''The West Wing'' is an American
serial political drama
A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events.
Dramatists who have written political dramas i ...
television series created by
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime ...
that was originally broadcast on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the
West Wing
The West Wing of the White House houses the offices of the president of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and the Roosevelt Room.
The West Wing's four floors contain offices for ...
of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, where the
Oval Office
The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C.
The oval-shaped roo ...
and offices of presidential senior personnel are located, during the fictitious
Democratic administration of President
Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character from the American television serial drama ''The West Wing'' created by Aaron Sorkin and portrayed by actor Martin Sheen. The role earned Sheen a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Televi ...
.
''The West Wing'' was produced by
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...
and featured an
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast t ...
, including
Martin Sheen
Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
,
John Spencer,
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. In a career spanning three decades, she is known for her performances across multiple genres of screen and stage. Janney has received various accolades, including an Academ ...
,
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
,
Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...
,
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...
,
Janel Moloney
Janel Moloney is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Donna Moss on the television series ''The West Wing'', a role for which she received nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series ...
,
Dulé Hill
Karim Dulé Hill (; born May 3, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series ''The West Wing'', for whi ...
, and
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series '' The West Wing'' ...
. For the first four seasons, there were three executive producers: Sorkin (lead writer of the first four seasons),
Thomas Schlamme
Thomas David Schlamme (; born ) is an American television director, known particularly for his collaborations with Aaron Sorkin. He is known for his work as executive producer on ''The West Wing'' and ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,'' as well as ...
(primary director), and
John Wells. After Sorkin left the series, Wells assumed the role of head writer, with later executive producers being directors
Alex Graves
Alexander John Graves (born July 23, 1965) is an American film director, television director, television producer and screenwriter.
Early life
Alex Graves was born in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, William Graves, was a reporter for ''Th ...
and
Christopher Misiano
Christopher Misiano is an American television director and producer. He is best known for his work on '' ER'', '' The West Wing'', and '' Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip''. In 2017, he sold his historic home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, for US$4. ...
(seasons 6–7), and writers
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.
H ...
and
Peter Noah (season 7).
''The West Wing'' has been ranked among the best television shows of all time in publications such as ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'', ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corporat ...
'', ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'', ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', and the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...
''. The
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers Gu ...
ranked it no. 10 in its "101 Best-Written TV Series" list. It has received praise from critics,
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
professors, and former White House staffers and has been the subject of critical analysis. ''The West Wing'' received a
multitude of accolades, including two
Peabody Awards
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
, three
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
s, and 26
Primetime Emmy Awards
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
, including the award for
Outstanding Drama Series, which it won four consecutive times from 2000 to 2003. The show's ratings waned in later years following the departure of series creator Sorkin after the fourth season (Sorkin wrote or co-wrote 85 of the first 88 episodes), yet it remained popular among high-income viewers, a key demographic for the show and its advertisers, with around 16 million viewers.
A stage version of the season three episode "
Hartsfield's Landing", "
A ''West Wing'' Special to Benefit When We All Vote", premiered on
HBO Max
HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...
in October 2020, featuring the entire surviving original main cast along with key recurring cast in their original roles.
Cast and characters
''The West Wing'' employed a broad
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast t ...
to portray the many positions involved in the daily work of the Executive Branch of the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...
. The president, the
first lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...
, and the president's senior staff and advisers form the core cast. Numerous
secondary characters, appearing intermittently, complement storylines that generally revolve around this core group.
Main characters
*
Josiah "Jed" Bartlet (
Martin Sheen
Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
) is the
president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...
. An economist by training, he is a former congressman and governor from New Hampshire who unexpectedly won the Democratic Party nomination. He suffers from
multiple sclerosis
Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This ...
, a fact he initially hides from the electorate. Sheen described him as a conglomeration of
John F. Kennedy,
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
, and
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
. He is succeeded by Matt Santos. (regular: seasons 1–7).
*
Leo McGarry
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by American actor John Spencer on the television serial drama ''The West Wing''. This role earned Spencer the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2002. ...
(
John Spencer) is Bartlet's close personal friend and
chief of staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
. Following a heart attack, he becomes
counselor to the president
Counselor or counsellor may refer to:
A professional In diplomacy and government
* Counsellor of State, senior member of the British royal family to whom the Monarch can delegate some functions in case of unavailability
* Counselor (dip ...
, and later the Democratic candidate for vice president. He dies before assuming office (regular: seasons 1–7).
*
Josh Lyman
Joshua Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama series ''The West Wing''. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For most of the ser ...
(
Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...
) is the
deputy chief of staff to Leo McGarry. Josh later leaves the White House to become the "Santos for President" campaign manager. When Santos is elected, Josh becomes White House chief of staff (regular: seasons 1–7).
*
Toby Ziegler
Tobias "Toby" Zachary Ziegler is a fictional character in the television serial drama ''The West Wing'', played by Richard Schiff. The role of Toby Ziegler earned actor Richard Schiff the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor i ...
(
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...
) is the
communications director
Director of communications is a position in both the private and public sectors. A director of communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Directors of communications supervis ...
who wrote many of Bartlet's speeches, including both inaugural addresses and many State of the Union addresses. He is fired from the Bartlet
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
during a leak investigation, though he is pardoned for his crimes at series' end. He has twin children with his ex-wife who is a congresswoman from Maryland (regular: seasons 1–7).
*
Sam Seaborn
Samuel Norman Seaborn is a fictional character played by Rob Lowe on the television serial drama ''The West Wing''. From the beginning of the series in 1999 until the middle of the fourth season in 2003, he is deputy White House Communications Di ...
(
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
) is the
deputy communications director to Toby Ziegler. In his time at the White House, Sam is responsible for writing many of Bartlet's speeches. He departs the White House following the re-election of President Bartlet to run for Congress. He is recruited to become Santos's deputy chief of staff at the series end (regular: seasons 1–4, guest star: season 7).
*
C.J. Cregg
Claudia Jean Cregg is a fictional character played by Allison Janney on the American television drama ''The West Wing''. From the beginning of the series in 1999 until the sixth season in 2004, she was the White House Press Secretary in the ad ...
(
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. In a career spanning three decades, she is known for her performances across multiple genres of screen and stage. Janney has received various accolades, including an Academ ...
) is the
press secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage.
Dut ...
. She succeeds Leo McGarry as chief of staff and departs the White House at the end of the Bartlet administration. Post-series, she marries Danny Concannon and has a child (regular: seasons 1–7).
*
Charlie Young
Charles Young is a fictional character played by Dulé Hill on the television serial drama ''The West Wing''. For the majority of the series, he is the Personal Aide to President Josiah Bartlet.
Creation and development
The character of Cha ...
(
Dulé Hill
Karim Dulé Hill (; born May 3, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series ''The West Wing'', for whi ...
) is originally the
personal aide to the president and later a deputy special assistant to the chief of staff. He was in a relationship with Zoey Bartlet. At the series end he begins to study law at
Georgetown (regular: seasons 1–7).
*
Donna Moss
Donnatella Moss is a fictional character played by Janel Moloney on the television serial drama ''The West Wing.'' During most of the series, Donna works for White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman as a senior assistant (or, as she jokingly c ...
(
Janel Moloney
Janel Moloney is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Donna Moss on the television series ''The West Wing'', a role for which she received nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series ...
) is the senior assistant to Josh Lyman. She later departs to be a spokesperson for the Russell campaign and then the Santos campaign. Upon Santos's election, she becomes
chief of staff to the first lady (recurring: season 1; regular: seasons 2–7).
*
Abbey Bartlet (
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series '' The West Wing'' ...
) is the
first lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...
, Jed's wife, and a physician. (recurring: seasons 1–2, regular: seasons 3–7).
*
Mandy Hampton
Madeline "Mandy" Hampton is a fictional character from the American serial drama '' The West Wing'', portrayed by Moira Kelly. She was the White House media director during the first season of the show, and the former girlfriend of Deputy Whit ...
