"POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC"

Descriptions

From TVGuide.com:

Bartlet (Martin Sheen) chooses a young Naval officer (Reuben Santiago-Hudson) as his personal physician; Cregg tries to get a point across to the Vice President (Tim Matheson); after informing his colleagues about his liaison with a call girl, Seaborn (Rob Lowe) returns to the place where they met.

From NBC:

Despite warnings from fellow office workers, infatuated White House staffer Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) presses his luck when he continues to publicly pursue a high-priced call girl (Lisa Edelstein) with whom he shared a night of passion. Press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) tries to defuse a potentially nasty public clash between the President (Martin Sheen) and his willful Vice President (Tim Matheson) concerning the Veep's quotes about a bill favored by the chief executive. Exasperated political consultant Mandy Hampton (Moira Kelly) drowns her troubles when her only client, Senator Lloyd Russell (John Bedford Lloyd) ignores her advice and agrees to bottle up a key bill in committee that could have been costly for the President if put to a vote. The President forges a kinship with a young African-American Navy captain, Morris Tolliver (Reuben Santiago-Hudson) who's substituting for his regular White House physician - so much, in fact, that he asks him to assume the position on a full-time basis.

Credits

Information Links

• Ryder Cup
• Regis and Kathie Lee and Cheerios
• USA Today
• Chris Matthews
• "Central Indiana State" vs. Notre Dame
• G-8
• Whiffenpoof Dinners
• Joint Chiefs
• The Pope
• New Hampshire National Guard
• Secret Service
• Yeshiva University vs. Dallas Cowboys
• Rocky Mountain College or Purdue
• United Nations
• The Wall Street Journal
• DNC
• "University of Nebraska"
• Nobel Laureate in Economics
• Attorney General
• Constitution

Media Quotes

"As a writer, I don't like to answer questions until the very moment that I have to. In the second episode, we find out our president was a three-term congressman, two-term governor and Nobel laureate. ... That's not something I jot down on a legal pad. It comes up naturally as you explore the episodes." - Aaron Sorkin

"The brains behind the shows"
By Eric Deggans
August 17, 1999
St. Petersburg Times

Day 1 Tuesday, July 27, [1999] 8:30 A.M.

Deep inside the West Wing of the White House, in communications director Toby Ziegler's office, Ziegler's deputy, Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), is nervously telling him about (what else?) a sex scandal. But this one doesn't involve the president - it involves the deputy himself. "About a week ago," Seaborn confesses, "I accidentally slept with a prostitute." Ziegler (Richard Schiff) is unamused. "What did you do, trip?" he asks, demanding to know who else is aware of the indiscretion, which could have consequences extending far beyond the labyrinthine White House corridors. "Cut!" yells director Thomas Schlamme, ending the first scene on the first day of shooting ...

Stepping from behind the monitor on which he has been watching the action, Schlamme walks onto the set to show Lowe how he wants the actor to pick up the cover of a glass jelly-bean dish on Ziegler's desk. "Reach for it like this," the director says, demonstrating the motion, then inadvertently slamming the glass top back down so hard that it shatters. "See? Acting isn't so easy," quips Lowe, as crew members freeze, unsure how Schlamme will react. ... "Top department?" he calls out, laughing, to the relief of the crew.

...

NBC is worried about the leftish leanings of the pilot, in which the president dramatically berates members of the religious right. Thus, during these all-important first hours of shooting, the notoriously hands-on Sorkin is absent from the set - he's being grilled on these issues by network executives.

...

Although Sorkin is at NBC headquarters, he is present here in spirit - in the form of a three-man mariachi band he hired to serenade the cast outside the sound stage upon their 2 p.m. return from lunch. "Did Aaron do this?" asks Bradley Whitford (deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman) before grabbing Allison Janney (press secretary C.J. Cregg) for a dance in the street. Says Janney, "I'd do anything for Aaron."

...

At 3:30 p.m., when he [Aaron Sorkin] steps onto the set for the first time, he finds Schlamme busy explaining to Lowe, Janney, Whitford, Schiff, and John Spencer (Leo McGarry, chief of staff) the movement he wants to see in a scene that takes place inside the chief of staff's office. Sorkin watches them work for a minute before blurting, "I've rewritten this. You should get the pages in about an hour. It doesn't change that much, but some of the lines are different." Cast members exchange furtive glances at Sorkin...

Four hours later, Lowe, Janney, Whitford, Spencer, and Schiff are still inside the chief of staff's office as Schlamme seeks the perfect take. As it nears 8 p.m., patience is wearing thin. "Is it too late for me to get back into features?" asks Lowe, ... "This is breaking my balls."

Sensing the tension, Schlamme jokes, "That's right. I want an uncomfortable, mean f---ing set." "Then why don't you get James Cameron to direct?" says his director of photography. Finally, at 8:30 p.m., Schlamme gets what he needs. "And cut!" he says. "That's a wrap. See you all tomorrow."

Day 2 Wednesday, July 28, [1999] 9 A.M.
Because AFTRA, the TV-actors' union, requires a 12-hour break between shooting days, things start slightly later today back in the chief of staff's office, where Schlamme is shooting what is known as "coverage."

Day 3 Thursday, July 29, 9 A.M.
Shooting resumes on Sound Stage 19, with a scene that takes place in the deputy chief of staff's office. In the scene, Seaborn tells Lyman that he wants to phone the prostitute again because, "She's not what you think."Despite his cram session yesterday, Lowe is fumbling his lines and becoming increasingly frustrated. "F--- me!" he yells, after blowing a line for the second time in a row. This throws the rhythm off for Whitford, who begins missing his lines.
Finally, at 3 p.m., after nearly 20 takes, Schlamme gets what he needs, and the cast and crew break for lunch.

At 4:30 p.m., back inside Sound Stage 19, Schlamme resumes shooting the scene involving Lowe and Whitford's discussion about the prostitute. The scene is so familiar by now that even crew members are mouthing the words.

"Politically Correct"
By Julian Rubinstein
October 1999
US Magazine

Aeden Babish, an assistant writer for the series, claims that Yeshiva University was selected randomly for the text, and that this "does not necessarily express negative sentiments toward your University...but let's face it you're not exactly known for your sports program."

"Yeshiva University Goes Prime Time"
By Commentator Staff
November 1, 1999
Yeshiva University Commentator

"I was supposed to recur, but after Moira got the job at the White House, I somehow disappeared. I'm lost in the halls of the West Wing somewhere." - Merrin Dungey

"Dungey Jumping"
By Bruce Fretts
November 16, 2001
Entertainment Weekly

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