Bartlet4America News Archive: May 2006 Archives

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May 25, 2006

'West Wing' was an antidote to political cynicism

by Margie Peterson
The Morning Call

In an early episode of my dearly departed ''The West Wing,'' an activist at a luncheon to raise money for congressional candidates tells the crowd, ''It's a great country. Every two years we get to overthrow the government.''

Given the power of incumbency, that rebel spirit lies dormant in most elections, especially in Pennsylvania. In a May 4 op-ed piece in The Morning Call, political analysts G. Terry Madonna and Michael Young wrote that state legislative incumbents are more likely to retire, die in office or leave due to legal problems than be defeated at the polls.

If the May 16 p rimary wasn't quite a revolution, it was at least a Boston Tea Party. Seventeen incumbents lost their seats, including Rep. Paul Semmel, R-Lehigh, and Senate leaders Robert Jubelirer, R-Blair, and David Brightbill, R-Lebanon. The lesson: You can't pass an illegal pay raise at 2 a.m. without waking voters.

But even when real government was depressing, I escaped political cynicism once a week by turning on NBC's ''The West Wing.'' The show came to an end last week. I'm still in mourning.

At its core, ''West Wing'' was a love letter to American democracy. It showed people on both sides of the political aisle wheeling and dealing and spinning and arguing. Taking principled stands and swallowing painful compromises. Facing the hard choices of governing. In one episode, secretary Donna Moss begs presidential aide Sam Seaborn not to reveal to a friend seeking a pardon for her dead grandfather that he was a Soviet spy.

''It was people pushing paper around 50 years ago, what does it matter?'' she asks.

Seaborn responds: ''It was high treason, and it mattered a great deal. This country is an idea and one that has lit the world for two centuries, and treason against that idea is not just a crime against the living. This ground holds the graves of the people who died for it. Who gave what Lincoln called 'the last full measure of devotion,' of fidelity.''

Granted, liberals and moderates usually ruled the day. But the arguments on all sides were more intelligent and thought-provoking than most of the real life talking heads' shouting matches that pass for national discourse. In one episode, presidential aide Toby Ziegler rattles off the benefits of free trade and gives a lesson in speech writing, all in about 30 seconds. He says:

''Food is cheaper. Clothes are cheaper. Steel is cheaper. Cars are cheaper. Phone service is cheaper. You feel me building a rhythm here? That's because I'm a speech writer, I know how to make a point. It lowers prices and raises income. Do you see what I did with 'lowers' and 'raises' there? It's called the science of listener attention. We did repetition, we did floating opposites, and here comes the one that's not like the others. Ready? Free trade stops wars … and we figure out how to fix the rest.''

''West Wing'' could be a great teaching tool for years to come. Lehigh Valley high schools could air an episode each week and use 20 minutes of social studies class to get students debating the issues it raises, even relatively arcane ones. The series' creator, Aaron Sorkin, wrote the most entertaining show about the filibuster since Frank Capra's ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.''

The writing was just that good. In a special episode on terrorists soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman tells a group of high school students, ''Remember pluralism. You want to get these people? I mean really reach in and kill 'em where they live? Keep accepting more than one idea. Makes 'em absolutely crazy.''

I wish I'd written that. But it's back to political reality — made more interesting by the overthrow of arrogance in the May 16 primary. I'll have to take my inspiration from that.

Posted by Jo at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2006

A lament for The West Wing: If only work life imitated art

by JUDITH TIMSON
Globe and Mail

My favourite television show ended recently after seven years and, with it, went one of the great alternate realities of my working life.

The West Wing was, of course, about the major crises, everyday dramas and emotional goings-on in a Democratic White House during the administration of President Josiah (Jed) Bartlet, played to paternal perfection by Martin Sheen.

Political junkies, including me, couldn't get enough of the passionately liberal administration, which effectively offered a utopian vision during the years of George W. Bush, presenting taut and witty episodes on everything from foreign-policy imbroglios to domestic scandals.

But there was another reason I stayed glued to The West Wing: It presented the idea of near-perfect collegiality, depicting a small group of pathologically articulate, blazingly intelligent people (Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff, was a Fulbright scholar, and the president, a former economist, was a Rhodes scholar) working together.

They knew each other's strengths and foibles, and they exchanged delicious rapid-fire repartee, often while walking hurriedly down the corridors of power.

Never has the word "yeah" uttered at breakneck speed seemed more resonant. Their conversation one minute centred on the merits of gun control and then swerved to who had stayed out partying all night or slept at his desk and was, therefore, in the same rumpled suit the next morning.

And never has there been such wisecracking in an office, and yet no real cynicism toward each other. From Toby Ziegler to Josh Lyman, C.J. Craig to Leo McGarry (played with full-out heart and intellect by actor John Spencer, who died of a heart attack before the final episode could be filmed), these characters harangued each other, inspired each other and protected each other, all in the service of a common goal: keeping their administration afloat.

Well, I said it was a utopia. In fact, The Globe's Jeffrey Simpson, who has been around his share of politicos, wrote that the one great unreality about the series was that there was not enough backbiting among the senior staff.

That's probably true, but millions of viewers, fresh from the foibles of their own working weeks, obviously didn't care.

From the very first episode, these colleagues were tight. Way back, Josh was about to lose his job after he had glibly insulted a right-wing Christian leader on television. His senior colleague, Toby, desperately trying to find a way to save him, offered advice about apologizing, and then said bitingly: "I don't want this gesture to be mistaken for an indication that I like you." But it was clear he adored him.

Through blunders of global magnitude, assassination attempts, boatloads of Cubans arriving, inept campaigning, firings, resignations, tears, love affairs and more policy wonking than is healthy, The West Wing team got to the soul of what it was like to blend your ideals and your career. It embodied the notion of how satisfying it is to work with like-minded people in the cause of something worthwhile. This shouldn't be a utopia -- but these days, it more likely than not seems to be.

Recently, I have heard very successful people, while reflecting about themselves and their careers, say that the decision of who you choose to work with is almost more important than what project or work you actually choose to do.

Imagine working with people who know you so well they finish your phrases (and not just to claim glory for your ideas).

They laugh at your jokes even when you aren't funny, protect your back in public and then pound you out verbally in private when you've screwed up.

"You look like hell," Toby says to Josh in that very first episode. By the last episode, they all pretty much looked like hell, which was a poignant mirroring of aging in real life, and a dramatic portrayal of how much wear and tear those high-level jobs -- or even just acting them out -- puts on people.

In the final episode, there was a newly elected president -- to really complete the fantasy, another Democrat -- taking office, there were new romantic liaisons, one staffer got pardoned for an idealistic crime he'd committed and our favourite assistant, Donna, finally got the plum job she deserved, plus a love relationship with her former boss. President Bartlet departed from our lives on a plane, looking out the window, his expression at once nostalgic and relieved as he no doubt reflected on what they'd all shared.

The West Wing, to me, was a ridiculously glamorous working life ideal. It was, in all its hokey idealism, the exact opposite of the hilarious but ultimately cynical show The Office, depicting all managers as useless boobs and everybody out for themselves.

So here's a question: Is anyone out there working in what they consider an ideal collegial environment? Is anyone utterly enamoured, not to mention proud, of the teamwork at their workplace?

If so, I'd love to hear your real-life descriptions of an office team that really works, a group of colleagues who evoke the kind of loyalty and passion seen on The West Wing. Consider it a public service -- methadone for me as I withdraw from the utopia of working life depicted on The West Wing.

Posted by Jo at 08:07 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2006

John Spencer: A Look Back

By Terri Roberts
Backstage

It was Election Day in the world of The West Wing. A somber-faced Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), the Democratic presidential nominee, spoke politely on the phone with his Republican adversary, Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), while in the background the televised election coverage was interrupted for a shocking, unbelievable announcement. "For those of you just tuning in to our election night coverage, we bring you breaking news--some would say heartbreaking news--at this hour. Once again: Leo McGarry has been pronounced dead..."

For fans of consummate actor John Spencer, who gave rich, full-blooded life to former White House chief of staff–turned–vice presidential candidate McGarry, the Election Day Part II episode of this critically acclaimed show was heartbreaking indeed. Spencer unexpectedly died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital Dec. 16, just four days short of his 59th birthday. The actor's death not only changed the course of The West Wing's final season but also left fans, friends, and fellow actors in a state of stunned sorrow and disbelief.

One of Spencer's great gifts, as an actor and as a human, was his ability to empathize and be fully alive and in the moment. One had only to look at his wonderfully careworn face, which seemed to have the map of his life spread across it, to understand that he intimately knew all the extreme pains and joys of life, as well as all the in-betweens. His character could be glowering in disgust at some Republican ridiculousness one minute, then offer a compassionate arm of support to a faltering friend in the next. Despite the years that draped his countenance, there was also a youthful energy about him. And when he turned on the charm and flashed that pixyish grin, it seemed impossible he could be mortal enough to die.

But mortal he was, with all the purities and flaws, strengths and weaknesses, and successes and failures we all have. And he never tried to hide any of that life experience. Like his fictional West Wing counterpart, Spencer was a recovering alcoholic, and he knew the cost of living with and battling that demon. But actor and character were known for being deeply loyal, generous, and devoted to their chosen professions, in which they found great joy and personal satisfaction at being able to be of service in ways great and small. "Like Leo, I've always been a workaholic, too," Spencer told The Associated Press during a 2000 interview. "Through good times and bad, acting has been my escape, my joy, my nourishment. The drug for me, even better than alcohol, was acting."

Spencer brought it all with him when he performed, using what was needed at the time to infuse the roles he inhabited with an unparalleled honesty that brought him the respect of his peers; the appreciation of millions of fans who saw him work onstage, on television, and in film; and plenty of recognition at awards time. For five consecutive years, from 2000 to 2004, he received Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series. He proudly took the statue home in 2002. In 2000 he won the Viewers for Quality Television Award in that category; in 2001 he received a TV Guide Award nomination, in 2003 a Golden Globe nom. And every year from 2001 to 2006, he and the West Wing cast garnered outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series nods from the Screen Actors Guild, winning the award in '01 and '02. In addition, his stage work brought him an Obie Award for Still Life, as well as a Drama Desk nomination for The Day Room.

"John was a first-rate actor and a real class act as a human being," commented Joshua Malina, who played Will Bailey on West Wing. "He was funny, biting, and compassionate. He was the paragon of the actor's actor: He ate, drank, lived, and breathed the craft. This was never more evident than in his reaction to the work of others. He always had something insightful and positive to say about another actor's performance."

As Charlie Young, the former personal aide to the president who later moved up to assistant to the chief of staff, Dulé Hill worked with Spencer from the very beginning of the show. Like Malina and many other cast members who were extensively quoted at the time of Spencer's death, Hill holds his friend in great esteem. "John was an amazing individual who was dedicated to his work," he said. "Whenever you were in a scene with John he always made you better. It was so easy with him. I couldn't help but react whenever I was in a scene with him. The things I will remember most about John is his laugh, his smile, and his flip-flops. I will miss him greatly, but more importantly, I am glad that I had the honor of knowing him, and I am forever thankful that I was blessed enough to have a chance to work with someone as remarkable as John Spencer."

In a Sept. 16, 2000, interview with Terence Smith of the PBS website Online News Hour, Spencer ex-plained his approach to creating the role that he will surely be most remembered by: Leo McGarry. "It's always important for me, as an actor, to reflect human behavior for a sense of reality," Spencer explained. "So this role is no more or less important than any other role, concerning the reality factor. I mean, I think art, at best, holds up a mirror to humanity. And unless we are real human beings, something's phony there, and it's not going to be as effective.

"I had no idea how the public would respond," he continued, in answer to a question about how audiences would react to the issue-based drama. "I heard two trains of thought. One was that people, with the [Clinton] impeachment trials, would be fed up with government issues. The last thing they'd want to watch is a show about government. Another point of view was, well, they'll kind of be 'jonesing' for, you know, another injection of governmental issues. You're just going to be coming in at the right time. I had no idea. In the arts, you do your best. You put it out there. You have your own belief about the quality of what you're doing. And then, what the public is going to do or not do is sort of just up in the air. You never know.

"I've done good things, or things I've thought were good, that found no audience. And I've done things that I thought were so-so and have found a great audience. So you can't predict that. That's the sort of chance unknown in the equation. It's a little scary. All you can do is do the best job," he concluded.

And that Spencer most certainly did.

Posted by Jo at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)

FAREWELL TO THE CHIEF - TAKING WING: Award-winning ‘West Wing’ leaves office Sunday

By LANE LAMBERT
The Patriot Ledger

Momentous things are happening Sunday night. As California recovers from a nuclear power plant accident and the Russians and Chinese threaten to go to war in Kazakhstan, a new president will be inaugurated to succeed a popular, two-term chief executive.

Life and politics in the parallel universe of NBC’s drama ‘‘The West Wing’’ is coming to a close after seven seasons, and devoted fans like Kingston Town Administrator Kevin Donovan aren’t quite sure what they’re going to do without it.

‘‘Once it’s gone, I don’t know,’’ said Donovan, who has followed the fate and fortunes of fictional

Democratic President Josiah Bartlet and his White House staff since the series premiered in 1999.

‘‘I may have to venture out into the world now,’’ joked Boston viewer Anna Porter, who’s 24 and has been a regular on ‘‘West Wing’’ Internet message boards.

Admired by Democrats and Republicans alike - though more by Democrats - ‘‘The West Wing’’ collected dozens of Emmys and other awards with its realistic story line and a star-stocked ensemble that featured Martin Sheen as Bartlet, Jimmy Smits as Texas Congressman and newly-elected President Matt Santos, and Alan Alda as Sen. Arnold Vinick, the California Republican whom Santos defeated in this season’s election.

With behind-the-scenes emulations of Washington policy and campaigning, ‘‘The West Wing’’ attracted a stellar audience, too - among, them, former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Sen. Edward Kennedy is a fan, as are spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner and most other Kennedy staffers. (‘‘Everybody needs a weekly break from the Bush administration,’’ Wagoner quipped.)

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt has tuned in from time to time, while his communications director, Steven Broderick, says he and fellow staff members have often gathered to watch episodes.

‘Refreshing vision’

For Oklahoma State English and film studies professor Peter Rollins, there’s no mystery to the source of the show’s passionate following.

‘‘Bartlet was everything many people wanted to see Bill Clinton stand for,’’ said Rollins, who co-edited a volume of essays about ‘‘The West Wing.’’ Consequently, he said, ‘‘viewers embraced the imaginary president to make up for the disappointment.’’

Rollins faults the show for paying scant attention to Congress and the Supreme Court - a dramatic necessity but a political distortion - but he credits the series for depicting a president and staff who worked for the public good. At a time when cynicism about government is deep, ‘‘that vision was refreshing,’’ Rollins said.

For liberal viewers, perhaps, though not for high-level Republicans like Quincy native Ron Kaufman.

As a strategist for former President George H.W. Bush in the late 1980s, Kaufman was an authentic West Winger. He watched a couple of first-season episodes of ‘‘The West Wing’’ in 1999 and hasn’t bothered since.

‘‘It’s great if you like science fiction,’’ said Kaufman, who’s now a GOP consultant. ‘‘It’s so slanted ... and so unlike the White House I worked in.’’ (Or the current President Bush’s West Wing, he added.)

Delahunt’s communications director, Broderick, and Bridgewater-Raynham High School senior Josh Begley beg to differ. Begley - who has watched since the sixth grade - thinks the show consistently portrayed Republicans with respect, while Broderick said the episodes look and sound very much like the Washington in which he’s worked for seven years.

‘‘People would ask me, ‘Is it really like that?’’’ Broderick said. ‘‘And I’d tell them, ‘Yeah, it is.’’’

‘What the world could be’

‘‘The West Wing’’ was anchored in the real world from the start, with themes ranging from Middle East tensions and Darfur killings to illegal immigrants and the religious right. (Not to mention Bartlet’s efforts to keep Russia and China from going to war.)

Hollywood writer Aaron Sorkin created the series in the wake of the success of his 1995 film, ‘‘The American President,’’ which starred Michael Douglas as a widowed president who falls in love. (Sheen had a role in that film.)

Rollins traces the TV show’s origins a little further back, to ‘‘The War Room,’’ a documentary about the 1992 Clinton campaign.

The ‘‘West Wing’’ pilot aired in September 1999, seven months after Clinton was acquitted of impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation of the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Perhaps as an escape from a hostile-Republican-controlled Congress, Clinton embraced the show from the start, and hosted cast members at White House press-corps dinners. Out of office, he suggested plot ideas. Sheen and other stars in turn appeared at Democratic events, while Capitol Hill staffers signed up to be extras when the show came to Washington for filming.

At its peak, ‘‘The West Wing’’ had an audience of 17 million. Last year NBC decided to cancel it and switched it from Wednesday to Sunday, where it has drawn an average of 8 million viewers in recent months.

The big controversy in the show was not a presidential affair, but Bartlet’s multiple sclerosis. His disclosure was a scripted re-election issue for the 2002 season.

Last November, in an acclaimed episode that wasn’t scripted, the show aired a live presidential debate between Alda (as Vinick) and Smits (as Santos).

The show’s writers did have to script a real-life tragedy into the final season - the death of actor John Spencer, who played Bartlet adviser and Santos running mate Leo McGarry. In an April episode, McGarry has a fatal heart attack on election night, as the returns give Santos the election.

Fans like Kingston Administrator Kevin Donovan and Bridgewater student Josh Begley won’t be going to farewell parties, though Begley may wear his ‘‘West Wing’’ souvenir shirt to school on Monday.

Instead, they’ll all settle in front of the TV one last time, toast their beloved show and ponder ‘‘what the world could be like,’’ as Delahunt staffer Steven Broderick put it, if it were more like ‘‘West Wing.’’

Bartlet’s highs and lows

1999: Orders Syrian targets bombed after U.S. plane is shot down by terrorists

2000: Verbally attacks a conservative radio host

2001: Tells the country he has multiple sclerosis

2002:Re-elected; orders assassination of Mideast official behind a terror plot

2003: Sends troops to Africa to stop genocide

2004: Names first female Supreme Court chief justice, oversees Palestinian-Israeli peace deal

2005: Aide Toby Zeigler fired, later convicted of leaking classified info

2006: Sends troops to Kazakhstan to avoid Russian-Chinese war

Posted by Jo at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)

TV Trend Triggers Concerns

Writers find allies in questioning the growing use of paid "product integration" in shows.
By Meg James
LA Times

NEW YORK — Some of television's top creative talents urged networks and studios Wednesday to give writers a greater say when products are woven into the story lines.

John Wells of "ER" and Marc Cherry of "Desperate Housewives" joined Writers Guild of America officials at a hotel news conference to criticize the encroachment of products into scripts.

The WGA timed the event to coincide with the networks' "upfronts," when thousands of advertisers converge in Manhattan for the unveiling of fall schedules.

"By the time we realize that we've gone too far we will have chased away some of the elusive audience that we worked so hard to get," Wells said.

Wells gave an example of a meeting he attended by the makers of presidential limousines at which it was suggested that an entire episode of his recently ended show "The West Wing" be built around their product.

"It was very, very uncomfortable to say that while I admired the construction of their limousine, the viewers of 'The West Wing' would probably not respond well to an entire episode about the car," Wells said.

At a breakfast with reporters, CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said he was somewhat sympathetic.

"There's no question that it's important that these discussions be appropriately held with our creative people," Moonves said. "That's what we are doing, what we are trying to do and will continue that."

The Writers Guild event drew a muted response from J. Nicholas Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

"There is a mechanism for dealing with this and we would welcome a meeting on the subject," Counter said.

Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West, said writers were becoming increasingly concerned as the lines between advertising content and story lines blur. At the behest of broadcast and cable networks, product integration has expanded from reality shows to scripted fare.

In addition to Wells and Cherry, Verone was joined by Neal Baer of NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" and Dave Rupel of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Orange County."

The use of paid "product integration" has become prevalent in television as advertisers grapple for ways to ensure that more people see their commercial messages rather than zip through them using digital video recorders such as TiVo.

Cherry said he's been able to say no to products that don't feel right for his show, but less successful writers and producers might not have the clout to do so.

"Ultimately, the writer is the gatekeeper of the quality, and Lord knows it's not the network or the studio or the advertisers," he said. "We're the ones who take care of the baby."

Posted by Jo at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)

Term limits: After seven seasons, Jed Bartlet leaves office and 'The West Wing' turns out the lights

BY CONNIE OGLE
Miami Herald

Early in the TV series The West Wing, a young man watches the staff scramble around the Oval Office as the president prepares to deliver an important speech to the American people. The double jolt of snagging a White House job and this new and thrilling proximity to power has left him reeling. ''I've never felt like this before,'' he breathes. ''It doesn't go away,'' replies the not-so hardened staffer next to him.

That sensation -- the one that makes your heart rise and your back stiffen, causes you to stand just a bit taller and vow to do good -- is an emotion The West Wing has inspired through most of its seven-year run. But tonight NBC will air the final episode, titled Tomorrow, even though declining ratings have made sure that day will never come for the series.

President Josiah ''Jed'' Bartlet (Martin Sheen) will step down; President-elect Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) will step up. And millions of dreamers will lose that one hour of the week when they can pretend that the most famous inhabitants of Washington, D.C., are intelligent, thoughtful, industrious, honest, honorable -- and liberal.

WALK AND TALK

The West Wing is labeled a drama, but cynicism would suggest it's more fantasy than reality, reflective more of what we wish we were rather than what we truly are. But that seductive message -- we can and must strive to be better -- has always been an element of what makes the show so addictive. We know a president isn't going to allow a political enemy to take his place temporarily or put a member of the opposing party on the Supreme Court. But it was always pleasant, and maybe even necessary, to believe those things could happen, at least under the entertaining auspices of this fictional administration.

The West Wing first aired in 1999, at a time when politics didn't play a big part on TV shows. It won nine Emmys in its first season, the most ever for a drama series. Won Best Drama Series its first four years, too. Creator Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the screenplay for the film The American President, perfected the rapid-fire walk-and-talk style he toyed with on his short-lived Sports Night, propelling his characters all over the White House with lively wit and noble purpose.

But despite its roots in romantic comedy tradition, the show never shied from serious issues: abortion, religion, education, health care, Middle East relations (often with the oppressive fictional country of Qumar, which bears more than a passing resemblance to Saudi Arabia). The writers took up political -- almost exclusively Democratic -- positions.

The show was the first scripted TV series to indirectly address 9/11. In a matter of weeks, Sorkin wrote and shot Isaac and Ishmael, which aired Oct. 3, 2001, in which he put the White House under lockdown because of a terrorist threat. Unlike the hawkish Jack Bauer on the brawny (and considerably more brainless) 24, the characters don't fight their way out, guns blazing. They sit and discuss -- sometimes emotionally, sometimes logically -- the subject likely to define the rest of our lifetimes. Just like we do.

Sorkin left after Season 4, taking most of the light-hearted dialogue with him. We lost Rob Lowe that year in a salary dispute, too. The good news is that Lowe's (sort-of) replacement was longtime Sorkin collaborator Joshua Malina as congressman-to-be Will Bailey. But Season 5 was, to be kind, not The West Wing to which we were accustomed. And yet the show bounced back in its final two years, resurrecting exciting storylines and the missing humor and introducing terrific cast members as Santos and Republican Arnold Vinick (Emmy nominee Alan Alda) battled it out to be Bartlet's successor.

Still, the regulars -- well-defined, realistically flawed, absolutely irresistible -- are what kept us interested. We rooted for Bartlet, his brains, his hopes, his leadership, his courage in fighting MS. We wished he were real but were happy we had him at all: Sorkin's original idea was to never show the president, a plan that would have consistently flummoxed the writers and prevented us from enjoying the fantasy as much as we did. (We would have also missed Sheen's unforgettable entrance in the pilot episode, as he bursts into a fractious meeting quoting the First Commandment: ''I am the Lord thy God,'' he intones, and you believe it.)

A LONG FRIENDSHIP

We were fascinated with the dynamics of Bartlet's decades-long friendship with chief of staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer, whose death late last year added almost unbearable poignancy to the tense election episodes). We admired C.J. Cregg (the fantastic Allison Janney, in what will unfortunately probably be the role of a lifetime) for her almost seamless transition from press secretary to replacement chief of staff, and we grieved over the firing of communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), whose banishment was painful testament to the peril of following your heart in politics.

We laughed at the antics of Bartlet deputy chief of staff/Santos campaign manager Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) even as we marveled at his relentless dedication and groaned at his seven years -- seven freaking years! -- of blindness in regard to his feelings for his assistant Donna Moss (Janel Moloney, who blossomed as her role expanded from secretary to political operative). Just hand Whitford another Emmy right now: He has continued to ground the series after it split into two separate shows, one on the campaign trail, the other at the White House. Josh's inevitable comeuppances have always been essential to the show's comedy, and Whitford has always been funny. But this year his performance has taken on renewed depth as Josh faced his mentor's death on the biggest day of his political career and is forced, finally, to sort out those complicated feelings that landed him in bed with the woman he loves but is too pig-headed to admit.

It's the unerring ability of its characters to rise above challenges or personal blindness that in the end defines The West Wing. As Bartlet, at his second inauguration, told Will Bailey: ''Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. You know why?'' ''It's the only thing that ever has,'' replied Will. That exchange echoes the truth about everyone who had anything to do with the smart, mesmerizing, thoroughly wonderful TV world about that ''glorious prison on Pennsylvania Avenue'' that always felt more like a glorious escape.

Posted by Jo at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)

Fearless Leaders

By Jenelle Riley
Backstage

When The West Wing premiered to critical acclaim and huge ratings seven seasons ago, no one doubted that creator Aaron Sorkin and producer-director Thomas Schlamme had fashioned one of the smartest shows on television. The show became not only an awards powerhouse but also a pop culture phenomenon, its fast-paced, quick-talking style and refusal to dumb down subject matter both imitated and parodied.

But if The West Wing was one of the brainiest shows on TV, it was also never without heart. And this was most apparent in the relationship between White House staffer Josh Lyman and his assistant Donna Moss, whose intelligence was outweighed only by her loyalty to her boss. Actors Bradley Whitford and Janel Moloney turned the standard "will they or won't they?" dance on its head, creating smart, unpredictable characters that quickly became fan favorites.

Though West Wing wrapped production weeks ago, Whitford hasn't gone far, physically speaking. His office on the Warner Bros. lot is yards from where he shot the hit show, and he recently filmed a role in Sorkin's new pilot, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. When Moloney comes to pay him a visit, it's like returning home--though she wonders if her WB pass will still work (it does). The two instantly fall into their familiar rapport, displaying the natural chemistry and mutual respect that translated onscreen for seven years.

Back Stage: How did you land the roles of Josh and Donna? Is it true you both auditioned for other parts originally?

Janel Moloney: I auditioned for C.J. [played by Allison Janney.

Bradley Whitford: You're kidding!

Moloney: But I don't think anybody was serious about me for the part. I had already worked with Aaron and Tommy, and I think they wanted to give me the chance to audition with a big part.

Whitford: So you'd have a good piece of meat to gnaw on.

Moloney: Right. They just wanted to give me the shot. I think I knew when I went in I wasn't right for C.J.; I didn't feel quite old enough or substantial enough to do it.

Whitford: I originally auditioned for Josh, but after a long process, I was kind of offered Sam [played by Rob Lowe]. I think what was happening was they were having difficulty making a deal on the Sam part, and eventually my agent called and said, "Well, you're in the show, but you're Sam." And I got really upset because I thought I was Josh, even though beggars can't be choosers. So I called Aaron and said, "I love the show and really want to be on it, but I really want to be Josh." He said, "Yeah, I think you may be right."

Back Stage: Didn't you worry you might be talking yourself out of any part?

Whitford: Yeah, and I gave myself room to backtrack. But I felt very strongly about it. It becomes abstract on a television show, because the writing tends to follow the actors' strengths, hopefully. So Sam would have been a different part with me in it. There was just something about the position of Josh and his inappropriate intensity in the pilot that I really wanted to do.

Back Stage: Your characters quickly became fan favorites because of your chemistry. Was the relationship in the script from the beginning, or was it something you decided to hint at?

Moloney: Unfortunately, I was only hired for the pilot. I wasn't part of the regular cast. And I remembered that every day because I would have to walk a half a mile away to my trailer without a toilet. But in the pilot script, Josh was about to get fired, and it showed a dynamic between Josh and Donna that was really important for me as an actor to be able to show, which was fierce loyalty. I think it just stood out. It was this great part; it was a petite part, but there was a funny scene and a little bit of a sexy scene…

Whitford: ...and underneath it all there was a big devotion.

Moloney: I think the whole relationship was kind of there right from the first. And because Aaron Sorkin hadn't written past the script he was shooting, he saw what was happening between us, which I wasn't even aware of.

Whitford: I loved her immediately. I remember going behind the monitor and saying to Aaron and Tommy, "God, I love her."

Moloney: So I think right away we had something that popped and was obvious to everyone. I didn't know it at the time, because I was just so concerned about doing a good job and making my scenes as true as I could and creating a character that was whole, as opposed to someone they were going to send home next week because she wasn't special.

Whitford: I didn't care about the scene; I just liked her. But I think it was in that first episode that I realized [that] part of what was fun about the relationship was kind of an Archie-Edith [Bunker] thing. Archie always thought he was the smartest guy and was always trumped by Edith, who was the wise one. In our relationship, I was always the hotshot Washington kid who needed a lot of ego to function, and people assumed I was in charge--when the truth was I couldn't have done anything without her.

Back Stage: Donna is a great example of a character that began small but became a regular. Is there a key to making that smaller role stand out?

Whitford: Sleep with the writer.

Moloney: And the director. You have to have a lot of things going for you, because there are a lot of great actors out there. I had a real feel for this part that I felt very strongly about. I felt integral to the show. Part of my personality is just overestimating my importance to all things that I'm a part of. I think I wanted so badly to be a part of it that I was determined somehow. I was like, "No, I'm not leaving. Find a place for me." That said, there were a lot of things working for me. One was that we had this great chemistry. Another was that they needed the character to explain stuff and be kind of the chorus--and I don't think they even realized how much they needed that at first.

Whitford: She was sort of the Everyperson who was the audience's access to otherwise intimidating material. She was the voice of common sense and the one who wasn't totally co-opted and indoctrinated by the profession.

Moloney: That's true. I had other things going for me. One thing I really feel in retrospect that I did and always try to do as an actor is try to make it bigger than the material. I decided early on that this was a passionate, deep love relationship where my character was mad, head over heels in love. Because that's drama--that's fun. A little bit of love's not fun for anybody. And it's easy to play and there's always something you can go to if you ever have a question of how to play the scene. It expanded from there, it's not like that's all the character was ever about. But I think it made the relationship special because there wasn't really anything like that on the show. And you can't get rid of a hot, burning romance on your hit show. It was a very easy thing to do because we get along so great and we have such a good time together.

Everybody who's been on the show has been great. But whenever I see an actor come on the show who doesn't stand out, you realize it's because they're not elevating it and bringing something to it that's not in the script. Does that sound egotistical?

Whitford: No, I think what you're hesitating about saying is what I'm hesitating about saying. Because the carnage all around of great actors who don't have this kind of luck is heartbreaking. It's not like great playwrights come along and there are just no actors who are good enough to play it. They're waiting. There's so much talent out there.

But what you're saying is right. There's something about taking your character and yourself seriously. I think of Michael O'Neill [who played Secret Service Agent Ron Butterfield], who just came on with such conviction. He was just using all of himself from the first day he walked in and briefed the president on security. You were like, "This guy has a heart and a home, and this guy's for real."

Moloney: People who auditioned and didn't get on the show would say, "We were told to keep it fast and simple." I don't think that was ever any of our approaches.

Whitford: Here's a tip if you're auditioning for Aaron or Tommy: Get the lines down absolutely cold. Not so that you can fulfill their line reading, because they honestly don't really have it. But you treat them like a playwright. And the more secure you are with it, the freer you can be and the more you can make it yours.

I think being a guest star on an ongoing TV show can be a nightmare, and I've done it a lot. You're walking into this family who's very comfortable where they are, and you have to jump on the train and be artificially comfortable. That's a very hard thing to do. Preparation is key. The more ready you are, the more relaxed you'll be. It's the same with auditions. You have to know that 99% of auditions you're not going to get.

Moloney: That's low.

Whitford: I think the best way for me to go into auditions psychologically was to say, "You're not going to get it. This is the only acting experience you're going to have with this material."

Moloney: "This is your job."

Whitford: Because then instead of it being the purely psychological damaging thing that auditioning is, you can look at it as experience. And that you can control. You can't control whether or not these morons cast you. And I say that with love.

Back Stage: What has helped you through the leaner times?

Whitford: My dear friend Jack Daniels.

Moloney: I was going to say that.

Whitford: It's hard. There's no way to be any good and not take it personal. There's no way to have a level of commitment that will take you to a good place as an actor where you can just let it go. The hardest thing about being an actor, for me, is that if you are the 0.00001% of individuals who wants to do it, you're a freak. And you're an assertive freak. Though actors are often shy, there's this tremendous assertive extroversion in you somewhere.

Moloney: Like the part of me that said, "I'm integral to this show." It's almost a little crazy--and you almost have to be a little crazy to think that anybody's going to want to pay a hundred dollars to watch you get up on a stage and jump around for two hours.

Whitford: There's this slow-motion car wreck between this assertive quality and this business that renders you totally passive. And I don't think there's a resolution to it.

Moloney: As Robert Duvall said, "Hobbies, hobbies, hobbies." Which I think is true and the healthy way. I got so hurt so many times; I was so heartbroken and devastated. You have to put your heart and soul and body and time into a role and do the best you can and have real criteria for what your work is and cultivate that. The other stuff, you just have to let it go and know that that's not your business. Getting a job is not your business. Being the best you can is.

I never felt like it was rejection, in a funny way. I was just pissed because I wanted the job. And it's actually kind of a healthier way to be. I joked before about being so entitled and feeling I was a part of this. I remember Aaron used to say to me, "Janel, I couldn't get you in the script." And I would be furious. I couldn't believe it. I still, to this day, won't get roles, and I think it's insane. You might be delusional and overly supportive of yourself, but at least you're not blaming yourself.

Whitford: You have to tell yourself they're wrong. The other frustrating, crazy thing about being an actor is that it's not like you're trying to play the violin in the New York Philharmonic and you're just not making it. When you're auditioning and your career is nowhere and you're just not getting it and then you go and see the movie you went out for and it stinks. So you're aspiring to something that stinks most of the time. I finally made this deal with myself that I wouldn't panic about an audition until I had really prepared the scene. Because by the time you're prepared, you'll be past most of your panic.

Moloney: I decided after West Wing that I have really had the most incredible seven years of my life and I love my work and want to keep doing it. So I sat down and said, "What's the best way for me to do this profession and not have it hurt?" I decided the only way I could do it was to not be a perfectionist and have a good time and not be resentful or angry at people. It's tricky because I had to go right out there as if I never had a show and sit in the waiting room and go in and fall on the floor and take chances. At first it was really hard. Then I decided, "This is what I do." So I can sit around and hate these people for wanting me to prove that I can do whatever their role is, even if I can do it my sleep. But I thought, "I'm going to do it humbly, graciously, and with a certain amount of fun." Okay, fine, so I haven't gotten a job since I made that decision, but I'm having a good time and I feel I'm approaching it in the most healthy way possible.

Back Stage: What was the biggest challenge of being on the series?

Whitford: Early on I was always embarrassed because I felt so obscenely lucky as an actor to have a job this great that was commercially successful, and I didn't acknowledge that it's an adjustment. And even though you're lucky, you have to deal with those adjustments. Certainly in physical ways, you have to be careful. We were exhausted and going without sleep. There's this silent carnage of the unfucked wives and the children unread to. And you don't want to complain because the crew's working harder than you and you're getting to do something you love. But it's relentless.

Moloney: I think the hardest part for me was, there was a real inconsistency over the years with how much I got to do on the show.

Whitford: Right, you were often in a state of uncertainty.

Moloney: One week I would be just the secretary, and next week I would have this spectacular part. It was much more of a swing for me than any other character. There wasn't really anything I could do about it.

Whitford: You did, though. You advocated and they took you seriously.

Moloney: I know now that one of the most difficult things about running a show is servicing all the actors you love and know are really talented. The guys I know who run shows are desperately unhappy about it.

Whitford: I know from my dabbling in writing that when you write something, all the actors are like, "Am I in it?" And you can tell that they're hurt.

Moloney: One of the wonderful things about this show is that I got more and more to do as time went on, and that felt like such a compliment to me. I could be a hard character to work into the story lines because I wasn't one of the policy people. So thank God for Brad, because I was always in his story lines. In retrospect, I'm sorry that I did take it so hard. There was just such a passion and desire to participate, but I wish I had just gone skiing and not worried about it and had a little more fun.

Whitford: That's the other thing about being an actor: When I was struggling, I was always distracted by my own failure. I was too unemployed to read a book. You don't do the things you could have done, because you're obsessing over it.

Moloney: You could have written 10 books.

Back Stage: Is the ending of the show difficult or somewhat of a relief?

Whitford: The whole ending of the show was put into perspective when we lost John [Spencer]. A TV show is kind of puny compared to how we were feeling. It's funny: People come up to me and say, "Are you okay?" It's not like I have leukemia. My hit show just ended. I'll be okay.

Moloney: I felt really nervous for the show to be over because I thought I was going to be insane. I thought I would be at sea and not know who I was anymore. We all saw the end coming for a while, so I think that really helped. And I had so much wonderful stuff to do that it was a nice, strong, satisfying ending for me. But shockingly, I feel fine. And I'm surprised about it. That's typical of me: I'll feel horrible while the show is going and then fine when it's over.

Whitford: There was also a sense that ultimately we got a perfectly sized, complete run.

Moloney: It had a very organic beginning, middle, and end.

Whitford: There was no possibility of looking back at the end and feeling we missed something.

Moloney: You feel like you got the most incredible gift, and you would be completely ashamed of yourself to just not honor it. I'm excited I had the experience, not sad that it's over. And I'm looking forward to bringing all the stuff I learned on West Wing to someone else.

Moloney: I told Josh Malina, who's so mean and funny---

Whitford: Please tell everyone Josh Malina is a terrible, terrible actor.

Moloney: He asked what I was going to do after the show, and I said I didn't know, and he said, "What are you going to do? Take a year off and not do movies?" But I can't worry about it. The best advice anybody ever gave me was to say, "It's not your business."

Whitford: The best advice I ever got was from George, my 6-year-old son. He said, "Try your best without making yourself crazy."

Back Stage: And what's up next?

Whitford: I shot the pilot for Aaron's next series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Moloney: I'm auditioning, auditioning, auditioning. Trying my best to do my best without making myself crazy.

Posted by Jo at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

D.C. bids its 'Wing' farewell

Residents recognized themselves in show

By DANIEL DE VISE
The Washington Post

W
ashingtonians gathered around televisions Sunday night for the series finale of The West Wing, a program from a parallel universe in which the president is named Bartlet, terrorists come from Qumar and no one in the White House is allowed to finish a sentence.

The NBC program was television's homage to Washington, from its regal theme music and iconic imagery of the city to its celebration of leaks, news briefings and spin control.

Viewing parties popped up across the region. West Wing was, in many ways, a home-town show, as Cheers was for Boston and Seinfeld for Manhattan. For some, it was a little too close to home.

"It was exactly like watching work," said Adam Levine, a communications specialist in the District who was an assistant White House press secretary for two years under President Bush. "You'd sit there and you would have just come out of a meeting in the Roosevelt Room, and you'd flip on the show and they are all sitting there having a meeting in the Roosevelt Room."

The show wasn't necessarily water-cooler material inside the real West Wing, Levine said. But it was a beloved weekly ritual for many former West Wingers, some of whom, such as Levine, consulted for the show's writers.

The general consensus among fans, insiders and TV critics is that The West Wing began as a riff on the Clinton administration.
Jennifer Palmieri, a press aide during the Clinton years, recalls when the real West Wing learned of an early concept for the show.

