-City Times

Iowa’s political junkies don’t have to wait another three years for the Iowa Caucuses.

They’ll come to national television Wednesday night as the NBC program “The West Wing” airs an episode that incorporates the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses and prominently features an Iowa City restaurant.

An episode to air next week, called “King Corn,” will feature the show’s Vice President Robert Russell (played by Gary Cole) giving a speech at the Iowa Corn Growers Expo, followed by two rivals, played by Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda.

The program is regularly broadcast in the Quad-City region at 8 p.m. Wednesday by KWQC-TV.

None of the show was shot in the state, but there is one real Iowa site that will be portrayed: The Hamburg Inn No. 2. About a month ago, the show’s producers contacted the Hamburg and sent a script.

“It just kind of came out of the blue,” said Dave Panther, the owner.

Iowa City landmark

The restaurant, a 57-year-old diner locally famous for its fresh ground hamburgers and breakfasts, captured national attention a year ago when it hosted a “coffee bean caucus.”

During the runup to the Democratic caucus, diners were given coffee beans to place in a jar for their favorite candidate.

The gimmick caught the attention of the national news media — and of “The West Wing” producers. Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlet on the program, went to the Hamburg while he was in the state campaigning for Howard Dean.

A publicity agent for “The West Wing” could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Hamburg Inn has been frequented by politicians for years. Presidents Reagan and Clinton both visited. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has been there, and U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, is a customer. When former Democratic candidate Wesley Clark came to Iowa amid speculation he would run for president, he stopped by the place, too.

There used to be several stores, but the only one remaining is No. 2, located at 214 N. Linn St.

“They told us not to divulge the whole story line, but basically there will be an outside shot and a couple shots inside,” Panther said. The restaurant sent pictures, a copy of its logo and coffee mugs to help the show replicate the place.

At a time when the Democratic Party is studying its nomination system — leaving some to think the caucuses might be in danger — “The West Wing” episode probably will serve to reinforce the state’s 30-year place at the start of the line.

“We’re doing our bit,” Panther said.

The restaurant is planning a viewing party Wednesday night with “West Wing” memorabilia to be given away.

Posted by Jo at 11:28 PM

And the next president of the United States is ... Alan Alda or Jimmy Smitts

by Alex Massie
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=86062005

JUST when one Washington election campaign ends, another begins. And, as has become traditional, the Iowa caucuses will be the first important test. As John Kerry proved last January, an impressive victory in the Hawkeye State can turn a candidate from outsider to favourite in the race to win his party’s Presidential nomination.

This time, however, the contenders positioning themselves for an election battle, are thought to be Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits as they prepare for the caucuses in a forthcoming episode of The West Wing. In other words, the battle to succeed Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, has begun.

"We’ve set up both candidates as someone you’d like to have a beer with," said the series executive producer John Wells.

Alda, who found fame as Hawkeye in MASH, plays a Republican Senator from the midwest, whereas Smits is a Democrat from Houston.

Although the sitting vice-president Bob Russell, played by Gary Cole, believes he has a chance of the Democratic nomination he faces two significant problems: he is thought a political lightweight within the series’ fictional Washington and, in real-life, Cole possesses less glitz and star power than Smits who made his name in the 80s series LA Law.

Being a Latino cannot harm his chances either even if, in real-life, no Latino has yet run successfully for nationwide office.

For the last year producers and executives at NBC have been wondering what to do with the series. The immutable laws of the American political process meant that Martin Sheen’s character, President Josiah Bartlet would soon have to depart the stage having served two full (fictional) terms in the Oval office.

The programme’s makers, having presumably rejected the Dallas "shower option" of making the last year just a bad dream that could be conveniently wiped from the memory, have decided that the show must go on. Negotiations for a seventh series that would include an election between Smits and Alda are nearly complete.

Alda joked last week that he was looking forward to having the chance to solve America’s problems. "Anything to turn this great country of ours around," he said. The veteran MASH star who, like most of his colleagues, is in real life a committed Democrat, added: "I’ll do as many episodes as it takes to achieve our goals."

Wells said the next series would also allow the programme to "offer a glimpse of post-White House life". Sheen is looking at Bartlet becoming "a Jimmy Carter-type of ex-president".

He added: "I would like another term, but that can’t happen, so I’m going to have to live vicariously through one of these guys [Alda and Smits]."

The programme now exists without its founder Aaron Sorkin who left last year, leaving wells as the show’s dominant force. Some of the show’s most devoted fans believe the series "jumped the shark" when Sorkin left - a TV term for having past it’s best - as a host of guest stars such as Matthew Perry and John Goodman were brought in to boost ratings even as the plots moved away from any attempt at realism or credibility and into melodrama.

NBC’s president Jeff Zucker said last week: "The ratings for The West Wing are not what they were. But it’s an incredibly difficult time period. The fact is, its ratings are good, not great."

The show also began to feel out of step with contemporary Washington. In any case the real-life drama unfolding in the run-up to the war in Iraq as the State Department and the Pentagon conducted a near-open civil war within the administration was both more dramatic than anything The West Wing could hope to achieve.

Even without September 11 and its aftermath, The West Wing might have eventually struggled once George W Bush replaced Bill Clinton in the White House. Suddenly an idealised Clinton-type figure in the White House seemed out of step with reality.

Richard Schiff, who plays White House communications director Toby Ziegler, admitted the cast had little idea how long the show might run.

"The plans are that it’s going to go a full term, eight years. Thank God, constitutionally we can’t go more than that," he said while attending a Liberal fundraiser.

Unlike in politics however, it seems that the TV show really can go on, even if The West Wing seems determined to risk proving that Enoch Powell’s famous dictum that all political lives end in failure applies to television shows too.

Posted by Jo at 11:25 PM

January 22, 2005

'President' electing to go another year

Sheen is close to a deal to extend his administration on The West Wing

By MIKE MCDANIEL
Houston Chronicle

LOS ANGELES - Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlet on NBC's The West Wing, said Friday that he is close to a deal that would see him continue his role into the show's seventh season next fall, and possibly beyond.

Though NBC has not decided yet whether to renew the show, which has slipped in the ratings this season, network president Jeff Zucker noted that The West Wing still attracts the most affluent audience on television — important when it comes to selling it to advertisers.

"It has rejuvenated itself, and we would like to have it back," he said. But The West Wing is also one of television's most expensive shows to make.

Sheen and West Wing executive producer John Wells said "amiable" negotiations are now under way to renew the actor's contract.

"I would like another term, but that can't happen," Sheen said, speaking on behalf of Bartlet. "But we are very close to negotiating a deal for a seventh year."

Wells, who this season has made the show more about the race for a Bartlet successor, said he plans for The West Wing to showcase the election next season.

