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| Written by Aaron Sorkin |
| Directed by Thomas Schlamme |
| Rob Lowe as | Sam (Samuel Norman) Seaborn | Deputy Communications Director |
| Moira Kelly as | Mandy (Madeline) Hampton | Public Relations Consultant |
| Allison Janney as | C.J. (Claudia Jean) Cregg | Press Secretary |
| Richard Schiff as | Toby {Zachary} Ziegler | Communications Director |
| John Spencer as | Leo {Thomas} McGarry | Chief of Staff |
| Bradley Whitford as | Josh (Joshua) Lyman | Deputy Chief of Staff |
| Martin Sheen as | Jed (Josiah) Bartlet | President of the United States |
| Annie Corley as | Mary Marsh | |
| Lisa Edelstein as | Laurie (Brittany Rollins) | Call Girl / Law Student |
| Suzy Nakamura as | Cathy | Assistant to Deputy Communications Director |
| Allison Smith as | Mallory O'Brian | Teacher / Leo McGarry's daughter |
| Marc Grapey as | Billy (Bill Kenworthy) | Wall Street Journal Reporter |
| Janel Moloney as | Donna (Donnatella) Moss | Assistant to Deputy Chief of Staff |
| F. William Parker as | Reverend Al Caldwell | |
| Kathryn Joosten as | Mrs. Landingham | President's Secretary / Delores (first name) |
| NiCole Robinson as | Margaret | Assistant to Chief of Staff |
| Devika Parikh as | Bonnie | Communications' Aide |
| David Sage as | John Van Dyke | |
| Jana Lee Hamblin as | Reporter #1 | Bobbi |
| Mindy Seeger as | Reporter #3 | Chris |
| Ossi Taylor as | College Student #1 | |
| Tressa diFiglia as | College Student #2 | Jennifer |
| Wendell Wright as | Economist #1 | Fred |
| Hamilton Mitchell as | Economist #2 | Luther |
| Molly Schaffer as | Senior Staffer | |
| Melissa Fitzgerald as | White House Staffer | Carol |
| Wendy Blair as | Flight Attendant 2 / Voiceover | |
| Elizabeth Greer as | Flight Attendant 3 | |
| Peter James Smith as | Congressional Liasion 1 | Ed |
| Bill Duffy as | Congressional Liasion 2 | Staffer Larry |
| Marlene Warfield as | Maid | Ruth |
| Dean Biasucci as | Man | |
| Diane Michelle as | Woman's Voice Over | |
| Marcus Boddie as | D.C. Cop | |
| Dafidd McCracken as | USS Officer Mike |
"It wasn't my intention to paint the entire religious right with one brush, ...On the other hand, I admit that there are moments when I take a personal passion of mine and get up on a box and let you all know about it." - Aaron Sorkin
"'Wing' and a Prayer"
By Don Kaplan
July 31, 1999
New York Post
"The West Wing" was supposed to have debuted last fall, says co-exec producer John Wells ("ER"), but the timing was unfortunate and NBC changed its mind. It received the script in January 1998, just as the Monica Lewinsky scandal was exploding.
"There was some justifiable concern over the political climate and whether this show would pass 'the snicker test.' Would anybody be able to take a show about the president and his senior staff seriously, given what was going on with the actual president and his senior staff? NBC asked us to wait."
Ironically, the script for the Warner Bros. show was later "slipped" to then-WB Entertainment boss Garth Ancier, now president of NBC Entertainment. He passed. "It was a very expensive risk; it didn't feel like a WB show." (Duh. The actors were over 16.)
Politically, "The West Wing" will have to mix it up to succeed, Ancier says in an interview.
"I told Aaron if it was going to be a liberal soapbox, he'd have problems. Any kind of soapbox is inappropriate -- though you can't do a White House that's completely moderate -- because it would alieniate roughly half his audience."
...