"We heard it was going to be about a young former Southern governor who was divorced and had a 13-year-old daughter. Does that sound familiar? Except for the divorced part," she said. Producers ended up giving the fictional president a New Hampshire background and three daughters and patching up his marriage.

Palmieri, who lives in Alexandria, remembers when the cast came to visit their counterparts in summer 1999: John Podesta, Clinton's chief of staff and Palmieri's current boss, hung out with actor John Spencer; Press Secretary Joe Lockhart paired off with Allison Janney. But she stopped watching the show after the 2001 season because "when Gore lost, it was like being at your ex-boyfriend's wedding, every week."

Some of the program's best moments transcended partisan politics, as when, in a recent episode, victorious Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos, played by Jimmy Smits, offers to make his vanquished foe, Alan Alda's Arnold Vinick, secretary of state.

Ultimately, The West Wing was not a program about politics, he said.

"I was always trying to write the best drama that I could write for television," O'Donnell said. "If it had been a politics show, it wouldn't have lasted a season."

Posted by Jo at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)

'The West Wing' Leaves Office With a High Approval Rating

By John Maynard
Washington Post

"The West Wing's" final season in office might have been a tough one in terms of ratings, but the show ended on an upswing.

The NBC political drama, which bid viewers farewell Sunday night, drew its biggest audience of the season: 10 million watched Martin Sheen's President Bartlet fly back to New Hampshire while Jimmy Smits's President Santos settled into the White House.

"The West Wing" averaged 8.1 million viewers this season, far from the glory days when it drew more than 17 million.

"Malcolm in the Middle" also left the airwaves Sunday to its season's best numbers. The show, which was averaging less than 4 million viewers, attracted 7.4 million for the finale. To boost "Malcolm's" fortunes, Fox aired the finale after "The Simpsons" instead of its regular 7 p.m. time slot.

CBS's "Survivor" franchise closed out its 12th installment with an audience of 17.1 million, the reality show's smallest season finale yet. The show suffered early this season when it went up against two other reality-show hits: ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and Fox's "American Idol," which, during its first weeks, aired opposite "Survivor."

In the battle of dueling magicians, David Blaine burst Keith Barry's bubble. Blaine's breath-holding exercise May 8 in front of Lincoln Center attracted 10 million rubberneckers for ABC; Barry's celebrity-laden, card-trick and sleight-of-hand fest Friday night on CBS mustered just more than half that number.

In the network news wars, "CBS Evening News" was No. 2, ahead of ABC's "World News Tonight" for the first time in five years. The Bob Schieffer-led newscast, soon to be anchored by Katie Couric, averaged nearly 7.4 million viewers, just 80,000 more than ABC. NBC's "Nightly News" was first again, with 8.4 million.

The week's top 10 programs, in order, were: Fox's Tuesday and Wednesday "American Idol"; CBS's "CSI"; Fox's "House"; ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives"; CBS's "CSI: Miami," "Without a Trace," Sunday's "Survivor" finale and Thursday's "Survivor."

Posted by Jo at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

Saunders: 'West Wing' ends seven-year term with integrity

by Dusty Saunders
Rocky Mountain News

As inauguration day dawned, Abigail Bartlet grabbed her husband's hand, telling him, "You did a lot of good, Jed . . . a lot of good."
The scene between Stockard Channing and Martin Sheen was one of many poignant segments when NBC's The West Wing ended its seven-year TV term Sunday night.

As a weekly series, The West Wing did more than "a lot of good."

It displayed a lot of quality, showing that weekly dramatic network television can survive and thrive on story lines dealing with words, ideas and personal relationships.

Not every series has to highlight carved-up corpses, gun-toting crazies and performers whose claim to TV fame is hunky bodies and visible bosoms.

Need a word to describe this Emmy-winning series?

How about integrity?

The finale, written by Denver's John Wells, the executive producer during its entire run, was in keeping with the show's tone.

The hour concentrated on the peaceful transition from Bartlet's administration to the new one under President-elect Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits).

There were no phony histrionics or unrealistic plot devices.

Wells' intelligent, well-coordinated script centered on the human element involving the emotional changing of the guard.

The reflective Bartlet camp was clearing out of the White House as the enthusiastic Santos people were moving in.

In a marvelous bit of production juxtaposition, scenes showed workers removing Bartlet's belongings from the Oval Office, while the Santos inauguration ceremonies were under way.

The sidebar story line, built up through the final season, dealt with the future of Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), Bartlet's presidential adviser who had leaked classified information during a conscience-stricken move.

Zielger - fired, tried and indicted - was facing a prison sentence.

President Bartlet, following agonizing moments of deliberation, signed a presidential pardon.

Of course such a decision was inevitable. This was fictional, happy-ending television.

But of equal importance, the story line was in keeping with Bartlet's character.

And the successful key was how the pardon was handled.

The script did not contain pandering scenes of Ziegler's reaction, or, heaven forbid, an unrealistic meeting between Bartlet and Ziegler.

There will never be another network series like The West Wing.

Such an assessment is based on the pragmatic world of network television and the show's onscreen quality.

Throughout network history, political dramas have been an anathema for network programmers for all the obvious reasons.

The West Wing entered the TV scene when the current extreme political polarization was building.

The fact a liberal-oriented series thrived and survived in the audience ratings in a hostile political climate indicated that some "passionate conservatives" respected the quality of a series that depicted White House life from more than just a political viewpoint.

Most characters had personalities and relationships that transcended politics.

Through the years the series introduced political villains - Democrats and Republicans.

Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), the liberal Republican senator from California, originally was scheduled to win the election. But the death of John Spencer, who portrayed Leo McGarry, Bartlet's former chief of staff and Santos' running mate, changed the script.

The decision by Santos to name Vinick as secretary of state was anything but an outlandish political reach.

Network television will always feature "presidents" in their espionage series as either heroes or villains (think 24) as secondary characters.

Some have pointed to ABC's Commander in Chief, which faces cancellation, as a successor to The West Wing as a thoughtful presidential drama.

But even during its brief glory days last fall, the Geena Davis drama never displayed the depth of The West Wing.

Some critics feel The West Wing lost part of its power when co-producer Aaron Sorkin left in 2002.

While there was a brief decline in script quality, mainly in dialogue, The West Wing never lost its overall focus.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews put The West Wing in perspective, noting the series provided a vision of what many Americans of various political stripes hope could happen in the White House.

That was the power of The West Wing.

Posted by Jo at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2006

Taking Wing from ‘The West Wing’: Allison Janney

by Scott Huver
New York Post

It’s time for a transfer of power in the Oval Office—at least on TV—as the groundbreaking political drama The West Wing finally says goodbye after seven seasons on the air. But don’t feel too sorry for Allison Janney: Even though she’s out of a job, the towering actress took home four Emmys in a five years span for her portrayal of White House Press Secretary (and later Chief of Staff) Claudia Jean “C.J.” Craig, got famous, delivered dome of the most whip-smart dialogue in TV history, got engaged and, she tells Hollywood.com, had the time of her life.

Hollywood.com: You’re at the end of a pretty phenomenal run with The West Wing. What’s next for you?

Allison Janney: I think now, I take a breath. I very much want to get back to Broadway, I want to do theater, I want to do movies and I’d like to take a break though and find my passion again because this has been an exhausting thing doing this show. It’s been so wonderful but I’d like to visit my family and get to know them again. Maybe take care of my relationship, my personal life, my friends.

HW: Was this going to be the last season no matter what?

AJ: I think so. It was ready, and then John [Spencer] dying, I felt, I can’t go on. I don’t want to. He’s my buddy, John and Brad [Whitford] and Richard [Schiff] and I had a special relationship, the four of us. It’s tough. I hate to see it go because it’s been so glorious. We don’t like to think of it as canceled. We like to think of it as reaching its conclusion and going off the air. I think we all knew, that when they changed our time. Maybe it’s a good thing. I don’t know, I guess we started to feel like maybe this is the end, and then as I said, when John died we all just felt that we all didn’t want to go on anyway, so it feels right. We’re all ready to move on. It’s sad, but…

HW: What happened to the show, in your view? Why did it lose momentum?

AJ: It was reality TV, that really put a dent in us the first time we saw slips in our ratings—The Bachelor was the first thing that dug into our ratings. That and the transition from Aaron going, getting our feet there and finding our way again.

HW: What would your career have been like without The West Wing?

AJ: At the time I got West Wing I was doing American Beauty and Nurse Betty, both those movies at the same time. Who knows? I probably would have continued doing movies. I think it would have been fine, it just would have been different. Now this has propelled me into that other category of celebrity, whatever that means. Sometimes I think it hurts you, sometimes I think it helps you in terms of the next role. People tend to typecast you. But thankfully I’ve done enough different roles in the past.

HW: What want to swipe from set as souvenir?

AJ: The president has these beautiful glass paperweight bowls on his desk that have beautiful things in them, and I want one of those. I’ve got to get a lot of White House pens. I love CJ’s chair in her office. And also a lot of my wardrobe. I have beautiful clothes—Armani suits and Max Mara, Calvin Klein.

HW: Will they let you take what you want?

AJ: I don’t know if they’re gonna know about it! They’ll probably let me have some things.

HW: Has doing this show made you political?

AJ: I’m definitely more aware. I’m not like Brad, on that level. He’s pretty involved. I am interested, but I don’t know if I can give up my life and go out and…Martin [Sheen] gives so much.

HW: When they changed your position on the show, how did things change for you?

AJ: It was more difficult. I didn’t have as much fun because of the responsibility. As press secretary it seemed that there were more chances for her to mess up and have fun. And as Chief of Staff she had to be in charge and delegate. I kept telling the writers, ‘I want her humor to come through more.’ I didn’t want her to just become the authoritative delegator. What’s so interesting is that our lives after West Wing are meshing. Every scene is sort of coping with that question.

HW: Where would you like to see CJ end up?

AJ: Where do you go after Chief of Staff? Maybe she’d work for another president some day. I think she’ll get married, have a dog. I think she wants to be the woman behind the curtain. I don’t think she wants to run for office. She could head a corporation. She’s very smart. There’s no end to what CJ could do.

HW: You had less romantic luck on the show than some of the others.

AJ: All of CJ’s lovers tend to spontaneously combust. I always thought Richard Schiff and I always had something going. I would have liked that. And there were a couple of guest stars I wouldn’t have minded. I loved my storyline with Mark Harmon. I loved that.

HW: They had to make set elements like the Oval Office desk and chair bigger on Commander in Chief for Geena Davis because of her height. Did they ever do it for you, or just tell you to duck down?

AJ: No. We have a lot of tall Secret Service men, and Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits are all tall. It never was an issue. Our costume designer always put me in heels, and sometimes I’d end up in fuzzy slippers anyway. I’d say, ‘can you see my feet?’ If they can’t I wear fuzzy slippers. It’s been hard being tall, but…

HW: Being so statuesque hasn’t seemed to hinder you.

AJ: It hasn’t yet, thank God.

HW: We love when you have scenes with tiny Kristin Chenoweth.

AJ: I wish we had more scenes together. Brad wrote that episode where I said, “Are we from the same species?”

HW: Was it harder being tall when you were younger?

AJ: I think so, I never had a date till I was in college because I was taller—at least that’s what I think it was.

HW: Did you always sit in the back of the class?

AJ: Yes, the back. And at the apex in the group pictures. Now I love it. It’s a commitment, though, because I love to wear heels, too. So I’m always impossibly tall.

HW: Do you have trouble finding shoes?

AJ: Not any more. A lot of people have size 11.

HW: Would you do another series?

AJ: Yeah I would, probably not another hour drama, at least right away. I want to see my family. I want to have a life a little bit. But it’s been the best job of my life so far. I can’t imagine doing another hour drama right away. I’ve always been interested in half hour comedy. Those were my roots before anything else, comedy. So if it comes along I definitely wouldn’t turn it down.

HW: Any projects on the horizon

AJ: Yes I do have some things, some plays. Nothing I’ve committed to yet, because I don’t want to commit to anything. I want to have a month at least to sit and relax and start thinking about it.

HW: And after a year of engagement, will you finally squeeze a wedding into your schedule?

AJ: I know. We’re not married yet and I think we’re finally going to do it. It’s been so difficult to plan it. It will be so nice to finally get married and take care of my man and take care if my dog and my mom and dad.

--Reporting by Gerri Miller

Posted by Jo at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

'West Wing's' absence will leave us a bit less satisfied

By Mary McCarty
Dayton Daily News

Is it possible to miss people you never knew — people who, in any real sense, never existed at all?

After watching Sunday's final episode of The West Wing, I understood that it's more than possible. It was like saying goodbye to a group of intimate friends with whom you won't even have the chance to exchange Christmas cards.

I was smitten with The West Wing from the beginning. I was drawn in by the literate dialogue and clever scripts and the fantasy of a president as endlessly quotable as Josiah "Jeb" Bartlett. But most of all, it was the three-dimensional characters with all their quirks and foibles and complex motivations and the uncanny sense that you've known them all your life.

But surely I understood the difference between fact and fiction. So why was I feeling so anxious and blue before Sunday's final episode?

It didn't help that the commercial breaks were dominated by melodramatic previews for the season finale of ER (a shootem-up in the emergency room. Yeah, right, happens all the time.) "Oh, please, please, don't let anything like this happen to my characters," I pleaded.

That's when I realized it: I had allowed myself to become emotionally involved with a television show. I was going to miss the Sam-and-Diane relationship dance of Josh and Donna, the loving combativeness of the first couple.

I wasn't the only Dayton-area viewer finding myself choked up. "I got a little teary," admitted Macy Janney, who watched her daughter Allison's final West Wing performance on Mother's Day.

Allison Janney, who grew up in Oakwood, rose to fame in the role of C.J. Cregg, Bartlett's press secretary and later chief of staff. Allison didn't give her mother any heads-up about the final episode. "I stopped asking years ago," Macy said.

So she watched with the same suspense as the rest of us. She savored the Hitchcock touch of the cameo appearance by series creator Aaron Sorkin. She appreciated the subtle, naturalistic conclusion to each of these characters' stories. No mass shootings, thank God. "It was bittersweet," Macy said.

She felt proud of what her daughter had accomplished with both this role and with her career, learning to balance her personal life with a role that often demanded 14-hour days. "C.J. was like Allison in her sensitivity, and in being a very caring person, but it was more buried with C.J.," her mother said.

Janney revealed her character's vulnerability more and more as the series progressed. NBC's back-to-back showing of the first and final episodes made it clear how Janney had transformed her ensemble role into the show's emotional centerpiece. Janney did more acting, with fewer words, than any actress I've seen in a long time.

Macy Janney said her daughter will miss the rest of the cast but is looking forward to new acting challenges. "Personally, I'd like to see her back on the stage," she said.

You don't need to be a proud mother to hope you'll see Allison Janney again soon, on any stage or screen.

But I'm still going to miss C.J. terribly. And I refuse to get emotionally involved with another TV show, never ever.

This thing with Boston Legal? Just a flirtation.

These folks aren't real, you know.

Posted by Jo at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2006

NBC turns to drama-heavy slate in bid for TV revival

By Paul Thomasch
Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBC, struggling for two years to replace retired blockbuster comedies, switched gears on Monday to unveil a new prime-time lineup heavy on drama, with a showbiz backstage series called "Studio 60" from the man who took viewers inside the White House on "The West Wing."

Trailing the three other major networks as it nears the end of its second post-"Friends" TV season, NBC is desperate for new hits to reclaim its longtime dominance in the ratings race for viewers most coveted by advertisers, those aged 18 to 49.

Now the broadcaster controlled by General Electric Co. has decided to bank its turnaround on a slate of six new dramas. These include "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" from Aaron Sorkin, whose previous TV creation, the landmark political drama "The West Wing," ended its Emmy-winning seven-year NBC run on Sunday.

NBC executives said new dramas have proven far easier than comedies for all the networks to get off the ground in recent years. Only one sitcom, "Two and a Half Men" on CBS, ranks among the top 20 shows most watched in prime time this season.

Sorkin's latest drama also is notable for an all-star cast that includes "West Wing" veteran Bradley Whitford and another familiar face from one of NBC's past hits, Matthew Perry, best known as Chandler Bing of "Friends."

They play producers struggling to boost the ratings of a fictional late-night TV sketch show. Popular film actress Amanda Peet co-stars as a new network executive they work for.

The show-within-a show formula also is the premise of a new comedy NBC plans to roll out next season, "30 Rock," starring "Saturday Night Live" talent Tina Fey as the head writer of a late-night TV variety show. Alec Baldwin co-stars in the show.

While Perry is returning to NBC's prime-time schedule in a drama, the network has pulled the plug on "Joey," the "Friends" spinoff of his former sitcom cohort Matt LeBlanc, due to anemic ratings. NBC also opted not to renew its high-profile Pentagon drama "E-Ring" with veteran movie actor Dennis Hopper.

Among the new series taking their place are a high school football drama "Friday Night Lights"; crime drama "Kidnapped," centered on the abduction of a teenage boy; and "Heroes," about a group of ordinary people who find they have super powers.

But "Studio 60" was the clear centerpiece of the 2006-07 schedule NBC showcased on Monday at New York's Radio City Music Hall, opening the so-called annual "upfront" presentations by the major networks for leading advertisers.

"Studio 60" also marks Sorkin's first big project since he left "West Wing" in 2003 amid reports of problems with production delays and cost overruns.

Although widely acclaimed as one of TV's most gifted writer-producers, Sorkin has struggled in the past with drug abuse. The Wall Street Journal reported that NBC executives addressed those issues in a meeting last fall and were reassured he was up for running a new series.

"Aaron's back on his game," NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly told reporters on a conference call. "He's in good health, and he's one of a kind."

Reilly also acknowledged that his network was "coming off another tough season." But he called it a "banner year for NBC development" and said executives have changed the way they approach the schedule.

"If we didn't examine ourselves over the past couple of seasons, I think we'd be nuts," he said.

Industry observers have taken a cautious stance on this year's upfront market -- the spring period when NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox typically book 70 percent to 80 percent of commercial time. Competition from other forms of media meant extra leverage for advertisers last year, when spending slipped about 2 percent to $9.1 billion. This year, revenue is forecast to come in again at the $9.1 billion mark or slightly less.

Executives from NBC also acknowledged on the call that the upfront market "doesn't look terribly robust" this year.

"Studio 60" also marks Sorkin's first big project since he left "West Wing" in 2003 amid reports of problems with production delays and cost overruns.

"Aaron's back on his game," NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly told reporters on a conference call. "He's in good health, and he's one of a kind."

"If we didn't examine ourselves over the past couple of seasons, I think we'd be nuts," he said.

Executives from NBC also acknowledged on the call that the upfront market "doesn't look terribly robust" this year.

Posted by Jo at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)

"West Wing" finale an emotional goodbye

By Barry Garron
Reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It came on with a bang seven seasons ago, startling viewers who could scarcely believe a TV series could be so smart, thought-provoking, beautifully written and well-acted, all at the same time.

And with the final episode of "The West Wing" on Sunday, it seems a safe bet that it will be a long time, if ever, before TV again tackles profound topics like politics as policy with as much dramatic mettle.

The series, a contemporary video version of President Kennedy's Camelot conceived by Aaron Sorkin and upheld by John Wells, went out with its head held high. Instead of tackling thorny issues with compelling explosive story lines, the finale was a long goodbye, filled with emotional moments that evoked the richness of the show's past. These included references to Leo McGarry, the character played by late actor John Spencer. His death in December seemed to foretell the lowering of the curtain on this much-honored yet oddly underappreciated series.

Clinging to tradition, "West Wing" imparted yet another important civics lesson before leaving the stage for good. This time, it demonstrated the efficient and orderly way power is transferred from one administration to the next. Perfect timing, considering it was broadcast on the eve of the "upfronts," the annual week of TV transition.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Posted by Jo at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)

The Political Party

Missing ''The West Wing'' already? Reminisce about the just-ended show with the cast and crew, who told Lynette Rice about its beginnings

Entertainment Weekly

Time to pack up the china and ship it to the presidential library — The West Wing has closed its doors forever. The often brilliant political drama never lacked in its ability to generate headlines, and managed to overcome impossible odds — the premature departure of creator Aaron Sorkin, a late-in-the-game critical backlash, and ultracompetitive time slots — to last seven years on NBC. Along the way, it won the best drama Emmy an impressive four times, a feat matched only by L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues. Not bad for a show that relied on the (rapidly) spoken word rather than violence, nudity, explosions, or high concepts to engage its viewers.

Before Josiah ''Jed'' Bartlet (Martin Sheen) ceded the Oval Office on May 14 to the country's first Latino president, Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) — oh, what we wouldn't give to watch his first 100 days! — EW asked the cast and crew to put down the fake policy papers and reflect on how The West Wing came together, from the early negotiations with NBC and the arduous casting calls, to Sorkin's uncanny ability to turn even the most mundane discussion about clean coal power initiatives into an oratorical work of art.

1. THE CAMPAIGN TEAM

In summer 1997, Sorkin — who'd written erudite mainstream hit movies like The American President and A Few Good Men — was readying his first TV script, ABC's Sports Night, when his agent suggested he meet with ER executive producer John Wells to discuss other opportunities.

SORKIN The night before the meeting, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman [A Beautiful Mind] came to my house for dinner and at some point wandered into my office where I had a poster from The American President up on the wall. Akiva said, ''You know what would make an interesting TV series? That.''

WELLS I'm always interested in ideas that sound impossible and haven't worked on the air before.

SORKIN I wanted to do a TV show about senior staffers at the White House. Our leaders are always portrayed as Machiavellian or dolts, so I thought I'd write about government leaders who are trying to do the right thing but who fail sometimes. I thought of it as a workplace drama — in an exciting place. Once I have an idea, it starts going very fast. I probably did The West Wing in about five days.

WELLS [Then-NBC Entertainment president] Warren Littlefield purchased the Wing script in the fall of 1997 under a deal I had with NBC. He had to make it by a certain time or give it back, but then he left.

SCOTT SASSA (NBC ENTERTAINMENT PRESIDENT, 1998-1999) My first day, I had a meeting with John Wells. John told us we've been sitting on [the Wing] script and if we don't do it, we wouldn't get his next project.

WELLS They were prepared to make Wing in exchange for me doing something they wanted: a companion piece for ER. I made it a condition of writing Third Watch that they also make The West Wing.

SORKIN I wanted to beat Akiva up. I couldn't believe what he got me into.

2. PRIMARY SEASON

In January 1999, Sorkin and director-exec producer Thomas Schlamme began casting Wing's fictional White House. Their administration: the Latin-speaking President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen), trusted chief of staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer, who died last year), cantankerous communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), sexy deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), poised press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney), feisty assistant Donna Moss (Janel Moloney), and handsome deputy communications director Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe, who would not comment for this article).

SORKIN John was the first person we cast. I had to change the character's name, which was originally Leo Jacoby. I pictured Judd Hirsch playing the part, but John was obviously Irish. The role of Toby came down to either Richard Schiff or Eugene Levy.

SCHIFF Eugene told me later that he listened through the door to my audition and since he couldn't hear anything, he thought he was a lock for the role. I started giggling at my own performance. But for some reason I knew I was going to get it.

WHITFORD Aaron told me he wrote Josh for me. Auditioning is hell on earth. Aaron said I hit it out of the park, but then I started hearing that I wasn't funny or sexy. So I auditioned again with Moira Kelly [who was later cast as political consultant Mandy Hampton] and was told she blew me out of the room. I definitely wasn't going to get it.

JANNEY I've always gotten parts who are strong and the glue of the family, so I related to C.J. right away.

SORKIN Allison ended up testing against CCH Pounder, who was fantastic. It was agonizing.

MOLONEY I read for C.J. first, and they said, ''Do you want to read for this smaller role? There's no guarantee or anything.'' I wore gray slacks and a black turtleneck to the audition...which became Donna's outfit for the entire seven years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goodbye, 'West Wing'

SHEEN

The role of President Bartlet was originally intended to last no more than six episodes. According to Sorkin, ''I was worried that if Bartlet was the main character in the show, the show would become about him, and I did not want to do what I did with The American President.''

SORKIN The first person we talked about to play the president was Sidney Poitier.

SCHLAMME It got far enough to find out what his fee would be, which was very high.

WELLS It was more than just his fee — he didn't want to do it. His manager told me to stop calling.

SORKIN Another actor we thought would be great was Martin Sheen. As soon as he said he wanted to do it, we called off the search.

SHEEN I signed on immediately, and went off because I [thought I] would be available for other work.

Sheen ended up staying for the duration of the series, and his contract was renegotiated not long after the pilot was shot. According to Wells, however, NBC still wanted another marquee name.

WELLS NBC wanted to know who else was in the cast. If we are going to make something this unappealing to the public, could we get a bit of a star to drive it?

SORKIN I remember coming into the casting session one day and seeing Rob's name on the sheet. We never said we needed a young, sexy guy because we felt John Spencer could fill that role [laughs] . But there was some difficulty making Rob's deal, so we thought it would be easier to find another actor to play Sam.

WHITFORD My agent called and said they were offering me Sam. I called Aaron and said, ''That's not who I am. I want to be Josh.''

JANNEY It was very much supposed to be an ensemble show, which I think Rob ultimately didn't like. But he had the most experience in TV and I was deferential to him. He was responsible for getting us big trailers.

3. ELECTION DAY

Lowe wasn't locked in until the day before production, a development that would ultimately portend bigger problems. (Lowe left the series during season 4 to seek out bigger roles.) Nevertheless, on the morning of March 29, 1999, the cast gathered to begin shooting the pilot on Wing's Burbank set, a gigantic glass maze that best exploited Schlamme's kinetic shooting style and Sorkin's snappy dialogue.

WELLS I remember how much the set cost because it was screamed at me in loud volumes: $1.2 million.

SORKIN Up until the pilot aired, no one knew that the abbreviation for President of the United States was POTUS. Sam says it at the beginning.

WHITFORD I thought it was some sort of sexual euphemism.

SHEEN I said, ''I don't really know how you want me to play this — and who is this guy, Jed Bartlet?'' Aaron said, ''He's you, Martin. You don't have to go anywhere. You just have to go inside.'' That's what I did.

MOLONEY During my first scene, Leo comes in and asks for Josh, so I turn around and scream ''Josh!'' without getting up from my chair. Leo replies, ''I could have done that, Donna.'' We did a couple of takes, and afterwards John said, ''You're going to be here until the curtain comes down. '' He was the first person to say that.

SCHIFF I had to recite all this aeronautical nomenclature to the stewardess on a plane after she told me to shut off my cell phone. It was the beginning of a tradition of both drinking in Allison's trailer and being ambushed with a four-page monologue that you'd have to shoot that day after lunch.

JANNEY Martin was always eating. I think he took the job for craft services, because he always had food in his mouth while they were trying to shoot.

4. THE INAUGURAL BALL

NBC and the producers fretted that nobody would watch Wing's Sept. 22, 1999, premiere — after all, this was a wonky, dialogue-heavy drama about the inner workings of the federal government. Their fears were allayed when Wing grabbed nearly 17 million viewers. The pilot went on to win three Emmys, and Wing soon became one of the most critically acclaimed series of its time.

SCHLAMME When we turned the pilot in, everybody was like, ''It's extraordinary. But can it be on TV?''

SORKIN The first time we screened it for the cast, the [feeling was] ''We did a great pilot, but we're not going to be able to do this every week.'' Yet these guys all came back determined to make every episode as good as our best. And they kept it up for seven years.

SHEEN At our worst, we were better than anything else that was out there. We knew it. We couldn't use the F-word. We weren't allowed any overt sexuality. We had no special effects. We depended on the text, each other, and the intensity of that. It was like Shakespeare.

WELLS All good shows get made accidentally. I'm very proud of The West Wing. It was extremely hard to get on the air and extremely hard to make. Every moment — from beginning to end.

Posted by Jo at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)

Exit, stage West

One reporter -- and former White House regular -- looks back as 'Wing' takes flight.

By Chris Matthews
Hollywood Reporter

Editor's Note: Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews" and the syndicated "The Chris Matthews Show," was a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and a top aide to former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill. He segued into journalism as the Washington bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner and also has written four best-sellers about politics. Last year, he appeared in "The West Wing" episode "Message of the Week" as himself, interviewing presidential aspirant Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda). Matthews recently shared with The Hollywood Reporter his thoughts about the ending of this unique program.

Tip O'Neill, my old boss, used to say, "Loyalty is everything in this business." He also used to say, "Timing is everything is this business."

He was right in both cases, of course, and he was especially right on the shining success of (NBC's) "The West Wing."

The show displayed the wondrous thing about working in the White House: the deeply personal loyalty of the staff for the man in the Oval Office. Anyone who has been lucky enough to work there knows the intimate truth of that fact. We are there for the president of the U.S. and our country.

The timing of "The West Wing" was also a winner. It came right in the aftermath of the Monica Lewinsky mess. Even for liberal Democrats, this was a tough time. But for all Americans, it was a time when we realized -- through an otherwise estimable president's misconduct -- the reverence we attach to the White House.

I'm talking about the office but also the place itself. I remember walking over from the West Wing through the basement of the Executive Mansion itself. As you passed the portraits of past presidents and their first ladies, the scent of the foliage and the paint -- both of which were forever fresh -- you were reminded anew that we were working in a place hallowed by history.

There were so many episodes of "The West Wing" when I have been reminded of such times, of the dedication of the people working there.

It is not precisely as it appears on-air, I must admit.

Those selected by the president to serve in such close quarters with him do not constitute a thoroughfare. Unlike the television version, the actual West Wing is not home to some endless troupe of unnamed people walking to and fro. In real life, it is a small maze of compact offices on three floors filled by an extremely limited number of top presidential aides.

In real life, the hallways and staircases are tranquil and surprisingly empty. The real West Wing exists, after all, for the convenience of one person who wants only those whom he needs and wants working close to him. As Niccolo Machiavelli prescribed, it would be unwise to have any but the most trusted in a position to question, much less criticize, his decisions.

But the power of "The West Wing" shines through this small matter of theatrical license. The show has worked all these years because it has been, at its heart, the genuine article: a saga of loyalty that came to us just at the right time.

Published May 12, 2006

Posted by Jo at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)

Backstage at the White House

And now, a look at some of the fine men and women who've been running NBC's fictionalized America for seven seasons
By Ray Richmond
Hollywood Reporter

Martin Sheen
In Character: Josiah "Jed" Bartlet

Sheen almost certainly is the only "West Wing" castmate whose next role will be as a student -- and a real one at that. At age 65, he'll be a collegiate man for the first time, enrolling this fall at the National University of Ireland, Galway, taking English literature, philosophy and oceanography courses. It's hardly the typical thing to do for a veteran performer coming off a seven-year stint playing the president of the U.S. But Sheen has little left to prove in his chosen craft and presumably has enough money socked away thanks to a job that has paid him upward of $300,000 per episode.

"Trust me, we had no idea when we started out that we'd be around this long," Sheen says. "We just didn't know if you could sell cars and insurance in primetime by projecting images and politics and issues. We were a show that had no fistfights or car chases, no bullets, no explosions. And we were confined mostly indoors with a lot of dialogue. But -- surprise! -- we pulled it off."

Timing surely helped, Sheen agrees, as the show premiered at the tail-end of the Clinton administration. "I think that gave us more freedom to project a vision of what we might hope for in our leaders and public servants," he believes. "We got to explore an awful lot of socially relevant issues, and you don't get to do that in TV terribly often. So all that I'm feeling right now is tremendous gratitude to have been able to play with this kind of team."

Stockard Channing
In Character: Abbey Bartlet

Channing remembers the first time she came into contact with "West Wing." Not yet hired for the show, she was watching the pilot episode in a hotel room and thought the show was "fabulous." Getting the call three weeks later to be on the series was a no-brainer. So, while the actress only was a recurring player during the drama's first two seasons, she finally would become a regular in Season 3.

"It may be a crappy thing to say, but I never thought the show would last," Channing admits. "I figured it was just too good. But it just goes to prove you should never underestimate or talk down to an audience. The production values on this show consistently remained so extraordinarily high that we all used to kind of marvel at it even as we were shooting it."

Most recently, Channing has been working in London as one of the recurring players in a production of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's "The Exonerated" and has shuttled back to Los Angeles for the finale. And while she'll be busy in the future, it's not the same as having a steady role on a long-running quality drama. "Even though we were expensive, we really earned our keep," she believes. "With economics in this business the way they are, it's going to be tough ever to achieve what we were able to achieve again."

Allison Janney
In Character: Claudia Jean "C.J." Cregg

No member of the "West Wing" cast -- and few series actors, period -- have been honored as regularly and resoundingly as has Janney. As Press Secretary-turned-White House Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg, she has been nominated for Primetime Emmys in five of the show's six seasons and has won four -- twice as lead dramatic actress and twice for supporting. Janney isn't shy about saying it: This show has been an utter revelation for her.

"This role, this show, will always be something I consider one of my proudest achievements," Janney says. "I had never won anything as an actress before this. To get the recognition has been incredibly overwhelming. But the true reward is to have been part of such a magical collection of writers and actors and directors."

Although Janney will be heard -- if not seen -- in a film that opens next Friday, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation's animated release "Over the Hedge," in which she supplies one of the voices, she admits, "Now, I'll have to go out and look for a steady job again. But the truth is, I'm kind of tired, and I have a home, a relationship and a dog to help me recharge my batteries before I find out what's next."

Bradley Whitford
In Character: Josh Lyman

It's easy to tell from chatting with Whitford that his emotions are running all over the map as "West Wing" ends.

"Everybody is very sad," says Whitford, who portrayed Deputy White House Chief of Staff-turned-presidential campaign manager Josh Lyman during all seven seasons. "It's so hard to unglue all of these years of intimacy. But you know, this show is too special to stretch the taffy too thin. It's time. That became clear after John (Spencer) passed away (last year). We all felt strongly that we didn't want to go on without John."

Whitford, a political animal in his personal life as well, emerges from this "greatest creative experience" he has ever had with a particular sense of pride about two things. One is his belief that the writers, producers, cast and crew never got to the point where they were simply going through the motions and mailing it in. The second is Whitford's contention that they all did some of their finest work during the difficult transition following the departure of executive producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme after Season 4.

"The expectation was that we always had to care a lot to make this show work," says Whitford, who has a role in the Sorkin-Schlamme pilot for NBC, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." "That level of dedication never fell off, from what I saw. Our reward is to be able to go out on our own terms."

Richard Schiff
In Character: Toby Ziegler

Until signing on to play White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler in 1999, Schiff had carved himself a nice little niche as a steadily employed stage thespian and film and TV character actor. But that part of his career life has been hindered by dint of his working as a regular on such a demanding series throughout its seven-year run.

"Not that I'm complaining," Schiff points out.

"For the most part, I've loved working with this cast. It's a great ensemble. I got to direct a few times. I won an Emmy. When you spend more waking hours with a group of people than you do your loved ones, they really do become your surrogate family. We'd be together 15-18 hours a day sometimes. It helps that I love all of those with whom I shared the trenches."

Yet, as much as he is grateful for the high-profile job and the doors the show has opened in terms of people wanting to work with him, Schiff is just fine with moving on.

"The truth is that I wanted to leave earlier," he says. "I'd been doing fine in the movies when 'West Wing' came along. A job this time-consuming obviously limits you greatly, though I was able to do (2004's) 'Ray' and (2002's) 'I Am Sam' during hiatus. I loved this. But seven years is a long time in a person's life. I'm ready to get back into warrior mode and relearn how to hunt."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alan Alda
In Character: Arnold Vinick

As if "West Wing" already didn't enjoy enough cachet as television's most-honored series, it earned an extra boost when it signed Alda in 2004 for his first regular TV role since "M*A*S*H" left the air in 1983.

"I never really thought about it in terms of going back to TV," Alda says. "The material I got to do on 'West Wing' was as good as anything I've done in film. The actors, the directors, the writing, the production values -- they're all first rate. And it was fun coming onto a moving train. We made the same thing on 'M*A*S*H,' adding people, replacing people. It always gave us a shot in the arm."

Is this the right time for the show to leave the air? Alda figures that it is, arguing that "everybody wants to go out before they run out of steam. And I think we still have plenty. There's almost no end to the stories you can tell about the White House." But that doesn't mean he won't miss it. "I got to work with such sensational people. It was an honor. But, you know, weekly TV takes a lot out of you. My plan now is to sleep for three months."

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Jimmy Smits
In Character: Matthew Santos

Although he was a part of the "West Wing" cast only for the past two seasons in the memorable role of Congressman (and President-elect) Matthew Santos, Smits boasts a claim to fame that might just be unprecedented. He has been a regular on three different primetime hours -- "L.A. Law," "NYPD Blue" and now "West Wing" -- that have won Emmys for outstanding drama series.

"Well, that's just luck, pure and simple," Smits says. "They didn't need me. They had a deep bench. But I'm proud to have been able to contribute."

It piqued Smits' interest to work on a show in which he would have a chance to run a presidential campaign, and he believes it "really upped my game as an actor."

And now, it's time to say goodbye, which Smits is none too pleased about. "I'm not sure what it says about the TV landscape when a topical show that hasn't lost its luster at all is forced to drift away. But I'm glad we're ending on a high note. This show surely deserves it."

Alan Alda
In Character: Arnold Vinick

Jimmy Smits
In Character: Matthew Santos

"Well, that's just luck, pure and simple," Smits says. "They didn't need me. They had a deep bench. But I'm proud to have been able to contribute."

It piqued Smits' interest to work on a show in which he would have a chance to run a presidential campaign, and he believes it "really upped my game as an actor."

Posted by Jo at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)

Finale: 'West Wing'

In seven seasons and two terms, 'The West Wing' rewrote politics on television -- and gave Americans an administration worth looking up to.

By Ray Richmond
Hollywood Reporter

When NBC's "The West Wing" ends its two presidential terms with Sunday's series finale, it won't be just another show putting out the "closed" sign. Throughout its 156 episodes, "West Wing" has held office during one of real-life America's more contentious and controversial periods -- and attempted to mirror parts of that reality back to its viewing audience -- while stepping through another kind of minefield: the politics of television.

Until "West Wing" surfaced in 1999, no series in the history of scripted TV entertainment had really made a go of telling an inside-the-White-House story. The president was merely a gray, shapeless figure onto whom dialogue beyond the most basic of orders was rarely projected; his staff seemed almost impossible to imagine as flawed, striving human beings. But the Warner Bros. Television-produced hour has proved through the years that it is possible to be artful and innovative with a subject as dry as politics -- while reinventing the ensemble drama in the process.

Creator, executive producer and -- for many of the show's episodes -- writer Aaron Sorkin already had enjoyed success with his humanistic approach to the Oval Office in his screenplay for 1995's "The American President." Plus, developing the concept for the small screen would give him a place for all of his unused plot elements.

"Television tends to cling to the artificial rules of drama, if only because the real rules of drama are much harder to master," he asserts. "Twenty-five years ago, you couldn't do a show about a divorced person, a Jewish person or someone from New York. But those unwritten rules are made to be broken."

Breaking them is what Sorkin did, crafting an inside-baseball look at those who fight the good fight in the nation's highest office. Assisting him were Thomas Schlamme, his fellow executive producer and primary director, and a talented cast headed up by veteran leads Martin Sheen (as President Josiah Bartlet), Stockard Channing (first lady Abbey Bartlet) and Rob Lowe (Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn). Immediately, the show shot into the ratings top 20 during its first season, remaining in the top 5 thereafter as a Wednesday night network anchor.

Over the years, "West Wing" has received television's version of the Congressional Medal of Honor (a Primetime Emmy) 24 times out of 89 nominations (with 17 of those wins in its first two seasons alone, and four as outstanding drama). It also has carted off Golden Globe, DGA, SAG, TCA and WGA awards, three Humanitas Prizes and a pair of Peabodys -- all with a year of awards eligibility still remaining.

