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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 January 22, 2005 04:38 PM