Leading candidates for the presidency are a Democratic candidate from Houston, played by Jimmy Smits, and a Republican candidate from the Midwest, played by Alan Alda.

According to Wells, the show would also follow Bartlet up to the inauguration of the new president, which would occur in TV time about one year from now, and "offer a glimpse of post-White House life."

He said he's looking at "a Jimmy Carter type of ex-president."

But Bartlet "is not going to go out quietly," Sheen said. "He's going to rage against the darkness."

Posted by Jo at 04:38 PM

Still A Race Undecided: President Bartlet's Successor

By ROGER CATLIN
Hartford Courant

LOS ANGELES -- The campaign season is in full swing on TV's "The West Wing," and to hear executive producer John Wells tell it, nothing has yet been decided on who will be the popular drama's next president of the United States.

The drama of the sixth season has begun with the kick-starting of the campaigns of Democrat Rep. Matt Santos, played by Jimmy Smits, and Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick, played by Alan Alda.

The end of the current season, soon to be shot for broadcast in April, concentrates on the nominating conventions, with the election set for next fall, and an inauguration a year from now.

But so far, it could go either way, Wells says, in the sort of cloaked caginess common to politicians. "We'll follow what's happening with the characters, and with the issues in the country and go with what provides us with the best stories," he says.

Alda, for his part, is prepared to take office. "Anything to turn this great country of ours around."

He added, though, that he is sometimes asked whether an outspoken Democrat could actually play a Republican. "I'm an actor," he says. "I was never asked that when I played a murderer."

To those who wanted a hint as to who would win, Smits wondered, "What's wrong with suspense?"

It's true he has another show under development at another network, but for now he says, "I'm just having a great time working with a really wonderful ensemble. And it's an ensemble in the truest sense of the word. I marvel each week when I look at that show how deep that bench is - if you look at it like a sports team."

It's a bench that seems to increase by the week as well, with the addition of Patricia Richardson as Vinick's chief-of-staff and Stephen Root as his campaign manager.

Some assume that the Democrat will have to win, if only to keep the number of established cast members in place. But even Alison Janney, who plays the press secretary turned chief-of-staff C.J. Cregg, says she'll work with "whoever appreciates my talent."

Sides are being taken, even in the boardrooms of NBC, where executives swear they'll have no undue influence on the decision.

Appearing with NBC President Jeff Zucker Friday, NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly says, "He likes Alda; I like Smits."

"I like whoever John Wells likes," Zucker says.

"We are really going to keep viewers on their toes with this," Reilly says. "Hopefully we will have the audience really divided."

Where will this leave the series' original president?

"I'd like to do another term," says Martin Sheen, whose original role of President Josiah Bartlet stretched several seasons past its initial four-episode commitment. "But it can't happen."

He fully expects to be part of the first part of next year's seventh season, through the election, into the handoff of power and "a glimpse into Bartlet's post-White House life," which may include some Jimmy Carter-style public service.

Sheen says he hopes his character will have some strong initiatives on health care and race issues, in addition to making a few controversial pardons before his term ends.

"He's not going to go out quietly," Sheen says of his president. "He's going to rage against the darkness of the light."

Ratings for "The West Wing" this season have been described as good but not great. Even so, the producers will not stoop to a gimmick to get people involved in the choice: the call-in votes from viewers.

Promises Wells: "We won't be going interactive."

Posted by Jo at 04:35 PM

January 20, 2005

'West Wing' to feature Hamburg

By Adam Pracht
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Watch "The West Wing" next Wednesday and the cast will appear to make a visit to Iowa City's Hamburg Inn.

Alan Alda and others will be playing the scenes states away from the real Hamburg Inn, but owner Dave Panther said he was excited about the national exposure.

"In the script, they're using our inn so it will definitely be Hamburg Inn portrayed," Panther said.

Alda portrays a fictional GOP presidential candidate Sen. Arnold Vinick. Wednesday's episode -- named "King Corn" -- will place the show's fictional candidates in the Iowa Caucus, said Panther, who read the script.

The scenes in the Hamburg Inn, he said, would re-create the Coffee Bean Caucus that the Hamburg held in January 2004. In real life, and on the show, participants use coffee beans to cast a mock vote for their favorite candidate.

He said researchers for the show had been making regular calls since Hamburg signed on to the script about a month ago, asking for every detail about the restaurant: what their logo looks like, what kind of jars hold the coffee beans, what kind of mugs the restaurant uses.

As the votes are cast on television for the fictional candidates, visitors to the real-life restaurant will have the opportunity to vote for the characters during a viewing party. Panther said it would start about 30 minutes before the show begins at 8 p.m.

Panther said restaurant employees would set up displays on Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton -- real presidents who really have visited the restaurant. He said visitors also could buy T-shirts including the logos of the show and restaurant, the episode name and title and the phrase "As seen on TV."

"Some of our customers have already said they are big-time 'West Wing' fans," Panther said. "So I think we should have a pretty good turnout that night."

Nick Cilek, who designed the shirts, said he and his wife, Toni, plan to attend the festivities. Cilek said the 'West Wing' is his wife's favorite show, but he was probably more excited about seeing his favorite restaurant get national exposure.

"I'll be really proud of Iowa City and the Hamburg," Cilek said. "The 'Burg is known all over the United States. It's a legend. They couldn't have picked a better spot."

Cilek said the selection of the Hamburg probably was born when actor Martin Sheen, who portrays fictional president Jed Bartlet on "The West Wing," visited the Hamburg during the Iowa Caucuses and the restaurant's Coffee Bean Caucus. Cilek said the national exposure was a tribute to the Hamburg's concern with politics.

"They've done a lot of interesting things over the years, and this is just in addition to what they've done," Cilek said. "I think this is in the spirit of what the 'Burg believes in."

The episode marks the second time the 'West Wing' has made reference to the local area in less than a month.

During the Jan. 5 episode "Faith Based Initiative," the character Josh Lyman played by Bradley Whitford deals with "pork" projects and comments that Congress was "handing out pork like Popsicles" including "an indoor rain forest in Iowa." The comment apparently was a reference to the proposed $180 million Environmental Project in Coralville that would include a 4.5 acre rain forest and received a $50 million federal pledge in January 2004.

Posted by Jo at 08:33 PM

Restaurant Portrayed On Television

http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=2831096

The Iowa caucus is back, four years early.

The Hamburg Inn restaurant in Iowa City is being portrayed in an upcoming episode of "The West Wing." In the program, candidates go to the diner during the Iowa caucus.

In celebration of their national attention, the Hamburg Inn made special West Wing shirts.

A replica of the restaurant will be made for filming.

The episode is set to air on the 26th this month. The owner is hosting a West Wing party the night the episode airs.