In 2003, the series managed to weather the disruptive and controversial exodus of Sorkin and Schlamme, which forced a midstream emphasis shift in the series from Sorkin's snappy dialogue and sharp banter to executive producer John Wells' more story-focused approach. Wells, who had previously demonstrated his writer-producer chops on the late-1980s drama series "China Beach" and NBC's current hit "ER," made it his life's mission not to drop the ball (or at least, not fumble it too badly).

"My real difficulty was trying to live up to the standards Aaron set for writing the show," Wells acknowledges. "He's one of our greatest living writers -- you don't just easily step into those shoes. I have to believe we've done pretty well under the circumstances. While I don't think we've done as well as Aaron did, at least we got to the runway without crashing the plane."

With any change that major, turbulence was expected -- and having the network move the show to Sunday night in 2005-06, which resulted in a drastic ratings drop, didn't help matters. But then again, the plane was never expected to get airborne in the first place. In 1999, a show about politics was a hard sell in a market that knew ratings could only be squeezed from cops, doctors, detectives or lawyers. But Sorkin didn't want to play it safe, and the larger story of "West Wing" is about revitalizing the serial ensemble drama. The series' seasonlong story arcs and its large and vibrant cast of appealing characters ultimately would allow the pendulum to swing back from procedurals and allow programs such as ABC's "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" to flourish.

Also notable in "West Wing's" style: the "walk and talk" device (pioneered by Schlamme), which continuously tracked in front of characters over long sequences as they strode down hallways and from room to room. It was a stylistic conceit borne out of Schlamme's refusal to allow scene cuts that relocated characters without explanation of how they got there.

"You almost never see how anyone travels from point A to point C (on most TV shows)," he says. "I wanted the audience to witness every journey these people took. It all had a purpose, even seeing them order lunch. It just seemed to be the proper visual rhythm with which to marry Aaron's words. I got lucky that it worked."

Luck, Schlamme adds, has been a proven factor in creating the "West Wing" phenomenon. "Shows that work are like needles in haystacks," he reasons. "If one ingredient goes wrong, it can transform a really great show into a good or even mediocre one. Something in the zeitgeist has to come together for you."

And luck aside, there also was Sorkin and his mighty pen. Prolific in an almost superhuman way, he wrote nearly every episode during the show's first four Emmy-winning seasons (87 scripts in all), crafting an unabashedly idealized depiction of a virtuous Democratic administration that inspired some to dismiss the show as "The Left Wing."

"I wanted the show to define patriotism as something other than a bumper sticker," Sorkin recalls. "I also wanted to give a little sex appeal to the idea of trying to do the right thing. We were used to our leaders being portrayed in popular culture as either Machiavellian or complete dolts. It was nice, I think, to see them once a week as extremely capable, hard-working, dedicated public servants who thought about the country before they thought about themselves. And they were funny. In its own way, it was very romantic."

Critics were nearly unanimous in their praise, despite a perception that "West Wing" carried an agenda that peered at the Clinton administration through a revisionist lens. The charge didn't diminish the notion that the show possessed the ambition, as well as the savvy, to turn political issues into compelling mainstream entertainment.

"It was pretty clear to us from the start that this show was going to be something unbelievably special," WBTV president Peter Roth recalls. "It has represented television at its absolute best: aspirational, educational, provocative, hugely entertaining and stimulating all at once. Reading one of the scripts for us here at the company was really like eating candy. A lot of shows have one or two elements nailed, but 'West Wing' had everything: great writing, brilliant story-telling, fascinating characters, superb acting."

But "West Wing" never promised anybody a rose garden: The show weathered salary holdouts among its regular players and the departure of original cast member Lowe in a financial dispute after Season 3. (He returned this campaign to reprise his role in several episodes.) And that, coupled with the creative exodus of Sorkin and Schlamme, made many believe the series would not survive.

Wells, however, has continued to keep the show interesting. He admits that this has been "the most challenging thing I've ever tried to do in my professional life," but the Wells era on "West Wing" has not been without its highlights -- in particular, this season's presidential election story line and November's much-praised live debate episode featuring candidates Jimmy Smits (as Congressman Matthew Santos) and Alda (Sen. Arnold Vinick).

Hanging over the show during the past five months, however, has been the death in December of the beloved John Spencer, who so memorably portrayed Chief of Staff Leo McGarry. McGarry had served as Santos' running mate, and Spencer's passing (mirrored in the story line by McGarry's) spurred a plot change that found Santos winning the election rather than Vinick, which had been the original plan. The writers decided it would have been too tough on viewers for them to swallow not only the bitter pill of McGarry's death but a loss as well.

For NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly's money, the work of everyone on "West Wing" this year has been "as fine as anything the show has done and as good as television gets. I'm so proud to have had this series on NBC because it honestly never checked its ambition at the door. It obliterated all of the beliefs about doing political drama -- that it's too complex, it's too dry, it's too inside, it's too talky. And it was also a great piece of wish fulfillment for the best of what our government can do and be. When the show was on my watch, John Wells kept the flow going and the quality high in such an impressive way."

As "West Wing" prepares to take its final bow Sunday, Wells appreciates that praise. While he is reluctant to take too much credit for his contribution to the show's legacy, he will allow that "the fans of the show are still enjoying it, and I think we've managed to live up to the basic premise that Aaron and Tommy originally laid down."

It has long been commonly acknowledged among cast and crew that "West Wing" might likely be the best thing they'll ever be professionally associated with -- a sobering yet comforting idea. At a second season staff meeting, Bradley Whitford (who plays Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman) noted, "Guys, no matter what we do for the rest of our careers, this show is the first line of our obituaries."

Today, Sorkin is perfectly comfortable with that idea: "I'd be very proud -- though also dead -- if that turns out to be true," he quips.

And like Sorkin, Wells also is comfortable with that concept. "We'll all remember and cherish this as a high point in our careers for the rest of our lives," he says. "When you start out in this business, you're never thinking about doing something that leaves a lasting imprint. You just want to be able to work, period. So, to be part of a 'West Wing' isn't just the cherry atop the career sundae. It's the whole sundae."

Published May 12, 2006

Posted by Jo at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

NBC Betting on Aaron Sorkin's New Drama

by David Bauder
Associated Press

NEW YORK - NBC is betting on Aaron Sorkin's new tale of backstage intrigue at a TV comedy show and three new serialized dramas to lead the network out of a ratings slump caused by its inability to develop new hits.

The network is revamping its Thursday night lineup, the linchpin of its "must-see TV" golden years, and hopes Sunday night football will also add strength to the schedule.

NBC finished a first-ever fourth in the ratings last year and is looking at a similar showing this season, with Howie Mandel's game show "Deal or No Deal" the only notable new success. That game will be on the schedule twice next fall, Monday and Friday nights.

NBC was the first of the broadcast networks, including the fledgling CW network that will start operations in September, to announce a fall schedule this week.

"In all candor, I think it's been a banner year in NBC development," Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president, said Monday. "We hit the gold mine this year."

That's what advertisers, who will commit to billions of dollars of commercial time over the next few weeks in the process known as the upfront, are most eager to see from NBC. Sorkin's show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is the most prominent new series.

Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing," brings Bradley Whitford from that series to his new show, along with Matthew Perry of "Friends" and Amanda Peet. It's about the turmoil and romance backstage at a network comedy sketch show, and NBC is telegraphing its importance by scheduling it at 9 p.m. on Thursdays - once the time slot of "Cheers" and "Seinfeld."

NBC also scheduled "30 Rock," a comedy that Tina Fey of "Saturday Night Live" wrote and stars in, about the backstage world of a network comedy. Reilly said he wasn't worried about two new similar series, saying the tone is very different.

"If they were two cop shows, nobody would waste a minute of breath on it," Reilly said.

NBC is moving its two promising Thursday comedies, "My Name is Earl" and "The Office," up an hour to begin at 8 p.m. While "ER" returns at 10 p.m., NBC won't air repeats of the long-running medical show. "ER" will split its run with a new drama, "The Black Donnellys," about Irish mobsters.

Three other new dramas the network will introduce in the fall are "Friday Night Lights," an adaptation of the popular book built around a Texas high school football team; "Kidnapped," a thriller about the abduction of a rich New York teenager; and "Heroes," about a group of people with superhuman powers.

The introduction of National Football League games on Sunday nights gives NBC strength on what has been a weak night. When football ends, NBC will bring back "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump in Los Angeles, and a talent show with Regis Philbin as host that is getting a summer run starting in June.

"Scrubs" and "Crossing Jordan" received full-season orders, although they are not on the schedule. That means each show will likely replace others that fail.

NBC is canceling the failed "Friends" spinoff "Joey," the sci-fi drama "Surface" and producer Dick Wolf's show about youthful prosecutors, "Convicted."

NBC's position as the first network introducing its schedule means it may make adjustments upon seeing what its rivals do in the coming days, Reilly said.

Posted by Jo at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)

‘West Wing’, first really successful show about politics, ends tonight

BY JEFF KORBELIK
Lincoln Journal Star

President Bartlet will go out to an ovation tonight in the series finale of “The West Wing.”

Not surprisingly, the scene in NBC’s award-winning drama was the last one filmed, according to executive producer Christopher Misiano, who directed the episode.

It’s Inauguration Day for Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), and Bartlet, played convincingly as always by Martin Sheen, walks the White House halls one last time.

As he does, staffers from around the building spill out of their offices and put their hands together for him.

“We decided quite consciously what would be the final scene we would film,” Misiano said in a phone interview from his office. “When we looked at the final episode, we thought, ‘Here is an appropriate piece to go out on.’”

The scene was filmed at midnight several weeks ago and culminated four long, emotional hours of shooting.

Misiano remembers at least 150 people standing with him behind the monitor, about 140 more than usual.

As Sheen made his exit, the applause carried over from the actors on set to those watching the scene play out.

It was accompanied by tears.

Lots of tears.

“It was an incredibly emotional moment,” Misiano said.

It’s easy to imagine viewers across the country getting off their couches and giving the fictional president a proper send-off as well.

After seven seasons, 90 Emmy Award nominations (and counting) and 25 Emmy wins (and counting), one of TV’s most provocative and acclaimed dramas is leaving the airwaves.

Why?

Waning viewership did it in. “West Wing’s” ratings have declined dramatically since creator Aaron Sorkin left the show three seasons ago.

Even this year, despite some of its most compelling storylines since Sorkin’s departure — a heated presidential election, the firing of a staffer and the death of vice presidential candidate Leo McGarry, the writers’ way of dealing with the real life death of series regular John Spencer — “West Wing” has become somewhat of an afterthought for viewers.

Heading into May, the final month of the 2005-06 season, the series is averaging just 8 million weekly viewers, ranking it No. 76 in Nielsen Media Research’s season-to-date numbers.

By comparison, ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” which airs the following hour on Sunday nights, is fourth with 22.1 million viewers.

“West Wing’s” numbers today are a far cry from the 2001-02 season when it averaged 17.2 million viewers to finish as the year’s ninth most-watched show.

That was the same year it earned a whopping 22 Emmy nominations and won five, including the third of its four straight best drama statues.

“West Wing’s” biggest accomplishment, however, may have been its first-season survival.

Why?

Unlike medicine or crime, politics just didn’t work on TV, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying.

Television’s modern-day landscape is littered with political dramas (and comedies) that lasted about as long as Harriet Miers’ bid to become a Supreme Court justice.

Remember “Mister Sterling,” the NBC drama starring Josh Brolin as the do-gooder son of a former California governor who was recruited to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy?

Didn’t think so.

Hoping to feed off “West Wing’s” success, “Mister Sterling” was a mid-season replacement in January 2003, but lasted only nine episodes.

Or how about “The Court,” the short-lived (three episodes) Supreme Court drama on ABC starring Sally Field?

Or the Hal Holbrook vehicle “The Senator” or George C. Scott’s sitcom “Mr. President”?

None of them won an endorsement from the viewers.

And now ABC’s “Commander in Chief,” which broke so well out of the gate, doesn’t appear to be long for this world. The network pulled the Geena Davis drama from its primetime schedule for the second time this season and will air the final three episodes in June.

That’s not a good sign, because May is a sweeps month when the networks put up their best stuff in order to lure advertisers.

So why did “West Wing” succeed where so many before it failed?

Misiano, TV scholar Robert Thompson and University of Nebraska-Lincoln political science professor John Hibbing have their hunches, ranging from Sorkin’s genius to Allison Janney’s acting to the fictional Bartlet’s universal appeal.

Thompson, for one, noted the political arena has been ripe for exploitation.

“The subject matter has so much potential for high drama,” said the director of Syracuse University’s Center for the Study of Popular Television who recently interviewed Sorkin for the Washington Post.

“It hasn’t been worn out,” he said. “It was really fresh material. The fact (‘West Wing’) was so brilliantly written and acted added to it.”

Indeed it did.

Sorkin, who penned the Tom Cruise/Jack Nicholson hit “A Few Good Men” and “American President,” created “The West Wing” around the time his first venture into television, the ABC comedy “Sports Night” (1998-2000), was hitting the skids.

Although both shows featured Sorkin’s now famous style — rapid, staccato-like dialogue and intense character development — “Wing” was the one to find an audience.

Why?

Because it was different and yet, in a strange way, familiar.

“It was about Washington politics, but it also was a show about a family — the president, his wife and his kids,” Thompson said. “There was a comedic element as well. There have been more laugh-out-loud funny scenes in one episode than some sitcoms have in an entire season.”

Remember when C.J. (Janney) had to decide which of two turkeys residing in her office would get the annual Thanksgiving Presidential pardon and which would go to the dinner table?

Or how about the time Sam (Rob Lowe) and Josh (Bradley Whitford) started a fire in the Mural Room, unaware that the chimney flue had been welded shut for more than 100 years?

“West Wing” also was ripped-from-the-headlines topical.

Staffers tackled weighty issues — strip mining in Montana, border disputes, Supreme Court nominees, ethanol tax credits, gays in the military, minimum wage increases — and made it interesting.

Misiano called it “wish fulfillment.”

“If you had to wish to for the perfect Washington, you would want one with people who had hearts in the right place going to work for you,” he said.

That’s why political scientist Hibbing believes “West Wing” found an audience. The show attached people to policy and made it interesting.

“We heard the pros and cons of welfare reform, and we would see Toby (Richard Schiff) fight for his angle,” Hibbing said.

And when there was a crisis?

“We got a good sense of the people involved and how they would react under pressure,” he said.

These characters had flaws. President Bartlet wasn’t perfect — he made mistakes such as hiding his multiple sclerosis from the American public.

Leo (Spencer) had a substance abuse problem, and Josh was workaholic unable to commit to personal relationships — it took seven years for him to finally hook up with Donna.

C.J. had a father with Alzheimer’s and a flirtation with a reporter — not a good thing when you’re the press secretary — and Sam fell for a call girl.

To tell these stories required a talented cast, most of whom were virtual no-names before “The West Wing.”

The drama debuted on Sept. 22, 1999, with Lowe as its only touted star. Sheen played more of a supporting role in the early episodes, including a late appearance in the pilot.

Misiano said people’s unfamiliarity with Schiff, Janney and Whitford helped them establish their characters and make an immediate connection. They didn’t carry baggage from another TV role.

“Richard Schiff was Toby Ziegler,” Misiano said.

Later, “Wing” had a knack for putting known TV actors in guest roles uncharacteristic for them, including several from sitcoms: John Goodman (“Roseanne”), Ed O’Neill (“Married With Children”) and Matthew Perry (“Friends”).

“I think it was kismet,” Misiano said of the casting. “You get this chemistry with these people. You just never know if it’s going to happen. It was just one of those things.”

“West Wing” writers and actors were quite good in making the characters appealing. Despite the occasional flaw, Bartlet came off as the ideal president, a decision-maker who was able to navigate the tumultuous partisan waters.

“He was,” Hibbing said, “too good to be true.”

All good things, however, must come to an end.

“The West Wing” survived what Misiano called hiccups — a real-life administration change, 9/11 — but it failed to bounce back from losing Sorkin and fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme, who are now collaborating on “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” a behind-the-scenes drama of a sketch-comedy TV show that NBC is expected to pick up for next year.

“Aaron had a much-beloved fan base, and it was a hard transition year,” Misiano said. “That first year, we were trying to figure who could write this and what we should be talking about.”

Thompson, too, blamed Sorkin’s loss for “West Wing’s” declining viewership. He was the “soul of the show,” he said. A timeslot switch — from Wednesdays to Sundays — didn’t help either, he added.

In the end, “West Wing” just wore out, although this season’s presidential election between Santos and Arnold Vinnick (Alan Alda) helped restore some of the drama’s luster.

“This isn’t like ‘The Sopranos,’ with 13 episodes and 21 months between seasons,” Thompson said. “They were churning out 22 episodes a year, and it got to the point where they kind of had done all the major themes and major character developments.”

Misiano said they would have enjoyed telling stories of the Santos administration as well as following Bartlet and his staff back into the private sector.

“But this feels like a very natural conclusion to the show,” he said.

There’s no doubt “The West Wing” will be remembered for years to come — thanks largely to syndication — but also for what it did: It was the first show about politics to really succeed.

Sure, it took liberties and sometimes was quite fanciful.

“But you can’t be too dismissive of that,” Hibbing said. “It wasn’t completely realistic, but it did a good job of making politics interesting.”

For that reason alone, Bartlet and his staff deserve their ovation.

Posted by Jo at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

'The West Wing' exits with dignity

By Matthew Gilbert
Boston Globe

Last night, after seven years of high-strung political drama, ''The West Wing" finally heaved a sigh. Famous for its huffing, puffing, and over-the-top twists, the NBC series said goodbye with an admirably restrained finale. The hour was a bittersweet coda with no big tears -- just a few heavily glazed eyes.

As President Bartlet and his staff moved out of the White House on Inauguration Day, a series of sad moments unfolded, none of which were milked shamelessly. Bartlet handed law-school-bound Charlie a worn copy of the Constitution. Bartlet opened a gift from Leo's daughter, which was the ''Bartlet for America" napkin Leo once used to get him to run. Bartlet and C.J. said farewell with not much more than significant eye contact.

The atmosphere was poignant, acknowledging the sorrows of the end of the Bartlet era but then turning toward ''Tomorrow," which was the title of the episode. ''Tomorrow" was also Bartlet's last word, after his wife, Abbey, asked him what he was thinking about.

Fortunately, the finale didn't need to resolve any big mysteries. Producer-writer John Wells has not been coy about how this series would end, once Jimmy Smits's Matt Santos won the election a few weeks ago. In recent episodes, we saw Josh and Donna finally relax into a sexual relationship and roles in the Santos administration. We saw C.J. choose Danny and turn away from the intensity of White House life. The only leftover question mark -- would Toby go to jail -- was answered last night when Bartlet signed a pardon shortly before leaving office.

And so the finale had the freedom to wind down, since we went into it knowing everyone's futures. Wells could let go of the show's trademark braininess in order to leave on a gentle note.

There was only one stunt, more accurately a stunt-ette. During the Inauguration, while Keb' Mo' performed at the podium, the camera caught the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, in the audience. It was a deserved nod to the man who made ''The West Wing" great, before leaving it in 2003. The hour also provided a glimpse of Sorkin's future, with a commercial for his fall series, ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," a dramedy about a late-night-skit show that will feature ''West Wing" star Bradley Whitford.

Last night's finale was preceded by an airing of the ''West Wing" pilot, since a series retrospective was scrapped after cast costs became prohibitive. Watching the pilot offered its own pleasures; it was fascinating to see just how complete Sorkin's overall vision of ''The West Wing" was from the get-go. Interestingly, Bartlet began and ended the series with a cane, first for a bike accident and later for his MS.

Certainly, the pilot's focus on Rob Lowe didn't last long, as Martin Sheen and other cast members, particularly Allison Janney, gained prominence. And the atmosphere got darker. But still, the show's intelligence, sincerity, levity regarding the media, and joy in democracy were well in place before the first commercial.

Posted by Jo at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)

`West Wing' gracefully bows out

by Sid Smith
Chicago Tribune

And so the Bartlet era ends.

For those who have no idea what that means, and as a reminder to fans who've drifted in recent years, the term of Josiah Bartlet, fictional U.S. president on NBC's "The West Wing," ended Sunday as the series finished its seventh and final season.

Though down in the ratings, "West Wing" left with grace, typically mixing the elusive thrill of grand politics with the familiar emotions of everyday life: an apt, affecting playlet about the prickly sweetness of change.

An amusing and wry Lily Tomlin, as outgoing presidential secretary, warned her successor, "At some point, the president is going to ask you to suspend his wife's [Oval Office] walk-in privileges. Don't do it. No matter how much he begs."

Seven years bequeath fond memories, for cast and viewers alike. C.J. (Allison Janney), the show's emotional center, leaving the realm of power, was asked by an ordinary citizen just outside the gate if she works in the White House. Clearly content, she confidently replied, "No."

Meanwhile, Bartlet (Martin Sheen), who pardoned errant Toby in the eleventh hour, pondered a framed napkin promising "Bartlet for America" while aboard his flight from Washington. When asked by his wife (Stockard Channing) what he was thinking about, he answered, smiling, "Tomorrow."

Posted by Jo at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)

City Says Goodbye to 'West Wing,' Its Chattier Self

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post

Washingtonians gathered around televisions last night for the series finale of "The West Wing," a program from a parallel universe in which the president is named Bartlet, terrorists come from Qumar and no one in the White House is allowed to finish a sentence.

The NBC program, which signed off its final broadcast at 9 p.m., was television's homage to Washington, from its regal theme music and iconic imagery of the city to its celebration of leaks, press briefings and spin control.

Viewing parties popped up across the region. "West Wing" was, in many ways, a home-town show, as "Cheers" was for Boston and "Seinfeld" for Manhattan. For some, it was a little too close to home.

The show wasn't necessarily water-cooler material inside the real West Wing; people there work just as hard as their counterparts on the program and they haven't the time, Levine said. But it was a beloved weekly ritual for many former West Wingers, some of whom, such as Levine, consulted for the show's writers.

"I watched the show early on and haven't missed an episode in the last two seasons," said Scott Stanzel, another former Bush White House spokesman. He stopped watching only during what he calls the show's "preachy period," in the middle of its seven-season run, when the left-leaning Democratic administration portrayed on the program went a bit "over the top with its devout liberalism."

In an Arlington apartment last night, six young Democrats watched the finale on a projection screen, after an "all-American" turkey dinner. The core of the group -- twin sisters Morgan and Lauren Miller and Christy Gill, all 22 -- began watching "The West Wing" three years ago with their Democratic club at the University of California at Los Angeles, and imported the tradition to Washington when they moved east.

Someone in the group noted how old everyone looked: NBC had replayed the show's 1999 pilot before airing the final episode.

"They're supposed to look old when they leave the White House," Lauren Miller responded. "Look at Bush; look at Clinton."

The general consensus among fans, insiders and TV critics is that "The West Wing" began as a riff on the Clinton administration. Critics say it continued down that path even as it strayed farther and farther from political reality, to the point that its fictional White House would find liberal resolutions to real-life problems faced by the right-leaning Bush administration. Some Republican detractors dubbed the show "The Left Wing."

Jennifer Palmieri, a press aide during the Clinton years, recalls when the real West Wing learned of an early concept for the show.

"We heard it was going to be about young former Southern governor who was divorced and had a 13-year-old daughter. Does that sound familiar? Except for the divorced part," she said. Producers ended up giving the fictional president a New Hampshire background and three daughters and patching up his marriage.

Palmieri, who lives in the Old Town section of Alexandria, remembers when the cast came to visit their counterparts in summer 1999: John Podesta, Clinton's chief of staff, hung out with actor John Spencer, his TV facsimile; Press Secretary Joe Lockhart paired off with Allison Janney.

But she stopped watching the show after the 2001 season, because "when Gore lost, it was like being at your ex-boyfriend's wedding, every week."

There are good reasons for the show's undeniable appeal to legions of Republicans, whatever its apparent Democratic bias.

Its accuracy in rendering real life in the West Wing was "jaw-dropping," said Levine, who was a consultant early in the series, down to "which staffers would talk to what people about what subjects, to what pins they would wear."

Do real-life West Wingers really talk as fast as the jabber-jaws who play them on television? No, said Levine: The real halls of power have "more the feel of a library." Yes, Palmieri said: "I don't think anybody ever finished a sentence in eight years in the West Wing, including Clinton."

Alda's character so eloquently expressed Republican views in the final weeks of the show that he changed some minds on the predominantly left-leaning writing staff, said Lawrence O'Donnell, an executive producer.

"It's Pat Buchanan's favorite TV show," O'Donnell said. "And that, for me, means that it's a very successful TV show."

Ultimately, "The West Wing" was not a program about politics, he said.

"I was always trying to write the best drama that I could write for television," O'Donnell said. "If it had been a politics show, it wouldn't have lasted a season."

Joel Bradshaw, a computer consultant to a defense contractor had "absolutely no interest in politics, or a show about politics," when he stumbled across a "West Wing" episode early on. The Fairfax resident was hooked by the plot lines, and "it got to the point where I planned my week around not missing an episode of 'West Wing,' " he said. "I've seen people around town with 'Bartlet is my president' T-shirts, and if I knew where to get one, I'd probably buy one."

Posted by Jo at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

'West Wing' Ends With Graceful Transition

'West Wing' ends 7 seasons with a graceful transition as President Bartlet leaves office

Associated Press

AP) It was an orderly transition Sunday night as President Jed Bartlet left office and "The West Wing" came to a graceful end.

After seven TV seasons (and two terms in his fictional White House), the heroic, quirky, often embattled chief executive played by Martin Sheen was succeeded by Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits). As the Bartlet administration came to its inevitable conclusion, so did the NBC drama.

"You did a lot of good, Jed, a lot of good," the First Lady (Stockard Channing) told her husband as Inauguration Day dawned.

Bartlet's mood at that moment must have matched many viewers': relief, satisfaction, gratitude and sadness that it was about to be over.

And later on, Abbie Bartlet said proudly, "Jed, you made it. You're still here" _ after the assassination attempt, his battle with multiple sclerosis, and the punishing duties of his job.

Sentiment hung heavy through the hour, both for the characters and the audience. In particular, former chief of staff Leo McGarry, who had died suddenly on the campaign trail as Santos' vice-presidential running mate, was repeatedly recalled (as was, implicitly, the late John Spencer, who played him until his death of a heart attack last December).

"I'm gonna take one final stroll around the joint, to make sure nobody's making off with the cutlery," Bartlet told his secretary (Lily Tomlin) after tending to one final presidential task: signing some pardons in the oval office.

Caution: Spoiler alert. Would he pardon Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), a trusted senior adviser who had leaked classified information out of conscience, then confessed; been fired, tried and indicted; and now was facing prison?

Though still torn between feelings of betrayal and affection _ well, of course, Bartlet pardoned Toby.

For the episode, a full-scale inauguration platform was erected, where the ceremony would soon begin as, back at the White House, Bartlet staffers watched coverage of it on their TVs and finished packing up.

Then, at 42 minutes into the hour, Santos took the oath of office. An era was over. So, remarkably, was the brief inauguration scene.

"Nice speech," the former president told President Santos (viewers will never know).

"No JFK," Santos replied.

"No," smiled Bartlet. "But you've got time. Make me proud, Mr. President."

"I'll do my best, Mr. President," Santos said.

And Bartlet was gone.

In the unseen Santos administration ahead, "West Wing" favorites Donna Moss and Josh Lyman (Janel Moloney and Bradley Whitford) will be part of the team _ and presumably will remain an item, a recent development after having been partners for years in TV's sexiest unconsummated, unacknowledged romance.

"The West Wing," which premiered in fall 1999, was the vision of Aaron Sorkin, whose genius was reflected in the pilot episode, repeated Sunday night just before the finale aired. Sorkin not only created the series, but wrote all the episodes for several seasons before leaving it.

Although a popular hit as well as a critical smash, the series in recent seasons dropped precipitously from its former Top-10 status and was canceled by the network.

Even so, this season's episodes have been strong, charting not only White House goings-on but also the campaign between Santos and his Republican challenger, Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda).

Viewers can be cheered that Sorkin will be back on TV: NBC has announced that his new series, "Studio 60 on Sunset Strip" will be on its fall lineup, with stars including "West Wing" alumni Whitford and Timothy Busfield.

And Sunday the final scene of "The West Wing" left the audience on a forward-looking note, too, even if expressed in a wistful tone.

"What are you thinking about?" Abbie Bartlet asked her husband as they flew back home to New Hampshire after the marvelous adventure they had shared with "West Wing" fans.

"Tomorrow," he replied.

___

Posted by Jo at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2006

Farewell to the 'Wing'

by Alan Sepinwall
New Jersey Star-Ledger

Sunday, May 14, 2006
"The West Wing" (Tonight at 8 p.m. on Channel 4) On Inauguration Day, Bartlet says goodbye and Santos says hello to the Oval Office in the series finale.

It'll never work, they said. No one wants to watch a political drama, they said. And even if they do, they added, you'll have to make every issue so simplified and middle-of-the-road to avoid baffling half the audience and offending the other half. Seriously, why bother?

The "they" in question weren't just the NBC executives who sat on Aaron Sorkin's "West Wing" pilot script for two years, convinced it would never fly. No, they included every cynic in the TV business who had shot down political series ideas in the past, and who all thought NBC was making a colossal mistake when they finally scheduled "West Wing" in the fall of 1999.

Whoops.

While the series that's ending tonight at 8 is a shell of its former self, for a few glorious years there at the turn of the millennium, it suggested the start of a New Frontier in television, an age when the best and the brightest could not only get on the air, but find a huge, adoring audience.

Much of the credit for that goes to Sorkin, a veteran playwright who had already warmed up for the material with his script for the Michael Douglas movie "The American President."

The year before, Sorkin had broken into TV with "Sports Night," a dramedy set behind the scenes at an ESPN-style cable network. Directed by Sorkin's future "Wing" man Tommy Schlamme, "Sports Night" featured many of the elements that would become familiar staples on the NBC show: warp speed banter being delivered on the move, flowery monologues and a sense of boundless optimism about what humans can accomplish when they give their best effort.

But the 30-minute quasi-sitcom format felt restrictive for both Sorkin and Schlamme. Just as each episode seemed to be building a head of steam, it was time for the closing credits. And while Schlamme's camera glided through the "Sports Night" set, the confined setting (characters were rarely seen outside the office) didn't let him really show off his visual sense.

That all changed with "The West Wing," which was twice as long and 10 times as ambitious. Sorkin brought his theatrical flair and Schlamme a cinematic eye to create a grand entertainment.

Consider the pilot episode, which NBC is rerunning tonight at 7 (and which will no doubt make the finale suffer badly in comparison). For the first three quarters of the hour, Sheen's President Bartlet is nowhere to be seen, referred to mostly in jokes about how he just crashed his bicycle into a tree. Then, as the hour is winding down, we see two top advisors, Richard Schiff's Toby and Bradley Whitford's Josh, in a shouting match with a group of fundamentalist Christians, including but not limited to a debate over the order of the Ten Commandments. When one of the fundamentalists asks what the First Commandment actually says, a door opens and in limps Bartlet, his voice booming, "I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other God before me." Then he flashes a grin and says, "Boy, those were the days, huh?"

Entrance lines don't get much better than that, do they?

The Bartlet-as-God theme popped up again in the series' tour de force episode, Season Two's finale "Two Cathedrals." Bartlet's beloved assistant Mrs. Landingham has died in a car crash after purchasing the first new car of her long life, and Bartlet -- already in a lather about a deadly storm and the public revelation that he had covered up his Multiple Sclerosis -- orders the National Cathedral cleared and locked so he can have a few choice words with the Almightly, including "feckless thug" and "son of a bitch." After some more angry ranting (much of it in Latin), he smokes a cigarette and grinds it into the floor of the cathedral out of spite. As the man vs. deity match ends with Bartlet's exit, Schlamme's camera soars up to the stained-glass window, which looks at that moment like the eye of God passing silent judgment on his most powerful subject.

The show didn't reach those Shakespearean heights on a weekly basis, but in the first couple of years, Sorkin, Schlamme and company elevated both the scope of what you could accomplish in a network drama and the level of political discourse on television.

In an early episode, "Mr. Willis of Ohio," speechwriter Sam (Rob Lowe) tutors press secretary C.J. (Janney) on the finer details of the census, while Josh and his assistant Donna (Janel Maloney) argue about what the government should do with a budget surplus; Josh wants to reinvest it in federal programs, while Donna wants a tax refund so she can buy a DVD player.

In discussing those issues, Sorkin found a way to lay them out in plain English without condescending to the audience, and did a more thorough job of explaining them than TV news had when the real White House dealt with each one. The episode's popularity emboldened Sorkin, who had his characters debate increasingly complex issues of the day while challenging the audience to keep up.

The Sorkin years had a clear left-wing slant, and there were times when he leaned too far. The fundamentalists from the pilot were cartoons, and as Bartlet's simple-minded re-election opponent, James Brolin was playing a straw man version of George W. Bush. But if conservatives couldn't stand the show, the fantasy of a Democratic leader with Bill Clinton's political savvy and Jimmy Carter's brains and ethics was so intoxicating to liberals that it didn't matter. The show's big early ratings proved that you could, in fact, alienate half the audience and still do well.

In those years, Sorkin was either writing or rewriting every episode, and the strain started to show. The MS storyline began as a throwaway excuse for a scene he wanted to write with Bartlet watching a daytime soap. When someone pointed out after the fact that a sitting president hiding a serious medical condition would be kind of a big deal, Sorkin turned it into a Monica-gate allegory that dragged the show down for most of its third season.

The positive press about the show as weekly civics lesson got to Sorkin's head when he wrote season four's "Isaac and Ishmael," a clumsy instant response to 9/11 that may as well have been called "Please, Why Do They Hate Us, Mr. Sorkin?"

Sorkin eventually got so far behind in delivering finished scripts that NBC and producer John Wells, trying to control the budget, pushed him out the door at the end of the fourth season (Schlamme quit in solidarity). So he left them a nasty parting gift: a season finale that ended with Bartlet's daughter kidnapped by terrorists, Bartlet recusing himself from office and the Republican Speaker of the House in charge of the country.

Sorkin had so thoroughly painted the show into a corner that it took Wells months to find his way out. Where Sorkin refused to listen to NBC execs' pleas for more political balance, Wells was all too eager to try, though this usually meant having the main characters snapping at each other (or, in one particularly low moment, a drunk Josh yelling "You want a piece of me?" at the Capitol building) and the Republican-controlled Congress defeating one administration initiative after another. The Sorkin years may have been too much of a fantasy, but this was too depressingly real.

But near the end of his first season at the helm, Wells hit upon a new fantasy -- a bipartisan one.

In "The Supremes," a Supreme Court justice dies suddenly, and team Bartlet realizes the only candidate who will get approved in this antagonistic climate will be a bland moderate with no convictions of any kind. While taking token meetings with a liberal judge (Glenn Close) with a long paper trail of pro-choice rulings and a conservative (William Fichtner) with well-articulated legal reasons for disagreeing with all of Close's positions, Josh decides he'd rather have two intelligent extremes than one inoffensive blank, so he hatches a crazy scheme. The administration talks the liberal-but-senile Chief Justice into retiring, then convinces the Republicans to accept a package deal: Close as the new Chief, but Fichtner, too.

It was even more implausible than almost anything in the Sorkin years, but the idea behind it was appealing: What would government be like if we could strip away all the cheap shots, all the ideological gamesmanship and angry rhetoric, and just debate the issues in a smart, respectful fashion?

With an eye on continuing the series past the end of the Bartlet administration, Wells introduced two presidential candidates: Jimmy Smits as Matt Santos, a hawkish congressman with a military background and devout Catholic (read: pro-life) beliefs; and Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick, a pro-choice, agnostic senior senator. The twist was that Santos was the Democrat, Vinick the Republican.

In the real world, neither would get within spitting distance of their party's nomination, but Wells and his writers made smart use of the role reversal, particularly using the fiscally conservative, socially moderate Vinick as a kind of anti-Bush. (Pundits joked he was a Republican only Democrats could love.) After Santos won the election, he even made Vinick his Secretary of State to keep Wells' bipartisan dream alive.

The rocky start to the Wells era chased away a good chunk of the audience, and this year's move to Sundays got rid of almost everyone else in the process. "K Street," HBO's cinema verite series about Washington lobbyists, came and went in an eyeblink. And ABC's own presidential fantasy, the Geena Davis drama "Commander in Chief," opened strongly this fall before Sorkin-esque backstage turmoil and ham-fisted writing sent the show into Nielsen free-fall.

But in keeping with the spirit of hope that buoyed the first few seasons, don't assume that their success was an aberration, that the public at large has no interest in fictional politicians. Instead, choose to think that any concept, if told with the artistry and brains of the Sorkin/Schlamme years, could find an audience. To paraphrase one of the show's inspirations, it's the writing, stupid.

Posted by Jo at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

West Wing ends seven-year TV run

BBC News

The final episode of acclaimed political drama The West Wing will be screened in the US on Sunday, ending the programme's seven-year run on TV.
Martin Sheen will bow out as President Josiah Bartlet after serving two terms.

Most recently, viewers have seen actors Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits battling to be elected as his successor.

The show won Emmy Awards for best TV drama in four successive years and has the record for most Emmys in a single season, with nine in its first year.

Set in the West Wing of the White House, the programme follows the administration of the fictional Democratic president.

Cast member John Spencer (second left) died last December aged 58
Broadcaster NBC decided in January to drop the drama because ratings had declined.

Falling ratings

At its peak, it was among the most popular shows on US television with audiences of 17 million and frequent praised from critics.

However, the current season made its debut with 7.6 million viewers in a new Sunday night timeslot.

The West Wing's use of intricate terminology, delivered during punchy back-and-forth dialogues between the characters - could also baffle viewers unfamiliar with the finer points of US politics and law.

Actor John Spencer, who played chief of staff Leo McGarry, died last December after a heart attack.

In a sad coincidence, his character had also suffered coronary failure - but in the programme, McGarry recovered and returned to politics.

This final series of The West Wing had to be rewritten in order to fill the gap left by the death of the popular actor.

Old roles reprised

Former cast members agreed to return to the show as it approached its final episodes.

Rob Lowe reprised his role as Sam Seaborn, who had been the deputy communications director.

Lowe had left in 2003, with a dispute about his salary rumoured to be to blame.

Mary-Louise Parker and Emily Proctor - who is now one of the stars of CSI: Miami - have also come back to The West Wing.

Rob Lowe is reprising his role as Sam Seaborn as the show ends
The programme's creator, Aaron Sorkin, gained notoriety in 2001 when he was ordered into rehab after pleading guilty to drug charges.

Security staff at Los Angeles airport had discovered marijuana, rock cocaine and hallucinogenic mushrooms in his bag.

Sorkin left the show after its fourth series in 2003, with NBC bringing in a new team of writers.

Sunday's last-ever edition sees the inauguration of a new leader to replace President Bartlet.

Viewers in the UK must wait approximately three months to see it as digital channel More4 has only just shown episode 10 of the 22 in series seven.

Posted by Jo at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

Tonight, it's the end for 'Malcolm,' 'The West Wing'

by Mike Brantley
Mobile Register

Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle" and NBC's "The West Wing."

Now there are two shows that are as different as night and day. Or are they?

True, one is a half-hour sitcom and the other is a one-hour drama. One is set in the home, and the other is set in... well, let's call it a home office.

But there are a striking number of things to list in the "in common" column. Both programs began with the 1999-2000 TV season, for example. Both became popular and acclaimed during their earliest seasons, and both have been honored with Emmy Awards.

Both are ending their runs after seven seasons, and both are doing so on the same night. As you can read in the story on Page 1E of today's newspaper, "The West Wing" will deliver its final installment at 7 o'clock tonight (WPMI-TV15). "Malcolm," meanwhile, checks out of prime time with its last-ever episode at 7:30 p.m. (WALA-TV10).

So they share a common half-hour on the air together, for one last time, at least.

The shows are linked by marriage, too. Bradley Whitford, who plays trusted "West Wing" political adviser Josh Lyman, is wed to Jane Kaczmarek, who portrays the tough-love mother in the dysfunctional family unit at the root of all the funny business on "Malcolm."