"When the dust settled from our intitial hiring, I said, 'Gee, we're looking awfully white here,'" Sorkin says. "We didn't want to replace people, so we added more roles. Believe me, we get it. We're in no way resentful of the NAACP tapping us on the shoulder and pointing it out.
"NBC's 'West Wing' runs political gamut, holds the scandal"
By Gail Shister
August 2, 1999
Philadelphia Inquirer
On why he lets a woman use the term "bitch slapping" in the pilot:
"I would never have a man saying it to a woman . . . but in that character, and in that actress, frankly I find it endearing. (laughs) " - Aaron Sorkin
"The brains behind the shows"
By Eric Deggans
August 17, 1999
St. Petersburg Times
Aaron Sorkin, creator of NBC's "The West Wing," which launches Sept. 22, was asked at a press conference earlier this summer about a scene in which one character, on learning that his former girlfriend is dating her new boss, a senator, tells her, "I always thought he was gay."When she denies it, he says, "He always seemed effeminate to me ... I think he's a woman."
Realistic dialogue or homophobia?
Even Sorkin's not sure.
"I apologize if it came off as homophobic," he told TV critics. "I must tell you my wife warned me that it was coming off as homophobic. And nearly every time I don't listen to her, I get in trouble for it," he said.
Nevertheless, he said, "It wasn't intended that way. None of these characters are homophobic."
"The gay joke is becoming a staple of network TV"
By Ellen Gray
September 1, 1999
Philadelphia Daily News
He [Aaron Sorkin] based "The Lambs of God" in "The West Wing" on "The Lambs of Christ," a real-life group Sorkin said does "violent things and they harass people."
"Sheen for president: Just another Clinton?"
By Rob Owen
September 19, 1999
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"You can look at the pilot and think, gee, this is a left-leaning White House or certainly a left-leaning writer who took that kind of roundhouse punch at the religious right, but anybody who might be upset by the politics of the pilot episode, all you need to do is wait a week and you'll likely be standing and cheering. I'm looking forward to being unpredictable on this show." - Aaron Sorkin
"Drama shows politics can succeed on TV"
By Tom Feran
September 22, 1999
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Leo McGarry is on his way to work."Nice morning, Mr. McGarry," says the guard in the lobby.
"We'll take care of that," says Leo, as he passes inside, through a corridor, an office,another office, a corridor, an office, five corridors, an office, a corridor, an office, a corridor, two offices, a corridor and two more offices, before settling behind his desk, 3 minutes and 26 seconds later.
The camera is with him all the way, as he has 12 separate conversations, and 133 people (maybe more - they go so quickly) pass in and out of the picture. That's more extras than populate some series in a whole season.
"White House is setting for highly touted NBC drama"
By Jonathan Storm
September 22, 1999
Philadelphia Inquirer
"Having to (give tours) on a regular basis, and frankly not knowing if that room was named after Teddy Roosevelt or Franklin Roosevelt I mean, I'm pathetic, I haven't gotten caught yet, but I've made up a few things." - Joe Lockhart [former press secretary for President Clinton]
"NBC's White House drama `The West Wing' is generating buzz in Washington"
By Naftali Bendavid
September 28, 1999
Chicago Tribune
"After they put the pilot together, they realized that people might catch on that I'd be there only once a month. So they talked to me about a longer commitment." - Martin SheenHis three-year contract takes President Bartlett through re-election. "Maybe we'll go four more, who knows?" he said.
"For a pacifist, Martin Sheen plays a pretty good president"
By John Kiesewetter
October 17, 1999
Cincinnati Enquirer
In order to get this kind of talent against that kind of backdrop, you need a pretty terrific script -- of the pilot, Lowe says, " It was as good as any movie I've ever read, and certainly better than any TV show I've ever read."Sheen adds, "I read it and say [to Sorkin], ' I'm not nuts about doing a TV series. I've never done one. But I will do this has long as you write every script that I'm involved in.'". Sheen was only supposed to appear in one out of every four episodes until all involved realized, as Sheen puts it, that "one of the rings in this three-ring circus was not be used enough."