(
Moira Kelly
Moira Kelly (born on March 6, 1968 in Queens, New York) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Kate Moseley in the 1992 film ''The Cutting Edge'' as well as single mother Karen Roe on the teen drama '' One Tree Hill''. She is also k ...
) is Josh Lyman's ex-girlfriend and a media consultant contracted by the Bartlet administration. She departs without explanation following the first season (regular: season 1).
* Will Bailey (
Joshua Malina
Joshua Charles Malina (born January 17, 1966) is an American film and stage actor known for playing Will Bailey on the NBC drama ''The West Wing'', Jeremy Goodwin on '' Sports Night'', US Attorney General David Rosen on ''Scandal'', and Caltech P ...
) is initially hired as a speechwriter and moves into the role of deputy communications director. He later becomes
chief of staff to the vice president
The chief of staff to the vice president of the United States is the chief of staff position within the Office of the Vice President, part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The chief of staff has been responsible for ...
, Russell's campaign manager, and communications director. After the series end he becomes a congressman for Oregon (regular: seasons 4–7).
* Kate Harper (
Mary McCormack
Mary Catherine McCormack (born February 8, 1969) is an American actress. She has had leading roles as Justine Appleton in the series '' Murder One'' (1995–97), as Deputy National Security Adviser Kate Harper in ''The West Wing'' (2004–06), a ...
) is the
Deputy National Security Advisor
The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor.
Among other res ...
. Before the West Wing she was in the Navy, and CIA. (recurring: season 5; regular: seasons 6–7).
*
Matt Santos
Matthew Vincente Santos is a fictional character on the American television show ''The West Wing'', played by Jimmy Smits. Santos' initial appearance in the series was as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Texas's 18th congressional dist ...
(
Jimmy Smits) is a congressman from Texas who is convinced by Josh Lyman to run for president. He eventually wins the nomination and later the election. (regular: seasons 6–7).
*
Arnold Vinick (
Alan Alda
Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...
) is a senator from California who becomes the Republican nominee for president. After his loss in the general election, he is appointed
Secretary of State by President-elect Santos (regular: seasons 6–7).
* Annabeth Schott (
) is deputy press secretary and later works on the Santos campaign. At the series end, she is appointed press secretary to the incoming first lady (recurring: season 6; regular: season 7).
Background
Each of the principal actors made approximately $75,000 per episode, with the established Sheen receiving a confirmed salary of $300,000.
Rob Lowe left the series in the fourth season reportedly due to not getting a salary increase. Disparities in cast salaries led to very public contract disputes, particularly by Janney, Schiff, Spencer, and Whitford. During contract negotiations in 2001, the four were threatened with
breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...
suits by
Warner Bros. However, by banding together, they were able to persuade the studio to more than double their salaries.
Two years later, the four again demanded a doubling of their salaries, a few months after Warner Bros had signed new licensing deals with NBC and
Bravo.
John Spencer died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
on December 16, 2005, about a year after his character experienced a nearly fatal heart attack on the show. Martin Sheen gave a brief memorial message before "
Running Mates
A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a pre ...
", the first new episode that aired after Spencer's death. The loss of Spencer's character was addressed beginning with the episode "
Election Day
Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...
", which aired on April 2, 2006.
In an interview on the first season DVD, Bradley Whitford said that he was originally cast as Sam, even though Aaron Sorkin had created the Josh character specifically for him. In the same interview, Janel Moloney stated she had originally auditioned for the role of C.J. and that Donna, the role for which she was eventually cast, was not meant to be a recurring character. Other actors were seriously considered for other roles, including
Alan Alda
Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...
and
Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive ...
for the President,
Judd Hirsch for Leo,
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. From 1976 until 1984, he appeared in the Canadian television sketch comedy series '' SCTV''. He has also appeared in the '' American Pie'' series of films and the Canadian ...
for Toby, and
CCH Pounder
Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder (born December 25, 1952) is a Guyanese-American actress. She has received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her roles in ''The X-Files'', '' ER'', '' The Shield'', and ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agenc ...
for C.J.
Crew
The series was created by
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime ...
, who served as executive producer for the pilot episode alongside director
Thomas Schlamme
Thomas David Schlamme (; born ) is an American television director, known particularly for his collaborations with Aaron Sorkin. He is known for his work as executive producer on ''The West Wing'' and ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,'' as well as ...
and
John Wells. Kristin Harms and Llewellyn Wells were producers for the pilot. Michael Hissrich acted as a co-producer.
The first season proper saw the return of all of the pilot production team along with the addition of Ron Osborn and Jeff Reno as consulting producers and
Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland is an American television writer, playwright, and monologist, best known for writing on the HBO original series '' Six Feet Under'' and NBC's ''The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama televis ...
as a second co-producer with Robert W. Glass as an associate producer. Glass left the production team after only five episodes. Julie Herlocker joined as Associate Producer beginning with episode six. Osborn and Reno departed after nine episodes.
Paul Redford
Paul Redford is an American television writer and producer. Redford's family, originally Canadian, moved to Mission Hills, Kansas in the early 1970s. Paul graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 1976, and in 1980 from Harvard University ...
served as a
story editor
Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called "supervising producer". In live action television, a story editor is a member of the screenwriting staff who edits scripts, pitches stories, and report ...
throughout the first season.
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.
H ...
worked as executive story editor for the second half of the season.
With the second season,
Kevin Falls
Kevin Falls is an American television writer and producer. He was the creator and showrunner of the NBC television drama ''Journeyman''. He worked as a consulting producer and writer on ''Shark''. He served as an executive producer for the short li ...
became a co-executive producer. Cleveland left the production team and Redford and O'Donnell were promoted to co-producer.
Peter Parnell
Peter Parnell (; born 1953) is an American Broadway and Off-Broadway playwright, television writer, and children's book author. Parnell is also Vice-President of the Dramatists Guild of America, the professional association of playwrights, compo ...
and
Patrick Caddell
Patrick Hayward Caddell (May 19, 1950 – February 16, 2019) was an American public opinion pollster and a political film consultant who served in the Carter administration. He worked for Democratic presidential candidates George McGovern ...
became co-producers and Julie Herlocker and Mindy Kanaskie became associate producers. O'Donnell was promoted again to producer five episodes into the season and Hissrich joined him twelve episodes into the season.
The third season saw the departure of Parnell, Caddell, and Herlocker and the temporary absence of O'Donnell. Director
Christopher Misiano
Christopher Misiano is an American television director and producer. He is best known for his work on '' ER'', '' The West Wing'', and '' Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip''. In 2017, he sold his historic home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, for US$4. ...
became a supervising producer, Patrick Ward joined the series as an associate producer, and
Eli Attie
Eli Attie is an Emmy-winning writer, producer, and former White House staff member. He served as Vice President Al Gore's chief White House and campaign speechwriter through Gore's concession of the 2000 presidential election, which Attie and Gor ...
joined the writing staff as a staff writer. Redford was promoted to producer. With the thirteenth episode of the third season director
Alex Graves
Alexander John Graves (born July 23, 1965) is an American film director, television director, television producer and screenwriter.
Early life
Alex Graves was born in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, William Graves, was a reporter for ''Th ...
became an additional supervising producer and Attie became a story editor.
The fourth season marked the temporary departure of Hissrich. Misiano and Graves became co-executive producers alongside Falls. Attie was promoted to executive story editor and
Debora Cahn
Debora Cahn is an American writer and producer of television and film. She was a writer and executive producer on the Showtime series ''Homeland'' for its final two seasons ''(''2018–2020). She was also a writer and consulting producer on FX's ...
became a staff writer. The fourteenth episode of the season saw Redford promoted to supervising producer and Kanaskie, Ward and Attie promoted to co-producers.