With their shows going off the air at the same time, it looks like husband and wife are about to get more at-home time. At least they can share the same dinner table more often, I'll bet.

I dined in the same room as them back in 2000, and they had to eat at separate tables then. The occasion was a Television Critics Association awards ceremony in Pasadena, Calif. Each show was being honored by the organization. Lyman and Kaczmarek where there, along with fellow cast members and producers from each of their shows.

But the couple couldn't sit together. You see, it was assigned seating, with Whitford at the "West Wing" table and Kaczmarek a number of paces away, at the "Malcolm" table.

Anguish over the seating arrangements dissipated when Kaczmarek accepted her award for outstanding individual achievement in comedy. Whitford's ensemble felt the love, too, with his show bagging awards for best new program, outstanding achievement in drama and program of the year.

Seven years later, both programs have had their ups and down on screen and behind the scenes. It seems appropriate timing they end now -- with President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) leaving office on "West Wing" as Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) leaves high school on "Malcolm."

But they'll be missed.

The kicker? It turns out Lois has been raising her boy to be a future president of the United States.

Posted by Jo at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

'West Wing' finale a perfect coda

By Charlie McCollum
San Jose Mercury News

On tonight's episode of ``The West Wing,'' there will be a change of government. The two-term administration of Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) will come to an end; Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) will be sworn in as the new president of the United States.

That, says executive producer John Wells, is how the White House drama should conclude and depart, after seven seasons.

``From the beginning, the series has celebrated the remarkable strength of American democracy, and one of the things that's most dramatic about American democracy is the peaceful passing of power from one leader to another,'' says Wells. ``We thought that was a really wonderful, totally appropriate way to end.''

In other words, the last installment (8 p.m., Chs. 8, 11) is one final fantasy in the politics-and-government-as-we'd-like-them-to-be world of ``The West Wing.''

When the series made its debut in the fall of 1999, few people thought it would work for more than a handful of episodes. ``We all felt going in that we had something very special,'' says Sheen. ``The only real doubt we had was whether or not it would work on network television. It was a political show. There were no car chases or fires or special effects. The action was in the words.''

But the show did work, with critics and, for much of its run, with viewers. At its high point, it was one of the most-watched and certainly most-discussed shows on television. It has been nominated for 89 Emmys, winning 24 including four straight (2000-2003) for best drama. It leaves the air with its place in TV history assured.

While the trappings of the show were an extremely accurate reflection of the real White House -- particularly in comparison to such ``West Wing'' pretenders as ``Commander in Chief'' -- much of the show's appeal came from its portrayal of flawed politicians and public servants who, despite their shortcomings, most often tried to do the right things for the right reasons.

In a second-season episode, conservative Republican Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter, now on ``CSI: Miami'') is offered a job by the Bartlet administration. When her friends dis the president and his advisers, Hayes snaps back, ``Say they're smug and superior, say their approach to public policy makes you want to tear your hair out. Say they like high taxes and spending your money. Say they want to take your guns and open your borders. But don't call them worthless.

``The people that I have met have been extraordinarily qualified. Their intent is good. Their commitment is true, they are righteous, and they are patriots.''

That was the underlying belief that Aaron Sorkin, the show's creator and the man most responsible for the show's triumphs (and occasional failures), brought to the series. In a comparison often used by both those who loved ``West Wing'' and those who hated it, Sorkin brought the same view of the American way of life to the drama that director Frank Capra brought to such films as ``Meet John Doe'' and ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.''

``Capra evoked the mythic image of America as a `lighthouse of freedom' in a darkening world,'' wrote television and film historians John E. O'Connor and Peter C. Rollins in 2003.

``In our time, it seems clear that the fundamental attraction of `The West Wing' for Americans is its promise that, despite our failings and lapses, our system is still such a lighthouse.''

Even those involved in the series acknowledge that, like Capra's best films, the series is set in a world that doesn't exist, reflective of but divorced from today's often poisonous political atmosphere.

``We were a fantasy, there's no question,'' says Sheen. ``We were like a novel, and the real world was like reality.''

Wells adds, ``We always try not to take ourselves too seriously because that can be very dangerous when you're trying to entertain people. But people have connected to the idea of what the White House could be, even though they know we made it up and they know it's idealized.''

Of course, the ideal expressed in ``The West Wing'' didn't connect with everybody. The Bartlet administration was Democratic and the show wore its blue state liberalism with pride. Even conservative Republicans -- notably Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), the GOP presidential candidate who lost to Santos -- were filtered through that prism.

That led some commentators, like John Podhoretz in the Weekly Standard, to view ``The West Wing'' as ``political pornography for liberals.''

As a piece of television entertainment, ``The West Wing'' had two very different periods: the one from the fall of 1999 to the spring of 2003 when Sorkin did almost all of the writing and the three seasons following his departure.

The early period was its heyday, with a string of superb episodes that mixed rapid-fire dialogue that wouldn't have been out of place in a 1930s screwball comedy, discussions of ideas ranging from the politics of the census to the federal deficit and some of the most memorable characters in recent television history.

It made stars and Emmy winners out of such unknown actors as Allison Janney (press secretary C.J. Cregg) and Bradley Whitford (aide Josh Lyman) and gave veteran actors Sheen and the late John Spencer (Leo McGarry) defining roles. A string of excellent actors -- Stockard Channing, Mary-Louise Parker, John Amos, Marlee Matlin -- took on small recurring roles just for the chance to be on the show.

``It's a pinnacle for an actor because the writing is so fantastic,'' says Annabeth Gish, who played Elizabeth, Bartlet's oldest daughter. ``In my career, I was the most nervous guest-starring on that show because you have to speak politically, you have to speak eloquently and you have to speak rapidly.''

Problems with the show and its direction began to crop up following the election of President Bush and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. ``The West Wing'' was set firmly in a world where Bill Clinton had been president, and the Bush election shifted reality to a different place.

The overriding issues of the war on terrorism further complicated matters, with Sorkin finding it harder and harder to set a consistent tone in his writing.

``We had a parallel universe to reality, and it changed drastically when the Bush administration came and then 9/11 happened,'' says Sheen. ``The country moved much further away from the center, and we felt that we were dead in the center.''

Beset by some personal demons -- drug abuse, a failing marriage -- Sorkin struggled to produce scripts on time, and his disputes with Warner Bros. led to his exit with Wells taking over as the show's executive producer.

The fifth season of ``The West Wing'' was a mess as Wells and a new set of writers tried to replace Sorkin, and the viewership began to drop. The series made a significant comeback after that, though even in its worst days, it was still smarter than just about anything else on network TV.

But it soon was clear that when the Bartlet administration came to an end, so would the series. The death in December of Spencer -- the heart and soul of the cast and the series -- removed any thoughts of continuing into the Santos years.

``We honestly thought we wouldn't get past a couple of years with this subject matter. But we've gone seven years and gone through the entire Bartlet administration,'' says Wells. ``It's so infrequent in a series' life that you actually have a chance to decide when it's going to end. That's usually decided for you.''

There is no question ``The West Wing'' will leave a gap. As such other series as ``Commander in Chief'' have proven, it's difficult to intelligently mix politics, ideas and entertainment.

``The networks really should take a lesson from `The West Wing' that this stuff can work,'' says Lawrence O'Donnell, a former political consultant who became a long-time writer and producer on the series. ``I hope the business takes it as a lesson rather than an exception.

``My fear is that they will take it as an exception and no one will even try to make another `West Wing.' ''

`The West Wing'

**** (first four seasons)

*** (overall)

Airing: 8 tonight, Chs. 8, 11

Note: The show's original pilot will air at 7 p.m., prior to the finale.

THE BEST OF `THE WEST WING'

This is one person's choices of ``The West Wing's'' best 10 episodes. As much as I admired the way the show came back over the past two seasons, most of these are from the early years, when creator Aaron Sorkin was doing the bulk of the writing:

``Pilot''Sept. 22, 1999

One of the best pilots ever shot for a television series. Most of the elements that would define ``The West Wing'' -- the ``walk-and-talk'' scenes, the rapid-fire dialogue -- already were in place.

``In Excelsis Deo''Dec. 15, 1999

No recent TV show has done holiday episodes quite as well as ``The West Wing.'' This hour, which focused largely on Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) and the death of a homeless man, is moving even in repeats. The script, by Sorkin and Rick Cleveland, won the Emmy for best writing.

``Celestial Navigation''Feb. 16, 2000

Built around an appearance by Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) at a local college, the episode has one of the series' funniest running gags as C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) has dental work done and Josh has to fill in for her at the daily press briefing, where he reveals a secret plan that doesn't really exist to fight inflation.

``In the Shadow of Two Gunmen''Oct. 4, 2000

I'm cheating here because this is really a two-part episode. But it's a great couple of hours that fill in the back stories of the White House staff members as they are pulled into Josiah Bartlet's seemingly hopeless presidential campaign.

``Two Cathedrals''May 16, 2001

A extraordinarily powerful episode that includes the funeral of Dolores Landingham (Kathryn Joosten) and President Bartlet's memorable Latin-tinged rant against God (``you feckless thug'') in the National Cathedral.

``Isaac and Ishmael''Oct. 3, 2001

Hastily written and produced in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, this special episode was slammed as preachy and heavy-handed. In hindsight, it may have been one of the show's finest hours in its efforts to address the issues and emotions raised by the terrorist attacks.

``Dead Irish Writers''March 6, 2002

A fine example of the way the series could juxtapose comedy and drama. This episode is marked by the crackling dialogue in a scene where C.J., Abbey Bartlet (Stockard Channing), Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) and Amy Gardner (Mary-Louise Parker) talk about wine, the problems faced by the first lady and whether President Bartlet is a ``jackass.''

``Posse Comitatus''May 22, 2002

Another award-winning episode, this one mixes the presidential campaign, the assassination of a terrorist and C.J.'s romance with Secret Service agent Simon Donovan (Mark Harmon). The final moments, which play out against Stephen Oliver's ``Patriotic Chorus'' and a rendition of Leonard Cohen's ``Hallelujah'' by Jeff Buckley, are wrenching even though there is almost no dialogue.

``Access''March 31, 2004

This episode from season 5 proved that even at its weakest, ``The West Wing'' still could produce engaging television. Done as a documentary in the style of PBS's ``American Experience,'' it looks at a day in the life of C.J. -- still the press secretary -- which totally unravels, thanks to a FBI-terrorist standoff.

-- Charlie McCollum

Posted by Jo at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

'West Wing' finale will leave a void

By David Zurawik
Baltimore Sun

This has not been a very good year for TV presidents.

The exodus began in early January with the shocking assassination of beloved former President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) in the very first moments of the season opener of Fox's counter-terrorism thriller 24.

Then two weeks ago, the administration of President Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis) came to an unceremonious end when ABC shelved the freshman drama Commander in Chief for a second time during a season marked by network mismanagement of the once-promising series. The abrupt removal during May sweeps promises all but certain cancellation for television's first female president tomorrow when ABC announces its fall schedule.

Tonight, after seven seasons and 25 Emmys, comes the final episode of NBC's The West Wing - and with it, the last chance for viewers to visit an Oval Office graced by President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen).

Prime time has been diminished by each of the departures, but the greatest loss, by far, comes with the finale of The West Wing.

With dialogue distinguished by rapid-fire repartee and biting wit, creator Aaron Sorkin's scripts pushed prime-time dramatic writing to new heights. And they did so week in and week out at a time when much of the rest of popular culture seemed to be growing less enlightened and more coarse.

The series was never the same after Sorkin left at the end of the fourth season. But in fairness to producer John Wells and an outstanding ensemble cast, the core characters remained much as their creator envisioned them. The drama even enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in the past year with Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits pitted against each other as presidential candidates.

Most important, the savvy saga of backstage life at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. accomplished something exceedingly rare for network TV: It elevated the national political conversation and served as a source of inspiration for millions of Americans. (At the peak of the series' popularity during the 2001-2002 season, 17 million viewers a week tuned in.)

"The West Wing set the standard for so many years for quality television - and I think it also spoke to the better part of us," said Hollywood producer and writer Steve "Scoop" Cohen.

The Maryland native is the creator of WB's 2004 drama Jack & Bobby, which told the story of two teenage brothers, one of whom would become president of the United States. Cohen was inspired to develop the show in 1992 while working on then-Arkansas-Gov. Bill Clinton's campaign. His critically acclaimed but low-rated series lasted only one season; last year, Cohen was a writer-producer on Commander in Chief.

"We want to believe that our leaders and the people who are working for them are passionate, committed and relentless in their pursuit of bettering the country - regardless of ideology," Cohen said. "The loss of the Bartlet administration and the nascent Allen administration, leaves the country with just one president - a president at an all-time low in the polls."

Cohen, who also worked in the Clinton White House, is referring, of course, to George W. Bush, America's real president. On TV, however, there's still another fictional president in prime time, 24's hopelessly corrupt Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin), with his Nixon-esque mannerisms and bundle of neuroses.

Viewers may lose even him. Last week, the Monday night drama closed on the image of President Logan alone in his office with a handgun on his desk and suicide clearly on his mind.

As compelling and resonant in the post-Sept. 11 era as 24 can be, even the series' most die-hard fans have to acknowledge that it regularly relies on superficial - even cartoonish - depictions of heroes and villains to send its par-boiled story lines into overdrive. (Remember the public service announcement last year that featured Kiefer Sutherland stepping out of character as Jack Bauer and, speaking directly to viewers, insisting that the series was not characterizing Muslims as terrorists?)

The producers of The West Wing, on the other hand, rarely oversimplified government or reduced those who work within it to stereotypes.

"The series offered a rich and often ambivalent depiction of women, people of color, the military and politics in general," said Shawn Parry-Giles, director of the Center for Political Communication and Civic Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park, and co-author of The Prime-Time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. Nationalism (University of Illinois Press, 2006).

Furthermore, even though the series was first and foremost prime-time entertainment, its producers addressed the audience as intelligent adults rather than eyeballs to be counted by the great god Nielsen and served up to Madison Avenue.

"The West Wing offered a compelling, romantic, complicated vision of the American presidency over the span of seven tumultuous years of American history," said Trevor Parry-Giles, Shawn's husband and co-author of Prime-time Presidency and associate professor of political communication at Maryland.

The show, which made its debut in the aftermath of Clinton's impeachment and continued airing throughout the 2000 election, the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq, "provided its viewers with another layer of meaning about the presidency - one that is easily the most complex popular-culture depiction of a president and his administration ever offered."

Trevor Parry-Giles doesn't think a drop in ratings by more than half during the last four years suggests less public interest or involvement in the political process: "We have not seen any dips in voting percentages or anything that would suggest more disengagement today than when the series began seven years ago. People are troubled and anxious about the economy and the war in Iraq, but they are very engaged."

The West Wing deserves a better sendoff than NBC will offer tonight. Last week, the network canceled plans for a one-hour retrospective preceding the finale. The cancellation came as the result of a squabble over whether or not the actors would be paid for being part of the special.

Given the series' small audience (8 million viewers a week) and consequently low advertising rates, the retrospective would lose money were the actors to be paid, according to the network. Thus, the finale will be preceded tonight by the 1999 pilot instead.

A rerun is no way to send off a series that has brought such honor to a network for seven years.

Posted by Jo at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

We're smarter, thanks to 'West Wing'

By MARK McGUIRE
Albany Times Union

Television partied in 1999.

That January, "The Sopranos" debuted on HBO. The summer brought ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which jumped-started the reality TV era.

Then came the fall, which gave us "Judging Amy" (CBS), "Third Watch" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC) and "Angel" (WB). Even UPN had a good year, debuting "The Parkers" and "WWF (now WWE) Smackdown!"

Then there was the best new broadcast show of that season, the one that would go on to slay "The Sopranos" at the 2000 Emmys. But the mob drama will survive its rival: "The West Wing" (8 p.m. Sunday, WNYT Ch. 13) wraps up its historic seven-season run this week; it departs among the all-time great dramas.

Smart shows are rare enough; it's even more rare when a drama makes its viewers smarter. The highly lauded drama -- which in recent seasons has faced charges of creative exhaustion -- has the hardware to prove it: 89 Emmy nominations and 24 wins, with one more awards cycle to go.

Martin Sheen was initially supposed to make a mere cameo appearance -- the President wasn't envisioned as a major character; the original "star" was Rob Lowe. Instead, "The West Wing" built the strongest ensemble cast on television, again proven out by Emmys: Allison Janney, John Spencer, Stockard Channing, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff all took home statuettes during the run.

The writing, initially penned to the word by creator Aaron Sorkin, featured smart people saying smart things while walking through narrow hallways. Such scenes, dubbed "the walk and talk," became the series' signature.

It used to be a TV rule: Shows set in the White House were comedies, and not very good ones. "The Powers That Be," "The Farmer's Daughter," "Mr. President" and even the epically bad "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" were just some of the forgettable benchmarks.

Sorkin's creation brought us inside the White House, the most important home office in the world. Turns out its just that: an office, with the same personality clashes that affect us schmoes in the more mundane 9-to-5 world.

But "The West Wing" did something else: It made smart television watchable.

Jason Whitlock, the fine sports columnist for The Kansas City Star, recently penned an ESPN.com column voicing disenchantment with "The Sopranos." "The problem now is I don't want to think this hard to enjoy a television show," he wrote.

"I have to think on my job. ... Doing the work necessary to keep up with 'The Sopranos' isn't real high on a normal man's priority list."

So we should be watching "Yes, Dear" and "According to Jim" and "Ghost Whisperer"? Remove your brain, place on coffee table, sit back and enjoy.

There's a place for mindless TV. There's nothing evil about occasionally zoning out to a "Friends" rerun. (But not "Full House." Never "Full House.")

Still, television isn't merely the "vast wasteland" FCC Chairman Newton Minow described in the early 1960s. (Trivia: He is the inspiration for the name of Gilligan's boat.) It's equally OK, and necessary in some spots, for television to make you think, to make you work, to challenge your beliefs and biases, to make you actually think about your worldview.
"The West Wing" did that. Unfairly dismissed by some as "The Left Wing," the series was able to examine serious issues in a serious manner while retaining its entertainment value.

It also wrapped public service with an ideal of duty -- not a bad idea in a democracy when various institutions are continuously under attack from the left and right.

In defense of Whitlock, here's what I wrote way back in 1999: "Doing an entertainment show on politics, especially a drama, is dicey for another reason: You are going to tick off half the population, or more, based on how you portray the protagonists. A liberal as hero? Same ol' commie Hollywood. A conservative as the ideal? Hand me the remote; let's see what's on PBS. Entertainment is supposed to take our minds off the real world of taxes and economics and Democrats and Republicans and the rest, not get us angrier."

Some shows are the exception. "The West Wing" was exceptional.

Posted by Jo at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

TV -- A 'Wing' and a prayer

By TED ANTHONY
Dayton Daily News

No matter what, stay on message: That's the unfortunate lesson of modern American politics. Don't let subtlety derail your goals. Eliminate extraneous information. Chart a direct path forward and don't fret about the road not taken; it certainly won't fret about you.

Today we define effective politics by singlemindedness -- not always singlemindedness of purpose, but at least a singlemindedness of perspective. There is little attempt to find merit in the other guy's argument and hammer out consensus.

Then there's "The West Wing," the as-the-beltway-turns soap opera whose final episode airs Sunday. For seven years, it has ignored the current political climate and delighted in its own pluralism. Because of that, it has resonated more than any political drama in the history of American television.

"The West Wing" was hardly perfect. During its existence, it veered into the pollyannaish, occasionally acted like a barely disguised civics lesson and dabbled in its own ponderousness as it tried hard -- sometimes too hard -- to make the machinations of government interesting.

But so what?

With crap like "The Simple Life" and emotionally manipulative claptrap like "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crowding the airwaves, is it SO egregiously unforgivable that someone (Aaron Sorkin et al) would try to make the image of governing glorious again?

Sure, it's been fun to watch Martin Sheen vamp around as the gravitas-drenched, unrepentantly New England-liberal President Jed Bartlet. He's either a caring visionary or a pompous stuffed shirt, but he's never dull.

Yet it was outside Bartlet's Oval Office where the real genius of "The West Wing" unfolded.

It was the conversations in the hallways -- the vaunted, imitated, lampooned walk-and-talk camerawork -- about obscure issues. It was the wild-haired Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) running around like a young version of Dr. Brown from "Back to the Future," rabidly chasing whatever his latest mission was.

It was Toby Ziegler and C.J. Cregg (Richard Schiff and Allison Janney) agonizing over something seemingly minute and realizing that it would have actual impact on American lives. It was Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda as presidential candidates Matt Santos and Arnold Vinick, making their way through hotel kitchens for campaign appearances, vacillating between the mostly honorable men they were and the snakelike sons of ambition that the lesser angels of their nature were pushing them to be.

Shades of gray. How unusual in politics, much less network television.

It all felt real, as if the people who were doing the business of America realized that it all actually mattered. Like the best of work of filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant and Mike Figgis, the show managed to capture the rhythms of human interaction. On the small screen, that's no small feat; today, only scattered shows like HBO's "The Sopranos" and "Deadwood" even come close.

And the dialogue: glib, sometimes over the top, educated and informed. Acronyms and jargon never sounded so sexy. Sure, it's stuff that would make Rush Limbaugh snort and cut off the caller mid-sentence, but would you really rather be listening to Paris and Nicole as they struggle to order a chalupa?

Consider this snippet from Sunday night's second-to-last episode:

Toby: "I read the Constitution. I think I found a typo."

C.J.: "Did you call the publisher?"

Scoff if you must. But where else on network television today can you get genuinely intelligent dialogue infused with a delight in word play and a true Tracy-Hepburn sensibility? Certainly not the tragically sincere (and, not incidentally, expiring) "Commander In Chief."

Sure, there were stumbles. Convoluted assassination-attempt plots and silly governmental conundra bogged the show down during its middle years. But this season, which became more about the campaign than the White House, crackled once again. That's because it focused on acknowledging the reality of politics -- that people go to work for other bosses and sometimes leave friendships behind.

"The West Wing" was an easy target for accusations of liberal bias, particularly after the very different Bush administration took office in the real White House. And that's fair criticism. But something more was at play. "The West Wing" is a liberal poster boy because it believes in emphasizing process as much as results. That's one of the fundamental tenets of classical liberalism: that how you do something is as important as what you do.

It's the opposite of the outcome-at-all-costs culture in which we seem to live today. But that was the show's main point. Its fluid camera movement, which evolved into the hallway walk-and-talk cliche that now dominates nighttime drama, was part of a larger philosophy that seemed to say: Perspectives shift. Everything moves along, and we'll move with it.

Never watch either laws or sausages being made, the saying goes. "The West Wing" showed us that watching the mechanics of governing can be just as compelling as watching its outcome. Put another way, it showed us that our system, even today, is still worth learning about.

"It's hard to get excited about anything after this," Kate Harper (Mary McCormack) says as she gets ready to pack up at the end of the Bartlet administration. Is it so saccharine to dedicate ourselves to the notion that government -- and the people who populate it -- matter?

For the nation we live in today and the one we're going to live in tomorrow, that's not a bad message to stay on, if only for a moment.

Posted by Jo at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

Entertaining, educational 'West Wing' will be sorely missed

By Gerald Ensley
TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

So now the greatest U.S. presidential administration in history comes to an end. President Jed Bartlet leaves office tonight in the final episode of "West Wing."

Too bad it's all been fiction.

It doesn't seem that way to those of us who are "West Wing" fans. We're still seriously discussing the future of the characters. Will Republican Arnold Vinick become secretary of state in a Democratic administration? Will C.J. Cregg go to Africa and build highways? Should Will Bailey run for Congress? Most important, will Josh Lyman and Donna Moss get married?

It's sad we'll never find out - much less see how fares the nation's first Hispanic president, Matt Santos.

But that's the point about great fiction: It seems real. In the case of "West Wing," which portrayed a wise, witty president and a brilliant, ethical White House staff, many of us simply wished it could be.

Tallahassee may miss the fiction more than some: We were a staple of "West Wing" scripts, and our frequent mention was cool.

In the pilot episode, which will be rebroadcast tonight, two young women approach Deputy Chief of Staff Lyman in a coffee shop: "We're juniors from Florida State. Can we have your autograph?"

Over the course of the show's seven seasons, there were references to a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier called the Tallahassee. President Bartlet reminisced with a reporter about their campaign-trail conversation in Tallahassee. An Air Force pilot who crashed was from Tallahassee. And in this final season we learned that defeated Republican presidential candidate Vinick - if he doesn't become secretary of state - intends to be a guest lecturer at FSU.

Such references also were frequent on "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin's first TV show, "Sports Night," which once made FSU Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward the punch line of a joke. Perhaps it was the work of Thomas Schlamme, a director/producer on "Sports Night" and "West Wing": Schlamme is married to actress Christine Lahti, an FSU theater graduate.

"West Wing" was compelling because it made political issues entertaining and understandable - which is no small feat.

Viewers were treated to lively civics lessons about political parties, the Electoral College, lawmaking, the federal deficit, appointment of Supreme Court justices and the 25th Amendment. (The president had to resign temporarily when he was unable to perform his duties because his daughter had been kidnapped.)

Viewers learned the nuances of foreign policy as "West Wing" repeatedly put us in the White House situation room with generals, admirals, Cabinet members and the president. Drawing from the real-life examples of North Korea, India, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, we watched them wrestle with the choices of attack or negotiate, abandon or rescue.

"West Wing" taught us that determining foreign policy, making laws and running a government is complex - no matter which side of the philosophical fence you're on.

"West Wing" politics were often criticized as "too liberal." And clearly liberal sensibilities got a fine airing. Many of us cheered as the president blasted an anti-gay talk-show host, condemned the religious right or championed concern for global warming.

(“West Wing" was presumed to be a paean to President Bill Clinton. Actually, Sorkin spun it out of his 1995 movie, "The American President." That movie inaugurated Sorkin, shows' rapid-fire "walk and talk" cinematic style and included actors who graduated to "West Wing," notably Martin Sheen, who played the Leo McGarry/chief of staff character in the movie before moving up to president in the TV show.)

But Bartlet was faithful to the Constitution, supported the military, was a devout Catholic, husband and father. As one history scholar wrote: "Although his administration is reliably liberal, President Bartlet possesses virtues even a conservative could admire."

Indeed, the appeal of "West Wing" for many of us was our admiration of Bartlet. Sorkin originally intended him to be a bit character, shown only occasionally as his staff wrestled with the issues. In the first episode, Bartlet appears in only the final few minutes. But Sheen embodied so well the intelligence and wit Sorkin wanted to display in a president that he became the show's central character.

In this glorious fiction, Bartlet was a three-term congressman and two-term governor of New Hampshire - but more important he was a Nobel Prize-winning economist and former college professor. He could quote Plutarch, Shakespeare, Galbraith, Jefferson, Sinatra and the Bible. He was a voracious reader and prolific author. Another character noted that Bartlet had a "once-in-a-generation mind."

It was inspiring to imagine a president who was one of the smartest, most educated men in the world. It was heartwarming to imagine a president who had a genuine sense of humor and compassion. It was comforting to imagine a president wise enough and strong enough to make the world a better place.

In real life, we long for such a leader. In real life, we likely shall never have such a leader.

But that was the fiction "West Wing" brought us.

Posted by Jo at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

The pluck stops here: West Wing' ends an era

by Mark Dawidziak
Cleveland Plain Dealer

When "The West Wing" aired its inaugural episode in 1999, NBC was the network of "ER," "Friends" and "Frasier."

Those weren't only NBC's three highest-rated shows; they were the nation's three highest-rated shows. Indeed, NBC was the undisputed heavyweight-champion network with an amazing nine of the top 20 programs.

Even in this heady company, "The West Wing" stood head and shoulders above the rest. It was smart. It was provocative. And it moved at a breathless pace through the corridors of power and political intrigue.

Many wondered at the time how it could keep going at that pace. Well, it couldn't. "The West Wing," truth be told, hasn't been at the top of its game for the last three seasons.

Like many presidential administrations, it began with an era of warm, hopeful feelings. It began with a sense of purpose, energy and optimism.

Still, even if "The West Wing" never quite regained its top form, it also never completely lost its sense of purpose and optimism. And, wonderfully enough, it experienced a renaissance of sorts in this final season, which ends with the episode airing at 8 tonight on WKYC Channel 3.

There has been a late surge of excellence from this White House drama about President Josiah Bartlet (Dayton native Martin Sheen) and his Oval Office team. There were some silly turns and clumsy missteps, to be sure, yet "The West Wing" recaptured much of the old magic in the Santos-vs.-Vinick campaign to decide Bartlet's successor.

So having steadily declined in the ratings over the last few seasons, the once-mighty drama leaves the prime-time scene bloodied but unbowed. It ends tonight with Santos (Jimmy Smits), having asked Vinick (Alan Alda) to be his secretary of state, being sworn in as president.

Bartlet's presidency is officially over, and we are the poorer for it.

"We all felt going in that we had something very special," Sheen said. "The only real doubt we had was whether or not it would work on network television. It was a political show. There were no car chases or special effects. The action was in the word."

But while "The West Wing" has returned to its classy roots this season, the same cannot be said for NBC. So perhaps this is the right time for the thoughtful series to call it quits. I mean, look at what's happened to the neighborhood.

Over the seven seasons "The West Wing" was on the air, NBC has gone from being the network of "Friends" and "Frasier" to being the network of "The Apprentice" and "Fear Factor." During the 1999-2000 season, "The West Wing" was NBC's finest show, and that was saying a great deal. During the 2005-06 season, it is again NBC's finest show, and that falls somewhere between faint praise and hollow victory.

NBC all but confirmed that it has no desire to embrace the legacy of "The West Wing." It did so with the last-minute decision to pull an hour "West Wing" retrospective that was to air at 7 tonight.

The reason? It seems NBC executives didn't want to pony up the money for an hour celebrating a show they're all too eager to see depart. So instead of a well-deserved round of "Hail to the Chief," we get the wail of the cheap.

"The series has celebrated, from the beginning, the remarkable strength of American democracy," executive producer John Wells said. "And one of the things that's most dramatic about American democracy is the peaceful passing of power from one leader to another. We thought that was a really wonderful way to end the series."

It is the right decision. It is the wise decision. It is the kind of decision we expect from a show that has displayed as much dignity and intelligence as "The West Wing."

Posted by Jo at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2006

TV bids adieu to West Wing

The Calcutta Telegraph

Los Angeles, May 13 (Reuters): American television bids goodbye tomorrow to The West Wing, a landmark drama offering viewers a Utopian narrative — some might call it fantasy — of a President and White House staff who always put country above politics.

The Emmy-winning series starring Martin Sheen as the man in the Oval Office heads off the airwaves after seven years on the NBC network (one year shy of two presidential terms) just as newly elected successor Jimmy Smits is about to assume office.

The nation’s real-life political landscape has changed dramatically since the show debuted in 1999, during the post-Monica Lewinsky twilight of the Clinton administration.

But The West Wing has stayed its course through the turbulent years that followed, often reflecting actual events and politics, although usually with greater eloquence, clarity and decisiveness than viewers could find on the evening news.

“It was a kind of Utopian notion of the kind of President that we wished we had but that the political process would never be able to deliver,” said Robert Thompson, head of Syracuse University’s Center for the Study of Popular Television.

Moreover, the show’s idealism resonated with a US electorate disillusioned by real politics, said University of Maryland Prof. Trevor Parry-Giles, author of The Prime Time Presidency: The West Wing and US Nationalism.

“It played right into this seeping cynicism and gave audiences this countervision,” he said.

“The show didn’t really rip stories from the headlines but played off cultural anxieties and angst.”

Critics hailed the series, especially during its first four seasons under the guidance of creator Aaron Sorkin.

West Wing won the Emmy Award as best TV drama four years in a row and holds the record for most Emmys trophies in a single season — nine for its first year. Although it lost considerable ratings steam, the show was widely regarded as having enjoyed a creative renaissance in its final season.

As a portrait of the political and personal struggles inside a Democratic administration, the show was embraced by many liberal viewers as prime-time wish fulfillment while derided by some conservatives as Hollywood Leftist propaganda.

Posted by Jo at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)

WELLS, JOHN

Washington Post

· Roles: Show-runner, executive producer, writer, guy who took over when series creator Aaron Sorkin departed after the fourth season.

· Seasons with the show: Seven

· The final word on the Alda-Smits presidential dispute: They're both rewriting history. Smits didn't have it in the bag, and it was never decided that Alda would win. But, yes, the death of John Spencer sealed it for the Democrats. "Let's just say they were two very competitive people who both seriously thought they should win," Wells says.

· Real-life Washington politico he couldn't get rid of: Ted Stevens. Many politicians liked to write the show and compliment or correct it. But no one could keep up with the distinguished Republican senator from Alaska, who became something of a pen pal. "I was complimented that he was watching the show," Wells says, "but I got a lot of corrective letters from his office, telling us why there really should be this bridge in Alaska and so forth."

· Funniest Martin Sheen anecdote: When Wells and Sorkin met with Sheen to talk him into doing the show, Sheen acknowledged that he knew and liked Sorkin from their work together on the 1995 film "The American President" -- but said he was skeptical of Wells because he didn't know anything about him. Wells's reply: "Well, we just wrapped a movie together" ("Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story").

· On the drinking in Allison Janney's trailer: Cue "stern" voice: "As an executive, I have to say that drinking in the workplace is frowned upon by everyone at Warner Brothers and John Wells Productions."

Posted by Jo at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)

ALDA, ALAN

Washington Post

Character: Sen. Arnold Vinick, failed Republican presidential candidate

· Seasons on the show: Two

· Biggest disappointment: "Right up until the end, I was so involved with the character that I really wanted the character to win. When I was watching it on television, right up until the last scene, I thought I had a chance."

· His explanation for the loss: The death of actor John Spencer, longtime "West Wing" character (and Democratic vice presidential candidate) Leo McGarry, of a heart attack during the final season. "They had decided that my character should win," Alda insists (for a competing viewpoint, see: Smits, Jimmy). "Then they changed their mind when John Spencer died."

· On what kind of president he thinks winner Matt Santos would make: "Fortunately or unfortunately, the television presidents have to leave when the audience turns them off. There's like a giant difference there. He's going to have a very short term."

· On working with Ron Silver (political strategist Bruno Gianelli), an outspoken Republican: "He's a very funny and smart guy. He has these new ideas that hit him probably because of a virus."

Posted by Jo at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)

MALINA, JOSH

Washington Post

· Character: Will Bailey, deputy White House communications director

· Seasons on the show: Four

· Dirty little secret: When Whitford was not on the set, Malina would sneak into his trailer and steal stuff. Seriously. Like stationery for future embarrassing pranks. "I thought it would come in handy someday," Malina says. It did (See: Moloney, Janel).

· Career history: He admits he owes his career to "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin, who has cast him in just about everything he's written, including "Sports Night," Malina's breakthrough sitcom. Says Malina: "I clearly have some sort of pact with the devil . . . um, or pact with Aaron."

· On-set reputation: Famous for grade school practical jokes, like ripping out the last four pages of whatever book Whitford happens to be reading.

· Best practical joke he pulled: Stealing producer-writer Alex Graves's iPod, deleting 4,000 songs and resetting it to Mandarin Chinese. "Once your iPod is functioning in Mandarin Chinese, it's pretty hard to set it back," Malina says with relish.

· Thing he really, really wants to say back to Whitford: "I'll cop to being the most annoying person on the set and I'd like to say that I, personally, find Brad to be the most inspirational. He's a shining example that despite poor looks, advanced age and lack of talent, you can still make it as an actor."

Posted by Jo at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)

SCHIFF, RICHARD

Washington Post

· Character: Toby Ziegler, White House communications director

· Seasons on the show: Seven

· Little-known Washington connection: The Brooklyn-to-the-bone guy was born in Bethesda and spent his first three months of life in Falls Church (his dad was in the Navy).

· Situation he'd like to set straight: No matter what those &%$! scriptwriters make him say, Toby would never, ever have been the one to leak classified information about the space shuttle (See: Season 7). Says Schiff: "I don't think that Toby would betray the man he respects and loves most in the world," President Bartlet.

· Coolest show-related perk: The day he received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, City College of New York, and former president Bill Clinton (also an honoree) joined him for the stroll to the graduation site, with tens of thousands of screaming fans lining the streets in Harlem.

· Coolest show-related perk II: The day he got to play basketball on the street in front of the White House with then-Wizard Juwan Howard.

· Dirty little secret: So maybe Toby didn't really hook up like Josh-and-Donna or C.J.-and--Danny or even Will-and-Kate. But the "WW" men are agog over Schiff's real love life: His wife, actress Sheila Kelley (once on "L.A. Law" with Smits), is known for holding in-home pole-dancing workouts. Hey, what better way to lose that post-pregnancy fat than do a striptease? "I think he was greatly admired for that," Malina says.

Posted by Jo at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)

SMITS, JIMMY

Washington Post

· Character: President-elect Matt Santos

· Seasons on the show: Two

· Most curious comment about a colleague: "What? Alan actually said that?" Smits says, laughing, when told Alda actually thought Vinick was going to win. "I find that very funny. Okay, whatever."

· On Santos vs. "Commander in Chief" President Mackenzie Allen: "At least we'd be able to see eye to eye." (Smits is 6-3; Geena Davis is 6-0, but she's got those three-inch pumps.)

· Real-life Washington politicos who most influenced his character: "The whole thing about charm and being able to work a room and making a person feel like you're one-on-one with the person of power? That was my experiences of being with the Clintons."

· About those Valentine flowers (See: Moloney, Janel): Call Smits a sap, but he thought Whitford was being genuine, albeit a little "intimate." He wasn't clued in for nine months. "I think that's what really got me hot under the collar," Smits says. "We're all working together and it takes nine months to admit it? But they were great flowers."

· Dirty little secret: Sorry, Jimmy, but apparently your beloved cast mates left you in the dark in more ways than one. "Wait, there was a bar in Allison's trailer?" Smits says. "I never knew that!"

Posted by Jo at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)

MOLONEY, JANEL

Washington Post

· Character: Donna Moss, long-suffering assistant to Josh Lyman

· Seasons on the show: Seven

· Dirty little secret: Has crush on Alan Greenspan. "There's something kind of mythical about him," Moloney says. "He's so powerful. He and his wife watch the show. And I just thought, 'My God, Alan Greenspan is sitting on Wednesday nights watching me on TV.' "

· Coolest show-related perk: When ex-prez Clinton invited the whole cast out to dinner. "It was amazing," she says. "I don't think the cast of 'ER' is having dinner with Clinton."

· On Donna and Josh finally getting together: "He was a damn good kisser!" Writer-producer John Wells says Moloney "got into it with gusto" when that story line took off, and adds: "After all those years, she was fully committed to playing out sexual repression."

· Best on-set anecdote: Moloney was the mastermind behind a Valentine's Day practical joke played on Jimmy Smits and Brad Whitford. She took Whitford's stationery, attached it to a bouquet of pink roses and penned this ditty: "Dear Jimmy, Working with you has been a delight. Be my Valentine." (Smits responded, gamely, by kissing a baffled Whitford on-set.)

Posted by Jo at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)

WHITFORD, BRADLEY

Washington Post

· Character: Josh Lyman, chief of staff for president-elect Matt Santos

· Seasons on the show: Seven

· Dirty little secret: Personally, Whitford wanted his character to end up with Amy Gardner (Mary-Louise Parker) rather than Donna Moss (Janel Moloney).

· Most memorable interaction with a real-life politico: Shaking former president Bill Clinton's hand after a dinner he held for the cast, while a heckler repeatedly screamed "Monica!" "He looked me in the eye and asked me what the guy said," Whitford says of Clinton. "And I said, 'Sir, I think he said 'Attica.' "

· Real-life politico Josh resembles: "This guy was a mix of Rahm Emanuel, Paul Begala and George Stephanopoulos, with a touch of James Carville's hair loss."