"Wing Commanders"
By David Kronke
November 20, 1999
TV Guide (Canadian edition)
While making the pilot for NBC's "The West Wing," Lisa Edelstein practically had to pinch herself to believe she was doing a morning-after bedroom scene with the object of a long-ago crush -- Rob Lowe."I said to him, 'If I could just go back and tell my 16-year-old self that I'd be nonchalantly lying in bed with you, I think I would have died on the spot,'" [Lisa] Edelstein says with a laugh.
"A Capitol Hill liaison"
By Virginia Rohan
December 15, 1999
Bergen Record
"By the end of the first day of filming, as I saw Martin's work and heard him say the words, I knew I had to keep him," - Aaron Sorkin
""ER," "West Wing" rush to replace departing cast"
By Elaine Liner
January 18, 2000
Corpus Christi Caller Times
It was not a universally endorsed decision [to cast Martin Sheen]. Sorkin's co-executive producer, John Wells, afraid that Sheen would inject his own radical left-wing politics into the role, told Sorkin, "Oh boy, this is a mistake."Nevertheless, Wells says he has been pleasantly surprised at how responsible Sheen has been when it comes to the series. "Martin is really great. He calls us and tells us he's going to be arrested [at a protest] over the weekend but not to worry about it. He's arranged for someone to make his bail and he'll be back on the set on Monday morning."
"Sheen at home in West Wing"
By Tom Jicha
January 19, 2000
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"Originally, I wasn't going to have the character of the president in the show at all, ... I really wanted the show to be about the senior staffers, and had the fear that the character of the president would necessarily skew the show in a different direction. And I very much wanted to write ensemble drama."... As Sorkin originally envisioned the show, the staff would work in the shadow of the president, but he would never be seen on camera except for the occasional glimpse.
"I then felt like that would quickly get hokey," Sorkin said. "That we will constantly be just missing the president. As he walks around the corner, we'll see the back of his head. He'd be like the next-door neighbor on 'Home Improvement,' somehow, and that was going to be silly."
So he decided to make the character of President Josiah Bartlett an infrequent visitor to the show, and Sheen was contacted about playing the part -- and signed to appear in just four episodes.
"When we had originally spoken about it, we would see the president every few episodes, and that was going to take care of my hokey problem," Sorkin said.
The pilot was an indication of how Plan B might have gone. After spending most of the episode with the staff, the president appeared only in the final few minutes of the program. But Plan B quickly gave way to Plan C.
"We all had such a good time making the pilot that we decided to become more steady," Sorkin said.
And it was soon after shooting on the pilot began that Sorkin and his fellow executive producer, John Wells, decided to make the change. Very soon.
"When we saw Mr. Sheen's dailies," Wells said. "At the end of the first day, we all sort of looked at each other and said, 'Oh, boy, this is a thing.'
"What can happen is you put an actor into a show in a guest part or a part that you only expect to see occasionally, and you look at the dailies and realize that that's someone you want to see all the time -- that you want to write for. And we went back and said,'We had a great time. Did you?' "
"And so I agreed to join the cast," Sheen said.
"What would 'West Wing' be without a chief executive?"
By Scott D. Pierce
April 12, 2000
Desert News
Martin Sheen got the hang of being president pretty quick.A year ago, he was shooting the final scene for the pilot episode of "The West Wing," NBC's White House drama in which he stars as President Josiah Bartlet. The president is in the Oval Office on a grueling day that seems to be nearing its end. But then he calls out to his always-within-earshot secretary, "Mrs. Landingham! What's next?"
"The first take I said it with a kind of dread," Sheen recalls. "Like, `Omigod, I can't imagine what's going to fall out of her face now."'
Aaron Sorkin, who created the series and wrote the script, dashed up to Sheen.
"He said, `No, no, no! Bartlet LOVES being president! He LOVES the pain! He hates to go to bed, he can't wait to get up in the morning! You've got to ENJOY every part of this job!'
"And I thought, `Omigod, yes!' And that was it. That was when I found it."