Posted by Jo at 10:35 AM

Advocate for MS patients likes West Wing’s depiction

BY MICHAEL STOREY
Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Fans of NBC’s White House drama, The West Wing, have been getting a lesson in multiple sclerosis lately. But is it the right one?

One of the series’ recurring themes is that President Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) has MS and for many years kept his affliction a secret.

In episodes this season Bartlet’s disease has worsened, and the show’s emphasis has shifted to the budding presidential campaign of a Texas congressman played by Jimmy Smits.

One recent dramatic scene showed Bartlet, who was unable to stand, being carried off Air Force One in the arms of a beefy assistant. Another showed the first lady, played by Stockard Channing, having to help Bartlet put on his pants.

Rick Selig, division office manager for the Arkansas Division of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said as Bartlet’s MS has became more aggressive, more people have called wanting to know about the disease. "This storyline has prompted many questions about multiple sclerosis," Selig said. "Some have even asked if it’s the same as Jerry’s Kids. That would be muscular dystrophy."

Selig said it’s important viewers realize that, "Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, unpredictable disease that affects the central nervous system. MS is not contagious and is not directly inherited. MS is not considered a fatal disease and the majority of people with MS do not become severely disabled."

Selig says, "Bartlet’s condition has increased public awareness of the disease. They’re working actual symptoms into the story. We think that somebody like President Bartlet having MS and showing how strong he is and what he has to face is a good representation of how people can deal with the disease."

There is a link to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on West Wing’s Web s i te at www. nbc. com.

Selig added that for more information on the disease, readers can go directly to the society’s Web site at www. nmss. org or contact his office in Little Rock at 1100 N. University, Suite 255, 72207. The phone number is (501) 663-6767.

Posted by Jo at 10:27 AM

January 17, 2005

Martinsville Speedway Makes Appearance on 'The West Wing'

http://www.insiderracingnews.com

Martinsville Speedway has long been known for its on-track drama. Wednesday night it will be involved in a dramatic production.

Martinsville Speedway's victory lane will make a brief prime time appearance Wednesday night in NBC's award-winning drama, "The West Wing." The show airs at 9 p.m., eastern time.

In the midst of international and national crisis on the show, First Lady Abigail Bartlet, played by Stockard Channing, makes a foray into the world of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing with a visit to Martinsville Speedway. She shows up in victory lane to present the winner's trophy to Jamie McMurray, played by Jamie McMurray, and he winds up planting a big kiss on the First Lady.

"Jamie's a pretty excitable guy. We saw that when he won the truck race here last fall," said Mike Smith, Martinsville Speedway's director of public relations. "I could see him putting a big old kiss on the First Lady."

Actually neither McMurray nor Channing were anywhere near Martinsville Speedway for the filming of the segment. It was all done on a sound stage in California. But the show's crew did an amazing job of recreating Martinsville's victory lane and duplicating the feel of a victory lane celebration.

Writers for "The West Wing" begin planning the details of the show back in the early fall.

"I got a call from a writer back in September, I think. He knew absolutely nothing about racing, but we spent about 30 minutes talking about racing. He was asking questions about the mood of victory lane, the color, the sound, how fans reacted. He was trying to get a feel for the sport," said Smith.

That followed with another phone call a few days later requesting victory lane photos. Later, segments of the script involving the victory lane celebration showed up on the speedway's fax machine for review. After that "we sort of forgot about it," said Smith, until the track received notice about 10 days ago the episode would air this week.

The scene is a short one, but will keep popping up over the next few episodes.

"The speedway has been on national TV a lot over the years, but it's normally on the sports news," said Smith. "We think it's pretty cool to be included in a drama."

Martinsville Speedway's next "real" racing action is the Advance Auto Parts 500 weekend, set for April 8-10. Both the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series will qualify on April 8 while the Kroger 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race is on April 9. The Advance Auto Parts 500 is set for April 10.

Good seats remain for both events and may be purchased by calling 1.877.RACE.TIX or visiting (www.martinsvillespeedway.com).

Courtesy Martinsville Speedway PR

Posted by Jo at 07:56 PM

Alternative reality also bites

By Katy Burns
Concord Monitor

January 16. 2005 8:00AM

If the West Wing screenwriters are campaigning for re-election, they won't be getting my vote.
S
orry, but Matt Santos is a self-righteous know-it-all, and there's no way he's going to win the New Hampshire primary. Especially when he's not willing to make nice with local politicos, sneers at the rest of us as a bunch of out-of-touch pasty-white Mayflower descendants and wants to federalize education and extend the school year. Also, have I mentioned that he thinks he's too good to campaign at town dumps?

Only in some loopy screenwriter's dream would such a character ever win the hearts and minds of Granite Staters.

And so, of course, it's going to happen. The pompous Santos will not only win the Granite State but will also replace Jed Bartlet in the Oval Office. At least, that is, if the ratings for NBC's The West Wing don't totally tank.

If they don't, it won't be because the show's faithful fans aren't upset. They are, and with reason, because it looks as if their lovely imaginary world is falling apart.

Since September 1999, West Wing has won a place in the hearts of many Americans, particularly those for whom, since January 2001, it has been a nice little Wednesday night slice of alternative reality.

Sure, stunningly inarticulate George W. Bush and his crude, rude allies might be stomping around the real White House, plotting their assaults on the environment and scheming to kick Old Europe in its collective teeth. But a kinder, gentler President Josiah (Jed) Bartlet - a New Hampshireman, no less! - has been eruditely holding down an imaginary fort at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., supporting high culture, protecting clean air and water and defending society's underdogs.
Bartlet, presumably no relation to the real two-Ts Josiah Bartlett (an illustrious former

governor who signed the Declaration of Independence), is a Dartmouth economics professor and Nobel Prize winner who for some reason lives in Manchester on what looks very much like a Virginia horse farm (probably because that is, in fact, where his home scenes were filmed).

He's married to a tell-it-like-it-is doctor, Abbey, who until recently (before botched plastic surgery?) bore a striking resemblance to respected actress Stockard Channing, and he has three daughters. He also has a passel of spunky staffers - Josh, CJ, Leo, Donna, Charlie - as well as one chronically depressed one, Toby. Or at least he had them until, recently, they started decamping.

President Bartlet's West Wing also has - or had, at least in the early years - sophisticated, snappy dialogue about subjects of real interest to policy wonks: stem cell research, access to health care and higher education, global famine and population control, all dissected in rapid-fire repartee by the show's talented actors.

Plus there was enough actual action - redneck racists gunning for daughter Zoey and her black paramour (who just happened to be her father's personal assistant), press secretary CJ's Secret Service lover shot down when he happened into a cheesy convenience store stickup - to keep it from being wholly a talkfest.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, including the Bartlet presidency. It's going away in part because soon Bartlet's imaginary term will end and, maybe in greater part, because its current writers are running out of plots.