· Weirdest time he was mistaken for a real-life politico: "Some reporter once asked me about the trade deficit with China. And I was like, 'I wear makeup for a living. I have a favorite moisturizer.' "

· Funniest Martin Sheen anecdote: The time Sheen -- legendary on the set for mangling names and titles (Allison Janney remained "the tall one" all seven seasons) -- was asked to present an award (in real life) to Cardinal Roger Mahony and announced it as the "2002 Abortionist Award." (Um, that would be "abolitionist," Mr. President.)

· Thing he really, really wants people to know (in jest): "Josh Malina is a terrible actor."

Posted by Jo at 06:47 PM | Comments (0)

JANNEY, ALLISON

Washington Post

Character: C.J. Cregg, White House chief of staff

· Seasons on the show: Seven

· Dirty little secret: "There's more happening in her trailer than in most nightclubs," cast mate Josh Malina says. After wrapping the final episode, most of the actors drowned their sorrows in Janney's hospitality. "I eventually called it Club Flamingo after my Secret Service name," she says. "I have to say I'm a bit of a hedonist. A harmless one, but I like to have fun."

· On-set reputation: The Emmy queen (she's won four). The crew named brilliant takes after her -- a "Janney" was impressive, and the patented "Double Janney" really took the crew's breath away.

· Favorite things about trips to Washington to shoot exteriors: "We were like rock stars in D.C." Besides the people here, Janney also gives kudos to the Ritz-Carlton, Asia Nora and shopping in Georgetown.

· Funniest Martin Sheen anecdote: "I think the day we laughed most was when he called Toby 'Topol,' " she says. Richard Schiff, it seems, laughed so hard that it was 40 minutes before they could reshoot.

Posted by Jo at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)

Last Will and President

As 'West Wing' Leaves Office, a Last Chance to Debrief the Staff

By Jennifer Frey
Washington Post

C.J., Josh, Toby, Sam -- the men and women of TV's "West Wing" arrived in 1999, and Washington greeted them like rock stars. We tried to elbow into their entourage; we yearned to get inside their faux-D.C. bubble. We even managed to make it a bipartisan event.

Rep. Tom DeLay crowed about plans to add a House majority whip to the cast. Madeleine Albright made a late-night visit to a taping in Georgetown. Alan Greenspan professed his addiction to the program. And Mayor Anthony Williams managed to get his name linked to "The West Wing" by announcing that the show had "pumped $2.6 million into the local economy" in its first season.

Even the First Fan (then-President Bill Clinton) was compelled to summon series creator Aaron Sorkin to the White House.

Why such reactions? Because they made us look good. They made us feel incandescent instead of battery-operated. Theirs was a Washington where power brokers were deliciously Machiavellian instead of merely malevolent. Watching the show was like looking into the Reflecting Pool -- only the reflection seemed more luminous.

And when the actors came to visit (only a few times per season, alas), we hoped some of that star power would rub off.

The glow, though, has dimmed -- actually, it had been fading for a while. Clinton left office and, as show stalwart Allison Janney puts it: "I have a feeling President Bush has never seen 'The West Wing.' " After 9/11, there was a distinct dialing-down of the humor, the pratfalls, the quirky repartee, because it just no longer seemed right . The ratings sagged. President Bartlet -- and the show itself -- became a lame duck.

The red carpet grew so threadbare that at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner last month, not one "West Wing" star was in attendance.

Now the political party's over-- after seven seasons, the series finale airs tonight at 8 on NBC. Still, we couldn't let it go without a last attempt to slip inside that world, that fantasy Washington. Fortunately, some of the show's power players are now willing to tell (almost) all, before the "West Wing" motorcade pulls away one last time.

"As you might guess," says writer-producer John Wells, who ran the show after Sorkin left, "we laughed a lot."

"The West Wing" pilot episode (60 minutes) airs tonight at 7 p.m. on Channel 4, followed by the series finale (60 minutes) at 8.

Posted by Jo at 06:40 PM | Comments (0)

Good night and good luck: ‘The West Wing’s’ term ends

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/living/14566389.htm

NBC will air the final episode of “The West Wing” Sunday. It's titled "Tomorrow," even though declining ratings have made sure that day never comes for the series.

President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet (Martin Sheen) will step down; President-elect Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) will step up. And millions of dreamers will lose that one hour of the week when they can pretend that the most famous inhabitants of Washington are intelligent, thoughtful, industrious, honest, honorable — and liberal.

We remember some of the Bartlet administration’s best moments:

• Best call to action: Leo gives his boss a figurative kick in the pants and demands an end to political timidity in the rousing "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet," season 1.

• Best presidential debate: The live bout between Vinick and Santos was an intriguing idea, but love for Bartlet dictates we choose his relentless attack on clueless Florida Gov. Ritchie (James Brolin) in "Game On," season 3.

• Best press conference/worst time for a root canal: When C.J. undergoes emergency surgery, a cocky Josh inadvertently announces a nonexistent secret plan to fight inflation, "Celestial Navigation," season 1.

• Most stirring message on a napkin: "Bartlet for America," season 3.

• Tastiest historical snack, unless you're a busy White House staffer: Andrew Jackson's big block of cheese, "The Crackpots and These Women," season 1 and "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail," season 2.

• Web site you better avoid lest you incur the wrath of C.J. Cregg: lemonlyman.com, "The U.S. Poet Laureate," season 3.

• Best gift: After torturing his personal assistant Charlie (Dule Hill) with shopping duty for a knife to slice the Thanksgiving turkey, Bartlet presents him with a family heirloom — made by a silversmith named Paul Revere.

• Best Republican: Sharp, principled Arnold Vinick damn near won the election, but our vote goes to White House counsel Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter) for her skillful verbal dismemberment of Democratic rhetoric and her spirited defense of the South.

• Best battle with a giant chicken: Chicken Bob of the Santos campaign ruffles Donna's feathers in "Freedonia," season 6.

• Most frightening piece of trivia: According to imdb.com, Eugene Levy was considered for the part of Toby. Now that idea should have remained a state secret.

• Best quotes (tie): “About a week ago I accidentally slept with a prostitute.” — Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe)

“The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes.” — Bartlet, in a speech after a national tragedy

— Miami Herald

Posted by Jo at 06:07 PM | Comments (0)

I'll miss welcoming 'West Wing' into my home each week

by Marney Rich Keenan
Detroit News

I do not think I am overstating this when I say I expect to feel like I'm attending the funeral of a family member when I watch the last episode of "The West Wing" Sunday night.

In the seven years that the show has been on, I have never missed one episode, thanks to equally devoted family members who have taped shows for me when I couldn't be home.

Yes, I know the bell has been tolling for weeks now: C.J. reconciling with Toby's leak, Josh and Donna finally in the sack together and President Bartlet getting less and less air time as the baton was being passed to President-Elect Santos.

And while I will concede that the plot line and dialogue were weakened by the departure of writer Aaron Sorkin, even at its worst, "The West Wing" was still the most intelligent and thoughtful hour of television each week.

I will also acknowledge that the Bartlet White House was, sadly, all about fantasy, and I couldn't help but get sucked into all of its liberal idealism and the notion that a bunch of brilliant Harvard grads would seriously want to solve problems like Social Security, gas prices, the Middle East crisis, urban crime, health care and education, just to name a few. Silly me! And to think it was just a TV show.

It was a fantasy made all the more illusive against the backdrop of our nation's conservative reality. But, judging from the real president's plunging popularity ratings, I don't think I'm alone.

Let me take a trip down memory lane for the last time. Picture a president of the United States, a Nobel laureate of economics, who explained his vote against a popular bill by saying, "Today for the first time in history, the largest group of Americans living in poverty are children," as President Josiah Bartlet said in one episode. "One in five children lives in the most abject, dangerous, hopeless, back-breaking, gut-wrenching poverty any of us could imagine. One in five, and they're children.

"If fidelity to freedom of democracy is the code of our civic religion, then surely the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says we shall give our children better than we ourselves received.

"Let me put it this way: I voted against the bill because I didn't want to make it hard for people to buy milk. I stopped some money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if you expect anything different from the president of the United States, you should vote for someone else."

Picture Tony Snow veering off the party line and saying what the West Wing's press secretary said after several snipers fired on the presidential staff as they walked to the motorcade. "I just wanted to mention to you," a weary C.J. Cregg (Alison Janney) said. "This is our fifth press briefing since midnight. And obviously there's one story that's going to be dominating the news around the world for the next few days. And it would be easy to think that President Bartlet, Joshua Lyman and Stephanie Abbott were the only people who were victims of a gun crime last night. They weren't.

"Mark Davis and Sheila Evans of Philadelphia were killed by a gun last night. He was a biology teacher, and she was a nursing student. Tina Bishop and Belinda Larkin were killed with a gun last night. They were 12 years old.

"There were 36 homicides last night. 480 sexual assaults. 3,411 robberies. 3,685 aggravated assaults. All at gunpoint. And if anyone thinks those crimes could have been prevented if the victims themselves had been carrying guns, I'd only remind you that the President of the United States was shot last night while surrounded by the best trained armed guards in the history of the world."

How about a speechwriter defending a chief of staff: "You're a cheap hack," Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) hissed. "And if you come after Leo McGarry, I'm going to bust you like a piqata."

Or a black presidential aide dating the president's daughter and having this conversation:

President: "Say, listen. My hesitation about you going out with Zoey before, you know, it's not 'cause you're black."

Charlie: "I didn't think it was."

President: "It's not."

Charlie: "I thought it was 'cause I'm a guy."

President: "It is."

President: "My daughter asked you out?"

Charlie: "Yes, sir."

President: "I should have locked her in the dungeon."

Charlie: "I don't think you've got one, sir."

President: "I could have built one."

What would you think of the leader of the free world if he had enough self confidence imbued with humility to complain as President Bartlet did: "No one in government takes responsibility for anything any more. We foster. We obfuscate. We rationalize. 'Everybody does it,' that's what we say. So we come to occupy a moral safe house where everyone's to blame, so no one's guilty. ... Well, I'm to blame. I was wrong."

Silly me. That's just a TV show. Make that wasa TV show.

Posted by Jo at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)

Fans say goodbye to The West Wing

By Jonathan Beale
BBC News

After seven long years, through overseas crises in the Middle East, rising tensions with China and interesting romantic dalliances, The West Wing is ending its critically acclaimed - although recently low-rated - run in the United States.

The show ends not long after the death of a main character
The show's demise will surely bring tears to the eyes of liberals who sought refuge from the current occupant of the real White House by watching the romantic portrayal of Democratic president Josiah Bartlet.

Played by real-life Democrat supporter Martin Sheen, he gave liberals a parallel universe they would have far preferred.

Many of the cast make no apologies for the show's left-wing tilt - partly because they're Democrat supporters in real life.

Bradley Whitford, who plays the politically savvy Josh Lyman, says: "Does anybody want to watch a television show where the music swells at the end and we jump up and down and go, 'We're drilling on protected land', 'We got a tax cut for the rich people'? It wouldn't work."

Real president's view

In truth, the series took advice from both sides of the political divide in trying to make it as real as possible, and it has appealed to a much wider audience than just downcast Democrats.

But was there any concern as to what the current occupant of the real White House thought about the portrayal of his party?

That remains a mystery, says Richard Schiff, who plays former communications director Toby Ziegler.

"We met the support staff of the Bush administration very early on in their takeover and then we had tea at the White House with the staff.

"The president was walking with his wife and his dog on the lawn and didn't come over to say 'Hi'. I don't think he watches it."

The show has won several awards during its critically-acclaimed run
The notion that The West Wing somehow transformed the American political landscape is of course as far-fetched as some of the drama's plot lines.

It was President Bush, the anti-Jed Bartlet, who came to power during the show's early heyday.

And even Sheen, never afraid to make his own opinion known, could not help his friend Howard Dean win the presidency in 2004.

Sadly for Democrats, their fairy-tale ending only came true in Hollywood.

Influencing a generation

Then again, even with the recent ratings dip which contributed to its ultimate demise, The West Wing still drew millions of viewers weekly.

And Joe Lockhart, a White House spokesman for former President Bill Clinton, thinks it may have had an even greater impact.

Sheen says he wants to finish his education after retiring
"If this show could make people want to get involved in government, that's great for government, and I think it actually did.

"I think there's more enthusiasm now for working in government and getting into public service and - ratings aside, awards aside - that's a service that this show provided."

To quote President Bartlet, the show may have contributed to a new generation of Americans aiming to serve in government to "ensure that the promise of this country is the birthright of all the people".

The West Wing ends in the US on Sunday with the inauguration of a new president.

Posted by Jo at 05:54 PM | Comments (0)

Farewell address

The West Wing sails off on a tide of idealism.

By Andrew Johnston
Time Out New York

The West Wing ends its seven-season run this week, and though the series has had a lot of ups and downs since creator Aaron Sorkin was forced off the show two years ago, the extended wrap-up that began when the series returned from a six-week hiatus in March has been almost shockingly satisfying. Skeptics might argue that the series has scaled new heights of improbability in that time—GOP presidential candidate Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) honorably refused to contest the photo finish victory of Democratic rival Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), and Santos returned the favor by nominating Vinick as secretary of state—but to carp is to miss the point. The West Wing has never been about depicting the world as it is, but rather as it should be, and the series wouldn’t be itself if there wasn’t a lump in the throat of viewers who wish they lived in a country where the system works.

It almost didn’t turn out this way: The Vinick-Santos election was designed to carry the series into an eighth season, since the two-term cap on presidencies imposed by the 22nd Amendment made it impossible for the show to continue with Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet. As Sorkin’s successor, John Wells, revealed to TheNew York Times in March, the writers had planned to let Vinick win up until the moment when original cast member John Spencer unexpectedly died in December. Since Spencer’s Leo McGarry was Santos’s running mate, the rest of the season’s story lines had to be drastically rewritten, and at that point a decision was reached to build to a natural conclusion instead of setting the stage for a new incarnation of the show.

That was a shrewd call, since the ratings slump caused by this season’s move to Sundays meant that renewal was hardly certain. The late decision left no room for the wheel-spinning that often plagues shows that announce their departure well in advance, and the long break for the Winter Olympics gave the writers time to properly deal with Spencer’s passing, and to figure out how to resolve character arcs that Sorkin began mapping out during the Clinton administration.

Since the series returned in March, narrative strands have been tied together with impressive precision, in a manner evoking the gradual resolution of a massive novel. When long-running shows end, developments that viewers have awaited for years—the ultimate Ross and Rachel hookup on Friends, for example—are often hastily dealt with in sappy, overhyped finales that draw huge ratings yet are quickly forgotten. On The West Wing, the time devoted to wrapping up the long-simmering flirtation between overcaffeinated policy wonk Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and his assistant Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) has allowed the writers to portray the coupling with a broad spectrum of emotional shadings and weave the thread tightly into the larger tapestry. The result is a payoff that lets viewers feel justified in having invested several dozen hours in the relationship over the better part of a decade, rather than making the audience feel that they’ve been merely thrown a bone. Josh and Donna are taking demanding new jobs that will make the relationship an uphill battle (they’ve respectively been appointed as chiefs of staff to the new President and First Lady), but their decision to go forward while knowing the hazards is perfectly in keeping with the idealism of what devotees call the “Bartlet-verse.” Similarly, the farewell appearances by fan-favorite characters have felt like organic developments instead of stunts—in particular, the decision by Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) to leave corporate law and become Santos’s deputy chief of staff, which dovetails beautifully with the classic flashback episode from the second season that showed how Josh first persuaded Sam to join the Bartlet team. Sunday’s finale will undoubtedly be sentimental, but any tears it elicits will have been well earned.

The West Wing concludes Sunday 14 at 8pm on NBC.

Posted by Jo at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)

When Whitehall Meets 'The West Wing'

by James Forsyth
Washington Post

If there is one place where the end of the Bartlet administration will be mourned more than in Washington, it is in Whitehall, the home of the British government. "The West Wing," which will end its seven-year run tonight, enjoys cult status among the British political class. Such was the show's allure that former Bartlet chief of staff Leo McGarry -- played by the recently deceased John Spencer -- was invited to 10 Downing Street in June 2002 for some face time with Jonathan Powell, Prime Minister Tony Blair's real-life chief of staff. Later Spencer told a reporter, "I had British politicians coming up to me saying, 'I don't want to gush too much but I think meeting you could be one of the greatest moments of my life.' "

Their reaction underscored the show's importance: the fictional President Jed Bartlet was to Blair's young turks what President Ronald Reagan had been to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Tory boys. Admiration for President Bill Clinton's campaign techniques morphed into a desire to be like the good-looking, fast-talking Bartlet aides Josh Lyman or Sam Seaborn. For the first time since the Vietnam War, the British Left wanted to be American.

The yuppies of British politics fell for "The West Wing" because the show depicted politicians as they imagined themselves: young, smart idealists committed to making the world a better place. British shows, by contrast, cater to a cynical public and depict politicos as either sinister (see "House of Cards") or bumbling (see "Yes, Prime Minister").

Peter Mandelson, the architect of Blair's "New Labor" movement, lamented in 2002 that "any British TV program about politics has to show almost everyone driven solely by cynicism, self-interest and ambition." And the director of "The Project," a caustic drama about New Labor, observed to the Daily Telegraph that year: "It would be difficult to make a British 'West Wing.' The Americans are optimistic. They wish that their president could be like the Martin Sheen character -- a fundamentally decent guy, every now and then forced up blind alleys by the political process. A British 'West Wing' with a prime minister doing well just wouldn't work."

The show portrayed the U.S. government operating much as Blair's young followers wished Whitehall could work. Instead of ideas having to fight their way up through the bureaucracy, they could be thrashed out by two bright young things and taken straight to the boss. During the fourth season of the show, Bartlet staffers Josh and Toby took inspiration from a chat with a stranger in an Indiana bar to devise a quick plan making college tuition tax-deductible. Fast-forward a few episodes, and it became the centerpiece of the president's second-term tax plan -- just like that.

The old joke goes that the British government has the engine of a lawn mower and the brakes of a Rolls-Royce. As the Blairites chafed against that system, "The West Wing" offered them a tantalizing vision of how life could be.

This longing was heightened by the similarities between Bartlet and Blair. They are both self-defined moral men with the ability to inspire devotional loyalty. They both think in world-changing terms and are married to dynamic, feisty, professional women. One of Blair's confidants even told the Daily Telegraph in 2003 that the psychology of the two leaders was strikingly similar. And both had as sidekicks hardened bruisers who had struggled with the demon drink (although Blair's partner was communications guru Alastair Campbell, not his chief of staff).

Other similarities were manufactured: In 2002, British media reported that the chairs in the briefing room at 10 Downing had been moved to re-create C.J. Cregg's White House press room. Former Blair spokesman Godric Smith even reportedly kept a snapshot of the Amazonian Bartlet press secretary on his office desk.

In 2002, "West Wing" consultant and former Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperling briefed Blair, much to the amusement of the British media. Sperling recalls young New Laborites "lobbying hard" for him to send them the latest episodes. "It would be huge for them to be able to do special showings of 'West Wings' that hadn't been seen yet in the UK," he said. (In Britain, the show runs several episodes behind the U.S. schedule, putting a premium on any news from 1600 Pennsylvania.)

The infatuation with "The West Wing" had a serious side, too. It meant that Blair's camp was used to seeing things from the American point of view -- a perspective that can make actual U.S. proposals feel more reasonable. In effect, the show acted as a distance-learning Fulbright: It helped Blairites reject the old left's anti-Americanism while providing them with a liberal pro-American narrative.

Of course, Blair would have stood with the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and joined the invasion of Iraq with or without "The West Wing." But the show can only have bolstered his team's eagerness to understand the U.S. position and its appreciation of America's potential for good. Its perceived influence led conservative British commentator Peter Oborne to denounce Blair and his team's deployment of the "techniques, and empty morality, of 'West Wing' to rewrite the Iraq conflict."

A cynic might observe that the most realistic aspect of the relationship between New Labor and this fictional U.S. president was its one-sidedness. The two most prominent British characters on "The West Wing" were the antithesis of New Labor. One was a diplomat, Lord John Marbury, called in by Bartlet to help avert nuclear war between India and Pakistan. He is drunk, eccentric, aristocratic and off-message -- all traits that New Labor despises. The other character was a female prime minister who bore more than a passing resemblance to Thatcher. And two rare parliamentary defeats for Blair can be blamed in part on the show; Blair's opponents mimicked the parliamentary tactics that Democratic Rep. Matt Santos -- played by Jimmy Smits -- deployed to win a vote on stem cell research. "It was directly inspired by 'The West Wing,' " one plotter boasted to British newspapers.

The British political class's love affair with "The West Wing" won't end after tonight's series finale, or even when New Labor leaves office. Under new leader David Cameron, the opposition Conservatives are big fans, too. Cameron has told interviewers he likes the way Bartlet "cuts through all the bull and does the right thing." The very American language he uses attests to how far up the Thames the Potomac now flows -- and helps explain why, at a time when the British public is increasingly skeptical of US. ambitions, the leaders of Britain's two main parties have never been more pro-American.

Posted by Jo at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

‘West Wing’ administration reaches end of term

By Bill DeYoung
Scripps Howard News Service

As the cast and crew shot the series finale of “The West Wing” on a Los Angeles set March 30, the doors to the famous address were thrown open.

“We stayed up all night for the last shot, which was extraordinary,” says Allison Janney, a four-time Emmy winner for her portrayal of press secretary C.J. Cregg (the character was promoted to chief of staff in 2005).

“Around midnight, the lobby of the ‘West Wing’ area was just packed with tons of actors and people. We were all there as the president says goodbye to his staff for the last time. We stood there and clapped for half an hour.”

The finale airs at 8 p.m. Fort Wayne time Sunday on NBC.

Veteran actor Martin Sheen had become a father figure to his cast mates – much as his fictional President Bartlet had been to the “staff.”

For Bradley Whitford, an Emmy winner as Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, “It was tremendously disorienting and sad. It’s like leaving a cult – an unprecedented volume of intimacy and camaraderie.”

“West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin and producer Thomas Schlamme returned for the group hug and ensuing wrap party.

“I think the show ended at the right time,” says Whitford, whose wife Jane Kaczmarek’s show, “Malcolm in the Middle,” airs its own series finale Sunday. “It was such a special experience for all of us who worked on it, and you don’t want to pull the taffy too thin on these things.”

One key to the show’s early success, Whitford says, was Sorkin, who left the show after the fourth season: “Aaron assumes the audience is as smart and funny as he is. He’s trying to entertain himself.”

It was a tightrope, Janney says, that could be hard to walk.

“Aaron writes in this incredible rhythm,” she explains. “Every word, every punctuation mark was put there for a reason. So if we added an extra ‘uh,’ we had to go back and re-shoot because it wrecked the rhythm of it. That drove people crazy sometimes. But it was worth it when we got it.”

Whitford will return to NBC in the fall, playing the head writer of a late-night sketch-comedy show on Sorkin’s “Studio 60 From the Sunset Strip.”

The series stars Matthew Perry, who was Emmy-nominated for a 2002 guest spot on “West Wing.”

Posted by Jo at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)

"West Wing" Terms Out

by Joal Ryan
E!Online

It's the little things that doom a presidency: the Depression; Watergate; Aaron Buerge proposing to Helene Eksterowicz.

The West Wing leaves office Sunday night having survived 154 episodes, seven seasons, cast and crew departures and the death of a beloved costar, but never having recovered from The Bachelor.

Once a Top 10 hit, the Oval Office drama faltered four seasons ago, when it was up against ABC's then-new, then-hot matrimonial-minded franchise. In one year, viewership fell 22 percent. And it never got back up. This season, the show was about as popular as such quickly forgotten series as The Book of Daniel and Threshold.

Sunday's finale, airing at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on NBC, looks forward to a new administration that audiences will never see, barring a reunion movie or series sequel. Titled "Tomorrow," the episode takes place on Inauguration Day--Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) is moving into the West Wing; President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is moving out.

In real life, Sheen is moving onto Ireland and undergrad studies; among his costars, Bradley Whitford is moving onto West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin's new Saturday Night Live-inspired series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, starring Matthew Perry.

Borrowing from Will & Grace, The West Wing has loaded up on guest stars, or at least distinguished alumni, in its final days. Mary-Louise Parker, Marlee Matlin and Tim Matheson were among those who reprised their recurring roles in recent weeks. Rob Lowe, who left the show in 2003 after squabbling over his role and his paycheck, returns Sunday for a cameo as Sam Seaborn, Bartlet's former spin doctor.

Like the real Washington, D.C., the fake Washington, D.C., of The West Wing relied on a large, revolving crew of steady pros, not flashy stars, to get its business done. Since things tend to run smoother if the president sticks around, Sheen stuck around for the full run, his character having staved off several international crises, not to mention a 2002 campaign challenge from Barbra Streisand's better half.

Key West Wing staffers Whitford (as Josh Lyman), Janel Moloney (as Donna Moss), Allison Janney (as C.J. Cregg), Richard Schiff (as Toby Ziegler) and Dulé Hill (as Charlie Young) also remained loyal to the cause. Stockard Channing, as Bartlet's wife Abigail and the nation's first lady, appeared in more than 50 episodes from 1999 through Sunday.

John Spencer was a West Wing lifer, too, his battle-tested Leo McGarry, Bartlet's confidante and former chief of staff, was a linchpin of the show and a key player in this past season's election storyline (his character was Smits' running mate). When he died last Dec. 16 from a heart attack, it seemed a final, fatal blow to a series already listing. NBC announced West Wing's cancellation a month later, although the network said the pink slip was being written prior to the actor's death.

As far as Bartlet and company were concerned, McGarry lived on until April, when he died (off screen) on election night--something that would be called a neat dramatic twist had it not been necessitated by a real-life tragedy.

Spencer's death was the gravest of The West Wing off-screen dramas, which included the Lowe falling out, the 2001 salary holdouts of Janney, Schiff, Spencer and Whitford, the 2003 exits of Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme, and most recently, the reputed pay demands of unnamed "key castmembers" over a planned retrospective special.

NBC defused the last one by pulling the plug on the retrospective, once slated to air before the finale. In its place, at 7 p.m. (ET/PM) Sunday, the network will rerun the show's inaugural episode, originally broadcast Sept. 22, 1999.

Through it all, The West Wing won Emmys, lots of Emmys--24 for the series, including four for Outstanding Drama, four for Janney and one trophy each for Channing, Spencer and Whitford. Its haul puts it sixth on the all-time series wins list behind Frasier (37 Emmys), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (29), Cheers (28), Hill Street Blues (26) and The Carol Burnett Show (25). It's possible it could claim even more glory at this coming fall's Emmys--nominations are announced in July.

As a TV president, Sheen outlasted the likes of Geena Davis (of the one-and-done Commander in Chief), Patty Duke (of the one-and-done Hail to the Chief) and the marked chief executives of 24.

Perhaps if Aaron and Helene hadn't looked so in love, The West Wing would still be flying high--and Sheen would be lobbying for an end run around term limits.

Posted by Jo at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)

Spectrum/'The West Wing' is just a political TV addiction

By Charles A. Mason
Marshall Democrat-News

On Sept. 22, 1999, a new show appeared on the NBC-TV network -- a driven, fast-paced drama that took the same reverent-irreverent look at politics that "Sports Night" provided for televison sports journalism.
(Does anyone remember ill-fated "Sports Night," the apparent parody of the ESPN sports empire? I didn't think so. Unfortunately, it didn't last long on the airwaves.)

That show on politics though, "The West Wing," had a grand run.

Now it's coming to an end.

On Sunday, May 15, "The West Wing" will air its final episode following a re-broadcast of the 1999 pilot show.

I'll admit I was a latecomer to "The West Wing" family of viewers. Working many evenings at daily newspapers, I didn't always get a chance to see the show on its Wednesday night showings.

However, through several marathons of "The West Wing" that Bravo would broadcast in recent years, I was able to pick up on the story lines and most particularly, the characters who made the show click.

By the way, Bravo marathons of "The West Wing" are aired from about midnight until the sun comes up. Each episode is proceeded by the striking musical introduction of ruffles and flourishes as an American flag waves on the screen. Since each show builds upon the next using the prime-time soap opera format, watching them can become addictive.

I recently became re-addicted by watching on Bravo some of this season's shows that lead up to the Sunday evening finale.

About a year ago I devoured a book written about the early years of the show, furthering my education and cementing my addiction.

"The West Wing" has always allowed me the opportunity to decompress -- escaping into the high-stakes world of U.S. presidential politics. Since some of the episodes explored very plausible political scenarios, my natural curiosity about all things political was continually fed.

That it wasn't real didn't bother me. I decompress with science fiction, too, and politics and science fiction many times hold the same believability quotient. (As in, that would never happen, would it?)

I even had a brush with the real thing.

Washington politics.

Working as a political reporter for a daily newspaper in northeastern Ohio, I covered Washington, D.C., briefly in 2002 when U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) presented his case before the House Ethics Committee in the Sam Rayburn House Offices Building.

Traficant found himself before his colleagues following a 10-count conviction on bribery and corruption charges after a two-month trial in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

As with all things, the fictional Washington, D.C., was far different than the reality. Quite frankly, I found the nation's capital to be far less stellar than those grand night camera shots showing the Capitol, The White House and the Washington Monument that I had seen for years on television.

It was dirty, full of rude and pompous people and generally a turn-off. I like my doses of reality to contain reality. But I digress.

"The West Wing" has tackled many interesting story lines, such as the time President Josiah Bartlet invoked the 25th Amendment when his daughter had been kidnapped and the House Speaker, played by John Goodman, took over the reigns as the leader of free world.

Life then imitated art and art imitated life in this last season of "The West Wing."

Actor Jimmy Smits, who has played President-elect Matt Santos, saw long-time West Wing actor John Spencer die in December of last year in real life.

Spencer, who played Bartlet's chief of staff Leo McGarry -- and who served as Santos' vice presidential running mate in the show -- was killed months later by the writers just two hours prior to the closing of the presidential polls in the Pacific Coast Time Zone.

As the story line went, the people had elected a president and a dead vice president, creating a series of U.S. constitutional questions never broached in real life or fiction.

Yep, it was that kind of show.

And now it's gone.

With the canceling of "Commander in Chief" by ABC and the demise of "The West Wing," there's no political show left on the airwaves in prime time.

All I can gather from that circumstance is the real national political climate that exists is scary enough for us.

Posted by Jo at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006

No Looking Back for Sorkin

By William LaRue
Syracuse Post-Standard

Invite "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin to talk about Sunday's finale of the series, you get back an e-mail with shades of the snappy dialogue and light touch he puts into scripts.

A publicist for the 1983 graduate of Syracuse University says he was too busy for a phone interview. He's been taping a pilot he wrote for another NBC drama, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," which he hopes will be on the fall schedule.

However, Sorkin squeezed in a few moments to respond by e-mail to questions on the end of "The West Wing," which he officially left after the 2002-2003 season.

Q. If you were asked to point out the greatest legacy of "The West Wing," what would it be? Was it raising the bar on the quality of TV drama, helping the public better understand the process of government, or something else?

A. I think it's probably for others to decide the show's legacy.

Q. After you left the show, was there any continuing involvement on your part in terms of providing notes, suggestions or other advice to the people in charge?

A. Larry David, who left "Seinfeld" before the end of its run, gave me a piece of advice. He said, "Don't watch the show ever again. Either it'll be great and you'll be miserable, or it won't be great and you'll be miserable."

While I've stayed in close touch with all my friends from the show, I haven't seen it since I left at the end of the fourth season.

Q. Five or 10 years from now when NBC wants to make a "West Wing" reunion movie, would you be in?

A. With ideas like that I'm surprised you're not running a major network.

Q. What will you be doing at 8 p.m. May 14 when the final episode airs?

A. The timing's poetic because the next day NBC announces its fall schedule. I'll be in a hotel room in New York waiting for a call from (NBC Entertainment president) Kevin Reilly to tell me if I'm back on television with "Studio 60."

Q. Is there anything you can tell us about "Studio 60"? Is it fair to say it will have a lot of the writing style and pacing familiar to fans of "Sports Night" (Sorkin's former ABC series) and "West Wing"?

A. Yeah, I'm not going to be fooling anyone into thinking it was written by someone else.

Editor's note: Several days after this interview, NBC announced it had made an early decision to pick up "Studio 60" for the network's 2006-2007 season.

Posted by Jo at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

TV's "West Wing" offered Utopian presidency

By Steve Gorman
Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - American television bids goodbye on Sunday to "The West Wing," a landmark drama offering viewers a Utopian narrative -- some might call it fantasy -- of a president and White House staff who always put country above politics.

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The Emmy-winning series starring Martin Sheen as the man in the Oval Office heads off the airwaves after seven years on the NBC network (one year shy of two presidential terms) just as newly elected successor Jimmy Smits is about to assume office.

The nation's real-life political landscape has changed dramatically since the show debuted in 1999, during the post-Monica Lewinsky twilight of the Clinton administration.

But "The West Wing" has stayed its course through the turbulent years that followed, often reflecting actual events and politics, although usually with greater eloquence, clarity and decisiveness than viewers could find on the evening news.

"It was a kind of Utopian notion of the kind of president that we wished we had but that the political process would never be able to deliver," said Robert Thompson, head of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television.

Moreover, the show's idealism resonated with a U.S. electorate disillusioned by real politics, said University of Maryland professor Trevor Parry-Giles, author "The Prime Time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. Nationalism."

"It played right into this seeping cynicism and gave audiences this countervision," he told Reuters. "The show didn't really rip stories from the headlines but played off cultural anxieties and angst."

Critics hailed the series, especially during its first four seasons under the guidance of creator Aaron Sorkin, as a show that earned a place beside such groundbreaking dramas as "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law," "thirtysomething" and "ER."

"West Wing" won the Emmy Award as best TV drama four years in a row and holds the record for most Emmys trophies in a single season -- nine for its first year. Although it lost considerable ratings steam, the show was widely regarded as having enjoyed a creative renaissance in its final season.

POLITICAL WISH FULFILLMENT

Still, producers sought to depict Sheen's character, President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet, as a leader for all people, endowed with an integrity and nobility seldom seen in Washington on either end of the political spectrum.

A Democrat, yes, but he was no Jack Kennedy, or Bill Clinton, for that matter. The biggest scandal Sheen's character faced during his tenure was over his concealing the fact that he suffered from multiple sclerosis.

In one of the show's more outlandish story lines, an international crisis involving the abduction of his daughter, Bartlet puts the nation's interests ahead of his own by temporarily handing power to the Republican House speaker.

Bartlet's top aides were likewise smart, earnestly dedicated, and fiercely loyal civil servants. Much of the show's appeal hinged on their personal lives, which, as in real-life Washington, did not stray far from the office.

Executive producer John Wells said that unlike nonfiction politicians, his characters were largely unfettered by Washington's single-biggest imperative -- money.

"The strangest paradox of all is that the political ads that paid for a lot of 'West Wing' ... (are) forcing our political system to be something we all wished it wasn't," he said.

While the stories were told from a Democratic perspective, Republicans were generally treated as worthy adversaries.

"I don't think the show pandered to liberals," Parry-Giles said. "They tried to give the Republican viewpoint at least a fair hearing."

To enhance balance and a sense of realism, producers consulted with a bipartisan coterie of Washington insiders, including former Clinton White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers and onetime Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein.

Both presidential contenders in the show's climactic election campaign this season -- Democrat Matthew Santos (Smits) and Republican Arnold Vinick ( Alan Alda) -- were cast as politically moderate, intelligent and extremely likable.

When Vinick loses by a razor-thin margin, he gracefully declines to contest the election, and Santos winds up asking him to be secretary of state.

Despite its obvious departures from reality, "The West Wing" stands as the most complex, nuanced portrait of the presidency to date in pop culture, Parry-Giles said.

"Most two-hour movies give you either a romantic hero president, who saves a large airplane from Russian terrorists ( Harrison Ford, "Air Force One") or defeats aliens ( Bill Pullman, "Independence Day"), or the malevolent president who murders somebody, like in 'Murder at 1600,' or the Gene Hackman character in 'Absolute Power,"' he said.

"West Wing" may not be the only political show to leave the airwaves this month. A new ABC drama, "Commander In Chief," starring Geena Davis as the first female U.S. president, may not be renewed for the fall due to low ratings.

Reuters/VNU

Posted by Jo at 07:11 PM | Comments (0)

'The West Wing' Reaches Term Limit

By Keming Kuo
Voice of America

For years, American television producers were most likely to set their dramas in places like courtrooms, hospitals or police stations. But over the past decade, the White House and halls of Congress have also become popular settings as well. Many credit the critically-acclaimed drama The West Wing with providing an "insiders" look at the U.S. presidency and Washington political process. The West Wing concludes its final season next Sunday as Washington political observers reflect on the show's contributions.

As many as 15 million American viewers tuned in to the NBC network to watch actor Martin Sheen play a fictional president, Jeb Bartlett -- as he and his White House staff grappled with everything from global terrorism to aggressive reporters. Now that the series is ending, Mr. Sheen says he has enjoyed his seven-year -or nearly two-term tenure- on The West Wing. The show's title refers to the area of the White House where the president's and many staff offices are located.

"It's been a beautiful, beautiful grace-filled, happy run," says Sheen. "I have mixed
Martin Sheen as U.S. President, Jeb Bartlett
feelings about it: it's hard to let go of, but it must be let go of."

News reports attributed the show's cancellation to a declining number of viewers and the sudden death last December of key actor John Spencer, who portrayed the president's chief of staff. George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley says the show filled a need of Americans to have a "fantasy leader."

"I think people liked The West Wing because it was the president they wanted," Professor Turley says, "someone who was sensitive, intelligent, even conflicted, but someone aware of his conflicts. People enjoyed The West Wing more than reality because it was the White House they wanted, whether they were Democrats or Republicans."

George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley
Professor Turley says the dialogue on The West Wing sounded accurate because the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, hired real-life White House staffers, such as ex-President Bush's and Clinton's press secretaries to help with the TV scripts.

"The West Wing was very much a part of a cottage industry here in Washington," says Turley. "There were a lot of contributors who brought a lot of reality. The West Wing often followed contemporary events closely and was a commentary on those events. What was striking was that people seemed to take comfort that The West Wing was dealing with contemporary problems even though it was purely theatrical [and] there was a certain nobility to the way the problems were handled."

Former CBS News White House correspondent Terence Smith once visited the West Wing studio set in Burbank, California, and found it almost like the real president's office in Washington. "It was eerie walking around that set - how similar it was," Smith says. "Many things were shrunken down in size, but I was very familiar with the White House press room. They got it right."

But observers also say the show sometimes presented an idealized view of the American presidency. Professor Turley says he found The West Wing staffers were sometimes too good to be true.

"The greatest problem with The West Wing was that everybody was articulate, no matter what occurred," Turley says. "You could have a nuclear threat and people were talking in complete sentences! In reality, Washington is not that articulate, neat or provocative."

Retired correspondent Smith says The West Wing has to have some literary license to make the show exciting. "Of course, it was theatrical," he says. "But there was an authenticity to it. It was fascinating for people to watch. The cast was so good, including the late John Spencer, who was a terrific actor and a tragic loss."

As a university professor, Jonathan Turley and other educators applaud such shows as The West Wing and ABC television's Commander in Chief for giving viewers a unique look at their government in action. But he says it's unfortunate that many need to turn to television for strong presidential role models and staff.

"There's an element of fantasy as people in both parties are unhappy with the current politics," says Jonathan Turley. "They're turning to television, where actors are providing a more viable and sustainable model. [But] it's worrisome that so many Americans turn on the TV to see White Houses that resonate more deeply with them. It's an example of the deep malaise and dissatisfaction both Republicans and Democrats have with the political system. Right now, television offers the most inspiring models and reality is far more disturbing."

Apparently, interest in fictional White House dramas is diminishing. Along with the ending of The West Wing series, ABC television recently announced it has canceled the new series Commander in Chief, starring actress Geena Davis. Davis won a Golden Globe "best dramatic actress" award earlier this year for her portrayal of the first female president of the United States.

Posted by Jo at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)

Language, politics set 'West Wing' apart

by Robert J. Thompson
South Bend Tribune

Stories about kings, and all the kings' men, have been around for centuries, but when it comes to our king (the president), our palace (the White House) and our modern storytelling medium (television), the record has been mostly silent. Doctors, lawyers and police officers have always outnumbered and outlasted political leaders on TV. Then came "The West Wing."