"Hail to the Chief of The West Wing"
By Frazier Moore
May 8, 2000
Associated Press
[Thomas] Schlamme says when they screened it for test audiences, the approval scores "went through the roof" the instant Sheen appeared. Once the producers realized that not every scene with the president in it had to revolve only around the president, "it made sense to put Martin in the show as often as possible."
"Mr. Sheen Goes to Washington"
By Matt Zoller Seitz
May 14, 2000
Newark Star-Ledger
"In the season premiere I saw a little bit of myself in the absolute look of disdain on C.J.'s face when a dumb question was asked. Maybe you can't learn that; you have to have it naturally. That was a pretty good dirty look. I liked it." - Joe Lockhart [former press secretary for President Clinton]
"SHOPTALK: To Tell the Truth"
By Alexandra Starr
October 22, 2000
New York Times Magazine
For the pilot there was a 4 1/2-minute opening sequence that went into another 3 1/2-minute orchestral sequence. The first time I looked at it my jaw dropped. I went: "How are we going to do this?" Because in television you would never be able to get a budget for that size of orchestra. They said to me: "Why can't we do it?" "Because it cost too much money." And they said:" How do we go about doing it?"[Executive producer] John Wells asked in one meeting: "Why don't we get the Musicians Union to make a deal with us?" I started a conversation through orchestrators and union people I knew, because you couldn't do it directly. All of a sudden I realized that everybody was going "OK, let's see if we can." We actually pulled that off. That's how we managed to do the pilot. The Union made a special low-budget agreement with "West Wing" for the pilot and the first year on a trial basis. Which they have now ratified for all of television. It allowed us to go in four or five times [a season] with a big orchestra and score the show.
...
We actually scored the pilot, which was re-cut. The original pilot that we sold to the network was a hybrid of some big orchestral temp music and a score I did. Once it got picked up, we went back in and scored the show.
By the time it actually went on the air, the first couple of episodes had an electronic version of the theme, not the orchestra. It was the same arrangement, because by that time it had been orchestrated but 'the theme wasn't finished by the first scoring session. We actually recorded the main title theme during the second orchestral session, for Episode #3, I believe. But we dropped it back into the early episodes so that if you see it now, it has the new orchestral theme. - W.G. Snuffy Walden
"Interview with W.G. Snuffy Walden"
By Mel Lambert
December 2000
INSIGHTS
"The show was originally based on the relationship between Sam and Josh, ... But we kept finding other interesting characters, and by the time the pilot was written, it was pretty much the way you see it now." - John Wells
"Corridors of Power"
By Andrew Ryan
December 16, 2000
The Globe and Mail
"I didn't know Janel at all," Whitford said. "And we shot one take of this thing and I went back to (creator/writer/executive producer) Aaron (Sorkin) and I said, 'I love her!' I just thought she was funny without knowing she's funny."Sometimes she knows," he said as Moloney gave him a look.
And Moloney said that she, too, knew there was something there from the start - despite the fact that something has never really been expressed by either character in any episode.
"When I got the script, I felt like there was a special relationship," Moloney said. "I didn't really know what it was going to be. In the pilot, I think I had maybe two small scenes, and I had a very strong feeling that there was something to be said about them, this relationship."
"TV relationship takes 'Wing'"
By Scott D. Pierce
December 20, 2000
Desert News
Allison Janney said in an interview that you don't get to ad-lib--that Aaron Sorkin's words are like a musical composition, and he wants it played a specific way. Does this limit you? Or do you see the method behind the madness, so to speak?Absolutely. Now I see the method to the madness. During the pilot, we got into arguments about being such a stickler for every syllable. Ad-libbing has been important to my work, and most writers appreciate my input. When I did "The Practice", David E. Kelley was the same way. Aaron Sorkin was a playwright, so he really understands the importance of the script. It's timed, like Alison said, like a musical composition. So for what I want to say with his words, I work within that. The limitations can often be more freeing than the freedom itself. - Richard Schiff
NBCi Online Chat
January 18, 2001
"But very early on, Aaron saw something in the chemistry between Brad and me," says [Janel] Moloney, referring to "West Wing" creator-writer Aaron Sorkin. "In the pilot, there's a scene Aaron wrote one morning and passed on to us to shoot the same day."The scene begins as Donna barges into Josh's office.