So discussions of policy pall. Instead we get not only increasingly over-the-top scenarios - I keep waiting for "Next week: Asteroid to hit L.A.! President says nuke it!"-but also more and more contrived controversy. Is CJ a lesbian? Will Donna and Josh ever admit their secret feelings for each other? Does anyone care?

The script calls for staff members to flee the Bartlet White House. However, they leave not to write books and pull down big bucks as lobbyists and consultants but to subject themselves once again to the snows of New Hampshire (played by the booming burg of Dundas, Ontario, Canada) and the vagaries of its primary voters. C'mon, how real is that?

And as this happens, New Hampshire, which until now has been a grateful but minor player in the series, is assuming a bigger role - and it's a New Hampshire that's quite repellent, filled with egomaniacal but clueless officials and voters who insist on being wooed in their homes, VFW halls and coffee shops.

It's bad enough that green-eyed pols from places like Michigan -Michigan! - are doing their best to snatch away our God-given right to be, as one West Winger put it, the "presidential wine-tasters of America." Now we have to put up with a crew of Hollywood hacks who are apparently hell-bent on portraying us as a bunch of thin-skinned yokels who bridle at the slightest perceived insult. I for one resent it!

Well, they can bring Matt Santos to New Hampshire as often as they want. They can't make me vote for him, though, and I suspect the same will be true of a lot of erstwhile staunch fans of Bartlet and Company. Instead, as Jed Bartlet rides into the Manchester sunset, we'll turn our attentions to the realNew Hampshire primary.

After all, it's what, just 1,100 or so days away? Certainly none too soon to get ready to be wooed in our homes, VFW halls and coffee shops!

Posted by Jo at 07:54 PM

Product placement

Concord Monitor

A little too early for the next presidential primary? Not on The West Wing.

The cast of the political drama made a pilgrimage to New Hampshire during last week's episode.

The show was filmed in Canada, but the set and script were packed with Granite State artifacts. The Manchester Monarchs were plugged, the property tax structure panned. Alas, no one mentioned Capital Beat, but we're pleased to say Jimmy Smits's character was reading the Concord Monitor and remarking on its coverage.

The show already has quite a fan base in these parts, mostly because fictional President Josiah Bartlethails from New Hampshire. But Wednesday's episode was special. Democratic activist Debbie Butlergave the show's producers tips on setting up campaign events. Her thanks? A fictional state senator with her surname.

"He was kind of a jerk, but I don't care," she said.

Butler worried, though, about Smits's character - a Texas congressman with presidential dreams - opining that New Hampshire looks like "a Mayflower reunion."

The show will again be set in the state in two weeks, and Butler hopes it's good press.

"We're all hoping the show ends up being a plug for the New Hampshire primary, and not feeding into the stereotype we're just a bunch of white hicks," she said.

Posted by Jo at 07:52 PM

January 11, 2005

Nominees for Screen Actors Guild Awards

Associated Press

Nominees for the 11th annual Screen Actors Guild awards:

Movies:

Actor: Don Cheadle, "Hotel Rwanda"; Johnny Depp, "Finding Neverland"; Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Aviator"; Jamie Foxx, "Ray"; Paul Giamatti, "Sideways."

Actress: Annette Bening, "Being Julia"; Catalina Sandino Moreno, "Maria Full of Grace"; Imelda Staunton, "Vera Drake"; Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby"; Kate Winslet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

Supporting actor: Thomas Haden Church, "Sideways"; Jamie Foxx, "Collateral"; Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby"; James Garner, "The Notebook"; Freddie Highmore, "Finding Neverland."

Supporting actress: Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator"; Cloris Leachman, "Spanglish"; Laura Linney, "Kinsey"; Virginia Madsen, "Sideways"; Sophie Okonedo, "Hotel Rwanda."

Cast: "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland," "Hotel Rwanda," "Million Dollar Baby," "Ray," "Sideways."

---

Television:

Actor in a movie or miniseries: Jamie Foxx, "Redemption"; William H. Macy, "The Wool Cap"; Barry Pepper, "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story"; Geoffrey Rush, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers"; Jon Voight, "Mitch Albom's the Five People You Meet in Heaven."

Actress in a movie or miniseries: Glenn Close, "The Lion in Winter"; Patricia Heaton, "Neil Simon's the Goodbye Girl"; Keke Palmer, "The Wool Cap"; Hilary Swank, "Iron Jawed Angels"; Charlize Theron, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers."

Actor in a drama series: Hank Azaria, "Huff"; James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos"; Anthony LaPaglia, "Without a Trace"; Jerry Orbach, "Law & Order"; Kiefer Sutherland, "24."

Actress in a drama series: Drea de Matteo, "The Sopranos"; Edie Falco, "The Sopranos"; Jennifer Garner, "Alias"; Allison Janney, "The West Wing"; Christine Lahti, "Jack & Bobby."

Actor in a comedy series: Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development"; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace"; Ray Romano, "Everybody Loves Raymond"; Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"; Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men."

Actress in a comedy series: Teri Hatcher, "Desperate Housewives"; Patricia Heaton, "Everybody Loves Raymond"; Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace"; Sarah Jessica Parker, "Sex and the City"; Doris Roberts, "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Drama series cast: "24"; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"; "Six Feet Under"; "The Sopranos"; "The West Wing."

Comedy series cast: "Arrested Development"; "Desperate Housewives"; "Everybody Loves Raymond"; "Sex and the City"; "Will & Grace."

Posted by Jo at 04:50 PM

January 10, 2005

Will Wicked's Chenoweth Become a "West Wing" Regular?

By Andrew Gans
Playbill

10 Jan 2005

It's been a busy year for Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, the former Wicked star whose upcoming films include "The Pink Panther," "Bewitched," "Asphalt Beach" and the animated Disney picture "Rapunzel Unbraided."

Chenoweth, who departed the hit musical Wicked in July, quickly landed a recurring role on the NBC series "West Wing" as a shrewd media adviser named Annabeth Schott.

About her work on the long-running drama, Chenoweth told zap2it.com, "'The West Wing' has changed my life.They love that I can be a little funny, while I love that they are writing Annabeth to be very, very smart. The character already has evolved to the point where the other characters really rely on her. With my height and the way I look, it's easy for people to cast me as silly characters no one pays attention to, but not here."

Whether Chenoweth's character will succeed Allison Janney's C.J. Cregg as the White House press secretary, however, remains a secret. Says Chenoweth, "They're grooming me for something big, but they're making me keep my mouth shut. . . . This job certainly has awakened me to the here and the now, to what's happening, but I am constantly asking people to explain things about the script because I'm not by nature a political person. Allison said, 'Oh, you should have seen me my first year; I had no idea what I was doing or saying.' As long as I understand what Annabeth is talking about, I have no trouble doing the walk-and-talks."