The fifth season saw the departure of both Sorkin and Schlamme as executive producers. Schlamme remained attached to the series as an executive consultant. John Wells remained the sole executive producer and showrunner. Co-executive producer Kevin Falls also left the show. O'Donnell rejoined the production team as a consulting producer. Wells also added
Carol Flint
Carol Flint is an American television producer and writer best known for her work on '' ER'' and ''The West Wing''. She studied at New College of Florida.
Career
Keshia Denise Campbell'Jackson, PhD also known as Carol Flint started her writing ca ...
,
Alexa Junge
Alexa Junge is an American television writer, producer and screenwriter. Her work on ''Friends'', from 1994 to 1999, earned her nominations for three Emmy Awards.
Personal life
Junge grew up in Los Angeles and attended Barnard College, where she ...
,
Peter Noah, and
John Sacret Young
John Sacret Young (May 24, 1946 – June 3, 2021) was an American author, producer, director, and screenwriter primarily in television, perhaps best known for his work on the show ''China Beach''. Young was nominated for seven Emmys and seven Wr ...
as consulting producers. Andrew Stearn came aboard as a producer and Attie was promoted to producer. Cahn became story editor and Josh Singer replaced her as staff writer. With the tenth episode Flint, Junge, Noah and Sacret Young became supervising producers.
With the sixth season Misiano and Graves were promoted to executive producers. Redford and Junge left the production team and Dylan K. Massin became a co-producer. Cahn was promoted to executive story editor and Singer replaced her as story editor.
Lauren Schmidt filled the staff writer role. The fourth episode saw the departure of original crew member Llewellyn Wells. Debora Cahn was promoted to co-producer with the fourteenth episode.
The seventh season saw Noah and O'Donnell promoted again, this time becoming additional executive producers. Attie became a supervising producer. Hissrich returned to his role as producer for the final season.
Episodes
In ''The West Wing'', as in many serial dramas, multiple
story arc
A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vid ...
s span several episodes and entire seasons. In addition to these long-running narratives, each episode contains smaller storylines that usually begin and end within a single episode.
Most episodes follow President Bartlet and his staff through particular legislative or political issues. Plots can range from behind-closed-doors negotiating with Congress to personal problems like post-traumatic stress disorder, from which Josh suffers during the second season. The typical episode loosely follows the President and his staff through their day, generally following several plots connected by some idea or theme. A large, fully connected set of the White House allowed the producers to create shots with very few cuts and long, continuous
master shots of staff members conversing as they walk through the hallways. These "
walk and talk
Walk and talk is a storytelling technique used in filmmaking and television production in which a number of characters have a conversation while walking somewhere. Walk and talk often involves a walking character who is then joined by another char ...
s" became a trademark of the show. The final two seasons presented a narrative change, with the focus of the show divided between plots in the West Wing with President Bartlet and his remaining senior staffers and plots revolving around the rest of the main cast on the campaign trail for the
2006 election.
* In the first season, the Bartlet administration is in its second year and is still having trouble settling in and making progress on legislative issues.
* The second season covers the aftermath of a shooting at
Rosslyn, the 2000 midterm elections and dealings with a new Congress, and sees scandal when the White House is rocked by allegations of criminal conduct and the President must decide whether he will run for a second term.
* The third and fourth seasons take an in-depth look at the campaign trail and the specter of both foreign and domestic terrorism.
* In the fifth season, the President begins to encounter more issues on the foreign front, while at home he faces off with the newly elected
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hunger ...
, battles controversy over Supreme Court appointments and oversees a daring plan to save Social Security.
* The sixth season chronicles the quest to replace President Bartlet in the next election, following the primary campaigns of several candidates from both parties, while the President himself attempts to build his legacy, but finds his ability to govern compromised by his illness.
* In the seventh season, the President must face a leak of confidential information about a secret
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
program from inside the White House, while the Democratic and Republican candidates battle to succeed him in the general election.
Development
The series developed following the success of the 1995 theatrical film ''
The American President
''The American President'' is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Richard Dreyfuss. In t ...
'', for which
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime ...
wrote the screenplay, and in which
Martin Sheen
Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
played the White House Chief of Staff. Unused plot elements from the film and a suggestion from
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels.
Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes '' The Client''; '' Batman Forever'' and its sequel '' ...
inspired Sorkin to create ''The West Wing''.
According to the DVD commentary, Sorkin intended to center the show on Sam Seaborn and the other senior staff with the President in an unseen or a secondary role. However, Bartlet's screen time gradually increased, and his role expanded as the series progressed. Positive critical and public reaction to Sheen's performance raised his character's profile, decreasing Lowe's perceived significance. In addition, the storylines began to focus less on Sam and more on Josh Lyman, the Deputy Chief of Staff. This shift was one of the reasons for Lowe's eventual departure from the show in the fourth season.
For the first four seasons, drawing on research materials, scene drafts, and occasionally entire draft scripts from his writing staff, Sorkin wrote almost every episode of the series, occasionally reusing plot elements, episode titles, character names, and actors from his previous work, ''
Sports Night'', a sitcom in which he began to develop his signature dialogue style of rhythmic, snappy, and intellectual banter. Fellow executive producer and director
Thomas Schlamme
Thomas David Schlamme (; born ) is an American television director, known particularly for his collaborations with Aaron Sorkin. He is known for his work as executive producer on ''The West Wing'' and ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,'' as well as ...
championed the
walk and talk
Walk and talk is a storytelling technique used in filmmaking and television production in which a number of characters have a conversation while walking somewhere. Walk and talk often involves a walking character who is then joined by another char ...
, a continuous shot tracking in front of the characters as they walk from one place to another that became part of ''The West Wing'' signature visual style. Sorkin's hectic writing schedule often led to cost overruns and schedule slips, and he opted to leave the show after the fourth season, following increasing personal problems, including an arrest for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Thomas Schlamme also left the show after the fourth season.
John Wells, the remaining executive producer, took the helm after their departure.
''The West Wing'' aired on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm ET from its debut until the end of its sixth season. NBC elected to move the series to Sundays at 8:00 pm for its seventh season, a move universally regarded as the beginning of the series' end (since NBC and the
NFL had reached a deal for ''
Sunday Night Football
Sunday Night Football may refer to:
* ''NBC Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games by NBC since 2006
* ''ESPN Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games from 1987 to 2005 by ESPN
* ...
'' to return to the network in the fall of 2006), and the series finale aired on May 14, 2006. ''The West Wing'' took a large ratings hit with the move, which put it up against
ABC's Top 20 hit ''
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'', and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
' Top 30 hit ''
Cold Case
A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...
'' in its timeslot.
Legacy and influence
''The West Wing'' offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the fictional Bartlet White House. The show's legitimacy, political slant, and idealist representations of Washington, as well as its notable writing and film merits, have generated considerable discussion.
In 2011, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported the then-fledgling government of
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
used DVDs of ''The West Wing'' episodes to study democracy. This was corroborated by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
the following year.
Realism
While ''The West Wing'' is not completely accurate in its portrayal of the actual West Wing,
[Levine, Myron A. "''The West Wing'' and the West Wing." Reprinted in ''The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama''. Edited by Peter C. Rollins and John E. Connor. 2003.] former White House staffers and journalists have described the show as capturing the feel of the real West Wing.
However, President
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
's daughter
Susan
Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...
made the comment "I can't watch
he show
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
They turn left and right where you are not supposed to."
Some West Wing veterans have said it exaggerates the formality and volume of chatter in the West Wing, under-represents the number of people involved in a decision, and over-idealizes its occupants.
Former Senate aide
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.