The series that showcased Jed Bartlet's presidency ends Sunday after seven seasons and two dozen Emmys, a long reign for a show about politics.

So why did "The West Wing" succeed? For one thing, entertainment TV had been timid about the subject of politics for most of its history, fearful of offending audiences. When political settings were used for a TV series, the subject matter was softened, if not neutralized. Nearly all of the series about the White House, for example, have been comedies -- including a 1992 series, "Capitol Critters," that featured talking mice -- and most of the political dramas were only slight variations of the nonpartisan movie fantasy "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." These series were stripped of what could have made them most interesting: the processes of politics.

"The West Wing" took a different approach. Although it certainly featured comic elements, its focus was politics, and it didn't shy away from assigning its characters to a specific political party.

"The West Wing" recognized that modern government is mostly about hot air. The essence of Washington is talk, and the essence of the series was its dialogue -- conversation as a spectator sport.

This new style of fictional TV politics was the vision of Aaron Sorkin. He created "The West Wing" and presided over the first four -- and many say best -- of its seven seasons. He also wrote or co-wrote all but three of the 88 episodes he produced. Besides winning a record-breaking nine Emmy Awards in its first year, "The West Wing" took the Emmy for Best Drama for all four years of Sorkin's tenure.

The weapons of choice most often on display in Sorkin's White House were rhetoric, oratory and a general running-off-at-the-mouth by people who obviously had done very well on the verbal portion of their SATs. The rapid fire of syllables proved more exciting than that of missiles. The show's words spoke louder than its actions, and, although meticulously directed, this is one of the few dramatic programs on television that actually could have worked on radio.

As a writer, Sorkin is a man of many words: many, many words. "West Wing" screenplays ran up to 20 pages longer than other hour-long dramas on television.

"Growing up in my house," Sorkin said recently, "anybody who used one word when they could have used 10 just wasn't trying." His New York childhood included frequent trips to the theater: He saw plays by the likes of Edward Albee, Shakespeare and David Mamet before he was a teenager.

"I had no idea at all what was going on up there," he said, "but I loved the sound of the dialogue, and I wanted to write dialogue that sounded like what I'd heard."

Not since "Moonlighting," or until "Deadwood," had any new series paid such careful attention to language. Two books of selected scripts from the show have been published, a distinction earned so far by only a handful of TV series.

In the end, however, "The West Wing" was not very realistic. For that, we'd do better with HBO's short-lived "Tanner '88" or "K Street."

If only people on both sides of Washington's political spectrum acted with the soaring vision and spoke in the baroque linguistic fugues heard on "The West Wing," but that, alas, is as much a fantasy as the talking White House rodents on "Capitol Critters."

Posted by Jo at 05:02 PM | Comments (0)

'The West Wing' will end its seven-year term with series finale

by Tom Dorsey
Louisville Courier-Journal

When most popular TV series reach the end of their long runs, producers and columnists struggle to attach some social significance to their passing.

But no one will have to anguish over making a case for "The West Wing," which winds up a seven-year stint Sunday. The series, starring Martin Sheen as President Bartlet, dealt with issues real chief executives deal with, such as terrorism, and some they haven't, such as the health-care crisis.

You'll get your last chance to see where the show has been and how it ends up Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. A retrospective look at the series over the years with the cast was scheduled for 7, but NBC decided it didn't want to pay the actors for an additional hour, so the first episode of the series from 1999 will air instead. The final episode is at 8.

Why is this series leaving the air? Ratings, as usual. The political drama peaked with over 17 million viewers in the 2001-02 season, which took in 9/11, and began a free fall in 2004-05. It is now seen by about 8 million viewers weekly, less than half of what it commanded in its heyday. The move to Sundays only accelerated its demise.

On the other hand, seven seasons in an era when shows get canceled after a single chapter is a long run.

From another perspective, "The West Wing," like real political administrations, had just run its course and about run out of ideas, although you would think that might be hard to do with something like politics and the White House.

The creators painted themselves into a corner with President Bartlet, who was already 18 months into his first term when the show started, which meant he could serve only another term before the star of the series would have to step down. "The West Wing" actually played the scenario out, having characters portrayed by Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda running to succeed him.

Could the series have carried on with either one of them as the star? It's doubtful, especially with a show that costs $6 million an episode rapidly losing audience. They could even have kept Sheen around by having him run for Congress. Andrew Johnson did that and was elected to the Senate that had tried to impeach him.

But even Sheen, 65, wanted to call it quits. Still, Democrats from his birth state of Ohio wanted him to run for the U.S. Senate, according to The New York Times.

The actor, who has been a firebrand activist for many causes over the years, turned them down, saying he didn't have the credentials and that they were mistaking being an actor with being qualified for public office. Tell that to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bartlet was a Democrat on the show, although he was, according to some conservatives, the kind of Democrat they could like, if not vote for because of his strong values and willingness to take forceful action. Other conservatives called the show "The Left Wing."

The show frequently mirrored the real-life situations the resident of the Oval Office had to deal with, but it was usually on a delayed basis.

Because "The West Wing" normally shoots weeks or even months ahead of when it's aired, the plots couldn't be quickly ripped from the headlines. But it did deal in the ideas, debates and controversies that plague all political administrations, although in a more melodramatic way than in real life.

One example was when Bartlet's daughter was kidnapped by Muslim extremists, and he ordered the bombing of a terrorist country. In the wake of 9/11, there was an episode in which a plot to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge was uncovered, and the president ordered the assassination of a terrorist leader.

"The West Wing" also gave the writers a chance to peek behind the doors of the White House to see the president as a person and a human being. It also introduced us to a deeply involved and committed staff.

Sunday's episode sees the swearing-in of the new president, played by Smits. Originally, the script called for the Republican, played by Alda, to be elected. The producers, however, decided it would be too much for fans to also see Smits' character lose the election on top of the death of his running mate, so they put the Democrat in office instead, according to The New York Times. (Smits' running mate was played by John Spencer, who died in real life in December.)

The producers say the swearing-in is fitting because the message of the show always was that many good, decent and dedicated people serve in public life and that core of democracy is the peaceful transition of power.

Posted by Jo at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

10 things we loved about 'The West Wing'

by Mike Duffy
Detroit Free Press

. President Josiah (Jed) Bartlet, of course. The stubborn, straightforward Vermonter always spoke his mind. And what an intelligent, literate mind it was. The guy even babbled eloquently in Latin. And Martin Sheen's unforgettable performance captured all the flaws, humor and humanity of a pragmatic liberal with a big heart who always hung tough on foreign policy.

2. Aaron Sorkin's mesmerizing language. His uncanny ear for witty repartee, policy wonk chatter and articulate political discourse gave "The West Wing" its signature verbal zing. And when Sorkin departed after four Emmy Award-winning seasons, "The West Wing" stumbled around for a season or so before finally relocating its Beltway mojo.

3. The walking and talking. Characters briskly walked, talking all the way, through the hallways and offices of Bartlet's White House. Credit a superbly talented ensemble cast, Sorkin's distinctively snappy, stylized conversations and executive producer Thomas Schlamme's kinetic visual style.

4. Substance and real issues. Sorkin & Co. even made obscure congressional budgetary battles and quirky international trade agreements intriguing.

5. All the President's men and women. From the late Leo McGarry and C.J. Cregg to Josh Lyman, Sam Seaborn and Toby Ziegler, Bartlet was blessed with a smart, ambitious team of advisers. Despite their policy wonk tendencies -- or sometimes because of them -- this intense, witty White House gang was remarkably compelling.

6. No cynicism allowed. With empathy and intelligence, "The West Wing" resurrected the notion of genuine political honor and the true worthiness of public service.

7. Josh and Donna's sexual tension tango. Bradley Whitford and Janel Moloney smartly strung us along for six seasons before these two workplace soul mates finally got together for some good lovin'.

8. Idealism is cool, optimism rocks. "The West Wing" never succumbed to the toxic atmosphere of polarized partisanship that has too often put a mean-spirited stranglehold on political discourse in the real Washington.

9. John Spencer. Whether he was serving the president as fount of political wisdom Leo McGarry on "The West Wing" or working the courtrooms and helping his clients as sly, fiery Tommy Mullaney on "L.A. Law," Spencer fully inhabited his memorable TV characters. RIP.

10. The final season. Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits brought their 'A' game to "The West Wing" for an enthralling presidential election duel. Unless Emmy voters are completely clueless, they'll both be honored when nominations are announced in July. And as a make-believe Vinick backer, I think Alan Alda will make a fabulous Secretary of State.

Posted by Jo at 04:57 PM | Comments (0)

'West Wing' folks leave the White House

by Mike Duffy
Detroit Free Press

The political party's over for "The West Wing," but this isn't the time to mope.

For seven seasons, most of them truly exceptional, Aaron Sorkin's smart, colorful White House odyssey captured our imaginations and stirred the emotions in a way that no "CSI," "American Idol" or "Grey's Anatomy" ever could.

"The West Wing" had the ring of essential truth in its Washington storytelling details while also presenting an idealized portrait of the American political system the way we might like it to be ... a portrait of hope, integrity, patriotism and civility.

Now President Josiah (Jed) Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his staff are headed out the White House doors, reflecting on the past as "The West Wing" comes to a bittersweet end at 8 p.m. Sunday on NBC. And as the Bartlet administration prepares to depart, America's first Latino president, Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), is readying for his inauguration.

A previously planned series retrospective special was dropped, according to industry buzz, because NBC couldn't reach an agreement with all of the actors to participate. So for loyal fans seeking a pleasant pre-finale blast from President Bartlet's White House past, NBC has instead scheduled an encore of "The West Wing" series pilot for 7 p.m. Sunday.

Does it hurt to have NBC pull the plug on such a fine series? Absolutely.

But "The West Wing" -- which joins "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A. Law" as the only series to win four Emmy Awards as TV's top drama -- has already carved out a special spot in television history. In a medium often overrun with doctors, lawyers and cops, President Bartlet & Co. offered a mesmerizing pop-culture alternative when the show first arrived in the fall of 1999.

The memories are just too rich and wonderful to sit around whining about NBC's decision to cancel the show. And despite a big ratings drop after being moved to 8 p.m. Sundays, the quality of "The West Wing" this final season has recalled the glory days of the early years.

Going out on top creatively, with a return to dramatic excellence on the campaign trail as Santos battled Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) for the keys to the White House, has been especially sweet.

So heavens to Mrs. Landingham, let's enjoy it.

Posted by Jo at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)

Turning out the lights in "The West Wing"

By Florangela Davila
Seattle Times

Cue those drums, or better yet, some Yo-Yo Ma.

We're about to feel even lousier than when Mrs. Landingham died.

No more press briefings and all that bantering through those hallowed halls. No more world crises and political sparring.

Goodbye, neurotic Josh. Savvy C.J. Sunny Donna. Devoted Charlie. And Toby, lovable grouch.

It's been seven fine years, but this Sunday, we bid farewell — even though we would love to hold onto our make-believe White House for just a bit longer.

Because, let's just say it, we could stand proudly behind this president and feel patriotic, even when he took us to war. That's what "The West Wing" did. It gave us a conscientious, knowing president, Jed Bartlet, with a devoted, hardworking staff. And we cared.

"The West Wing," with its ensemble cast, multiple story lines and, above all, spitfire dialogue, stroked our intellect. (OK, yes, in the pilot Sam slept with a prostitute — but Sam was Rob Lowe. Rob Lowe!)

We tuned in because we had fallen in love with that other workplace TV show, "Sports Night," and we wanted to see what else writer/creator Aaron Sorkin could do. And this time the workplace was both storied and something we hadn't yet seen: the White House.

What we found was a drama about high-pressured teamwork and the desire to always be wanting. if sometimes failing, to do what is good. Anyone who's ever felt like they don't have a life outside the office could appreciate "West Wing." Same goes for anyone who's ever worked behind the scenes in a supporting role.

Some blue-state viewers were lured in because the show was about earnest Democrats and if, say, our public persona was to remain objective, er, neutral and not show bias, at least in our living rooms they could groan and roll their eyes at the Republicans. (Except for Arnold Vinick. And ha! Now he's Secretary of State.)

But what truly connected with viewers — those of us who stuck with it even when the show got too preachy, or we just couldn't buy into Claudia Jean as chief of staff — was that "The West Wing," week after week, heralded commitment. This was a group of people devoted to one another, to their leader and to a country. And hasn't everyone imagined what it would be like to serve at the pleasure of the president?

Series creator Sorkin had already given us a regular-guy portrait of the leader of the free world in his 1995 movie "The American President." (Martin Sheen riffing à la Dr. Seuss, ribbing Michael Douglas, the president).

Sorkin initially envisioned "The West Wing" as a TV drama spotlighting just the president's senior staff. So he gave us a marvelous crew: a couple of brilliant lawyers (Rob Lowe's Sam Seaborn; Bradley Whitford's Josh Lyman); a caring cynic (Richard Schiff's Toby Ziegler); a tall, stands-her-ground press secretary (Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg). And to mind them all, the crusty, tortured Leo McGarry as chief of staff, who was played by the terrific John Spencer, who died unexpectedly in December.

At first, Martin Sheen wasn't meant to be a regular cast member. But we all know that quickly changed.

President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet, descendant of a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, a New Hampshire Democrat with a fondness for chess, old books and the occasional cigarette. But in spite of his privileged upbringing and the insular Oval Office, he never seemed out of touch with the regular folk. If anything, he'd groan when his own staff was oblivious. The cost of a gallon of milk? he asks his staff. They all haw before Bartlet gets the answer from his personal aide, the son of a slain D.C. police officer, Charlie Young (played by Dulé Hill).

Ah, Charlie. A supporting-cast member who made the series that much more appealing. Because if you couldn't identify with a geeky politico, then you could always latch onto common-sense Charlie or jaunty Donna Moss.

Then there was sassy-sweet presidential secretary Mrs. Landingham and her only-if-you-deserved-it cookie jar. She was wrongly killed off when she was struck by a drunken driver — just as she was buying a new car.

There were many others to love: The eccentric Lily Tomlin character (the subsequent presidential secretary). The fiesty First Lady (Stockard Channing). The fiesty deputy press secretary played by Kristin Chenoweth.

Mark Harmon as a Secret Service agent — and C.J.'s long overdue love interest. Adam Arkin as a shrink. (Poor, poor Josh.)

Because of them, we wanted to learn Latin; talk Census, Social Security, capital-gains tax; throw a ball against our office wall — just like Toby.

So hail to the Chief and "The West Wing"; long may it wave.

Posted by Jo at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)

'West Wing' shines with fine scripts, cast

by Connie Ogle
Miami Herald

NBC's The West Wing, still one of the most entertaining shows on TV, ends its seven-year run on Sunday. Just in time to fill the looming void comes The West Wing: The Complete Sixth Season (Warner Home Video, $59.98), which signaled a return to the fine writing missing in season 5.

The sixth season focuses on change, much of it painful, for the Bartlet administration. The president (Martin Sheen) battles his worsening MS; his chief of staff (John Spencer) suffers a serious health setback that affects his job. The working relationship and unresolved sexual tension between Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and his assistant Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) are fraying, and both are considering new jobs, leaving C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) and Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) to pick up the pieces. The story also introduces presidential candidates Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), terrific additions that bring considerable heft to the impressive ensemble cast.

The extras are meager but entertaining. The documentary C.J. Cregg: From Press Secretary to Chief of Staff showcases the terrific work of multi-Emmy winner Janney, who made one of TV's most intelligent, nuanced female characters as funny as she was admirable. (We just wish somebody had addressed that ever-morphing hairstyle.) The set also has an Easter egg conversation with Spencer, who died last December, and three commentary tracks, the best of which comes from writer John Wells and director Alex Graves on the seminal episode King Corn, a triptych morality play that explores the candidates' willingness to sell their souls for caucus votes in Iowa and also reminds us that this Josh/Donna thing is not over yet, not by a long shot.

The amiable Graves and Wells, who also provide commentary for the thrilling final episode 2162 Votes, talk about realizing they were by this point filming two separate series, one at the White House and another on the campaign trail. They worked hard to differentiate the campaigns, using handheld cameras to film the motley, chaotic Santos crew and stationary cameras to show the cool experience of the Vinick camp. Best random tidbit: Conscience-free Democratic candidate Bob Russell (Gary Cole) travels in Britney Spears' tour bus.

Posted by Jo at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

End of Term

The revolutionary series The West Wing leaves a considerable legacy
By Stephen Cole
CBC.ca

Few small-screen characters have enjoyed as grand an introduction as Josiah “Jed” Bartlet, the Democratic pipe dream president. “I am the Lord your God! Thou shalt worship no other god before me!” were Bartlet’s first words, thundered off-camera on the premiere episode. The dramatic effect suggested that the president might be supreme commander as well as the commander-in-chief. And with that, the star of The West Wing resolved a fight between staffers and irate moral majority leaders over the First Commandment. He banished the false prophets from his temple with the order: “Get your fat asses out of my White House.”

As with so many battles waged on The West Wing, this antic fracas — which anticipated America’s growing culture war — was impeccably timed. The NBC series, which ends its seven-year-run on May 14, debuted in the fall of 1999, the year Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath about an affair with a White House intern. At the same time, his Republican successor, evangelical Christian George W. Bush, was set to capture his party’s nomination for the 2000 presidential election.

Although Bartlet presumed to speak for God in his debut appearance, West Wing followers came to understand that the character was, in fact, a stand-in for John F. Kennedy. Like JFK, Martin Sheen’s Bartlet was a New England Irish Catholic with a great head of hair. Indeed, Sheen was readily identifiable as a Kennedy; he played younger brother Bobby in the 1974 mini-series The Missiles of October and narrated Oliver Stone’s JFK in 1991.

Liberals had been holding Kennedy seances for years, hoping to summon the white knight of Camelot. By 1999, however, America required a new and improved JFK. The very word “liberal” was considered a pejorative, and Clinton’s “bimbo eruptions” were a reminder of Kennedy’s reckless philandering. Jed Bartlet was Kennedy airbrushed. Sheen’s character was devoutly faithful to his wife, Abbey (Stockard Channing). He was also a charismatic Nobel Laureate in economics who broke into Latin when framing a moral argument. And he had a loyal shepherd in West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. For the first season finale, Sorkin conjured a scenario in which a hail of assassin’s bullets (from a watchtower, just like in Dallas) somehow missed killing President Bartlet.

The allure of having a bulletproof, scandal-resistant Kennedy back in the Oval Office proved irresistible in the calamitous, Clinton-Bush transfer years. The West Wing was a top-10 show from 1999 to 2002, capturing 18 Emmy Awards, including four straight Best Dramatic Series wins. At its peak, just after Sept. 11, 2001, more than 17 million Americans and three million Canadians took refuge in the series.

The West Wing was more than a blue state special for nostalgic liberals, however. Many conservatives liked the series, too. In an age of cynicism, Sorkin and company made powerful institutions and public service seem noble. The series could also be curiously old-fashioned — for example, in its blandly virtuous portrayal of black characters like presidential assistant Charlie Young (Dulé Hill) and General Percy “Fitz” Fitzwallace (John Amos). Even Charlie’s much-discussed interracial romance with the president’s daughter betrayed a caution that was reminiscent of stodgy, though well-meaning, 1960s film meditations on race, like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

Aside from Rob Lowe’s playboy deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, all the president’s men and women were a pretty sedate bunch. The glorious Allison Janney, who was so nimble on her feet as press secretary C.J. Cregg, would turn into Doris Day when a man entered her life.

Few lyrical romantics ever get to pilot a prime-time TV series, and Sorkin loved his characters and clever dialogue in equal measure. He was also an avowed fan of Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau. His enthusiasm manifested itself in The West Wing, where conversations were shaped into classic, four-frame cartoon gags. Once, deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) tried to cajole communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) into helping him finesse a political opponent:

Josh: “We’re gonna do good cop, bad cop.”

Toby: “No, we’re really not.”

Josh: “Why not?”

Toby: “'Cause this isn’t Hawaii Five-O. How ‘bout you be the good cop and I be the cop who doesn’t go to the meeting?”

In its first three seasons, The West Wing was, along with The Sopranos, the definitive TV drama of its era. Sorkin’s unique blend of hero worship and razor-sharp comedy, along with the work of a uniformly talented cast, made the series compulsively watchable. It was a pleasure to see Josh and Toby, or C.J. and Leo (the late John Spencer) perform one of the series’ signature “pedeconferences,” hurrying through the corridors of power while parsing legislation and dissecting political gambits on the fly. And where else on TV could you find articulate, brightly comic sound bites on topical issues such as immigration, the Middle East and abortion? The series was revolutionary in the way it offered up the American political process as television entertainment.

Though once the show of its time, times quickly change in television. Sorkin and Lowe left after four seasons. Series fortunes dwindled its second term in office, although the problem was never writing or performances. The recent election race between Democrat Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Republican Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda, superb as a counterfeit nice guy) was well orchestrated and smartly played.

No, the show’s eroding fan base probably had more to do with the series’ inability to offer an engaging perspective on George W. Bush’s besieged wartime presidency. The drama that was once so gloriously timeless, infusing 1960s idealism into modern American politics, seemed merely outdated as the Bush-Cheney years dragged on. There was too just big a disconnect between Jed Bartlet’s struggle to keep America a bastion of liberal enlightenment and his real-life equivalent’s struggle to democratize the Arab world. Recent episodes attracted less than eight million U.S. viewers, fewer than half the show’s 2001 audience.

Still, The West Wing leaves behind a considerable legacy as it exits public office. There are the shows themselves, of course, available in perpetuity in season-long, DVD box sets. But the spirit of the series also lives on in a variety of openly liberal, late-night civics lessons. It is doubtful that Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher or The Colbert Report would have existed had it not been for the extraordinary success of The West Wing.

Posted by Jo at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)

DULE HILL SAYS GOODBYE TO ‘WEST WING’: Actor reflects on seven years serving NBC’s U.S. President.

http://eurweb.com/story/eur26352.cfm

This Sunday at 8 p.m., NBC”s “The West Wing” will air its final episode, capping a seven-year run marked with numerous Emmy awards, critical acclaim and a satisfying ride for co-star Dule Hill.

“It was a bittersweet ending,” Hill says during cast interviews to plug the final episode. “It was such a major part of my life. I think I spent more time there than I did in high school. I even spent more time around them than I did my own family, so they became like a second family to me.”

For most of the show’s seasons, Hill’s character, Charlie Young, was the personal aide and confident of President Josiah “Jed” Bartlett, played by the venerable Martin Sheen. The lone African American cast member, Hill said he was a nervous wreck during the first day of shooting in 1999, but Sheen was quick to put the young Orange, N.J. native at ease – taking him aside early on and teaching him the soul brother handshake that a teenaged Laurence Fishburne taught him on the set of 1979’s “Apocalypse Now.” Dule says he and Sheen have been tight ever since.

“The last scene that was shot was a scene that’s going to air in the season finale with myself and Martin,” says Hill. “That was very personal to me because he was such an important figure in my life for the last seven years. To be able to end my run on the show with Martin, I couldn’t ask for anything better. What was exchanged in the scene, I took it home as my little keepsake.”

Born to Jamaican parents 31 years ago, Karim Dule Hill started out as a dancer, eventually landing a gig on the 16-month national tour of “The Tap Dance Kid” as an understudy for Savion Glover. During his senior year of high school, he booked his first film role in 1994’s “Sugar Hill” as the younger version of Wesley Snipes’ character.

A subsequent Broadway turn in the original cast of "Bring in Da' Noise, Bring In Da' Funk," which reunited him with Glover, forced him to leave college early in his junior year. Soon film and television roles would follow in such works as “She’s All That” and the small screen’s “New York Undercover.” But Hill struck gold when Aaron Sorkin cast the then 23-year-old in his new television pilot about officials working in the White House.

Critics and viewers soon got behind the show, fueled by Sorkin’s snappy writing and heavy plots that balanced dramatic political situations with layered back stories of the show’s characters. Hill and other members of the ensemble cast – the late John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Alison Janney, Richard Schiff and others – were often filmed walking and talking down endless hallways, often in one take, a technique that quickly emerged as one the show’s trademarks.

The series went on to earn four consecutive Emmy Awards for television’s best drama, and Hill said more and more perks came along with the accolades.

“John Spencer would always say, ‘You would never experience this if you were on a cop show.’ And it’s the truth,” Hill explains. “I mean we’ve met presidents, we’ve met ambassadors, we’ve been to the White House. Some of us have even played basketball on the top of the Supreme Court. I played basketball in front of the White House in front of Pennsylvania Ave. It’s like, that’s pretty much never, ever gonna happen again. So, I’m definitely thankful for the ride.”

The show’s current and final season gave viewers a great presidential campaign storyline between senators played by Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda. But, despite great reviews, ratings slipped dramatically. And the program also had to deal personally and creatively with the sudden death of Spencer, who played vice presidential candidate Leo McGarry.

In recent days, NBC announced that it was cancelling a planned retrospective on the series’ history that was to precede Sunday’s final episode, which will feature the inauguration of Smits’ character, Democrat Matthew Santos.

While NBC would offer no official comment on their decision, money was reportedly at the root of the issue. According to The Associated Press, the network couldn't reach an agreement with the cast on what - or if - they would be paid to appear on the special. The network will instead air a rerun of the show’s pilot at 7 p.m.

The scrapped retrospective episode, however, doesn’t diminish the seven years of pure bliss experienced by Dule Hill. The actor believes firmly in the old cliché – that all good things must come to an end.

“I think it was the right time for the show to end,” he says. “It’s better the show ends when the people are still enjoying it than for the show to end where it’s trailed off and people have been over it. I think we were still a show that people paid attention to and were aware of what we spoke about. I just gotta give thanks for having that ride.”

Posted by Jo at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)

Signing off

By Matthew Gilbert
Boston Globe

''The West Wing" was a big old mess of brilliance. It was spilling all over the place with smarts.

NBC's political drama, which leaves the air Sunday after seven seasons, overflowed with too many brainy idealists talking too fast and using too many Latin phrases while walking down too many corridors of power. It had too many global references to This-i-stan and That-a-dad. It had too many obscure allusions to Immanuel Kant, Thomas Aquinas, and I.M.A. Highbrow.

It had too many words.

Created by writer-producer Aaron Sorkin, ''The West Wing" was a prime example of how excess and greatness can go hand-in-hand. Before Sorkin left the show in 2003, after pushing too many script deadlines too far, each episode of ''The West Wing" contained enough political complexity to fill a few feature films. Indeed, in cases such as the rich first-season hour in which President Bartlet gets to nominate a Supreme Court justice, the episodes were better written than most theatrical releases. Between Bartlet dealing with the surgeon general's hint that pot should be decriminalized and Leo using a ''Peanuts" metaphor to explain a missile-defense system, the show set a new bar for TV intelligence.

When the formidable talent behind Geena Davis's ''Commander in Chief," including Steven Bochco, attempted the same Washington wonkery, it was sidewalk Gucci compared with ''The West Wing." Ten years ago, ABC's ''Commander in Chief" surely would have been hailed as a TV high. But now, after a season of declining ratings, it's heading toward cancellation.

And Sorkin was no slouch when it came to the interpersonal conflict amid the politics. An argument scene on ''The West Wing" could be stunning in its combustive mix of emotionality and ferocity. Indeed, few things are more electric than a pair of high-IQs trash-talking each other. When C.J. learned Toby didn't tell her India was attacking Pakistan, they locked horns in a distinctively ''West Wing" way -- anticipating each other's next thoughts and speaking in shorthand. Sorkin pared his clashes to the bare bones, never compromising them with the showboating, amphetamine hall talk that has become his trademark. Moments of tension between Bartlet and his wife, Abbey, or between C.J. and anyone in her path, could be riveting.

But the excesses, oy the excesses. ''The West Wing" went over the top almost on a weekly basis, particularly in its earnest, ''I'm-just-a-public-servant" moments. Few shows have milked nationalism quite as shamelessly.

Bartlet was meant to be an ideal American president, an avuncular know-it-all who'd never get caught with his pants down like another Democratic president we know. But his goodness often led to tiresome trivia-spewing and self-important intonations, accentuated by Martin Sheen's scenery chewing. When Bartlet came face to face with a Bible-quoting homophobe, he easily outquoted her on the spur of the moment, with chapter-and-verse knowledge that rivaled his great familiarity with national parks and world cultures. Sorkin and other writers sometimes idealized Bartlet to death.

And then there was the episode-ending scene when Bartlet's senior staffers each said, ''God Bless America," one at a time. And then there was the embarrassingly preachy 9/11 episode. And then there were the operatic montages. And then there were the relentless and cutesy verbal volleys among the characters.

After Sorkin left ''The West Wing," the excesses stuck around, although without the same rare level of intelligence to back them up. Producer-writer John Wells, of ''ER" and ''Third Watch," took over and suddenly characters were behaving out of character -- Toby, in particular, who went from dark to darker.

The political complications continued to take an occasionally interesting turn, but the characterizations lost their sparkle. Meanwhile, NBC moved the show from Wednesday to Sunday nights in an unsuccessful effort to stop the failing ratings.

With all the odds against it, the show's recent creative renaissance seemed to come out the blue. Wells had gradually restocked the cast with new faces, including Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda as candidates for president, and those characters finally took on lives of their own. Everything that was tired and inconsistent about the portrayal of the Bartlet administration fell away behind the characters that Wells hadn't inherited from Sorkin.

This last season was among the best of ''The West Wing." The writers explored the dodges and darts in the tense race between Smits and Alda, and they handled the death of Leo (after the death of actor John Spencer) gracefully. The romantic tensions between Donna and Josh as well as C.J. and Danny subsided happily, and believably. The Sorkin magic was missing, but Wells nonetheless provided some of the most adept, quick-witted drama currently on network TV.

Executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell recently said that before Spencer died the plan was for a Republican victory, but the show's final outcome -- Smits's Democrat won, then made Alda's Republican the secretary of state -- was a nice bipartisan series endnote. With the parties as polarized as ever in real life, the show offered a parting homage to idealism.

Indeed, throughout its tenure, ''The West Wing" played off real-world politics by serving up exemplars. At a time when presidents and their staffs had enough flaws to threaten to undermine public trust, the series invited us to expect better. Bartlet was like Clinton, but his ''family values" were strong enough to rule out extramarital activity. He, too, underwent a glitch in his leadership when he failed to disclose his MS, but it wasn't sordid like Monicagate. He was Clinton 2.0.

After Bush took over the White House, Bartlet stood less as a symbol of solid character and more as a reminder that presidents can indeed be intellectuals. They can be knowledgeable enough to answer questions substantively, and without fumbling their grammar.

The show often felt too much like a cheering section for Democratic leadership, particularly under Sorkin. But ''The West Wing" has also felt like a cheer for any form of responsible democracy. When we're watching the show 10 years from now, when it's free from immediate political associations, it may stand as a rally for viewers to keep hoping for the best, despite any signs to the contrary.

Posted by Jo at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)

Taking 'Wing'

Just before ''The West Wing'' ends its seven-year run, series creator Aaron Sorkin tells Lynette Rice about how it starte

Entertainment Weekly

Before it airs the final episode of The West Wing this Sunday, NBC will celebrate the drama's seven-year run by first airing the pilot episode introducing the men and women who made up the Bartlet Administration. (A few fun facts from that inaugural hour: Martin Sheen's Jed Bartlet wasn't introduced until the last few minutes of the episode, and Janel Moloney's Donna Moss was never meant to be more than just a small, recurring character.) In preparation for this Sunday's two-hour event, we asked Wing creator Aaron Sorkin to reflect on the show's humble beginnings.

''The idea for The West Wing happened very much by accident. It never occurred to me to try to write a TV show. I had nothing against it — I just didn't know anything about it. I watched as much TV as anybody else, but I just didn't know anything about the world of making TV shows. My agent nonetheless wanted me to meet with John Wells, which I was happy to do because John was an important producer who had done ER and China Beach.

''The night before this meeting with John, some friends came to my house for dinner, including Akiva Goldsmith, who won an Oscar for directing A Beautiful Mind. I happened to mention I was having the meeting the next day with Wells, but said we were just having lunch to talk; I wasn't thinking about TV. At some point Akiva and I wandered into a little office I had, and the poster for The American President [which Sorkin wrote] was up on the wall. And he said, 'You know what would make an interesting TV series? That. Forget about the romance between the president and the lobbyist, and just sort of write it about the senior staffers.' I said, 'Akiva, that's a good idea, but I'm not doing a TV show. I'm just having this lunch with John.'

''So I showed up to the lunch the next day and I clearly misunderstood what the lunch was supposed to be about, because I walked into the restaurant and saw that it was John, three guys from CAA, and people from Warner Bros. who were expecting me to pitch an idea. Rather than say, 'Um, you know, I think there has been a misunderstanding' and say I didn't have any ideas to pitch, I said, 'I want to do a TV show about senior staffers at the White House.'

''There weren't a lot of questions because I was kind of spitballing, making it up as I went along. I didn't have a pitch prepared. What I did have was some tiny moments and little shards of stories I had to cut from the screenplay of The American President, or little stories I heard at the White House while researching the movie. Warner Bros. didn't ask for much in terms of 'Will it be this or that' — they just let me go away and write, which is always a really nice thing to do. Most of my time spent writing something is spent walking around the room not writing. Once I have an idea to start, it will start going very fast. The typing of the script I probably did in about five days, but there were a couple of months of not writing it, and just being scared of it. I beat Akiva up. I couldn't believe what he got me into.

''[Director and fellow executive producer] Tommy Schlamme was able to recognize right away that what I write, nothing is blowing up. Basically what I write are people in a room talking — but we are doing this in a visual medium. Tommy brought in the more talked-about visual elements of the show, like Steadicams and the walk-and-talks, which some people call pedi-conferencing. Tommy put a lot of glass on the set. In real life, the Roosevelt room doesn't have glass in the doors; it's a room with walls. But Tommy put it in glass right in middle of things, across from the communications bullpen where Toby and Sam worked, which is also enclosed in glass, so you can have a scene going on in Leo McGarry's office, and if the door is open, Tommy's camera can see out in the corridor, out into the Roosevelt room, across to the other corridor into bullpen, where all this kind of life is going on, while Leo and Josh are talking about soybean exports. It gave the show an extremely exciting look despite the fact that nobody was shooting at anybody.

''I didn't allow myself to think it would have the kind of success that it enjoyed over the last seven years, critically and publicly. I think the thoughts going through my head were the thoughts that always go through the head, which is I try to write something that I like that I think my friends are going to like, and then I cross my fingers and hope enough other people were going to like it so I'll earn a living from it. And I don't think that far beyond that.

''I remember at the first Television Critics Association press conference — and at this point critics had seen the pilot — I was getting questions like, 'Do you think this is too smart for network TV?' I'm not capable of writing something that is too smart for other people to understand. I felt like these were fun stories. I didn't have a political agenda, it wasn't meant to be angry in any way, and I didn't ever think of it as political. I thought of it as a workplace drama in an extremely exciting and interesting workplace. There was glamour — this was a place you could tell a lot of different stories.

''For thousands of years, people have been writing stories about kings and their palaces. Let's just do one that is our modern-day equivalent. Finally, the thing that appealed to me was that in popular culture, by and large, our leaders are portrayed as Machiavellian or dolts. I like to write idealistically and romantically. I thought, Let's write about government leaders who are extremely capable, who are trying to do the right thing but who fail sometimes. People who are flawed, but whose hearts are always in the right place. And let's make them all funny.

''As a matter of course, they don't tell you you are picked up until 24, maybe 48 hours before the upfront presentation [where the networks unveil their fall schedules to advertisers] in New York City in May. When I heard that West Wing got a pickup, there was no question that 99.9 percent of me was jumping for joy, but that one-tenth of 1 percent was saying, 'I have no ideas for episode 2 and I have to write another one now. This is going to be a catastrophe.'

''I remember the first time we screened it for the cast — there was a feeling of, 'Well, we did a great pilot, but we're not going to be able to do this every week. What will become of the show now?' There was a sense of pride that a great pilot had been made, but isn't it a shame that now it's going to turn into a bad TV show. And yet these guys all came back every week determined to make every episode as good as our best episode. And they kept it up for seven years.''

(Posted:05/12/06)

Posted by Jo at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

'West Wing': A great show limps away

By Robert Bianco
USA TODAY

Sometimes, second terms just don't work out.
There was a time when The West Wing was the best show on television, with four straight Emmy wins to support the claim. But as if to mimic a historically common political reality, that golden era came to an abrupt end when Wing's fictional president won re-election — and its real-life artistic driving force, Aaron Sorkin, lost his show.

The predictable result of Sorkin's 2003 departure was a precipitous decline in ratings and quality that mirrored NBC's own collapse. Indeed, the show has become such an afterthought for its once-proud network that NBC cheaped out on a planned retrospective, choosing instead to pair Sunday's final new episode (8 ET/PT) with a repeat of the show's 7-year-old pilot (7 ET/PT).

Ah, but what a pilot. As it turns out, NBC may have done us an unintentional favor, because it's unlikely the powers-that-be at West Wing could come close to matching the work done by the powers-that-were.

What you'll find is a show that went against many of TV's "givens." It was a given in 1999 that viewers were not interested in politics, and particularly not in a show that idealized the residents of the White House. In a medium that tends to be action driven, West Wing dared to champion the beauty of words — lots of words — and the power of the intellect.

True, much of what Sorkin brought to West Wing had already been seen in Sports Night, from his whip-smart, whip-fast dialogue to his habit of dropping us into the middle of an ongoing story. And the show benefited immensely from the work done by Sorkin's Sports Night partner, producer/director Thomas Schlamme, who gave the show its rich, crowded look, its breakneck pace and its walk-and-talk signature.

Yet what made West Wing a surprise success was what also made it so special: its romantic paean to the value of public service. West Wing was a smart, heart-felt antidote to the age of irony, an earnest show that was tough on issues, soft on people.

It was also extraordinarily cast. The ensemble will be hard to match: Martin Sheen, the late John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Janel Moloney and Dule Hill.

Unfortunately in TV, good things don't always last as long as we would like. Sorkin's episodes in his last season often bordered on impenetrable — a consequence, perhaps, of his increasingly chaotic private life. When he left, he wrote the show into such a bizarre corner, with the president stepping down to focus on his daughter's kidnapping, that it's no wonder viewers started looking elsewhere for entertainment.

Sadly, to compensate, ER producer John Wells simplified Wing out of existence, turning it into a by-the-books TV drama about co-worker conflicts. Yes, Wing was always in essence a workplace drama, just like ER. But Sorkin realized that the White House was, or at least should be, a very different workplace than the ones TV usually explored.

Call it fantasy, but we wanted to believe the people working for Josiah Bartlet were more willing than the average employee to put personal squabbles and desires aside and unite for a common cause. Sorry, but I didn't want to see Toby and C.J. fight, and I certainly didn't want to see Josh go work on an outside campaign in some transparently desperate attempt to extend the show's life past the Bartlet administration.

Still, most fans would probably prefer to dwell on the show's best moments. For many, the high-point memory may be Bartlet railing against the heavens in the National Cathedral. For me, it's the Christmas episode from the second season, as Josh is forced into therapy to deal with being shot in an assassination attempt. In despair, he wonders why he should believe he'll ever be able to put his pain and problems behind him. The simple, humanistic answer he receives perfectly encapsulates Wing's optimistic view of Americans and their government: "Because we get better."

Sunday, NBC gives you a chance to relive the show at its best. Take it.

Posted by Jo at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2006

Out of 'West Wing,' and into 'The Office'

With Sunday's farewell to one NBC series, viewers may find oddly related vibes in another.
By Paul Brownfield
LA Times

A certain class of viewer, the data always showed, watched "The West Wing" in droves. They watched even after series creator Aaron Sorkin left and the show's viewership dwindled.