Chenoweth will also be seen this week on PBS' airing of last season's Candide concerts. The broadcast will air at 8 PM ET on Jan. 12. Chenoweth stars in the title role with Tony winner Patti LuPone as the Old Lady. Chenoweth will also star in the City Center Encores! mounting of The Apple Tree in May.

Posted by Jo at 01:37 PM

January 07, 2005

Midseason Debuts Improve Forecast For Wobbly NBC

By Andrew Wallenstein
Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There just might be some life left in NBC's primetime schedule, after all.

After a sluggish start to the fall season, NBC posted modest improvements in several troubled time slots in the opening week of 2005. Three new series bested their time slots' woeful season-to-date averages in the 18-49 demographic, and struggling veteran "Law & Order" managed to top its new tormentor on Wednesdays at 10 p.m., "CSI: NY."

No one is declaring a comeback just yet, but Mitch Metcalf, executive vp program planning and scheduling at NBC, likes what he sees.

"We've been really pleased with the way the shows have rolled out," he said. "It feels like a second premiere week because we've been on the air with new shows each night."

New drama "Medium," starring Patricia Arquette, enjoyed an impressive 18-49 debut Monday, nearly tying an original episode of its powerful 10 p.m. competitor, "CSI: Miami," and doubling the demo average for the time slot. On Tuesday, new sitcom "Committed" found a decent audience as a lead-in to the "Dateline NBC" interview with Amber Frey, which provided the newsmagazine its biggest audience in three years.

A third new series, "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search," got stomped by ABC's "Lost" at 8 p.m. Wednesday, but the unscripted hour still managed to improve the time slot by 27% in 18-49. More surprising was the victory of "Law & Order," which proves less vulnerable to the two-hour premiere of "Alias" than "CSI: NY."

True to the title of its weight-loss reality series, NBC was looking like "The Biggest Loser" heading into the midseason, shedding more ratings tonnage than its Big Four network rivals in a demographic it traditionally dominates.

The network lost 10% of its 18-49 viewers from Sept. 20 through Dec. 19 compared with the same period last year. Fox was down 8% by the same measure — and that's even with the assist from baseball's highly rated League Championship Series and World Series games in October. ABC and CBS were up 6% and 11%, respectively, in the key demo.

Despite high hopes that a massive marketing blitz throughout NBC's Summer Olympics coverage would raise awareness for new series, dramas "LAX" and "Hawaii" were canceled, and the animated comedy "Father of the Pride" is on hiatus.

No signs of panic are evident yet from NBC programing chief Kevin Reilly and NBC Universal Television Group president Jeff Zucker, who described the network's November sweep performance as "good but not great." Metcalf asserts that the network actually is performing at estimated levels; it was the strength of the competition that got underestimated.

"Our current position is where we expected to be," he said. "They are above where we expected to be."

The damage is most evident on Thursday, where CBS has overtaken NBC on the night for the first time in 20 years. The original "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" gave no quarter to what was to be NBC's most potent asset, "The Apprentice 2," which dropped 20% from the previous season's tally at 9 p.m.

Not helping "Apprentice" was the 8-9 p.m. lead-in pair of "Joey" and "Will & Grace." While few expected the "Friends" spinoff to match its predecessor, "Joey" has seen its audience drop quickly since making a solid debut, down 36% after 11 episodes. "Will" has fallen almost as far, down 28% since the start of the season. "ER" has held its lead over CBS' "Without a Trace" in the adults 18-49 demo, but the detective drama continues to gain share and regularly beats "ER" in viewers.

But despite serious wear and tear, NBC still is seeing strength from at least one series every night of the week. Although "Fear Factor" has faltered Monday at 8 p.m., "Las Vegas" has entered its sophomore season in fine form at 9 p.m.

"Law & Order: SVU" is still a powerhouse in the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot. But the rest of the night has been a hard slog that isn't likely to improve when Fox brings "American Idol" back at 8 p.m. as of Jan. 18. Still, NBC has seen fit to premiere its long-delayed Mark Burnett project "The Contender" at that hour — the same slot where its accused copycat, Fox's "The Next Great Champ," withered away early this season.

Tuesday 9-10 p.m. also is a mess: No series has fallen further on NBC than "Scrubs," which is down 45% from last year. The sitcom will slide back a half-hour into the 9 p.m. slot once inhabited by "Pride," which may not help "Committed."

After a wobbly 2003-04 season, "The West Wing" has emerged from a creative overhaul to respectable results — but its numbers also are likely to take a hit next month when "Idol" returns.

Perhaps primetime's most underappreciated success story this season belongs to NBC on Friday, where new 10 p.m. entry "Medical Investigation" has found traction on a night that has been toxic to its competitors — even CBS, which failed to launch "dr. vegas" in the same slot.

And while ABC has electrified Sunday with "Desperate Housewives," NBC has managed to stay competitive at 10 p.m. with "Crossing Jordan," which has held up well against "Boston Legal" episodes flush with "Housewives" viewers.

But NBC's biggest winner is "Loser," which managed to steal 18-49ers away from CBS' "NCIS" in a Tuesday 8-9 p.m. time slot that has not been kind to the network.

True to its upfront promise that it would program year-round, there still are plenty of new series that haven't yet been scheduled.

Apocalypse-themed miniseries "Revelations" is expected to spell "Wing" on Wednesdays at some point this season. David E. Kelley's first reality series, "The Law Firm," might end up on the same night once "Illustrated" ends its run.

If "Medium" doesn't work out Mondays at 10 p.m., that's probably the place where the fourth iteration of "Law & Order," subtitled "Trial by Jury" will end up. But the network has plenty of reality sitting on the bench, including projects with rocker Tommy Lee, socialite Kathy Hilton and another season of "Average Joe." On the comedy side, the American adaptation of the BBC hit "The Office" is ready, too.

Posted by Jo at 07:21 PM

January 06, 2005

WGA Goes for Wing & Sex

Both The West Wing and Sex and the City earn double nominations in the television categories for the WGA Awards.

By Mark Umbach

FilmStew.com

NBC's The West Wing, HBO's Sex and the City and Fox's The Simpsons all scored multiple nominations as the Writers Guild of America announced the nominations in the television categories for the WGA Awards on Wednesday. Both Wing and Sex scored a pair of nominations in the drama and comedy categories, respectively, while The Simpsons scored four of the five nods in the animated category.