H ...
and former White House aide and presidential campaign speechwriter
Eli Attie
Eli Attie is an Emmy-winning writer, producer, and former White House staff member. He served as Vice President Al Gore's chief White House and campaign speechwriter through Gore's concession of the 2000 presidential election, which Attie and Gor ...
were both longtime writers on the show (O'Donnell for seasons 1–2 and 5–7, Attie for seasons 3–7). Former
White House Press Secretaries
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
Dee Dee Myers
Margaret Jane "Dee Dee" Myers (born September 1, 1961) is an American political analyst who served as the 19th White House Press Secretary during the first two years of the Clinton administration. She was the first woman and the second-youngest p ...
and
Marlin Fitzwater
Max Marlin Fitzwater (born November 24, 1942) is an American writer-journalist who served as White House Press Secretary for six years under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, making him one of the longest-serving press secret ...
and pollsters
Patrick Caddell
Patrick Hayward Caddell (May 19, 1950 – February 16, 2019) was an American public opinion pollster and a political film consultant who served in the Carter administration. He worked for Democratic presidential candidates George McGovern ...
and
Frank Luntz
Frank Ian Luntz (born February 23, 1962) is an American political and communications consultant and pollster, best known for developing talking points and other messaging for
Republican causes. His work has included assistance with messaging ...
also served as consultants, advising the writing staff for part of the show's run. Other former White House staffers, such as
Peggy Noonan
Margaret Ellen Noonan (born 1950), known as Peggy Noonan, is a weekly columnist for ''The Wall Street Journal'', and contributor to NBC News and ABC News. She was a primary speechwriter and Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan from 1984 t ...
and
Gene Sperling
Eugene Benton Sperling (born December 24, 1958) is an American lawyer who was director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. He is the only person to ...
, served as consultants for brief periods.
A documentary special in the third season compared the show's depiction of the West Wing to the real thing. Many former West Wing denizens applauded the show's depiction of the West Wing, including advisor
David Gergen
David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) is an American political commentator and former presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a senior politica ...
,
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
, Chief of Staff
Leon Panetta
Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in several different public office positions, including Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of ...
, Deputy Chief of Staff
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on Augu ...
, and former Presidents
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
,
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
, and
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
.
While critics often praised ''The West Wing'' for its writing, others faulted the show as unrealistically optimistic and sentimental. A large part of this criticism came from the perceived naiveté of the characters. Television critic
Heather Havrilesky
Heather Havrilesky (born April 1970)is an American author, essayist, and humorist. She writes the advice column "Ask Polly" for ''Substack''. She is the author of ''Disaster Preparedness: A Memoir'', the advice book ''How to Be a Person in the Wor ...
asked, "What rock did these morally pure creatures crawl out from under and, more important, how do you go from innocent millipede to White House staffer without becoming soiled or disillusioned by the dirty realities of politics along the way?"
Social influence
Despite acclaim for the veracity of the series, Sorkin said, "our responsibility is to captivate you for however long we've asked for your attention." Former White House aide Matthew Miller noted that Sorkin "captivates viewers by making the human side of politics more real than life—or at least more real than the picture we get from the news." Miller also noted that by portraying politicians with empathy, the show created a "subversive competitor" to the cynical views of politics in media.
In the essay "''The West Wing'' and the West Wing", author Myron Levine agreed, stating that the series "presents an essentially positive view of public service and a healthy corrective to anti-Washington stereotypes and public cynicism."
Dr. Staci L. Beavers, associate professor of
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
at
California State University, San Marcos
California State University San Marcos (CSUSM or Cal State San Marcos) is a public university in San Marcos, California. It was founded in 1989 as the 21st campus in the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system.
CSUSM offers 43 bache ...
, wrote a short essay, "''The West Wing'' as a Pedagogical Tool". She concluded, "While the series' purpose is for-profit entertainment, ''The West Wing'' presents great
pedagogical potential." ''The West Wing'', in her opinion, gave greater depth to the political process usually espoused only in stilted
talking points
A talking point, often used in the plural, is a pre-established message or formula used in the field of political communication, sales and commercial or advertising communication. The message is coordinated ''a priori'' to remain more or less inv ...
on shows like ''
Face the Nation
''Face the Nation'' is a weekly news and morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and television network. Created by Frank Stanton in 1954, ''Face the Nation'' is one of the longest-running news programs in the history ...
'' and ''
Meet the Press
''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk shows, news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though the curr ...
''. However, she noted that the merits of a particular argument may be obscured by the viewer's opinion of the character. Beavers also noted that characters with opposing viewpoints were often set up to be "bad people" in the viewer's eyes. These characters were assigned undesirable characteristics having nothing to do with their political opinions, such as being romantically involved with a main character's love interest. In Beavers' opinion, a critical analysis of the show's political views can present a worthwhile learning experience to the viewer.
While it aired, ''The West Wing'' offered viewers an idealist liberal administration that provided a sort of catharsis to those on the left who felt that their political beliefs were largely forgotten or ignored in the era of the Bush administration. Writer
Hédi Kaddour remarked that ''The West Wing'' "show
dwhat
iberalswould have liked to have seen and had: a different American administration, closer to our desires as people more or less on the left."
One of the stranger effects of the show occurred on January 31, 2006, when ''The West Wing'' was said to have played a hand in defeating a proposal backed by
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
's government in the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 65 ...
, during the so-called "''West Wing'' Plot". The plan was allegedly hatched after a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
watched the episode "
A Good Day", in which Democrats block a bill aimed at limiting stem cell research, by appearing to have left Washington D.C. but actually hiding in a congressional office until the Republican Speaker calls the vote.
A number of episodes referred to a practice of the administration having one day each year on which they accepted meetings with people or groups who would not normally receive an audience with high-level White House staffers, referring to the event as "Big Block of Cheese Day". The name came from the fact that President
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
had a large wheel of cheese placed in the White House from which the public were invited to eat during a reception,
while discussing issues of the day with politicians.
In 2014, the White House announced that it was to host an online Q&A with
Obama administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
officials and staff, called a Virtual "Big Block of Cheese day", on January 29, 2014.
The event was promoted with a video featuring stars from ''The West Wing''.
The event was repeated on January 21, 2015,
again promoted by stars from the show.
On April 29, 2016,
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. In a career spanning three decades, she is known for her performances across multiple genres of screen and stage. Janney has received various accolades, including an Academ ...
appeared in character as C.J. Cregg during a White House press briefing.
"The Left Wing"
Despite its commercial and critical success, ''The West Wing'' has also received criticism from the
right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...
. ''
Jewish Journal
''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', known simply as the ''Jewish Journal'', is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by TRIBE Media Corp. ''The Journal'' w ...
'' columnist Naomi Pfefferman once referred to ''The West Wing'' as "The Left Wing" because of its portrayal of an ideal
liberal administration, and the moniker has also been used by Republican critics of the show. Chris Lehmann, former deputy editor and regular reviewer for ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' Book World section, characterized the show as a
revisionist look at the Clinton presidency. Other critics have taken issue with the portrayal of conservatives on the show, criticizing ''The West Wing'' for a form of liberal elitism, as writer Luke Savage remarked, "there is a general tenor to ''The West Wing'' universe that cannot be called anything other than smug."
However, criticism of the show has been made from the left as well. The hosts of socialist podcast ''
Chapo Trap House
''Chapo Trap House'' is an American left-wing political podcast founded in March 2016 and hosted by Will Menaker, Matt Christman and Felix Biederman with Amber A'Lee Frost as a recurring co-host. The show is produced by Chris Wade and formerly by ...
'' are frequent critics of Sorkin and have called ''The West Wing'' an "expression of the patronizing self-entitlement of liberals."
On the other hand, some Republicans have admired the show since its inception, even before the departure of Sorkin and the show's resulting shift toward the center. In his 2001 article "Real Liberals versus ''The West Wing'',"
Mackubin Thomas Owens
Mackubin Thomas Owens is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. From 2015 until 2018, he served as dean of academic affairs at the Institute of World Politics. He was previously the associate dean of academics for electives and d ...
wrote, ″Although his administration is reliably liberal, President Bartlet possesses virtues even a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
could admire. He obeys the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these pr ...
and the law. He is devoted to his wife and daughters. Being unfaithful to his wife would never cross his mind. He is no wimp when it comes to foreign policy—no ''
quid pro quo
Quid pro quo ('what for what' in Latin) is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: "give and take", ...