"I say, 'Put this shirt on.' And he says, `No.' And I say, 'Josh, you've been wearing the same clothes for 31 hours. Put it on.' And he won't. And then I say, 'All the girls think you look really hot in this shirt.' He puts it on.
"I really think that scene sparked something."
"Cupid Has 'West Wing' Pair in Limbo"
By Frazier Moore
February 12, 2001
Associated Press
"We hear in the pilot episode, that he doesn't like abortion and that he goes around the country encouraging young women not to have them, but that he absolutely does not believe that is something that the state can legislate." - Aaron Sorkin
"A true believer in 'The West Wing'"
By Nancy Haught - Religion News Service
March 31, 2001
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Schlamme recalled negotiating with Sorkin over the pilot episode. The writer wanted to end it with the door closing on the Oval Office as staff members walked out; the director wanted to focus on the president left alone in the office, a shot proclaiming "this is the arena we're going to be playing in from now on," [Thomas] Schlamme said. "That is the biggest push and tug, how far visually can we go where Aaron feels it doesn't get in the way of what he's writing," [Thomas] Schlamme said. "My reason isn't 'Isn't that a cool shot?' It's that I think we can tell the story even better this way."
"West Wing director part of new wave of TV makers"
By Lynn Elber
May 19, 2001
Entertainment Today
"The role of C.J. in the pilot wasn't huge. We knew it was going to be -- she was the press secretary, one of the regulars. But after the third or fifth episode, everybody started saying the same thing at our meetings: 'Allison is just going to be a break-out, huge part of this show.'" - Aaron Sorkin
"'West Wing' spokeswoman can talk the talk"
By John Kiesewetter
October 10, 2001
Cincinnati Enquirer
"Aaron told me over lunch about his project, which was sort of an offspring of his successful film The American President," Wells said. "I loved the idea of a political drama set in the White House, so we prepared our pitch."NBC initially was cold to the idea because past series dealing in politics had failed miserably. But we were relentless. We finally got the go-ahead in the spring of 1999."
Wells compares The West Wing to a passionate lover: "terrific and complicated."
"We have a lot of talented actors to integrate logically into the plots. It's important to be timely and yet not directly mimic what we read in the papers about the White House," he says.
"And day-to-day production is difficult because we must create the White House without filming there."
"Drama King"
By Dusty Saunders
October 13, 2001
Rocky Mountain News
And a rediscovery, of sorts: Rob Lowe. "His agent wanted him to come and audition. I don't think all of us were on the same page when we were working on that role. We finally agreed, 'Let's give it a shot.' His was one of the most amazing readings I've ever been witness to," Scott explained. "In my mind, there was nobody else who was right for it. He had 'it.' There was no comparison."
"Casting Qs with Kevin Scott"
By Bonnie Gillespie
Date Unknown
Casting Qs
The pilot episode was originally supposed to end with Sheen's President Bartlet giving a pep talk to his staff in the White House mural room, followed by a hard cut to black. Schlamme suggested to Sorkin that they take the opportunity to bring the audience into the Oval Office for the final scene, which might end with a crane shot of Bartlet's desk and the presidential seal on the rug."Aaron said, 'I don't know if we need that crane shot, do we?'" Schlamme recalls. "I said, 'I think it will convey a sense of where we're going in future episodes, the idea that here's this guy in this famous room asking what's next?, and you see the seal on the floor. It's a very powerful image.'"
Sorkin acquiesced to Schlamme, and the more elaborate final scene worked beautifully.
"'Wing' man: Producer-director helps shape a hit"
By Alan Sepinwall
March 3, 2002
Newark Star-Ledger
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