In wonky ratings-speak, they are adults 18 to 49 living in homes with incomes of $75,000-plus. Advertisers like them for obvious reasons. TV executives call these people "upscale," conjuring a constituency with leased Audis and Paul Smith designer belts and subscriptions to the New Yorker piling up on the Crate & Barrel sea grass rug, next to the Mission-style chair found in the La Brea boutique.

Like-minded limousine liberals, no doubt. "West Wing" was a show by, for and about the people, but also undeniably wish-fulfillment (Democrats functioning, Democrats owning the courage of their convictions) brought to you by what the right still gets mileage out of calling "the Hollywood crowd."

That "West Wing," which ends its seven-year run Sunday, did well among the upscalers helped more than it hurt, particularly as the show dropped off other radars, like Emmys and total audience and general believability.

Sorkin's departure (along with collaborator Thomas Schlamme) coincided with the fourth-season-ending cliffhanger in which President Bartlet's daughter was kidnapped by terrorists and Speaker of the House John Goodman took over as president.

"West Wing," it seemed, had gone around the bend, wandering into a Harrison Ford movie.

The production, under John Wells, seemed to have found itself again this season in an election year face-off between two mavericks, Democrat Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and moderate Republican Arnie Vinick (Alan Alda), vying to succeed President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen). The resolution? Bipartisan wish-fulfillment, Santos asking Vinick to become his secretary of state after the live televised debate in which they — oh, come on — debated.

It's been fun to watch, but without Sorkin "West Wing" seemed doomed only ever to echo his renaissance interests and beliefs, personal peccadilloes and passions.

Sorkin's process, on the lot (all-nighters, Shakespearian aspirations) and off (palliative trip to Vegas with potpourri of controlled substances), delayed filming, caused headaches and drove up costs, but Warner Bros. and NBC were getting his unvarnished TV truth — what sounded like somebody's writing, as opposed to the usual, more streamlined process that grinds it down to nobody's writing at all.

For NBC, which used to claim something of a standing reservation among the upscale, the heir apparent to "West Wing" is not a workplace drama but a workplace comedy, "The Office." It too has trended well among people with Mission-style furniture, and it too is a left-alone show about a fictional administration — in this case, the Scranton, Pa., office of the paper company Dunder-Mifflin run by regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell).

"The Office" is a punch-drunk "West Wing" for these punch-drunk times, the characters, instead of walking and talking, sitting and staring at their states of nothingness. You can see why a "West Wing" lover would find psychic refuge in "The Office": Here the leader is not so much Camelot-ish and flawed as sociopathic and entitled, governing his drones with a belief in nothing so much as his own immutability as boss, no matter what reality is saying about his performance.

"Conflict Resolution" was the name of last week's episode, in which Michael resolves a simmering dispute between two employees by suggesting a cage match. "Cage matches? Yeah, they work, how could they not work?" he says to the camera. It's "The Office's" version of the Bush/Rumsfeld certainty about democracy in the Middle East: Freedom? How could freedom not work?

On "West Wing," a fantasy atmosphere of debate and inclusiveness crackled in the souls of men and in the hallways. Everybody on the show had a serious case of the smarts, from President Bartlet on down to the assistant to the deputy chief of staff; in this way, Sorkin's White House, as much as anything, was about an all-access pass to a culture of brainiac misfits who just happened to have the fate of the free world in their hands, and who compensated with gallows humor. President If Only.

"We are just a little rococo, aren't we?" Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) says to his assistant Donna (Janel Moloney) in an episode from the third season in which Donna questions the relevance of a presidential proclamation "to modify the quantitative limitations applicable to the imports of wheat gluten."

In the same episode, deputy communications director Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) walks the halls making an impassioned case for why sumo wrestlers would make good hockey goalies.

There is something at once lively and passive aggressive in this hyper-articulate approach, the you-go/now-I-go rhythmic banter, which Sorkin grafted onto his first attempt at a TV show, ABC's "Sportsnight," and which will no doubt characterize his upcoming NBC series "Studio 60," set behind the scenes of a "Saturday Night Live"-type show.

It could all make "West Wing" as exciting as a symphony, clever asides made on different points of the musical scale, from Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) to Charlie Young (Dulé Hill) to Leo McGarry (the late John Spencer).

They were all, of course, harried (the most relatable aspect of "West Wing" was feeling the pressure of the place), but the only one I'll seriously miss is C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney), mostly for the way she condescended to the White House press corps at the daily briefings known as gaggles, blithely spinning the room while winking at our knowingness, though never so much as to completely disrespect the traditional role of the media as conduit to the public's right to know.

The character was apparently based loosely on former Clinton spokesperson and "West Wing" consultant Dee Dee Myers, among those who migrated from the Hill to Burbank for a fictional do-over (Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., current executive producer, was formerly an advisor to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan).

Like everybody on the show, C.J. had a tendency to break protocol and wax eloquently — as when, just after hearing of a fire in which 17 Saudi Arabian schoolgirls perished, she's asked if she's outraged.

"Seventeen schoolgirls were forced to burn alive because they weren't wearing the proper clothing. Am I outraged? No, Steve, no Chris, no Mark. That is Saudi Arabia. Our partners in peace."

It doesn't go this way on C-SPAN, where it's usually much quieter and less revealing. "West Wing" spoke in a language both of confrontation and bitter irony about what was happening in the world and within its own halls of power.

Now NBC's "The Office" takes the 18 to 49, $75K-and-up baton, bringing its own kind of irony, this one much more downbeat, about a culture of avoidance, where mostly it's just you staring at a computer.

Posted by Jo at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

Time to pull curtains closed on ‘West Wing’

Despite Sorkin's departure, Spencer's death, show finishes on high note
By Stuart Levine
MSNBC.com

Funny, but I don’t remember the country shedding a collective tear when Andy Card resigned as chief of staff a couple of months ago. And there wasn’t a rush on Kleenex when Scott McClellan stepped down as press secretary, replaced by Fox News’ Tony Snow.

So why do I feel this sudden rush of sadness as NBC's "West Wing" prepares to depart on May 14? Over the past few seasons, characters from “West Wing” have been promoted and even left the White House due to scandal, personal advancement, or to work on the just-concluded presidential election. Our memories of them, however, will always be of their duties at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — a.k.a. soundstages 23 and 28 on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif.

Viewers will miss CJ Cregg (Allison Janney) standing on the podium in the press room, spinning stories in front of a packful of hungry-for-news journos trying to break a story. Real U.S. administrations and the press have, at least for the last few decades, had an adversarial relationship, and CJ would play her part in that awkward and untrusting dance played out every day at the press briefings. She’d never outright lie, but instead would do her best to put the president in the best light possible, even if that light was a flickering candle in a sea of darkness.

Then there were those snippy rat-a-tat conversations (some would call them arguments) between Josh Lyman and Toby Ziegler. Free trade, voting amendments, education reform — didn’t make a difference. Lyman (Bradley Whitford) would be passionate one minute, hangdog exhausted the next.

Ziegler (Richard Schiff) may have had more political savvy than anyone in the entire administration, but his contentious and abrasive style was sometimes too much to stomach — for both the character he was berating and viewers watching at home. His self-righteousness became overbearing at times and when he eventually was fired from his job because of a security leak, not too many felt bad about it. For all of Ziegler’s smarts, he never understood the importance of subtlety. Sure, he was usually right about whatever the subject was but he was also indignant too, and that attitude will ultimately cost you — and it did, both professionally and personally.

Chief of staff Leo McGarry (the late John Spencer) offered calming waters in tumultuous times, knowing when to placate a colleague or legislator if it was politically prudent and when to demand his counsel be followed to the letter. McGarry was the great ruse, a political illusionist. Like a modern-day Houdini, he’d distract all the naysayers by having them keep an eye on his right hand while getting all his work done with the left. Even those close to him would sometimes question his motives, but McGarry always had a plan. He just wouldn’t always share it with everyone.

And then there’s the prez. Martin Sheen filled the role of President Bartlet with both gravitas and compassion, as drawn out by show creator Aaron Sorkin. Bartlet made the hard decisions when necessary, but always left room for negotiation, no matter how badly he wanted to crush those who stood against him.

Show has stumbled, but exits on a high note
Yes, the show was far from perfect. Sorkin and executive producer John Wells, who went on to run the show after Sorkin’s departure, had to juggle between teaching civics lessons and serving up soap opera dramatics.

For every scene where questions were raised about how much should a nation pay, in the cost of human lives, for protecting our foreign interests and national security, equal questions were raised about when Donna would sleep with Josh. Or where the president’s daughter, Zoe, was being held after kidnapped. Don’t even get me started about the scene when Josh, after a particularly hard day at the office, drives up to the Capitol and yells, “You want a piece of me?”

Some might say that NBC sent “West Wing” a death blow by moving it from its familiar Wednesday-night slot to Sundays a couple of years back. Though that might not have been a great move in retrospect, it probably didn’t make much a difference. Ratings had been slowly sliding for a couple of seasons before that and “Lost” was starting up on ABC, which was sure to grab viewers away. “American Idol” was also becoming a Wednesday staple.

“West Wing” will close out its campaign with a new president: Jimmy Smits’ Matthew Santos will be sworn in on the series finale. This season has been as good as any — not a small accomplishment for a series that’s overcome the tragic death of longtime cast member Spencer and the exodus of creator Sorkin and his right-hand man, Thomas Schlamme. So even though fans will be saddened, the show finishes on a high note.

Not many programs get to go out like that, with the quality as high as it was from Day 1. “West Wing” taught us that, despite the mudslinging that can create a stench in Washington, politics can remain a noble profession. The selfless men and women who serve do so not out of ego, but out of wanting to make government both a beacon and a safety net for the benefit of others.

And if Josh has to sleep with Donna to get that done, so be it.

Posted by Jo at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)

'West Wing' lessons would benefit leaders

By BOB LORING
St. Petersburg Times

West Wing, arguably the best television show ever produced, is down to its final episode. The fans, called Wingers, are watching their cherished show in its death throes. Our nonreality president, Jed Bartlet (actor Martin Sheen), the stalwart leader of the free world, is packing up and will soon leave center stage.

Along with him, we Wingers have suffered the slings and arrows of his powerful office. We have taken immense pleasure in his triumphs and we have sorrowed for his several blunders. We have embraced President Bartlet's greatness and become absorbed with the trials and tribulations of his gifted advisers and minions. The show has allowed us to cast hopeful eyes on a vision of what this country was intended to symbolize.

West Wing is television at its technical and moral best. Through the magic of our TVs, we committed viewers were able to consider the day-to-day turbulence that surrounds the nation's chief executive and his supporting players.

It has been a hugely entertaining civics class as well as government learning tool. As any government teacher might attest, the program has given both politicos and lay persons a bold romp through the workings of our American democracy.

One example was the episode explaining why our government conducts a periodic census. When I was a young and mildly interested school student, I remember hearing something about our country's census-taking policy. However, it was not until I saw that most instructive episode of West Wing that I came to fully understand the whys and wherefores of this important undertaking.

Any true Winger has enjoyed many civics lessons during this engaging journey. The show skillfully addressed many issues: why and how our civilian leaders command our military; why various branches of our government provide checks and balances for us; why we have party politics and how the political parties operate; what powers are the realm of each government branch; a fine if slightly imbalanced look at both political parties; and a clear view of who is in charge and why. All these issues, and others, were pleasingly addressed with style and grace.

Sadly, the show is winding down just as a new chapter of nonreality government has set the stage for a bold new world view. Even as President-elect Matthew Santos (actor Jimmy Smits), America's first Hispanic president, is set to take the oath of office, we see hope for the future in his new administration. The new president's first aim was to pass meaningful restraints on the scam artists known to all as congressional lobbyists. As President-elect Santos stated, "If we can't do that, then all our other efforts will be meaningless."

He next tapped his presidential campaign opponent, Republican Arnold Vinick (actor Alan Alda), to serve as his secretary of state.

Oh, that we had leadership bold enough to make such tough and inspired bipartisan decisions and appointments. In dangerous times, this country is in great need of meaningful compromises and inspired statesmanship. However, I fear it's only in nonreality television that we could be governed by such enlightened bipartisan leaders.

Wingers long for the day when our elected officials make their decisions and cast their votes based on what their heart tells them, and not simply based on their political party dogma.

Posted by Jo at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)

'West Wing' leaves the building: The best and the worst

by David Hinckley
New York Daily News

With "West Wing" sailing off into history Sunday night, it's time for the old Ave atque vale, which President Jeb Bartlet would immediately recognize as a phrase from the Roman poet Catullus that translates roughly to "Hail and farewell."
"West Wing" lasted seven years, not all of them perfect. But Bartlet's team had a better batting average than any real-life President in recent memory, so let's take a quick last stroll through a few high and low moments:

Best episode: Toby (Richard Schiff) tramples red tape to arrange a military burial, with honor guard, for a homeless veteran. This is the essence of the show's idealism: government used for good in a very imperfect world.

Worst episode: The 9/11 special in which the whole cast explains to a captive audience of students the complexities of this imperfect world. Preachy and forced.

Most wasted opportunity: Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter), a smart Republican who could deflate the Bartlet team when they started getting pretentious, which was not infrequent. She also could have lured Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) away from hookers. Alas, the writers seemed to lose interest, trivialized her and she left for "CSI: Miami."

Best seized opportunity: Bruno Gianelli (Ron Silver) was brilliant as a shark of a campaign manager - for both sides.

Worst major cameo: We'd never seen John Goodman before. Suddenly he was President. Four episodes later, he was gone, barely to be seen again. He was a good character, well-played, but that describes Spider-Man, not a President.

Best major cameo: Bingo Bob Russell (Gary Cole), a hack congressman from Colorado who becomes vice president. "West Wing" was consistently on target about vice presidents. Most of the time it didn't remember they existed, or if they did, who they were.

Best character arc: Donna (Janel Moloney) finally bagging Josh (Bradley Whitford), with only weeks to spare. We knew it was going to happen from Moment One, but the writers never rushed it, knowing that once it started for Donna and Josh, it was over for us.

Worst character arc: C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney). Everyone loves C.J. But you don't go from press secretary to chief of staff. It doesn't happen. C.J. was smart, but a press secretary is a publicist. A publicist.

Best character: My wife likes Donna and, of course, no one could dislike Leo (the late John Spencer), who was the show's nerve center. I vote for Toby, unpleasant and maddening as he could be. Even when there was no choice except to cut a deal, he reminded us there used to be a principle here.

Worst character: Through no fault of her own, Amy Gardner (Mary Louise Parker). The writers had no idea what to do with her, so for whole episodes she looked like a glib Moonie on heavy prescription drugs.

Best presidential moment not on his official calendar for that day: Jeb meets Charlie (Dule Hill) coming out of his daughter's bedroom in a state of partial dress.

Worst reminders that this is television and television demands action: Jeb's daughter Zoey (Elisabeth Moss) gets kidnapped. His secretary Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten) is killed in a car crash. Josh gets shot, Donna almost gets blown up, Toby's going to jail, Leo has a massive heart attack. Memo to writers: His name was Jeb, not Job.

Originally published on May 11, 2006

Posted by Jo at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

Hail and farewell

Jed Bartlet's term ends, and with it, seven years of smart, patriotic TV
By Scott Goldman
Indianapolis Star

It was TV's smartest show for seven seasons. It was patriotic, and showed public servants as good-natured, brilliant people who truly wanted to do their best work for the American people. Therefore, it was fiction. And now it's over.
"The West Wing" ends a stunning seven-year run Sunday night with an airing of the pilot (7 p.m., WTHR 13) and the 8 p.m. series finale, which highlights the inauguration of President Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and sends President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet (Martin Sheen) into retirement. The series won four Emmys for Best Drama series, and could, perhaps, win a record fifth this year.
But the question is, in the age of reality TV and a million "CSIs," will we ever see a show like it again?
"The indications in the industry are that there is a place for this kind of show," said Professor Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "The thing that keeps it from happening is that there aren't many people who can write that way. There are a few, but not many, like Aaron Sorkin."
Sorkin was the creator of the series, and its main writer for the first four seasons of the show. He created "language as a spectator sport," for the rapid-fire dialogue that was his trademark on "The West Wing" and its predecessor, "Sports Night," Thompson said.
"You could get a lot of insight of the inner workings of the government by watching 'The West Wing'," Thompson said. "But what was more important, to me, wasn't the civics lessons, but rather that in those first four seasons, Sorkin reclaimed the pride of nationhood and patriotism in a show, and that simply didn't exist before that.
"I'll never forget the 'Midterms' episode (in the second season)," he added. "It followed the 12 weeks leading up to the midterm elections, and after all the money, all the effort, the congressional balance stayed exactly the same. And at the end of that show, all the characters toasted (with) their beers and said, 'God bless America.'
"Now, remember . . . this was post-Monica, post-Watergate, and pre-9/11. Anyone else doing this would've made eyes roll, and it would've seemed forced or corny. But Sorkin did it so well that he actually made civic participation cool and something that people could embrace again."
After Sorkin's departure, the show struggled until being recharged with the next election cycle -- Santos vs. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) -- last season.
Now, we're left to imagine how President Santos will govern, how Josh (Bradley Whitford) will handle being chief of staff, and how the new team will get used to running the country.
"I'll miss the characters. You spend seven years watching the same people, the same characters -- you do get invested in their stories," Thompson said. "If you were reading a great book for seven years, when you were done with it, you'd feel like there's something missing from your life. And that's how I'll feel when 'The West Wing' ends."
What led to the demise of the series?

• 9/11. It basically took a lot of the whimsy out of the series, because it had to.
• The actual presidential election of 2000. Bartlet took office during the Clinton administration. When George W. Bush took office with a GOP Congress, it made the Bartlets seem even more make-believe.
• Reality TV. The biggest ratings challenges "West Wing" faced came every winter and spring from "American Idol," and then "Lost." The arrival of those shows started to detract from "West Wing's" numbers as the reality onslaught began in earnest.
• The loss of Aaron Sorkin after Season 4. He was the show's creator and its heart and soul. Without him, the dialogue and intelligence of the show suffered. Until this year.
• Sunday night. NBC, in a suicidal move, bumped "The West Wing" from its traditional Wednesday-night spot and moved it to 8 p.m. on Sundays. The show never recovered, despite critical acclaim.
5 things to watch for in the finale

• Last-minute moves from Bartlet. Hmmm, what is it outgoing presidents usually do in their final hours? No, not pack. They issue pardons. If only there were someone who needed a pardon from Bartlet. Hmmm . . .
• Moving out. We'll have the tear-filled farewells from so many of our old friends as they leave the White House, and hand over the keys to the new administration.
• Moving in. Maybe we'll get at least a glimpse of President Santos with his top advisers in the Oval Office, so we can see what we'll be missing in the future.
• The moment. Creator Aaron Sorkin made it a point to not show the big moments -- the MS speech, the Bartlet inaugural and State of the Union addresses. We saw the preparations, and the aftermaths. But this time, it seems certain that we'll witness Matthew Vincente Santos taking the oath of office.
• The last line. What's the final line of "The West Wing"? One guess: Santos to his staff, uttering the line made famous by President Bartlet: "What's next?"
5 things we’ll miss about the series

• Josh + Donna. No, not just in bed. In the early seasons, they were the question-and-answer portion of the show. Donna would ask Josh to explain something -- the budget surplus discussion was a classic (Donna: "I want my money back" . . . Josh: "You shouldn't have voted for us, then.") -- and Josh would have to walk Donna through the process.
• The music. The series had great music choices for crucial moments. At the end of Season 2, with Bartlet having just disclosed his multiple sclerosis to the country, he stormed through the White House to the news conference without a word, but with Dire Straits' haunting "Brothers in Arms" playing in the background. Simple and powerful.
• Claudia Jean Cregg. She joined the campaign as an untrusted press secretary and ended the series as White House chief of staff. She changed more than any other character on the show. But she'll always be remembered for her incredibly witty banter from the podium . . . and, of course, "I had Woot Canawl." Other C.J. classics from in front of the cameras: "Set fire to the room. Do it now;" "The Pwesident needs to be bwiefed on the ewents of the day;" . . . and "I can only answer five or six of you at one time."
• "The Thing." There are entire Internet pages devoted to the many, many uses of "The Thing" in "West Wing" dialogue. "The Thing" could be a person, place or, well, thing, and seemed to be Aaron Sorkin's little fingerprint on the script. Examples: "Now this is going be a Thing, isn't it?" "I'm going to do my Thing; come watch." "Did you know leaf-peeping is a Thing?"
• The unbridled patriotism of Josiah Bartlet. Sorkin made this character a dream candidate -- a good-natured Nobel Prize winner with an immense knowledge of American trivia whose ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence and founded his home state of New Hampshire. When Bartlet waxed poetic about America, it usually was a goose-bumps experience: " 'We hold these truths to be self-evident,' they said, 'that all men are created equal.' Strange as it may seem, that was the first time in history that anyone had ever bothered to write that down."
5 turning points

•The assassination attempt. It was too easy a cliffhanger to end the first season, but of course Sorkin transformed it into something memorable -- the Emmy Award-winning two-parter "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen." The aftermath of the shooting gave Sorkin the ability to build in the back story on how the group came together in the primaries, but more importantly did the unexpected: In addition to Bartlet taking a bullet, the beloved Josh Lyman wound up with the most massive injuries, shocking fans and elevating that character to top-tier status for the rest of the run.
• 9/11. Before the attacks, "The West Wing" was loaded with witty banter. But the country changed that day, and so did any TV show about the government. Sorkin created a special "out-of-sequence" episode prior to the Season 3 opener to deal with the attacks, and then loaded up the next seasons with terrorist- attack scenarios.
• Re-election. Some of the best writing in the show's history came in the run-up to Bartlet's re-election, including the great debate episode in Season 4 and a wonderful Election Night two-parter. But then . . . oops. All the momentum leaked out of the show for quite a while, demonstrating how quickly presidents -- and TV presidents -- become lame ducks.
• Twenty-five (Season 4 finale). It was Sorkin's parting shot to his critics: Here, watch this. I'm going to have the vice president resign, and then kidnap Bartlet's daughter to make him resign under the terms of the 25th Amendment, thus reminding everyone that the presidency can actually change parties in such a scenario. John Goodman played Speaker of the House and Acting President Glen Walken, and as he took the oath to end Season 4, with Bartlet walking out of the Oval, it was Sorkin's Grand Finale. Here, fellas, write yourselves out of this one.
• John Spencer's death in December 2005. This led to the on-screen death of Leo McGarry -- and, as it turned out, the Santos victory. Producers had decided that Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) would win the election, but then Spencer died. Everything changed, since it was believed that viewers would have a hard enough time dealing with running mate Leo's death, without also putting them through a Santos defeat.
5 things you might not have known

• Why did President Bartlet put on his jacket in such an odd way? As Sorkin said on one of the early-season DVDs, he'd never seen anyone put on a jacket the way Martin Sheen did. It was due to an injury to Sheen's arm as a youngster that he learned to put on a jacket in an over-the-head motion.
• Big-block-of-cheese day. Andrew Jackson really did once have, in the main foyer of the White House, an enormous block of cheese for anybody who might be hungry. In that spirit, Leo decided to open the White House to "odd" groups one day a year -- which led to two hysterical episodes.
• Indiana connections. One of the few Hoosier story lines opened the fourth season: Toby, Josh and Donna got left behind in a campaign motorcade. They missed a plane connection in Indiana because of this weird we-didn't-have-daylight-saving-time thing.
• Holidays. Sorkin just loved the holidays at the White House. Christmas was always a "very special" episode, including the first Emmy Award winner, "In Excelsis Deo." And Bartlet loved Thanksgiving, when he took special pride in pardoning the national turkey -- two, in fact, in one year.
• Recycling. Sorkin was writing both "Sports Night" and "The West Wing" -- and it showed. He used similar dialogue, as well as many of the same actors on both shows and similar character names. He evidently ran out of ideas for episode names, since each show's first-season finale was called "What Kind of Day Has It Been?"
5 best episodes

•"Celestial Navigation." Josh tells the story of 48 hysterical hours in the White House, including a Supreme Court nominee getting arrested, a new secret plan to fight inflation, CJ's root canal and the one -- and only -- time Josh gave a White House press briefing.
• "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen." The aftermath of the assassination attempt on Bartlet.
• "Game On." Bartlet's only debate against GOP contender Robert Ritchie (James Brolin). As his staff looks on in awe (Toby: "I can't watch any more . . . no, wait, yes, I can."), Bartlet wipes the floor with Ritchie and seals re-election.
• "He Shall, from Time to Time . . . " Bartlet becomes ill on the eve of a State of the Union address, and it is revealed that he is hiding multiple sclerosis from the public.
• "2162 Votes" Last season's finale, in which Matt Santos claims the Democratic nomination after a three-day slugfest in a wide-open convention. Many viewers probably cannot even remember a real convention fight, but this one was a classic.
5 all-star guest stars

• Glenn Close as Supreme Court nominee Evelyn Baker Lang.
• Matthew Perry as associate counsel Joe Quincy.
• Edward James Olmos as Supreme Court judge Roberto Mendoza.
• Mark Harmon as the late, great Secret Service agent Simon Donovan.
• Oliver Platt as White House Counsel extraordinare Oliver Babish.

Posted by Jo at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

Political powerhouse made TV history

By Bill Keveney
USA TODAY

As The West Wing approaches Sunday's finale, it leaves a broadcast legacy presidents might envy: The Bartlet administration saga won four straight best-drama Emmys early in its seven-season tenure, averaging nearly 19 million viewers for new episodes at its 2001-02 peak.
More important, it is seen as groundbreaking in depicting politics and government on TV.

"There's a little, unpublished TV handbook about verboten areas. (Politics) led the list. But West Wing took that page and shredded it up," NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly says.

Allison Janney, who won four Emmys portraying press secretary/chief of staff C.J. Cregg, says West Wing might not have worked in the hands of someone other than creator Aaron Sorkin, who left after writing 87 episodes over the first four seasons.

"Aaron did the right mix of reality and drama and comedy. He was always able to ride that edge," she says.

Sorkin, interviewed via e-mail, says he'll leave legacy talk for others. He notes, however, that perceptions changed after 9/11.

"Rooting for fictional heroes so soon after the attacks was hard because there were so many real ones to root for," he writes. "And because the perception of Bartlet was that was he was liberal and the perception of George Bush is that he's conservative, it became slightly un-American to like The West Wing."

An October 2001 episode that alluded to a similar type of atrocity in the drama's parallel world was "too soon," he says. But "the show had to bow its head somehow before it moved forward."

After Sorkin left in 2003, West Wing suffered negative reviews, which the actors and Reilly attribute to a transition of producers. Some luster returned with this year's presidential campaign.

Ratings, like some presidential polls, have plummeted in recent years, averaging 8 million viewers in this non-rerun season.

Cast and crew also faced the shock of actor John Spencer's death. His character, Leo McGarry, was eulogized in April.

The series offered a hopeful vision at a time when so many are downbeat about government, says Bradley Whitford, who won an Emmy in 2001 for playing presidential aide Josh Lyman.

"I think it succeeded in attaching a shred of humanity to a process people have become very cynical about," he says.

In the end, Whitford believes West Wing lived up to its mission: "We wanted to do a television show that showed that government really matters."

Posted by Jo at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

Is 'West Wing' idealistic or realistic?

By Jill Lawrence
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Bartlet is leaving office, taking his tart tongue and Nobel Prize in economics, his principled stands and arcane musings, his wise, feisty wife and his witty, attractive, smart staff.
Really smart. Also, really Democratic. And did we mention high-minded and idealistic and looking out for the common good?

NBC's West Wing, which ends its seven-year run Sunday (8 ET/PT), often had the feel of wishful thinking — especially for Democrats who haven't controlled the White House for six years. Yet "for all the leaps you have to make in TV land," as former Bill Clinton aide Gene Sperling puts it, Democrats and even some Republicans say the show offered a fairly accurate picture of how the White House works.

"It was very realistic, and that's why people liked it," says Marlin Fitzwater, a press secretary to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush who became a consultant to the show. "They wanted to see good government. They appreciated people who were trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. That was common to both parties."

Among its many legacies, The West Wing offers cautionary tales for politicians with secrets (Bartlet was censured for hiding his multiple sclerosis) and for strategists looking toward the next election (Nevada was the pivotal state and nuclear power the pivotal issue in the campaign that made Democrat Matt Santos president-elect).

Some scorn The WestWing as a liberal fantasy, despite Bartlet's hawkish foreign policy. "It was a place (liberals) could go and have everything that they wanted reinforced," says Marshall Wittmann, who worked for the Christian Coalition and Republican Sen. John McCain and is now at the moderate Democratic Leadership Council.

Bartlet strikes Democrats and at least one academic observer as a contrast to Bush. "His character has thought through all kinds of issues in deep and admirable ways," says Eric Miller, a historian at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa. With Bush, "you don't get that sense of profound engagement with philosophical questions."

The show also opened a window on the agonizing decisions presidents must make. Does Bartlet leave astronauts trapped in space, or rescue them and reveal the existence of a secret military shuttle? Assassinate the defense minister of a fictional Middle Eastern country or let him continue to orchestrate terrorist attacks?

And it would take a hard-hearted viewer of either party not to suffer with him when his daughter Zoey was kidnapped by terrorists. A distraught Bartlet stepped aside and temporarily turned over the presidency to House Speaker Glenallen Walken, a conservative Republican.

Al Auster, who teaches courses on TV and film at Fordham University, calls it a wimp-out. "Presidents have had all sorts of personal crises but did not step aside. Lincoln's son died when he was in office. He did not step aside. And this was in the midst of the Civil War."

Other analysts point to the incident as an example of the show's tapping into public yearning for bipartisanship. "The writers uncovered a genuine longing within the American people," Wittmann says. "They would love a moment like that where one party reaches across the aisle to the other party."

Bipartisanship wasn't the only unrealized dream. West Wing also featured an empowered feminist press secretary (C.J. Cregg) so sharp that she rose to chief of staff. In real life, many a press secretary has briefed reporters without knowing what's really going on.

Dee Dee Myers had such problems in the Clinton White House. Later, as a West Wing consultant, "I got to take things that happened to me and change the ending a bit."

In one episode, C.J. realizes she knows less about an issue than the reporters questioning her, and confronts the president. In another, C.J. has a root canal and Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff, substitutes at the daily briefing. "He makes a total hash of it" and creates an economic crisis, Myers says cheerfully.

Revenge? "Absolutely," she says.

C.J. was one of the show's many passionate, well-intentioned, hardworking aides, a portrayal people of both parties say is close to the truth. "The people who work there really believe in what they're doing," says Paul Begala, a Clinton adviser. "It is not a cynical place, and West Wing is not a cynical show."

The West Wing was, in that respect, a seven-year ad for public service. But anyone who heeds the call should know that life won't entirely imitate TV. "We don't walk as fast," says Sperling, who consulted for the show. "We're not as funny. And we're not as good-looking."

Posted by Jo at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)

A letter to ‘West Wing’s’ President Bartlet

Columnist thanks president played by Martin Sheen for his service
By Frazier Moore
Associated Press

NEW YORK - I don’t often dash off mash notes to the President of the United States, be he real or make-believe. Come to think of it, my last time was back in December 1999 (just a few months into the run of a fine new NBC drama, “The West Wing”), when I tipped my hat to President Jed Bartlet.

With “The West Wing” concluding Sunday at 8 p.m. ET (following a repeat of its pilot episode at 7 p.m.), I feel like writing another open letter:

Dear President Bartlet,

I guess your mind is on many things after two eventful terms in the White House — and seven rousing seasons on TV.

Whew! It’s been a long haul, huh? Including that awful assassination attempt and the kidnapping of one of your daughters! Plus your battle with multiple sclerosis (glad to see how well you’re doing lately — using a cane sometimes, but otherwise in good shape).

Just this season you had a further blow: You lost your friend and right-hand man Leo McGarry (by then Matt Santos’ vice presidential running mate). His death was a sad aftershock to the unexpected passing of John Spencer, who had done no less than give Leo life.

Meanwhile, of course, you’ve been pretty busy as leader of the free world.

But now you’re handing the reins over to president-elect Santos (who looks so much like Jimmy Smits it’s amazing, just as you bear a remarkable resemblance to Martin Sheen). And I’m sure you can see how the public is preoccupied not with the past, but with the future (especially the new fall TV shows, which will be announced next week). So maybe viewers are giving short shrift to all that your show, er, administration, has vigorously stood for.

Please, Mr. President, don’t get me wrong. I have a tight enough grip on reality to understand that you are not, and never have been, the nation’s actual chief executive.

I can also make distinctions between one TV drama about the presidency and another. The recent ABC flop “Commander in Chief,” which installed Geena Davis in an ersatz Oval Office, was clearly so divorced from reality that I can imagine it available to YOU as escapist fare, Mr. President (although I doubt you ever got around to checking it out).

By contrast, “The West Wing” as conceived by Aaron Sorkin and then stewarded by others after his departure a few seasons ago (TV series, too, have White House shake-ups) has played true — in its own ambitious way.

A weekly display of intellect, wit, conscience and high drama, it has explored possibilities for statesmanship that seem rare in the real corridors of power. It has been filled with wonderful actors playing politicians (rather than in real government, where public figures scramble to play their roles convincingly).

On “The West Wing” our nation has been on view as if through Alice’s looking glass, mirroring us in many respects. (Although I often worried that — unlike the Lewis Carroll tale — it was here, on our side of the mirror, where things are backward. I think you know what I mean.)

So I chose to believe, and still do. I think of Josh and Donna, C.J. and Charlie, and all the rest (including you, Mr. President) as occupying a dimension cozily parallel with mine.

Now you’re leaving office and the series is about to leave NBC’s lineup. You both have had a long, distinguished run.

In its early years, “The West Wing” was even a hit. Then it fell prey to creative drift (which happens in the best administrations). More recently the show has bounced back with much of its original energy and spunk, if not its Top-10 ranking.

This season’s tough race between Santos and Sen. Vinick (a dead ringer for Alan Alda!) has been entertaining, yet substantive in ways we scarcely dream of anymore for an actual campaign.

Then Santos drafted his former Republican opponent to be his Secretary of State.

If the Nielsen ratings hadn’t plunged so far, maybe “The West Wing” would remain on the air with the Santos Administration settling in, doing the people’s business, making its inevitable blunders and carrying on. But low Nielsens (season-to-date, “The West Wing” languishes in a tie for 79th) are the sort of approval rating that can kill, not just cripple, a presidency.

So “West Wing” fans will be left to imagine for themselves the triumphs and setbacks awaiting President Santos. His White House will be unseen in our world, relegated to a phantom realm beyond the reach of any viewer’s cable box. But there, I’m sure, a big-hearted, patriotic spirit will prevail.

Like yours, Mr. President, and for that, my thanks. Together with everyone who made your presidency possible, you are leaving our country (or, at least, television) a better place than you found it.

Posted by Jo at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

Bart Simpson beats Jed Bartlet

by Barry Lewis
Times Herald-Record

OK, you win.

You got President Jed Bartlet out of "The West Wing" and off prime time forever. Are you happy?

It wasn't enough to move him from Wednesday night, so you smother him on Sunday.

Talk about your political scandals.

Why'd you do it? What were you promised? Another night of "Deal or No Deal"?

Another version of some wife/husband/son/family dog swap?

Yeah, that's what this country needs.

Would it have killed you to put a little variety in your viewing habits? Something to break up the dumbed-down sitcoms, the endless supply of crime dramas and the as-far-from-reality reality shows.

You can watch the mindless drivel 24/7 on any of the hundred-plus channels. No one cares. But what you took from me was the last creative drama left on free television. And that hurts. Everyone.

Maybe this is all about politics.

Are you folks still mad that Bartlet defeated Gov. Ritchie? That you couldn't take Leo down?

Maybe it's because Abbey and Jed were able to hide the president's MS for so long.

Funny thing is, you're the ones always talking about compassion and compromise. You couldn't give me one hour a week?

That's not too much to ask. Not much of a sacrifice.

No matter how many Emmys were won or how strong the numbers were in seasons two or three, I never let "The West Wing" get in the way of helping my kids with homework or starting another column.

All right, there was the night we had a blackout at home and I made some excuse about needing to get something at work - so I could watch in my office.

But believe me, I never agreed with Toby, Josh or even Sam that the Bartlet administration had earned a mandate from America's television audience.

I was never one of those Nielsen viewers unable to separate fact from fiction. I wasn't someone who got so caught up in that pile of positive poll numbers Joey Lucas was trying to pass along after winning a second term.

I know who America supports:

Bart Simpson. The family guy. Those wacky extreme home-makeover folks.

And they want "American Idol" - the winners, the losers - doesn't matter. And they want to hear Simon Cowell call some doe-eyed hopeful a loser.

I'm all in favor of junk television. It's why they call it the boob tube. Sometimes we all need a break. A chance to watch without thinking. It clears the head. But clear it too much and it becomes empty.

My anger with losing "The West Wing" isn't an argument about high-brow or low-brow or liberal or conservative television. It's about quality. Fine acting. Crisp writing. Smart dialogue. Political satire. A way to offer folks a behind-the-scenes look at the White House without lecturing viewers.

When community groups talked about the need to get rid of television, I'd say, oh yeah, get rid of "The West Wing"? It was the exception to the rule.

I'll be honest, I never caught all the jokes or the inside-Washington gab the first time around. Or the second. It's like reading a good novel, where you go back over a paragraph or a page for a better understanding of what's written and to enjoy the words.

Look, I don't suspect there will be too many mass gatherings Sunday night like there was when Sam Malone told the last patron the bar was closed.

Tears won't be shed as they were when Hawkeye read the goodbye message from B.J.

And it certainly won't be an edge-of-your-seat night to find out who's off the island, who marries the bachelor, who's fired and who gets hired.

Tell you the truth, I wouldn't be surprised if something off the WB wins the time slot.

When that majestic theme music comes on Sunday night, the credits roll and we see all the old familiar faces - C.J., Charlie, Donna - with the new crew - Santos and Vinick - and that shot of Bartlet hunched over his desk, I'll shake my head in amazement.

Amazed that folks would rather watch someone eat a plate of live worms, watch someone get punked or watch some someone pass on a deal to collect $300,000 because they're greedy idiots.

Anything but watch the last quality show on television.

Posted by Jo at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2006

'West Wing's' Scarlett and Rhett finally do the deed

Staffers Josh and Donna become entwined as the series departs. In real- life D.C., it's routine.
By Mimi Avins
Los Angeles Times

Wouldn't you think the people who work in the White House would have more important things to do than worry about their love lives? They do, of course, which is why NBC's multiple Emmy Award-winning "The West Wing," which will air its final episode Sunday night, was such a tasty blend of the personal and the political. Whenever the threats of foreign antagonists, the pushiness of special interest groups or the general intractability of the opposition party reached headache-inducing levels, respite could be found in what girls and boys in close proximity tend to do.

Sigmund Freud said, in so many words: Work and love, that's what it's all about. So it shouldn't be surprising that, the intrinsic sexiness of agricultural subsidies notwithstanding, the subject that fictional President Bartlet's real constituents found most compelling was the he-loves-her, he-loves-her-not relationship between two White House staff members.

"From the beginning, we got more questions about what was going to happen to Josh and Donna than anything else in the show," consulting producer and writer Lawrence O'Donnell said. "This year, we got more questions about what was going to happen to Josh and Donna than who was going to win the election."

Quite a few "West Wing" couples could have been busted text-messaging each other sweet nothings between national crises. But Josh and Donna were the long-running Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler of prime time, the largely self-thwarted lovers whose destiny the audience never doubted.

Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, played with disheveled, understated brilliance and a pinch of arrogance by Bradley Whitford, hired Donna Moss as his assistant during Bartlet's first presidential run. She'd arrived in New Hampshire full of idealism and ambition, then actress Janel Moloney brought sweetness, humor and intelligence to the character over the series' seven seasons.

The couple was inspired by a White House press secretary and his assistant who never did date, although it was obvious to everyone in their ZIP Code that she was in love with her highly eligible boss. The forbidden love between Bartlet's press chief, C.J. Cregg, and reporter Danny Concannon was also inspired by a real couple: Dee Dee Myers, press secretary in Bill Clinton's first term, and Todd Purdum, former New York Times White House correspondent. They married in 1997, but, Myers said, "we never dated till after I left the White House. In real life, it would have been impossible."