'' for him."
Journalist
Matthew Miller wrote, "although the show indeed has a liberal bias on issues, it presents a truer, more human picture of the people behind the headlines than most of today's Washington journalists."
Filming techniques and reactions
In its first season, ''The West Wing'' attracted critical attention in the television community with a record nine
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
wins. The show has been praised for its high production values and repeatedly recognized for its
cinematic
Cinematic describes anything related to ''cinema''. It may refer to: any movie updates, cinema nights, cinematic review
Film-related
* Cinematic cutscene, a sequence in a video game that is not interactive
* Cinematic music, original music writt ...
achievements. The series has also been praised for Sorkin's rapid-fire and witty scripts.The series had a budget of $2.7 million per episode.
''The West Wing'' is noted for developing the "
walk-and-talk"—long
Steadicam
Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation. It was designed to isolate the camera from the camera operator's movement, keeping th ...
tracking shot
A tracking shot is any Shot (filmmaking), shot where the film camera, camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. In cinematography, the term refers to a shot in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly ...
s showing characters walking down hallways while involved in long conversations. In a typical "walk-and-talk" shot, the camera leads two characters down a hallway as they speak to each other. One of these characters generally breaks off and the remaining character is then joined by another character, who initiates another conversation as they continue walking. These "walk-and-talks" create a dynamic feel for what would otherwise be long expository dialogue, and have become a staple for dialogue-intensive television show scenes.
Awards
In its first season, ''The West Wing'' garnered nine Emmys, a record for most won by a series in its first season. In addition, the series received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
,
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...
,
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, and
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...
, tying ''
Hill Street Blues
''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...
'', ''
L.A. Law,'' ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...
'' and ''
Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...
'' for most won in this category. Each of its seven seasons earned a nomination for the award. With its 26 total awards, ''The West Wing'' tied with ''Hill Street Blues'' as the drama with the most Emmy wins until ''Game of Thrones'' broke the record for most wins in 2016, with 38 total awards.
The series shares the
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
record for most acting nominations by regular cast members (excluding the guest performer category) for a single series in one year. (''
Hill Street Blues
''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...
,'' ''
L.A. Law'' and ''
Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...
'' also hold that record). For the 2001–2002 season, nine cast members were nominated for Emmys. Allison Janney, John Spencer and Stockard Channing each won an Emmy (for Lead Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress respectively). The others nominated were Martin Sheen (for Lead Actor), Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill and Bradley Whitford (for Supporting Actor), and Janel Moloney and
Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is an American actress. After making her Broadway debut as Rita in Craig Lucas' '' Prelude to a Kiss'' in 1990 (for which she received a Tony Award nomination), Parker came to prominence for film roles i ...
(for Supporting Actress). In addition, that same year Mark Harmon, Tim Matheson and Ron Silver were each nominated in the Guest Actor category (although none won the award). This gave the series an Emmy Award record for most acting nominations overall (including guest performer category) in a single year, with 12 acting nominations. Twenty individual Emmys were awarded to writers, actors, and crew members. Allison Janney is the record holder for most wins by a cast member, with a total of four Emmys. ''The West Wing'' won at least one Emmy in each of its seasons except the sixth.
In addition to its Emmys, the show won two
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...
(SAG) Awards, in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
and
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...
, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Martin Sheen was the only cast member to win a
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
, and he and Allison Janney were the only cast members to win SAG Awards. In both 1999 and 2000, ''The West Wing'' was awarded the
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for excellence in broadcasting.
The following table summarizes award wins by cast members:
Many cast members were Emmy-nominated for their work on ''The West Wing'' but did not win, including Martin Sheen—who was nominated for six of the seven seasons of the series without receiving the award—as well as Janel Moloney, who was nominated twice, and Dulé Hill, Rob Lowe, and Mary-Louise Parker, who were all nominated once.
Matthew Perry
Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is an American-Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004).
As well as starring in the short-lived television series '' St ...
,
Oliver Platt
Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is known for his starring roles in many films such as ''Flatliners'' (1990), ''Beethoven'' (1992), '' Indecent Proposal'', ''The Three Musketeers'' (both 1993), '' Execut ...
,
Ron Silver
Ronald Arthur Silver (July 2, 1946 – March 15, 2009) was an American actor/activist, director, producer, and radio host. As an actor, he portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded a Tony in 1988 for Best Acto ...
,
Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated '' Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 19 ...
, and
Mark Harmon
Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in '' NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of ...
also received Emmy nominations for guest starring on the show.
Thomas Schlamme
Thomas David Schlamme (; born ) is an American television director, known particularly for his collaborations with Aaron Sorkin. He is known for his work as executive producer on ''The West Wing'' and ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,'' as well as ...
won two Emmys for
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (in 2000 and 2001), and
Christopher Misiano
Christopher Misiano is an American television director and producer. He is best known for his work on '' ER'', '' The West Wing'', and '' Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip''. In 2017, he sold his historic home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, for US$4. ...
won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 2003. ''The West Wing'' only Emmy for
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It was first awarded at the 7th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, held in 1955 and it is given in ...
was in its first season, when
Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland is an American television writer, playwright, and monologist, best known for writing on the HBO original series '' Six Feet Under'' and NBC's ''The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama televis ...
and Aaron Sorkin shared the award for "
In Excelsis Deo
"In Excelsis Deo" is the tenth episode of the first season of ''The West Wing''. It originally aired on NBC on December 15, 1999, as the show's Christmas special. Events circle around Toby Ziegler getting involved in the fate of a dead Korean Wa ...
".
W. G. Snuffy Walden received an Emmy Award for
Outstanding Main Title Theme Music
This is a list of the winning and nominated programs of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the award was presented with the "possibility of one, more than one, or no award given, ...
in 2000 for "The West Wing Opening Theme".
"The West Wing Documentary Special" won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program in 2002, with the award shared by Aaron Sorkin, Tommy Schlamme, documentarian Bill Couturie, show writers
Eli Attie
Eli Attie is an Emmy-winning writer, producer, and former White House staff member. He served as Vice President Al Gore's chief White House and campaign speechwriter through Gore's concession of the 2000 presidential election, which Attie and Gor ...
and Felicia Willson, and others.
Readers of ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corporat ...
'' voted the cast of ''The West Wing'' their Best Drama cast of all time, receiving 37% of the votes, beating ''
Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
* Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
*Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'', which received 23%.
A ''
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' poll in 2016 named Martin Sheen's Josiah Bartlet as the second greatest fictional president, behind
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
's President James Marshall in ''
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and us ...
''.
Critical reception
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
websites
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
and
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the first season scored respectively 96% and 79/100. Rotten Tomatoes scores the second 81%, the third 64%, the fourth 86%, the fifth 62%, the sixth 50%, and the seventh 92%.
Nielsen ratings
Exploration of real world issues
''The West Wing'' often featured extensive discussion of current or recent political issues. After the real-world election of Republican President
George W. Bush in 2000, many wondered whether the liberal show could retain its relevance and topicality. However, by exploring many of the same issues facing the Bush administration from a Democratic point of view, the show continued to appeal to a broad audience of both Democrats and Republicans.
In the second-season episode "
The Midterms
The second season of the American political drama television series ''The West Wing'' aired in the United States on NBC from October 4, 2000 to May 16, 2001 and consisted of 22 episodes.
Production
The second season made frequent use of flashba ...
", President Bartlet admonishes fictional radio host Dr. Jenna Jacobs for her views regarding
homosexuality
Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...
at a private gathering at the White House. Dr. Jacobs is a caricature of radio personality
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who strongly disapproves of homosexuality. Many of the President's
biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of ...
references in his comments to Dr. Jacobs appear to have come from an
open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.
Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...
to Dr. Schlessinger, circulated online in early May 2000.
The Bartlet administration experiences a scandal during the second and third seasons that has been compared to the
Monica Lewinsky affair. President Bartlet has known that he has
relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) since 1992. The scandal centers on President Bartlet's nondisclosure of his illness to the electorate during the election. He is investigated by an opposition
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
for defrauding the public and eventually accepts Congressional
censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spi ...
. Multiple sclerosis advocacy groups praised the show for its accurate portrayal of the symptoms of MS and stressing that it is not fatal. The National MS Society commented:
Following the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, the start of the third season was postponed for a week, as were most American television premieres that year. A script for a special episode was quickly written and began filming on September 21. The episode "
Isaac and Ishmael" aired on October 3 and addresses the sobering reality of
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
in America and the wider world, albeit with no specific reference to September 11. While "Isaac and Ishmael" received mixed critical reviews, it illustrated the show's flexibility in addressing current events. The cast of the show state during the opening of the episode that it is not part of ''The West Wing''
continuity.
While the September 11 attacks are not referred to in ''The West Wing'' continuity, the country enters into a variation of the
War on Terrorism
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
.
Al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
, mentioned briefly by Nancy McNally in
the beginning of Season 2, plays no role in the longer terrorism story arcs of Seasons 3, 4 and 5. It is only mentioned again in Seasons 6 and 7. The stand-in used instead is the fictional
Bahji terror group who first plots to blow up the
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
. In response, the President orders the assassination of foreign leader Abdul ibn Shareef, one of Bahji's primary backers. This storyline has similarities to the real-world
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operati ...
as well as U.S. relations with
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
, as it brings the Middle East to the forefront of U.S. foreign relations and elevates terrorism as a serious threat.
In the middle of the fourth season, Bartlet's White House is confronted with genocide in the fictional African country of Equatorial Kundu, which was compared to the
Rwandan genocide
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
of 1994. The result is new foreign policy doctrine for the Bartlet Administration and military intervention to stop the violence, which come after much hesitation and reluctance to call the conflict a genocide. In reality, the
Clinton Administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over ...
did not intervene in Rwanda.
In the sixth and seventh seasons, ''The West Wing'' explores a leak of top-secret information by a senior staffer at the White House. This leak has been compared to events surrounding the
Valerie Plame affair. In the storyline, the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
is damaged and can no longer produce
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements ...
for the
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s to breathe. With no other methods of rescue available, the President is reminded of the existence of a top-secret military space shuttle. Following the President's inaction, the shuttle story is leaked to a White House reporter, Greg Brock (analogous to
Judith Miller
Judith Miller (born January 2, 1948) is an American journalist and commentator known for her coverage of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, which was later discovered to have been based on ...
), who prints the story in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Brock will not reveal his source and goes to jail for failing to do so, as did Miller. In order to stop the investigation, in which authorities suspect Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg, Toby Ziegler admits to leaking the information, and the President is forced to dismiss him. In comparison, the Plame affair resulted in the arrest and conviction of
"Scooter" Libby, the Vice President's chief of staff. However, Libby was convicted of perjury in testimony to a grand jury. No one was convicted for "blowing the cover" of Plame. (
Richard Armitage, an official in the Bush State Department, acknowledged leaking information about Plame to reporters but was never charged with a crime.) Libby's two and a half-year prison sentence was later commuted by President Bush, though the other facet of his sentence ($250,000 fine) stood until his 2018 pardon by President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
and was duly paid. In the series finale, President Bartlet, as his last official act, pardons Ziegler.
Other issues explored in ''The West Wing'' include:
*
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
n and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian nuclear ambitions
* Strained relations and a state of brinkmanship between India and Pakistan
* Legislation of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, Central American Free Trade Agreement
* The formation of the Minuteman Project
* Peacemaking and terrorism in Israel and State of Palestine, Palestine
* The genocide in Darfur conflict, Darfur, Sudan
* AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
* The Northern Ireland peace process
* The War on Drugs and Colombian armed conflict (1960s–present), conflict in Colombia
* Controversy over Intelligent design in schools
* Brinkmanship and potential conflict between the People's Republic of China and Republic of China over Political Status of Taiwan, Taiwan's political status
* United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996, A federal government shutdown
* The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act
* 2001 anthrax attacks, Anthrax attacks against the Bush Administration
* Federal funding for the arts
* Peak oil and the consequences of a decline in global oil production
* Federal subsidies for Ethanol fuel in the United States, ethanol fuel given to corn growers
* Student loan forgiveness for teachers
* Invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 25th Amendment for an Acting President while the President is preoccupied with personal problems
''The West Wing'' universe
Domestic
All contemporary domestic government officials in ''The West Wing'' universe are fictional. President Bartlet has made three appointments to the fictional Supreme Court and maintains a full cabinet, although not all names and terms of the members are revealed. Some cabinet members, such as the United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Defense, appear more often than others. Many other government officials, such as mayors, governors, judges, representatives, and senators, are mentioned and seen as well.
Fictional locations inside the United States are created to loosely represent certain places:
San Andreo
San Andreo is a fictional California city. It is located near San Diego, has a population of 42,000 and is the location of the San Andreo Nuclear Generating Station. The fictional station was based on the real life San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego County.
A near Nuclear meltdown, meltdown at the nuclear plant becomes the focus of an October surprise for Republican nominee Arnold Vinick, Senator Arnold Vinick during the 2006 presidential election, due to Vinick's strong pro-nuclear stance and revelations of his active lobbying for the construction of the plant. This is seen to be a key factor in Vinick's narrow defeat in the election by Democratic nominee Matt Santos, Congressman Matt Santos.
Hartsfield's Landing
Hartsfield's Landing is a fictional town in New Hampshire. It is stated to be a very small community of only 63 people, of whom 42 are registered voters, that votes at one minute past midnight on the day of the New Hampshire primary, hours before the rest of the state, and has accurately predicted the winner of every United States presidential election, presidential election since William Howard Taft in 1908 United States presidential election, 1908. It is based on three real-life New Hampshire communities, one of which is Hart's Location, New Hampshire, Hart's Location, which indeed vote before the rest of the state during the primaries.
Kennison State University
Kennison State is a fictional university in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, used as the setting of a bombing in the beginning of the fourth season.
Foreign
While several real-world leaders exist in the show's universe, most foreign countries depicted or referred to on the show have fictional rulers. Real people mentioned in ''The West Wing'' include Muammar Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, Fidel Castro, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, House of Chakri, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Monarch of Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, Thabo Mbeki and Osama bin Laden.
Entire countries are invented as composite pictures that epitomize many of the problems that plague real nations in certain areas of the world:
* Qumar is a fictional, oil-rich, powerful, Middle Eastern state. A former British protectorate now ruled by a sultan and his family, it hosts a major US airbase and is frequently a source of trouble for the Bartlet administration. The nation is The Women of Qumar, first introduced in the third season as a close ally of the United States but is criticized for its harsh treatment of women. After the September 11 attacks, it became a major venue for the show's terrorism subplots, including one where convincing evidence is discovered that Qumari Defense Minister Shareef is planning terrorist acts against U.S. infrastructure, including a failed conspiracy to destroy the
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
, and President Bartlet authorizes his assassination by a covert operations team. Geographically, as it is depicted on maps, it roughly corresponds to the Hormozgan Province of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
* Equatorial Kundu is a fictional African nation blighted by AIDS and a civil war, resembling the 1994
Rwandan genocide
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
. Its location, when depicted on maps, is roughly that of Equatorial Guinea. President Bartlet launches a military intervention in Equatorial Kundu during the fourth season in order to put an end to ongoing ethnic cleansing. Equatorial Kundu is also used during the third season of Sorkin's later television series ''The Newsroom (U.S. TV series), The Newsroom''.