John Sacret Young & John Singer picked up one of the Wing nods for their episode "Memorial Day," while the other Wing mention went to Debora Cahn for "The Supremes." They will be joined in the category by Terence Winter, who won the Emmy this year, for The Sopranos episode "Long Term Parking" and Craig Wright for the "Falling into Place" episode of Six Feet Under.
On the comedy side, Jenny Bicks & Cindy Chupack were nominated for the "Splat!" episode of Sex and the City with Julie Rotenberg & Elise Zuritsky earning the other Sex nomination for "The Ick Factor." Arrested Development earned its first WGA nod with Jim Vallely & Mitchell Hurwitz cited for "Pier Pressure," Neil Thompson picked up a nomination for the "Ida's Boyfriend" segment of Fox's Malcolm in the Middle and Bryan Fuller won mention for his Wonderfalls "Pilot."

Last year Fox's 24 took home the honor in the drama category, while Frasier was honored in the comedy category. Neither show is up for an award this go round.

William H. Macy earned his second WGA nod in the adapted TV longform category for his work on TNT's The Wool Cap, which he co-wrote with Steven Schachter. They'll face tough competition from Emmy powerhouse Angels in America, which earned scribe Tony Kushner an Emmy, and Cavedweller, adapted by Anne Meredith.

The original longform category includes J.T. Allen for FX's Jamie Foxx starrer Redemption, Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell for HBO's Something the Lord Made and Yuri Zeltser & Cary Bickley for Showtime's Spinning Boris.

Homer and Bart dominated the animation front with The Simpsons taking nominations for Joel H. Cohen for "Today I Am a Clown," Don Payne for "Fraudulent News," Julie Chambers & Don Chambers for "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and Ian Maxtone-Graham for "Catch 'Em If You Can." Rich Fogel, John Ridley and Dwayne McDuffie earned the final nod in the category for the Cartoon Network's Justice League episode "Starcrossed."

For comedy/variety series, nominations were earned by Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Mad TV, Penn & Teller: Bullshit! and Real Time with Bill Maher. CBS' Guiding Light received the only nomination in the daytime serial category.

The 57th annual WGA Awards will be presented at a ceremony being held February 19. The feature screenplay nominations will be announced on January 13.

A complete list of television and radio nominations follows:

TELEVISION NOMINEES

EPISODIC DRAMA:
MEMORIAL DAY (The West Wing), Written by John Sacret Young & Josh Singer; NBC
THE SUPREMES (The West Wing), Written by Debora Cahn; NBC
FALLING INTO PLACE (Six Feet Under), Written by Craig Wright; HBO
LONG TERM PARKING (The Sopranos), Written by Terence Winter; HBO

EPISODIC COMEDY:
SPLAT! (Sex and the City), Written by Jenny Bicks and Cindy Chupack; HBO
PIER PRESSURE (Arrested Development), Written by Jim Vallely & Mitchell Hurwitz; Fox
THE ICK FACTOR (Sex and the City), Written by Julie Rottenberg & Elisa Zuritsky; HBO
PILOT (Wonderfalls), Teleplay by Bryan Fuller, Story By Todd Holland & Bryan Fuller; Fox
IDA'S BOYFRIEND (Malcolm in the Middle), Written by Neil Thompson; Fox

LONGFORM - ORIGINAL:
REDEMPTION, Written by J.T. Allen; FX
SOMETHING THE LORD MADE, Written by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell; HBO
SPINNING BORIS, Written by Yuri Zeltser & Cary Bickley; Showtime

LONG FORM - ADAPTED:
CAVEDWELLER, Screenplay by Anne Meredith, Based upon the novel by Dorothy Allison; Showtime
THE WOOL CAP, Teleplay by William H. Macy & Steven Schachter, Based upon the original story "Gigot" written by Jackie Gleason; TNT
ANGELS IN AMERICA, Teleplay by Tony Kushner, Based on the play by Tony Kushner; HBO

ANIMATION:
TODAY I AM A CLOWN (The Simpsons), Written by Joel H. Cohen; Fox
FRAUDCAST NEWS (The Simpsons), Written by Don Payne; Fox
STARCROSSED (Justice League), Written by Rich Fogel, John Ridley, Dwayne McDuffie, Story by Rich Fogel; Cartoon Network
MILHOUSE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (The Simpsons), Written by Julie Chambers & David Chambers; Fox
CATCH ‘EM IF YOU CAN (The Simpsons), Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham; Fox

COMEDY/VARIETY - MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES - SPECIALS:
THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS, Written by George Stevens, Jr. and Sara Lukinson; CBS
THE 58TH ANNUAL TONY AWARDS, Written by Dave Boone and Bruce Vilanch; CBS

COMEDY/VARIETY (including talk) SERIES:
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, Written by Mick Sweeney, Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Dan Goor, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Demetri Martin, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg; NBC
MAD TV, Writing Supervised by Scott King, Written by Dick Blasucci, Bryan Adams, Lauren Dombrowski, Steven Cragg, Chris Cluess, John Crane, Michael Hitchcock, Jennifer Joyce, Jason Kordelos, Brooks McBeth, Bruce McCoy, Michael McDonald, Rick Najera, Tami Sagher, David Salzman, Rich Talarico, Stephnie Weir, Maiya Williams, Jim Wise; Fox
PENN & TELLER BULLSHIT!, Written by Penn Jillette, Teller, Star Price, John McLaughlin, Jon Hotchkiss, Emma Webster, David Wechter, Jonathan Taylor, Special Material Written by Michael Goudeau; Showtime
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, Written by Scott Carter and Brian Jacobsmeyer andJay Jaroch and Chris Kelly and Bill Maher and Billy Martin and Ned Rice and Paul F. Tompkins; HBO

DAYTIME SERIALS:
GUIDING LIGHT, Written by David Kreizman, Joyce Brotman, Christopher Dunn, Lloyd Gold, Kimberly Hamilton, Jill Lorie Hurst, Penelope Koechl, Eleanor Labine, Royal Miller, Casandra Morgan, Danielle Paige, David Smilow, Gillian Spencer, Brett Staneart, Donna Swajeski, Ellen Weston; CBS

CHILDREN'S SCRIPT:
A SEPARATE PEACE, Teleplay by Wendy Kesselman, Based on the Novel by John Knowles; Showtime
A WRINKLE IN TIME, Teleplay by Susan Shilliday, Based on the Novel by Madeleine L'Engle; ABC

DOCUMENTARY – CURRENT EVENTS:
LAST MAN STANDING: POLITICS TEXAS, STYLE (P.O.V.), Written by Paul Stekler; PBS
FROM CHINA WITH LOVE (Frontline), Written by Michael J. Kirk; PBS

DOCUMENTARY – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS:
EMMA GOLDMAN (American Experience), Written by Mel Bucklin; PBS
RECONSTRUCTION, PART 1 (American Experience), Telescript by Llewellyn M. Smith, Story by Elizabeth Deane & Patricia Garcia Rios; PBS
RFK (American Experience), Written by David Grubin; PBS
THE FIGHT (American Experience), Written by Barak Goodman; PBS
OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING (Broadway: The American Musical — Episode 4), Written by Jo Ann Young; PBS
REVOLUTIONARIES (They Made America), Telescript by Carl Charlson, Story by Harold Evans; PBS