Such is the peculiar sociology of the nation's capital. Ana Marie Cox, who wrote the D.C. gossip blog as Wonkette and the novel "Dog Days," about sex and power in Washington, knows it well. "It's a workaholic town," she said, "so people tend to date within the office, more so than in a lot of other cities. No one here knows anyone except from work, and the people who live here lack the skills necessary to have traditional relationships."

Donna was a recognizable type, the assistant/office wife, who, like everyone in Washington, has one eye on the up escalator. Josh was an archetype too: the successful, monomaniacal professional whose personal life is a mess. "He's a perfectly drawn character," Cox said. "I think I know him."

Donna is so familiar with the perils of their workaholic environment that, after she and Josh become lovers, she demands that he define their relationship. He says he'll think about it. "The thing is," she told him, "there's a window. I say four weeks."

Donna's ultimatum perfectly defined the Washingtonian habit of giving lasting love a low priority. "There's a continuous sense of urgency here, if you buy into it, there's always something more important than a personal life," Myers said. "What happens to most people is they either get off that train and get a life or they continue to mess up their lives."

Counting two years of campaigning and two Bartlet administrations, in real time, the spark that ignited when Josh met Donna smoldered for a good 10 years before any sexual fireworks exploded. On television, sexual attraction has historically worked best by remaining latent. It's usually the kiss of death when friends, enemies or co-workers in a series get horizontal. (See "Moonlighting," "Cheers," "Who's the Boss?" and "Ally McBeal.")

Even with their shared zeal for politics, Josh and Donna's happy ending was far from a sure thing. In early scripts, the banter between Donna and Josh wasn't particularly flirtatious. Glibber than thou, a specialty of "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin, was simply the local dialect. "The credit for the Josh-Donna magic goes to the actors," producer O'Donnell said. "The audience was interested in them, rooting for them to get together, years before a romantic word passed between them. Every pilot season, every network is looking for that Tracy-Hepburn thing. They're constantly trying to pair actors in new shows and pre-package chemistry. We just got lucky with two magical actors."

The magic was so potent that over the years fans regularly stopped Moloney on the street and interrogated her about Donna's love life.

Whitford said, "What surprised me was the vehemence and frustration people expressed in line at Starbucks, as if I had control of what my character did." During the shooting of one of the last episodes, the actor's 91-year-old mother asked him how his day had gone. "Great," Whitford told her. "I spent the day naked, in bed with Janel."

"Well, thank God you finally slept with her," his mother replied.

Whitford understands that "The West Wing" wasn't meant to be a civics lesson. "The show was fun because we were just trying to tell good stories in a wonderful, untapped arena that had not been taken seriously. Without that personal connection, which is primary and overwhelmingly necessary, you have C-SPAN. Aaron watches for what's working, and he brilliantly exploited the chemistry between us."

After Sorkin left, the series' new behind-the-scenes commander in chief, John Wells, told Moloney that whenever Josh and Donna got together, the show would be over. So she dated others. (For a Midwestern good girl, Donna got around.) Even Josh had a flirtation or two, and one serious relationship.

Was their finally becoming a full-service couple realistic? "It happens," Cox said. "Senators do marry staffers, and congressmen especially. Newt Gingrich did it twice."

And when it doesn't, fear of the appearance of impropriety is more often the culprit than the sort of emotional constipation Josh suffered from. O'Donnell, who's been an advisor to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Democratic chief of staff of the Senate finance committee, said, "No one working in the White House can afford the idea that they got where they were because of a personal relationship. It's very, very difficult between a boss and a subordinate. There have been many secret relationships because no one wants anyone to think they're either exploiting or benefiting from an intimate relationship."

Josh and Donna's denouement includes an appropriate element of wish fulfillment. She is recruited to be the incoming first lady's chief of staff, a position that places her on turf that's separate, but complementary, to Josh's. Everything ties up neatly.

That's only fitting because "The West Wing" has always been a feel-good fantasy of Washington, where those who govern are well-meaning, friendships are mostly true and hope springs eternal that there shall be liberty and justice for all.

Posted by Jo at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2006

Inside Move: Cast dings 'Wing's' farewell special

'West' special heads south

By JOSEF ADALIAN
Variety

Plans for a retrospective special saluting "The West Wing""The West Wing" have been scrapped after some of the actors on the show decided there wasn't enough money in it for them.
When NBC announced the skeinskein's swan song back in January, Peacock chief Kevin ReillyKevin Reilly also said the net would air a one-hour clip show featuring interviews with the cast. Special was set to air 7-8 p.m. Sunday, right before the show's final episode.

But even though Warner Bros. TV and John Wells Prods. had hired a production company to handle the special, it had to be scrubbed. Turns out some of the actors on the show weren't happy with the coincoin they were being offered to appear on-camera, according to people familiar with the decision to ax the special.

It's unclear just how much WBTV and Wells were willing to pay the actors, but some of the thesps on the show make in the $200,000-per-hour neighborhood. Shelling out anywhere near that much would have caused the budget for the special to soar -- not a financially wise move given the relatively paltry ratings "West Wing" is averaging in its final season.

Nobody at WBTV or NBC seems concerned about the special's demise, likely because expectations are modest for how "West Wing" will perform when it signs off.

It's a big contrast to recent send-offs for shows such as "Everybody Loves Raymond""Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Friends," when pre-finale clip shows drew huge audiences as fans made an entire night of it.

Peacock is still planning a clipfest for "Will & Grace," while Fox is airing a roughly 90-minute salute to departing laffer "That '70s Show""That '70s Show" this Thursday in conjunction with a seven-minute trailer for "X-Men: The Last Stand."

And "The West Wing" will still have a two-hour goodbye: NBC has struck a deal with WBTV to air the show's pilot episode in place of the special.

Posted by Jo at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)

LIFE ON THE COUCH: Once mighty 'West Wing' now a bush-league pretender

by Christopher Lawrence
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Let Bartlet be Bartlet."

The title phrase from the 19th episode of "The West Wing" was a rallying cry that became a recurring theme of the series.

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President Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) approval ratings were at a personal low, White House morale wasn't much higher, and the new administration was already treading water, unable to take a stand on any major issue.

Enter Leo (the late John Spencer), Bartlet's chief of staff, who gave the president a lengthy, brutally honest verbal kick in the pants the way only an oldest, dearest friend can. In shaking him from his torpor -- "A man's gotta stand up!" -- Leo convinced the president to be himself and fight for his beliefs, and he made Knute Rockne look like a wallflower by comparison.

It was raw, inspiring and unlike anything else on TV. And, looking back, it feels like a part of an entirely different series.

"The West Wing" will air its final episode Sunday (8 p.m., KVBC-TV, Channel 3), but the things that made it great -- the laughter; the idealism; the clever wordplay, faster than Lorelai Gilmore after a triple espresso, during long, purposeful walks through the halls -- ended three years ago with the forced resignation of series creator Aaron Sorkin.

Any of Sorkin's scripts -- and he wrote or co-wrote all but three of the 88 episodes under his watch -- would have been at home on Broadway, where he got his start. Usually I get a little uneasy around any brow that high, but the man's words flowed as free and as perfect as jazz.

But watching the original members of the cast -- quite possibly the greatest ever assembled for television -- labor through recent episodes has been downright painful.

Of course, that's assuming an original cast member was even around. In a blatantly mercenary move, producers who'd wrested control of the series away from Sorkin tried to hustle the increasingly expensive members of the Bartlet administration out of the White House and extend the series another couple of years with a new cast.

Presidential contenders Rep. Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) entered the picture, and most of the regulars were shipped off faster than a Southern debutante knocked up by the gardener.

Imagine "Cheers" abruptly setting 80 percent of its episodes in a T.G.I. Friday's. Or "Seinfeld" producers suddenly saying "We've had enough of Jerry. What's David Brenner up to?"

Smits and Alda are fine actors, and I'm sure they're wonderful people. I just don't care.

Any moment with them and their respective handlers -- Why does it matter who the new speaker of the House will be? -- is one I didn't get to spend with characters I've invested seven years in.

A month or so ago, Charlie (Dulé Hill) popped up for roughly 90 seconds. I'd honestly forgotten he'd ever been a part of the series.

Then there's Toby (Richard Schiff, who, like many cast members, won an Emmy for his work). Osama bin Laden's had more face time on NBC this year.

Leo couldn't have gotten a proper sendoff after Spencer's death? Sorkin gave a full hour -- one of the show's best -- to burying the president's secretary, and the actress who played her was still very much alive.

And whither poor Bartlet? Producers first tried to incapacitate him with MS, then just ignored one of TV's truly great characters. A Nobel Prize-winning economist, Bartlet, during the show's glory days, once interjected during a NASA-related meeting that the average temperature on Mars ranges from 15 degrees to minus 140. When told it's actually 60 degrees to minus 225, he smirked a little before revealing "I converted it to Celsius in my head." (A president who's actually the smartest person in the room? There's that idealism again.)

Adding to the whimper surrounding Sunday's finale, an hourlong retrospective featuring cast interviews and clips revisiting better times has been canceled. A rebroadcast of the series pilot will air instead at 7 p.m.

Let Bartlet be Bartlet? Over the past few months, I'd have been thrilled if they'd just let Bartlet be.

Posted by Jo at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)

Taking wing

By BRETT JOHNSON
Scripps Howard News Service

At its best, "The West Wing" roared into the brain and stuck like so few TV shows do, stamped there by a wildfire of dialogue and its now-famous "walk and talk" tracking shots.

It was both symphony and cacophony, rolling out complex, finely honed and lively political stories that made the glum and ho-hum sparkle. Stacked up against an age of cynicism, glazed-over disinterest and scandals, "West Wing" succeeded anyway. It made Washington and policy wonks seem interesting and hip _ and human.

Suddenly, civics, at least the way it was served up Wednesday nights, was entertaining.

"West Wing" became appointment TV, water-cooler fodder and, for some, a parallel universe. But "West Wing" wasn't so much fantasy as it was wildly optimistic hope.

As it nears the end of its seven-year run with the May 14 series finale, "West Wing" will bow out as one of the most honored dramas in TV history. It has Emmy, Peabody and Golden Globe awards on its mantle.

Ratings eroding, now exiled to an early-Sunday-night time slot and beset with a sense that its best stuff has played out, the show to some has lost its zip, like an aging flamethrower who can't find his fastball.

Actress Janel Moloney, who plays Donna Moss, understandably will have none of that. She took a swipe at "The Sopranos" in assessing "West Wing." Bring it on.

"The first few years, there was nothing better on TV," Moloney, a two-time Emmy nominee, said. "(And) you take any of the shows from the last month and stack it up against any other show on TV, and it beats it _ including all the stuff on HBO."

Even those who say "West Wing" declined concede that involves a bit of the Michael Jordan factor _ comparing something against its own lofty standards instead of against everything else. Even at its worst, "West Wing" still had more good episodes per season than most shows, noted Robert Thompson, a pop-culture professor at Syracuse University.

He and others also remember how great the show was in its heyday.

"It was conversation as a spectator sport," said Thompson. "It was like language coming out of an Uzi. The language was twice as interesting as any action sequence could be."

The show had the kind of buzz, humor and relevance your social-studies teachers wished they had.

Herb Gooch, a political-science and film professor at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., used the show's "Isaac and Ishmael" episode in his classes. The show, which received mixed reviews, aired in October 2001, just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. It attempted to put those events in context when the fictional White House staff talks to visiting students in the basement during a security lockdown.

"From the point of view of a teacher, some of its shows were stunning," said Gooch.

Bradley Whitford, an Emmy winner for playing Josh Lyman, paced through a mental list of episodes. He picked Mrs. Landingham's funeral, the second-season finale. In a series of touching flashbacks, it showed how Mrs. Landingham, President Josiah Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) personal secretary, helped shape his life from young adulthood to the Oval Office. It had her service in the National Cathedral, and also featured a stormy night, Bartlet weighing whether to run for re-election, and a decisive news conference. It was beautifully shot.

"I remember thinking that if this were a play, it'd be up for a Pulitzer," Whitford said.

Though many thought the show's intent was to teach people or "feed them their civic vegetables," as Whitford put it, he said he believes the opposite was true. It was putting people and human stories into civics.

Though unafraid to show the seamier side of politics, the series overall depicted public service in a positive glow.

"Most of us looked at it and said, 'Gosh, this is idealized,' " Gooch said. "And it was idealized, but it wasn't fantasy. So, people could relate to it, and want it."

Its presidency was fake, but "West Wing" got high marks for being factual, even on science-related story arcs.

Lauren Schmidt, who rose from intern to researcher and now writer-story editor on the show, has an idea why: "The West Wing" had access clout.

"I found that I could cold-call the Pentagon and their media department would call me back," she said.

Mounds of factual bits were woven into the show's overall vibe. Whitford's Josh character, she noted, isn't going to just spit stats about alternative fuels; he's also going to be funny and droll about it.

Characters, arguments and issues also were carefully presented.

Michael Hissrich, a producer who noted that most figures on the series fell to the left politically, said that Alan Alda's Republican character, Arnold Vinick, was a challenge to draw up.

Issue arguments on the show, Schmidt said, were the same ones the staff debated passionately right up to air date.

Another thing that made the show move was that language: rapid-fire and a bit dizzying, by turns witty, intellectual and, as Thompson noted, weaponlike.

So what happened? How did "West Wing" go from the early years _ when, as Thompson said, "it was not uncommon to have four episodes in a row that just knocked it out of the park" _ to something less stellar?

Both he and Gooch said that much of it stemmed from the departure of the show's brilliant creator, Aaron Sorkin, who left after the fourth season.

The series, Thompson added, has rebounded nicely this season. Still, he said, it would have been "a flawless jewel" if it had ended after four years.

Production wrapped a while ago. Both Moloney and Whitford said the last day's shoot was emotional. Some of that, Whitford said, was lingering grief over the loss of actor John Spencer, "which makes the loss of a TV show puny." Spencer, who played Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack Dec. 16.

It was also hard to say goodbye to all those who had worked on the show for seven years.

The Internet is full of speculation about what will happen in the finale. Maybe a presidential pardon for Richard Schiff's character, Toby Ziegler (fired for leaking information), and one last stroll through the White House for Bartlet.

"The Josh-Donna sponge bath is incredible," Whitford teased.

Moloney, alluding to the finally consummated romance between her character and Whitford's, said, "You can see where that's headed."

Posted by Jo at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)

Pay Concerns Scotch 'West Wing' Special

zap2it.com

LOS ANGELES -- Earlier this year, NBC said it would pay tribute to the departing "West Wing" in the time-honored manner of other long-running and well-loved series, with a clip-and-interview special airing before the last episode.

But the network late last week scuttled the clip show, reportedly because some cast members wanted to be compensated a little more generously.

Several news accounts say the actors -- no one is named -- refused to take part in a retrospective unless they were paid more than what was on the table to sit and reminisce about the Emmy-winning series, which ends Sunday. Such appearances aren't covered in the actors' contracts for the show; Variety notes that some in the cast could command as much as $200,000 per hour.

That's a lot of cash to throw at a special whose ratings probably won't be that huge. The "West Wing" special was scheduled to air at 7 p.m. ET Sunday, a time when TV viewing is usually at pretty low levels. The series finale airs at 8 p.m.

In its place, NBC will air the pilot episode of the series, in which White House staffer Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) discovers his date from the previous night is a call girl, a bike accident incapacitates President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) at a crucial time and Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) makes an ill-considered comment on television.

The series finale of "The West Wing" will focus on the Bartlet administration leaving the White House as new President Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) is inaugurated.

Posted by Jo at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)

NBC Impeaches "West Wing" Special

by Gina Serpe
E!Online

Just what President Bartlet needs on his way out of the Oval Office: an emerging economic crisis.

NBC has scrapped its planned hourlong West Wing retrospective, featuring highlights and cast reminiscences--a seemingly obligatory send-off for any long-running series--amid reports of a salary squabble.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Last Friday, NBC announced it was scuttling the clipfest for "creative" reasons and instead airing the show's 1999 pilot.

But according to a report Tuesday in Variety, the network unceremoniously yanked the special from its schedule after several "key castmembers"--no names named--refused to participate as nostalgic talking heads lest they be paid the same amount they would for a typical episode, in some cases around $200,000 apiece.

With ratings already bottoming out for the lame-duck show, NBC decided against coming up with the extra cash, or even negotiating lower payments, and called off the whole shebang. Variety says the additional cost would make the retrospective a money-losing proposition.

The retrospective, which had been commissioned by Warner Bros. TV and John Wells Productions, was due to run just prior to The West Wing's series ender this Sunday, making the finale a two-hour event rather than a one-hour whimper.

NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly even touted the retrospective back in January, when first announcing the show's impending end.

Fans of the Emmy-winning drama seem to be taking the news particularly hard, if message board postings are any indication.

"I, too, am less than thrilled with this decision," writes TheMuse on NBC's official Website. "I have yet to talk to one person happy about seeing the pilot for the millionth time."

"The treatment NBC has given The West Wing and its fans this season makes me glad they don't broadcast any other shows of interest to me. I can totally disregard this network after May 14," adds ByeByeNBC.

"I think that they cancelled the retrospective because the ratings of the show have been so low that they don't think that there is any reason to spend any 'new money' on a loser," observes one Neurosturgeon. "Showing the pilot will cost them nothing. It is a cheap way to fill up an hour. It is all about the money."

The MIA retrospective is particularly unusual for NBC, which seems to relish turning farewells into all-night events. Fellow swan-song series Will & Grace, which itself has seen better days of both ratings and buzz-worthiness, is gearing up for a clip-filled two-hour send-off May 18.

Fox's That '70s Show, however, puts both finales to shame. It will boogie off May 18 with a whopping 83-minute clip special.

Posted by Jo at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

'The West Wing: Season Six'

The White House stuff was a bore, but the campaign episodes are worth watching
By Daniel Fienberg
zap2it.com

It was in the sixth season that I made peace with the fact that post-Aaron Sorkin, "The West Wing" was never going to be sparkling, witty or hilarious ever again. Instead, in the second season of the John Wells administration, "The West Wing" settled into the tone that would carry it through to its finale -- self-serious, high-minded, often disappointingly over-extended (all things the Sorkin shows were as well) and leaden (something the Sorkin shows rarely were), but yet still more intelligent and thoughtful than just about anything else on TV.

Now new on DVD, the sixth season began with a jumbled bang -- President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) brokers a Middle East accord, Leo McGarry had a heart attack (tragically looking forward to actor John Spencer's real-life death late last year) and, in the season's most absurd (but dramatically fruitful) twist, C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) became Chief of Staff. However, the season finds its footing soon after with the introduction of the main candidates for President Bartlet's job -- Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), a Democrat from Texas, and California's Republican Senator Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda).

While the six-disc set includes a smattering of bonus features, the biggest advantage of owning the season is the ability to just about ignore anything that happened during the season in the White House. Yes, C.J.'s promotion gave Janney a chance to show off some dramatic chops and injected the popular character into an assortment of high-pressure new situations. Yes, the return of the President's M.S. let Sheen do possibly his best work yet, trying to be the world's most powerful man, while being incapable of movement. And yes, Spencer's storyline featured some great acting that has risen to the level of heartbreaking thanks to tragic events. But never has the show's weekly national or international crisis-of-the-week structure seemed so superficial and pointless.

On the campaign trail, though, the season was alive and insightful, offering the best glimpse of the primary process this side of Robert Altman's classic "Tanner." That the writers and directors were able to make episodes on ethanol subsidies seem alive is impressive and "2162 Votes" -- the finale set against the Democratic convention -- was one of the series' best. In Santos, the writers created a policy wonk who you'd follow into battle, while Vinick was the dream Republican that even people to the far left couldn't help but admire.

The DVDs feature a trio of commentaries by an assortment of writers, producers and directors, all impressively mechanical, in-depth and silence free. The featurette "C.J. Cregg: From Press Secretary to Chief of Staff" offers little insight unless you figured that Allison Janney's co-stars hate her. If so, you'll be shocked to discover that she's respected and adored by all. The only other bonus is an easily found Easter egg conversion with Spencer, a touching sight that probably should have been moved to the center of the packaging out of admiration for the late actor.

STUDIO: Warner Bros.
RELEASE DATE: May 9
RATING: NR
PRICE: $59.98
TIME: 949 minutes
DVD EXTRAS: Episodic commentaries; "C.J. Cregg: From Press Secretary to Chief of Staff"; John Spencer conversation Easter egg

Posted by Jo at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)

May 9, 2006 -- NBC has yanked a "West Wing" retrospective that was supposed to air right before Sunday's series finale.

By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post

As recently as last week, NBC promised that for one hour this Sunday, we could watch as "the cast of the Emmy Award-winning 'West Wing' pauses to reflect on the evocative drama's seven years on NBC with a retrospective of many emotional and touching scenes that made the [Bartlet] administration come alive to millions of Americans."

But, as NBC learned the hard way, some cast members of "The West Wing" don't cough up an hour of "emotional" and "touching" for nothing. Not even for cheap.

Turns out, playing themselves reminiscing about their years on the show as role models for millions around the world is not included in their contracts. Those appearances have to be negotiated separately.

Shrewdly recognizing that this could be their last opportunity to hold out for more cash -- various "West Wingers" having entertained us over the years with their sick-outs and other pay-hike ploys -- some cast members let it be known that an hour's worth of emotional and touching pausing and reflecting was going to cost NBC and Warner Bros. TV. Too much, it appears, for a retrospective on a now low-rated show, especially when the clip job was going to air on a Sunday in May at 7 p.m. -- when the HUT (homes using television) level is low.

And so, my fellow Americans, NBC decided it will not broadcast, as it had promised, a "West Wing" retrospective leading into the critically heralded show's very last episode.

Instead, at 7 this Sunday night, NBC will rebroadcast the show's very first episode, in which the band of thespian mercenaries is introduced to an unsuspecting public, and the president of the United States falls off his bicycle -- oh yeah, like that's gonna happen.

When NBC originally aired the pilot episode, in the fall of 1999, it clocked an average of 17 million viewers.

When NBC last reran it in February 2001, according to the network, it averaged about 9 million viewers.

And -- what with "West Wing" originals averaging about 8 million viewers these days -- if the pilot repeat comes anywhere near its previous performance, you can expect to see a lot fewer retrospectives leading into the final episode of a long-running series and a lot more first-episode/final-episode packages.

And Allison Janney no longer will be remembered as having been a role model for millions of women around the world; instead, the "West Wing" gang will be remembered as having been role models for dozens of actors holding out for more cash in order to sit in high chairs and reminisce about their brilliant career on fill-in-the-blank-series.

* * *

Posted by Jo at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)

'WEST WING' CLIP EPISODE VETOED

by Michael Starr
New York Post

May 9, 2006 -- NBC has yanked a "West Wing" retrospective that was supposed to air right before Sunday's series finale.
Instead, viewers will see the series' pilot episode, which originally aired in 1999, and has been repeated many times over the years - including on NBC's sister cable network, Bravo (which airs "West Wing" repeats).

The pilot is also on the show's first-season DVD.

Scrapping the retrospective was a "creative" decision, an NBC spokesman said yesterday.

"We decided to go with airing the pilot," he offered by way of explanation.

But insiders say NBC didn't want to air the retrospective because it would have to pay the "West Wing" actors for their additional work - and it just wasn't worth it in this era of network cost-cutting, especially for a show that's lost much of its audience.

NBC announced plans for the one-hour retrospective last January. The sudden decision to scrap it left many "West Wing" fans feeling cranky - and sounding off on the show message board.

"I'm just confused at this decision and trying to put myself in NBC's position," wrote "bluemeister." "The only thing I can think of is that they can then include the retrospective on the Season 7 box set and tout it as 'exclusive' and 'never-

before-aired.' "

"I, too, am less-than-thrilled with this decision," wrote "TheMuse." "I have yet to talk to one person happy about seeing the pilot for the millionth time."

Writes another fan with the screen name "Neurosturgeon": "I think that they canceled the retrospective because the ratings of the show have been so low that they don't think that there is any reason to spend any 'new money' on a loser.

"Showing the pilot will cost them nothing. It is a cheap way to fill up an hour. It is all about the money."

Posted by Jo at 09:47 AM | Comments (0)

TV for two

'Malcolm,' "West Wing' stars, married in real life, reflect on their success as shows come to an end
By Scott D. Pierce
Deseret Morning News

There's a week back in 1999 that stands out in the memories of husband and wife Bradley Whitford and Jane Kaczmarek. Both were making a living as actors, but they hadn't achieved break-out success. And they were the parents of a 1-year-old.
FOXJane Kaczmarek "We always remember a week in May when the phone rang one day and it was NBC saying 'West Wing' had gotten picked up," Kaczmarek said. "And the next day Fox called and said 'Malcolm' had gotten picked up. And the next day the doctor called and told me I was pregnant again.
"So we just thought, 'Wow, I wonder if our lives are going to change?' "
Yeah, just a little. Seven years, six Emmy nominations and another baby later, Kaczmarek, 50, is easily identified as Lois, the "Malcolm in the Middle" mom. Whitford, 45, has three Emmy nominations and one win for his role as Josh Lyman on "The West Wing." Coincidentally, both shows end their seven-season runs opposite one another on Sunday — "West Wing" at 7 p.m. on NBC/Ch. 5; "Malcolm" at 7:30 p.m. on Fox/Ch. 13.
Seven years of starring in TV series wasn't something they were anticipating. Kaczmarek had appeared in dozens of series and movies, but "I was also suffering the indignities of an actress in my early 40s during pilot season." And she was "very happy not acting and taking care of my baby."
But she loved the "Malcolm" pilot script, even though she never for a moment thought it would get on the air.
"I thought it was just so good that it wouldn't get picked up," Kaczmarek said. "My husband was doing the pilot for 'The West Wing,' and we were renovating a house. . . . And he kept saying, 'Are you sure you want to work?' And I said, 'It'll never go. And if it does, I'll be the mom on a kids show and I'll work one day a week.' "
But Lois turned out to be a full-time job.
"I thought that doing the pilot would pay for the new bathroom on the house. Never in a million years did I think this would turn into what it did."
Whitford, meanwhile, couldn't resist the offer to join "The West Wing."
"It is a miracle to make a living as an actor. It's a miracle to make a living in a non-humiliating way as an actor," he said. "And it is an incredible miracle to have a situation like this."
The odds against one actor landing a role on a TV series that runs seven years are astronomical. The odds against two actors married to each other doing it at the same time are incalculable.
"These television shows, they're like alchemy," Whitford said. "It's like a miracle when it works."
As "Malcolm" and "West Wing" draw to an end, "Our lives are certainly going to change again," Whitford said.
And, for the moment, slow down quite a bit.
"Oh, it's heaven," Kaczmarek said.
"From playing a mother on television, I'm playing a mother in real life. And, right now, all those banal, mundane things are just delightful — driving my kids to school, lying on the couch and reading the newspaper on Sundays."
Which is a big switch from spending Sunday nights trying to get the kids ready to go back to school and off to bed so that they could be up at 5 a.m. to go to work.
"It's such a remarkable feeling to have this amount of time because that schedule was really quite grueling," Kaczmarek said.
Even while they're getting to spend more time with their family, it wasn't easy to leave their TV families behind. Kaczmarek could hardly speak as she talked about the last week on the "Malcolm" set.
"I get choked up just thinking about it. It was so emotional," Kaczmarek said.
Whitford and the rest of the "West Wing" cast also lost their friend and fellow cast member, John Spencer, who died suddenly in December.
"It's very hard," Whitford said. "We spend many, many, many hours together. We've all gone through this identity crisis together of being in public and just spent so much time together. It's — it's very hard to understand how somebody just goes away."
Kaczmarek said she learned a lot by playing the mother of five boys.
"I learned a great lesson from these boys, which was that sometimes children are just incredibly irritating," Kaczmarek said. "Oh my gosh — 12-year-old boys, 13-year-old boys! Lois came very easily to me in those early years.
"As the years went by and we really spent that much time together and the boys kind of grew up a little bit and I probably softened a little bit — you just grow into this bond and a real family love from being with people. And those boys are so dear to me now in a way that I never expected when we first started the show," she said with a laugh.
"And (Frankie Muniz, Justin Berfield, Erik Per Sullivan and Christopher Kennedy Masterson) are such good boys. . . . They're boys that I think any mother would really be proud to have as sons.
"And (co-star) Bryan (Cranston) is an extraordinary father and husband."
Whitford and Kaczmarek aren't thinking about retiring from acting, but they can pick and choose their roles. They haven't spent the past seven years living an opulent Hollywood lifestyle — they don't have to take roles for the paycheck.
"I've paid for the house. I drive a Honda hybrid. I don't live big. I'm not a shopper or a jewelry person," Kaczmarek said. "Brad and I, we've saved, we've paid off mortgages, we've paid . . . for the kids' college and it's a great luxury to be able to just sit and think about what you really want to do. And to just read the newspaper for hours and hours and not worry about too much."
Whitford has signed on to "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin's new series — tentatively titled "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" — which will debut on NBC in the fall. Kaczmarek appeared in a Ted Danson sitcom pilot ("Help Me Help You") that ABC is considering for next season and could do a few episodes of that show if it gets picked up. Other than that, "I've been just turning everything down out of hand. It's a magnificent feeling, and I think I just want to sit with it for as long as I can until something comes along that I feel I have to do.
"I said to my daughter, who was so excited when ('Malcolm' went off), 'Wait — give me a year and you'll probably be calling my agent and say, 'Can you get her out of the house?' "
In the meantime, the big question at the Whitford-Kaczmarek house is — which show to watch and which to TiVo on Sunday?
"We've been leaning toward watching 'Malcolm' and TiVo-ing 'The West Wing,' but then someone said when you TiVo it, you get to watch it over and over again," Kaczmarek said. "You can't be TiVo-ing them both at the same time."
"Jane, you need to upgrade your TiVo," interjected "Malcolm" creator/executive producer Linwood Boomer. "They totally have ones that can tape two shows at one time."
"You're kidding!" Kaczmarek said with genuine surprise in her voice.
"I have one. It's fantastic," Boomer said. "It will save your marriage."

Posted by Jo at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)

May 07, 2006

'The West Wing': Going out a winner

After seven seasons, NBC's ground-breaking political drama leaves office next Sunday.
BY BOB CURTRIGHT
The Wichita Eagle

Alex Graves is amazed that NBC's "The West Wing" lasted seven years because "It was always too big for television." "It's a very expensive show to produce: $3.3 million an episode -- the largest in TV history," said executive producer Graves, a Kansas native from El Dorado who has been with the show since it launched in 1999.

"It was like a mini-movie every week. We did large things for a very long time."

But one week from tonight, the show ends for good. Though the political drama had the tendency to irk some Republicans -- former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole called it "The Left Wing," Graves recalls -- it also earned acclaim from many corners for its intellectual bent and clever dialogue delivered rapid-fire.

And it had the awards to back up the acclaim, including an unprecedented 24 Emmys -- four in a row as best drama.

Human side of politics

Set in the West Wing of the White House, the series follows the behind-the-scenes staffers who keep the administration of fictional Democratic president Josiah "Jed" Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) up and running despite constant crises.

When Aaron Sorkin created the show in 1999, his idea was to show the human side of government and politics by showcasing those staffers. Indeed, the president wasn't supposed to be a regular character; Sheen was signed for only four cameo appearances.

But audiences reacted so positively to the smart, decent president that he became a weekly fixture.

In Wichita, some of the show's biggest fans are members of the Wichita State University College Democrats, said the group's president, Lyndsay Stauble.

"About 80 percent of us are 'Wing' nuts," she said. "We've had 'West Wing' marathons.

"It's an excellent drama and one of the best series that's ever been on television," said Stauble, whose group is planning a finale party. "Government is so complex that it's hard for people to understand, but 'The West Wing' took it and made it interesting and funny with its rat-a-tat style."

Vickie Sandell Stangl, a political science instructor at Wichita State, is another fan.

"I thought it did an excellent job of bringing to life what I teach in the classroom," Stangl said. "It shows how complex the issues are.... There's more drama in the show than in real life, but you could learn things from it."

While revered in many circles, the series has skeptics.

Ed Flentje, who was secretary of administration for Republican Kansas Gov. Mike Hayden in the mid-1980s, dismissed the show as "showing a clear liberal bias."

And Mel Kahn, professor of political science as Wichita State University, said he found it more entertaining than accurate.

"They do give some idea about what happens in government but I don't believe there is that much speed or action in the White House. The wheels of government turn slowly," Kahn said.

Real-life stories

Eerily, some storylines from the show seemed to anticipate headlines, from Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl's capture and execution by Middle Eastern terrorists to the outing of CIA spy Valerie Plame to America's escalating oil troubles.

"It's always been amazing but it's always been coincidental because our episodes are written four or five months before they air," Graves said.

"I guess if you travel the same territory as real life, you're bound to come up with some of the same things."

Graves said the series also evolved because of real-life world events. "The West Wing" was the first TV drama to react to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Creator Sorkin wrote a special episode called "Isaac and Ishmael," that aired only weeks after the attack. It featured lead characters discussing a terrorist threat to the United States while being locked down inside the White House.

'We're tired'

Now that the series end is near, Graves is philosophical that "It's time."

"In a way, the series is leaving at the right time for everyone who has been working on it. We're tired," Graves said.

"It's a show that could have gone on artistically, even with a new president. There's so much material to draw from."

This final season has centered around the campaigns of Democrat Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Republican Arnie Vinick (Alan Alda) as they vied to succeed President Bartlet. Santos won, but it wasn't always planned that way, Graves said.

The real-life death of Emmy-winning actor John Spencer in December changed the course of the show at the last minute and gave producers a way to wrap things up.

Spencer played Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, who was running as Santos' vice president. Originally, Graves said, Vinick was to win in a squeaker of a race.

"We figured there was a lot more story to tell if we put Vinick as a moderate Republican in the White House in a time of extremism," he said. "We wanted to show how difficult it would be for moderate Republicans to have a voice.

"But with John's death, we just didn't have the heart to have him lose the election, too. It would have been too depressing a note to end on."

Inviting people to think

The final episodes, he said, are about the peaceful transfer of political power from one president to another.

"We wanted to show the unification of power -- something we're missing in the real world," he said. "The division that has taken place in this country in the past six years is something I've never experienced before in my lifetime."

It's too soon, he said, to determine the long-term effects of "The West Wing."

"Our hope from the very beginning was to keep alive the idea that TV shows could aim high, not only in ideas but in production values. We wanted to be a positive thing in the culture. We invited people to think."

The indelible effect on many fans is undeniable, he said.

"The reaction I've been getting from viewers is sadness that it's ending," Graves said. "Overwhelmingly, they are also saying 'Thank goodness this series happened. Thank goodness there was a 'West Wing.' "

Posted by Jo at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)

May 05, 2006

NBC, HBO order series as networks ponder pilots

By Nellie Andreeva
Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Aaron Sorkin is heading back to NBC next season.

Ten days before his White House drama "The West Wing" is set to end its seven-year run on the network, NBC has given the green light to his latest drama series, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," for the 2006-07 season.

The show, which is set behind the scenes at a popular late-night sketch comedy show in the vein of NBC's own "Saturday Night Live," stars Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and Bradley Whitford.

Created by Sorkin and fellow "West Wing" alumnus Thomas Schlamme, it originally was picked up with a series commitment. Its is now understood to have received a 13-episode order.

The series pickup for "Studio 60" is not thought to be affecting the chances of another NBC project set behind the scenes of a television show, an untitled show from Tina Fey, which is considered a hot prospect on the comedy side.

Meanwhile, HBO ordered to series its pilot "SexLife," described as a racy drama about three couples with intimacy issues. The number of episodes HBO will pick up is yet to be determined.

As broadcast networks prepare to unveil their fall lineups during the week of May 15, sources said several pilots are close to earning early pickups along with "Studio 60" and Fox's "Vanished" and "'Til Death," which received formal orders last week.

NBC's dramas "Heroes" and "Friday Night Lights," Fox's drama "Primary" and CBS' comedy "The Class" are all said to have been given the go-ahead to begin hiring staff writers and producers, which is always a good sign of a network's faith in a pilot.

According to sources, also hot at NBC are the comedies "Community Service," a Jay Mohr vehicle said to be in the tone of the network's freshman hit "My Name Is Earl"; "20 Good Years," which stars John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor; "The Singles Table"; and the Fey project.

On the drama side, the Jeff Goldblum starrer "Raines" also is said to be in contention. NBC is building a large drama series inventory for next season with two projects -- "The Black Donnellys" and "Kidnapped" -- already picked up to series and a slew of existing series, including the "Law & Order" franchise, "Medium," "Crossing Jordan" and "Las Vegas," assured a return to the schedule.

The dramas "American Crime," "Damages," "13 Graves" and "Southern Comfort" also are believed to have a shot at Fox. In the comedy field, the network is said to be considering "The Winner" -- a project developed by "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane -- and the freshman comedy "War at Home" as a potential companion for "'Til Death." "Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter" also is said to have a lot of fans at Fox, while "The 12th Man" and "The Adventures of Big Handsome Guy and His Little Friend" have cooled off a bit but are still in contention, sources said.

The dramas "October Road," "Secrets of a Small Town," "Six Degrees," "Ugly Betty," "Brothers & Sisters" and "Men in Trees" are all believed to be in the running at ABC. The network's ensemble comedy "In Case of Emergency," which has a series commitment, the Ted Danson starrer "Help Me Help You" and an untitled project involving Mick Jagger, are rumored to lead the comedy field, with "Him and Us," which stars Kim Cattrall, also in the mix. Sources said ABC is eyeing "Him and Us" and the untitled Jagger project to run as an hourlong combo given their tonal similarities. "Him and Us" revolves around a veteran rock star and his colorful entourage; the Jagger project features a guest appearance from the Rolling Stones frontman in a show about a group of blue-collar guys in New York who conspire to rob a rock star.

At CBS, "The Class," which also originally was picked up with a series commitment, is said to be joined by on the network's hot comedy list by "Inseparable." Most of CBS' drama projects are believed to be still in play, with two legal dramas -- the James Woods-starring "Shark" and an untitled project from "CSI" maven Carol Mendelsohn -- generating strong buzz, as is a medical drama starring Stanley Tucci.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Posted by Jo at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)

NBC Sketches Out Spot for Sorkin's 'Studio 60'

Show is third Peacock pilot to earn early pick
zap2it.com

LOS ANGELES -- NBC has made an official commitment to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," giving the Aaron Sorkin drama a spot on its fall schedule for 2006-07.

The early pickup isn't too much of a surprise, given its pedigree -- Sorkin and fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme were the driving forces behind "The West Wing" -- and the seven-figure penalty NBC reportedly would have had to pay producer Warner Bros. TV had the pilot not been given a series green light.

"Studio 60," about the backstage politics of a long-running sketch comedy show not unlike "Saturday Night Live," is the third drama pilot NBC has picked up for next season, following "The Black Donnellys" and "Kidnapped." The network will announce its full schedule Monday, May 15 at its upfront presentation to advertisers.

"Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme's work is TV at its best, and 'Studio 60' lives up to that standard," NBC Entertainment boss Kevin Reilly says. "I'm thrilled they are back on NBC for the fall."

The show stars Matthew Perry ("Friends") and "West Wing" alumnus Bradley Whitford as a creative team who return to the show-within-the-show in the wake of a televised meltdown by its producer. Amanda Peet ("Syriana"), D.L. Hughley ("Weekends at the D.L."), Sarah Paulson ("Deadwood"), Timothy Busfield ("The West Wing"), Nathan Corddry ("The Daily Show"), Steven Weber ("Reefer Madness"), Evan Handler ("Sex and the City") and Carlos Jacott ("Kicking and Screaming") round out the cast.

With the three early pickups, the addition of Sunday-night NFL games and a host of renewals of current shows, there's not a lot of room left on NBC's fall schedule. It's likely the network will order a comedy or two to pair with "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office," which would leave room for maybe one or two more drama pilots.

Posted by Jo at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)