Fictional timeline
The ''West Wing'' universe diverges from history after Richard Nixon's presidency, although there is occasional overlap; for instance, in the second episode of the series' second season "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (The West Wing), In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" Toby Ziegler speaks to a Secret Service agent outside a building named for Ronald Reagan, although this may have just been a production oversight. Fictional Presidents who are shown to have served between Nixon and Bartlet include one-term Democrat D. Wire Newman (James Cromwell) and two-term Republican Owen Lassiter.
Leo McGarry is mentioned as being United States Secretary of Labor, Labor Secretary in the administration that was in office in 1993 and 1995. In the first season, an outgoing Supreme Court Justice tells Jed Bartlet that he had been wanting to retire for five years, but waited "for a Democrat" because he did not want a Republican president to replace him with a conservative justice (the Justice then tells President Bartlet, snidely, "Instead, I got you."). The season four episode "Debate Camp (The West Wing), Debate Camp" features a flashback to the days just before Bartlet's inauguration, as
Donna Moss
Donnatella Moss is a fictional character played by Janel Moloney on the television serial drama ''The West Wing.'' During most of the series, Donna works for White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman as a senior assistant (or, as she jokingly c ...
meets with her Republican predecessor, Jeff Johnson. In season six Leo says that the Republicans have been "out of power for eight years", and Republicans at their convention say "eight (years) is enough".
The passage of time on the show relative to that of the real world is somewhat ambiguous when marked by events of shorter duration (such as votes and campaigns). Sorkin noted in a DVD audio commentary (DVD), commentary track for the second-season episode "18th and Potomac" that he tried to avoid tying ''The West Wing'' to a specific period of time. Despite this, real years are occasionally mentioned, usually in the context of elections and President Bartlet's two-term administration.
The show's presidential elections are held in 2002 and 2006, which are the years of the midterm elections in reality (these dates come from the fact that in the season 2 episode "17 People", Toby mentions 2002 as the year of the President's reelection campaign). The election timeline in ''The West Wing'' matches up with that of the real world until early in the sixth season, when it appears that a year is lost. For example, the filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary, which would normally fall in January 2006, appears in an episode airing in January 2005.
In an interview, John Wells stated that the series began one and a half years into Bartlet's first term and that the election to replace Bartlet was being held at the correct time. However, the season 1 episode "He Shall from Time to Time" shows the preparations for Bartlet's first regular State of the Union address, which would occur one year into his presidency. In the Season 1 episode "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet", Josh Lyman asks Toby Ziegler, "Our second year isn't going much better than our first year, is it?"
In the season 5 episode "Access (The West Wing), Access", it is mentioned that the Casey Creek crisis occurred during Bartlet's first term and got his presidency off to a calamitous start, and network footage of the crisis carries the date of November 2001.
1998 presidential election
Bartlet's first campaign for president is never significantly explored in the series. Bartlet is stated to have won the election with 48% of the popular vote, 48 million votes, and a 303–235 margin in the Electoral College (United States), Electoral College. Of three debates between Bartlet and his Republican Party (United States), Republican opponent, it is mentioned that Bartlet won the third and final debate, held eight days before election day in St. Louis, Missouri.
Josh Lyman
Joshua Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama series ''The West Wing''. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For most of the ser ...
says that in the days prior to the election "Bartlet punched through a few walls" as the result seemed too close to call, before the result broke his way.
Leo McGarry
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by American actor John Spencer on the television serial drama ''The West Wing''. This role earned Spencer the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2002. ...
says the same thing in "Bartlet for America" when he says, "It was eight days to go, and we were too close to call".
The campaign for the Democratic nomination is extensively addressed. In the episodes "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I", "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II" and "Bartlet for America", flashbacks are used to show Bartlet defeating Texas Senator John Hoynes (
Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated '' Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 19 ...
) and Washington (state), Washington Senator William Wiley for the Democratic nomination and later choosing Hoynes as his running mate. The flashbacks also show Leo McGarry persuading Bartlet, then Governor of New Hampshire, to run for president.
2002 presidential election
''The West Wing'' 2002 presidential election pits Bartlet and Vice President John Hoynes against Florida Governor Robert Ritchie (The West Wing), Robert Ritchie (James Brolin) and his running mate, Jeff Heston. Bartlet faces no known opposition for renomination, though Minnesota Democratic Senator Howard Stackhouse launches a brief independent campaign for the presidency. Ritchie, not originally expected to contend for the nomination, emerges from a field of seven other Republican candidates by appealing to the party's conservative base with simple, "homey" sound bites.
Bartlet's staff contemplates replacing Vice President John Hoynes on the ticket with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Percy Fitzwallace (John Amos), among others. After it is clear that Ritchie will be the Republican nominee, Bartlet dismisses the idea, declaring that he wants Hoynes in the number two spot because of "four words," which he writes down and hands to Hoynes and McGarry to read: "Because I could die."
Throughout the season it is anticipated that the race will be close, but a stellar performance by Bartlet in the sole debate between the candidates helps give Bartlet a landslide victory in both the popular and electoral vote.
2006 presidential election
A speed-up in ''The West Wing'' timeline, in part due to the expiration of many cast members' contracts and a desire to continue the program with lower production costs, resulted in the omission of the 2004 midterm elections and an election during the seventh season. The sixth season extensively details the Democratic and Republican primaries. The seventh season covers the lead-up to the general election, the election, and the transition to a new administration. The timeline slows down to concentrate on the general election race. The election, normally held in November, takes place across two episodes originally broadcast on April 2 and 9, 2006.
Congressman
Matt Santos
Matthew Vincente Santos is a fictional character on the American television show ''The West Wing'', played by Jimmy Smits. Santos' initial appearance in the series was as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Texas's 18th congressional dist ...
(D-Texas, TX) (
Jimmy Smits) is nominated on the fourth ballot at the Democratic National Convention, during the sixth-season finale. Santos, having planned to leave United States Congress, Congress before being recruited to run for the presidency by
Josh Lyman
Joshua Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama series ''The West Wing''. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For most of the ser ...
, polls in the low single digits in the Iowa caucus. He is virtually out of the running in the New Hampshire primary before a last-ditch live television commercial vaults him to a third-place finish with 19% of the vote. Josh Lyman, Santos's campaign manager, convinces
Leo McGarry
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by American actor John Spencer on the television serial drama ''The West Wing''. This role earned Spencer the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2002. ...
to become Santos's running mate.
Senator
Arnold Vinick (R-California, CA) (
Alan Alda
Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...
) secures the Republican nomination, defeating Glen Allen Walken (John Goodman) and the Reverend Don Butler (Don S. Davis), among others. Initially, Vinick wants Butler to become his running mate. However, Butler does not want to be considered because of Vinick's stance on abortion. Instead, West Virginia Governor Ray Sullivan (Brett Cullen) is chosen as Vinick's running mate. Vinick is portrayed throughout the sixth season as virtually unbeatable because of his popularity in California, a typically Democratic state, his moderate views, and his wide crossover appeal. Vinick, however, faces difficulty with the anti-abortion members of his party as an abortion rights candidate, and criticism for his support of nuclear power following a serious accident at a Californian nuclear power station.
On the evening of the election, Leo McGarry suffers a massive
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
and is pronounced dead at the hospital, with the polls still open on the U.S. West Coast, West Coast. The Santos campaign releases the information immediately, while
Arnold Vinick refuses to use Leo's death as a "stepstool" to the presidency. Santos emerges as the winner in his home state of Texas, while Vinick wins his home state of California. The election comes down to Nevada, where both candidates need a victory to secure the presidency. Vinick tells his staff repeatedly that he will not allow his campaign to demand a recount of the votes if Santos is declared the winner. Josh Lyman gives Santos the same advice, although the Santos campaign sends a team of lawyers down to Nevada. Santos is pronounced the winner of the election, having won Nevada by 30,000 votes, with an electoral vote margin of 272–266.