NEWS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN OR BREAKING REPORT:
REMEMBERING RAY CHARLES (CBS News, WBBM Chicago), Written by Jonathan W. Kaplan; CBS
THE REAGAN FUNERAL (ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings), Written by Steve Alperin; ABC

NEWS – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY:
CHANGE OF HEART (60 Minutes II), Written by Rebecca Peterson & Scott Pelley; CBS
HOMES FOR THE HOMELESS (UPN 9 News), Written by Jacqueline M. Calayag; WWOR
MARTHA STEWART (60 Minutes II), Written by Barbara Dury & Morley Safer; CBS

RADIO NOMINEES

NEWS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED:
1010 WINS AFTERNOON DRIVE, Written by Bill Spadaro; Infinity Radio Network
CBS NEWS HOURLY, Written by Robert Mank; CBS Radio
REMEMBERANCES, Written by Gail Lee; CBS Radio
WORLD NEWS THIS WEEK, Written by Marianne J. Pryor; ABC News Radio
WORLD NEWS THIS WEEK, Written by Stuart H. Chamberlain, Jr.; ABC News Radio

NEWS – ANALYSIS, FEATURE OR COMMENTARY:
CHRISTMAS PAST, Written by James Benes; CBS

NEWS – ON-AIR PROMOTION (RADIO OR TELEVISION):
SALEM SERIAL KILLER, Written by Judie Henninger; NBC
STILL STANDING: KILL BILL, KING OF QUEENS: RUNNER, Written by Chris Cranner / CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE DIRECT TV, Written by Chris Cranner & Jay Curtis & Mark Mallory / STILL STANDING/LISTEN UP WHO'S ON FIRST, Written by Chris Cranner & Jay Curtis; CBS

NEWS – TV GRAPHIC ANIMATION:
CBS 2 CELEBRATES SUBWAY CENTENNIAL / SPORTS BLOCK, Written by Christopher T. Ingram; CBS.

Posted by Jo at 10:05 PM

Winging it in the White House

Stockard Channing was pretty much the last to find out that she would be playing America's famous fictional first lady, writes Ed Bark.
By Ed Bark
The Age

The West Wing had already premiered in the US when creator Aaron Sorkin finally decided that viewers should meet the wife of Martin Sheen's President Josiah Bartlet.

Stockard Channing, on the East Coast preparing to begin work on another project, had to "make an instant decision" after an incomplete script suddenly landed in her lap. She winged her way back to Hollywood, was outfitted with an evening gown, and then spotted a tuxedoed Sheen "sneaking a cigarette" during a break from shooting episode seven of West Wing's inaugural 1999-2000 season. She had never met the famed activist actor.

"I went over and introduced myself," Channing recalls. She then asked him, "We have three children, right?"

"Three daughters," Sheen replied, just before the director barked "action".

Thus began the life of first lady Abigail Bartlet, who it could be said has supplanted tart-with-a-heart Betty Rizzo (Grease) as the signature role of the 60-year-old actress' long career.

The West Wing, winner of the Emmy Award for best drama in each of its first four seasons, is under a new administration this year. Sorkin, notorious for turning in scripts at the literal last minute, left the show last year. John Wells (ER, Third Watch) is the new overseer, and Channing approves.

"It's been a pretty seamless transition, and I think a healthy one," she says. "We were getting to a point where there was a sort of pattern and a style that was choking us a little bit. So it had to be pruned and shaped to improve the health of the tree. We were getting a little tangled up with ourselves. And so far, so good."

The West Wing's ratings have fallen, however, and in particular it started losing younger viewers, those most appealing to advertisers.

"We're absolutely satisfied creatively but in terms of its ratings performance, obviously we would like it to do better," NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker says.

NBC's deal with The West Wing expires soon and no other announcement has yet been made.

Channing says network TV's obsession with younger viewers is "the way of the world. Some great shows close out of town. We've been lucky to get into town and have a good run. I just hope we go out strong. The rest of the stuff, you can't do anything about."

The West Wing did last long enough for Sheen to be playing a president on TV while also playing an active role in Democratic presidential politics. Four years ago, he campaigned for Al Gore. Good for him, in Channing's view.

"It's a very curious thing being an actor now, much less an actor in a show like this," she says. "There's got to be so much backlash about actors standing up and speaking their minds. Some of us are pretty intelligent, pretty well-informed.

"I don't always agree with Martin on everything that he stands up for. But I respect him for his activism and his energy. And his heart is in the right place.

"Actors are also citizens of this country, and we have the right to speak our minds."

Posted by Jo at 09:59 PM

From film to Broadway to Pops to TV

By Rick Bird
Cincinnati Post

She may be the hardest working gal in show biz. Here's how Kristin Chenoweth described her last nine months in a recent interview rattling off her projects in a stream of conscious list:
"I was filming the 'Pink Panther' (movie) and doing 'Candide' during the day and 'Wicked' at night. That was last spring. 'Wicked' went until July -- Then I recorded my album, did Carnegie Hall -- that was my own concert -- then I got 'The West Wing.' I was doing 'West Wing' and 'Bewitched' (another film) at the same time. It was double duty. And now I'm talking to you. But I don't know how to do one thing. I have to pile it all on."

And she sings with the Cincinnati Pops the next two Sundays.

The Tony Award winner and veteran Broadway singer, dancer and actress neglected to mention she also performed at the Capitol Fourth celebration in Washington, D.C., last July. Pops music director Erich Kunzel conducts the annual program.

"That's how we met," she said. "I had such a good time and he was so fabulous. He was like, 'We got to get you out there.' I really wanted to come. I have never been to Cincinnati."

Chenoweth will sing show tunes, standards and other favorites with the orchestra in a show that she has taken around the country for a couple years. It became the basis for her first-ever solo appearance at Carnegie Hall last September.

Chenoweth starred in the Tony-winning "Wicked" last year on Broadway. She was nominated for a Tony playing good witch Glinda. She previously won a Tony for her role in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." She just finished a new CD and filming two movies to be released later this year: the "Pink Panther" with Steve Martin and "Bewitched" with Nicole Kidman, a film adaptation of the old TV series.

But TV viewers will best know Chenoweth these days as one of the great new characters this season on "The West Wing" as she plays savvy White House media consultant Annabeth Schott, apparently in line to be the new press secretary replacing C.J. Creg (Allison Janney), who became chief of staff.

"I am loving it," Chenoweth said about the juicy role and confirmed she is a series regular signed for all 22 episodes.

"They are all so good," Chenoweth said about working with perhaps the most celebrated cast on TV. "You either step up to the plate or you don't. I ask all the time, 'Are there actors that come on here and are overwhelmed?' They say there have been actors who end up not doing the show because it's so difficult."

Chenoweth said she did have a little twinge about how her character was being written when in her first scene she was referred to as "the little pixie from media relations."

The 4-foot-11-inch actress has fought sort of height discrimination her whole life, stereotyped with such adjectives as "perky," a "little pistol," "spark plug" and yes, "pixie." She has called herself "sort of a Barbie doll with an attitude" and that's why she ended up enjoying the West Wing character.

"Yes 'The pixie,' She groaned. "At first it was, 'Please don't do this to me.' Then the way they were writing her to be so clever, I thought it was a good setup. She is the smartest one in the room. I love that."

The Oklahoma native acknowledges she is fairly apolitical and never imagined herself doing the famous "West Wing" walk-and-talk going on about politics. "I'm not what you would call a political performer. I vote and I'm a good citizen, but I'm hardly the Michael Moore of performers."

Despite a solid film career, Chenoweth says she'll never leave her true love -- the stage. "Concert work is my favorite. You aren't hidden behind the role. You can be yourself. You can pick the material and it's very rewarding. I'm just a stage person. That's what I do."

Publication Date: 01-06-2005

Posted by Jo at 09:56 PM

No One Comes Out on The West Wing

by Malinda Lo
AfterEllen.com

This year marks the sixth season of the Emmy Award-winning NBC series The West Wing. Some of the shine has come off the series by now, with many critics no longer wondering whether the show has jumped the shark, but speculating which episode was the one that pushed it over the edge into has-been territory. At this time in a television series, producers are likely to pull some tricks out of the old keep-the-show-alive hat that include allowing the actors to write or direct episodes, and anything to do with lesbians.

This week’s episode, titled “Faith Based Initiative,” was The West Wing’s opportunity to check off two boxes at once. Written by actor Bradley Whitford (who also plays Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman) in his first screenplay, the episode is typical of The West Wing in that it deals with a hot-button issue (gay marriage) while simultaneously telling a personal story that intersects with the issue (C. J. is accused by an internet blog of being a lesbian).

Don’t worry—with The West Wing we at least know we’re not going to get two straight women kissing; in fact we’re not going to get anyone kissing. The episode turns out to be a fair and balanced summary of where we are as a nation in terms of gay rights; in other words, lots of debating but not a lot of action from both sides of the political spectrum. Your left-leaning liberals spouting civil rights ideals, your right-wing politicians quoting passages from the Bible, your middle-of-the-roaders arguing both sides of the fence.

This resulted in an episode that was mostly inoffensive, but also mostly dull. Nevertheless, overnight ratings for “Faith Based Initiative” showed The West Wing in the top ten shows on Wednesday night, taking the sixth spot just ahead of CBS’s 60 Minutes and just behind CSI:NY. That means that over eight million people watched last night’s episode, and got a handy primer on the gay marriage debate.

The episode opens with a close-up shot of C.J. Cregg (Alison Janney) putting on her lipstick, only to be interrupted by the shrill beeping of her Blackberry. Can you get any more overtly symbolic? When C.J. takes a look at the incoming message she declares in disgust, “My god—are you kidding me?” It turns out that an internet blog has accused her of being a lesbian.

Once C.J. strides briskly into the White House to do her duty as Chief of Staff, her assistant reads to her from the blog: “What team does she play on? Washington abuzz about fresh allegations that a certain former Bartlet Administration press secretary may have more than a passing interest in pursuing what many have described as a radical homosexual agenda.”

Dismissing the blog’s accusation as unimportant in relation to the business of running the country, C.J. nonetheless asks the White House’s media consultant, Annabeth Schott (Kristin Chenoweth), to draft a statement. Annabeth quips, “You want to emphatically deny something you have no problem with and make it publicly clear that this is a private matter.”

Meanwhile, it turns out that conservative Senator Wilkinson has attached a Sanctity of Marriage Act to the budget bill—something that throws the West Wing staffers for a loop because it’s President Bartlet’s (Martin Sheen) last budget, and it’s important for his legacy that he get it passed. Unfortunately, the Sanctity of Marriage Act puts President Bartlet—currently struggling with MS—in a sticky situation. He won’t agree to veto it, knowing that could be political suicide, but he doesn’t want it on the bill either. As White House Director of Communications Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) eloquently puts it, “This amendment isn’t about protecting marriage, it’s about institutionalizing the last acceptable form of discrimination.” Score one for gay rights activists!

In order to get the act off the budget bill, Toby and Josh lobby numerous members of Congress with pork barrel tidbits as well as moral grandstanding. Vice President Russell (Gary Cole) even gives a natty little speech about how he loves his gay nephew, but it’s more important to pass the budget. “Five thousand years of socialization didn’t go out the window with the first Village People album,” Russell says. “You do this wrong and there’ll be a backlash that sets us back 50 years. You do it right, we’ll be there in ten.” Score one for the moderates!

As the day goes on, C.J.’s alleged lesbianism increasingly dominates the news cycle, until we are granted an impassioned speech from C.J. to ex-Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), in which she declares that she is “heterosexual,” just in case any of the West Wing viewers weren’t clear on that. She goes on to explain the plight of the successful career woman, which has resulted in most men being afraid of her independence and success, leaving her with “bad numbers, really rough stuff” in terms of romantic possibilities. “You just want to share it all with someone, you know?” she says plaintively. Yes, C.J.—and so do gay people.

Eventually Senator Wilkinson, sponsor of the anti-gay marriage bill, meets with President Bartlet in the sanctity of the White House. President Bartlet hopes to convince Wilkinson to take the marriage act off the budget bill by explaining that as president he raised his right hand and swore to uphold the US Constitution, which guarantees equal rights for all. Wilkinson asks him, “Where was your left hand, Mr. President?” Score one for the religious right!

In the end, C.J. doesn’t give in to the temptation to state that she’s straight; instead she tells the waiting press that “it’s none of your business.” If only a real-life situation were to play out this way. In the real world, it’s much more likely that a high-powered political figure would either respond with a statement denying the accusation, or they would be forced to come out. After Monicagate, there’s no such thing as “it’s none of your business.” Which just goes to show that The West Wing is, after all, only a television show.

Now that George W. Bush has been elected to a second term, The West Wing seems even more like a fantasy Democratic administration, in which all the things that Democrats wish they could do in reality are played out on the small screen. You can’t really fault The West Wing for providing a fair and balanced look at the gay marriage debate. But it’s too bad that The West Wing didn’t actually say anything new about it, and instead just rehashed what most Americans are likely to already know.

And it’s also too bad that C.J. really isn’t gay--because that would really be something.

Posted by Jo at 09:53 PM