According to executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jr., the writers originally intended for Vinick to win the election. However, the death of Spencer forced him and his colleagues to consider the emotional strain that would result from having Santos lose both his running mate and the election. It was eventually decided by
John Wells that the last episodes would be rescripted. Other statements from John Wells, however, have contradicted O'Donnell's claims about a previously planned Vinick victory. The script showing Santos winning was written long before the death of John Spencer. In 2008 O'Donnell stated to camera, "We actually planned at the outset for Jimmy Smits to win, that was our .. just .. plan of how this was all going to work, but the Vinick character came on so strong in the show, and was so effective, it became a real contest ... and it became a real contest in the West Wing writer's room."
Similarities to 2008 U.S. presidential election
Similarities between the fictional 2006 election and the real-life 2008 U.S. presidential election have been noted in the media:
* The Democratic candidate is a young ethnic minority representing a populous state: Matthew Santos of Texas on the show, Barack Obama of Illinois in real life.
* He has a gruelling but successful primary campaign against a more experienced candidate: Bob Russell on the show,
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
in real life.
* A third candidate from a southern state has been damaged by claims of infidelity: John Hoynes of Texas on the show, John Edwards of North Carolina in real life.
* The Democratic nominee chooses an experienced Washington insider as his running mate: Leo McGarry on the show, Joe Biden in real life.
* The Republican contest is determined early in the primary season with an aging "maverick" senator of a western state being the nominee: Arnold Vinick of California on the show, John McCain of Arizona in real life.
* The nominee defeats a staunchly anti-abortion opponent with pastoral experience, among others: Reverend Don Butler on the show, Mike Huckabee in real life.
* He then chooses a younger, socially conservative running mate in the midst of their first term as governor of a sparsely populated, resource-rich state: Ray Sullivan of West Virginia on the show, Sarah Palin of Alaska in real life.
According to David Remnick's biography of Obama, ''The Bridge'', when writer and former White House aide
Eli Attie
Eli Attie is an Emmy-winning writer, producer, and former White House staff member. He served as Vice President Al Gore's chief White House and campaign speechwriter through Gore's concession of the 2000 presidential election, which Attie and Gor ...
was tasked with fleshing out the first major Santos storylines, he looked to then-U.S. Senator Obama as a model. Attie called David Axelrod (political consultant), David Axelrod, with whom he had worked in politics, "and grilled him about Obama." While Attie says that he "drew inspiration from [Obama] in drawing [the Santos] character," actor Jimmy Smits also says that Obama "was one of the people that I looked to draw upon" for his portrayal of the character. Writer and producer
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.
H ...
says that he partly modeled Vinick after McCain.
Obama's former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, is said to be the basis of the
Josh Lyman
Joshua Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama series ''The West Wing''. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For most of the ser ...
character, who becomes Santos's Chief of Staff. However, O'Donnell denied this claim.
Santos transition
As the series sunsets with Bartlet's final year in office, little is revealed about Matt Santos's presidency, with the last few episodes mainly focusing on the Santos team's transition into the White House. Santos chooses
Josh Lyman
Joshua Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama series ''The West Wing''. The role earned Whitford the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2001. For most of the ser ...
as Chief of Staff, who in turn calls on former colleague Sam Seaborn to be Deputy Chief of Staff. In need of experienced cabinet members, Santos taps Arnold Vinick as
Secretary of State, believing the senior statesman to be one of the best strategists available and respected by foreign leaders. Santos eventually decides on Eric Baker, the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania and at one point the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, as his choice for vice president, and submits his name to Congress under the terms of the 25th Amendment. While Tomorrow (The West Wing), the show ends before he can be confirmed, it is implied he may face little opposition from Republicans due to the backing of Secretary of State Vinick.
President Bartlet's final act as President of the United States is pardoning
Toby Ziegler
Tobias "Toby" Zachary Ziegler is a fictional character in the television serial drama ''The West Wing'', played by Richard Schiff. The role of Toby Ziegler earned actor Richard Schiff the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor i ...
, who had violated federal law by leaking classified information about a military space shuttle. The series ends with Bartlet returning to New Hampshire. Having said his goodbyes to his closest staff, former President Bartlet tells President Santos, "Make me proud, Mr. President," to which Santos responds, "I'll do my best, Mr. President."
Home media
The series is available on DVD, with a complete series set released in 2006. Season 1 is in the original 4:3 format while Season 2 onward are presented as anamorphic widescreen.
In 2010 the series was released in High-definition video, high-definition for the first time on streaming platforms Amazon Video and iTunes, with the first two seasons remastered in 16:9 to match the aspect ratio and resolution change in the third season.
Other media
Books
Several books have been published about ''The West Wing''. One of the first, in 2001, was Paul C. Challe's ''Inside the West Wing: An Unauthorized Look at Television's Smartest Show''.
In 2002, Newmarket Press published ''The West Wing Script Book'', which included episode scripts from Aaron Sorkin.
Also in 2002, Ian Jackman wrote ''The West Wing (The Official Companion)''.
Analytical books about the series include Peter Rollins' ''The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama'' (2003),
''The Prime-Time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. Nationalism'' by Trevor Parry-Giles and Shawn J. Parry-Giles (2006),
''The West Wing (TV Milestones Series)'' by Janet McCabe (2012),
and Claire Handscombe's ''Walk with Us: How the West Wing Changed Our Lives'' (2016).
Twitter accounts
In 2010, Twitter accounts for many of the primary characters on ''The West Wing'' began to appear, including accounts for President Bartlet, Josh Lyman, Leo McGarry, Matt Santos and Mrs. Landingham. Tweets from the fictional characters have been featured on ''The Rachel Maddow Show'', CNN and questions from the fictional accounts have been answered by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs during a White House Press Conference and from Vice President of the United States, Vice President Joe Biden during a Twitter Town Hall. The success of ''The West Wing'' accounts has resulted in several copycats, including accounts from several minor or obscure ''West Wing'' characters, including Gail, the fish in C.J.'s office.
Podcasts
In March 2016, ''The West Wing Weekly'' podcast hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway and
Joshua Malina
Joshua Charles Malina (born January 17, 1966) is an American film and stage actor known for playing Will Bailey on the NBC drama ''The West Wing'', Jeremy Goodwin on '' Sports Night'', US Attorney General David Rosen on ''Scandal'', and Caltech P ...
began. Each episode of the podcast discusses an episode of ''The West Wing'' and has featured various cast and crew members from the series.
On March 25, 2019, screenwriters Josh Olson (Oscar-nominated for ''A History of Violence'') and Dave Anthony launched ''The West Wing Thing'', in which the hosts "watch and then discuss" an episode of the series, analyzing and critiquing the show itself as well as its relationship to real-life American politics, both at the time it originally aired and in the present day.
Fan conventions
A major fan convention, "West Wing Weekend" took place in September 28–30, 2018, at the Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland. The convention featured guest appearances from some members of the series' cast, as well as a number of panels, fan-based programming, and special events. A Kickstarter campaign for the convention was started on January 4, 2018, to raise $10,000, and it was fully funded within two days.
Parodies
Many venues, including Funny or Die, ''Mad TV'', ''Plan B (30 Rock), 30 Rock'', and the ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' have parodied the walk-and-talk cliche of the show, including the "ping-pong" dialogue, in which one character would speak barely a word before the other said another, and then repeated back and forth.
Toward the end of a 2016 episode of ''Mom (TV series), Mom'' entitled "Pure Evil and a Free Piece of Cheesecake", main character Bonnie Plunkett, played by former ''West Wing'' cast member Allison Janney, fantasizes about becoming president of the United States, doing a walk-and-talk scene with former ''West Wing'' cast member Richard Schiff.
Campaign video
During the 2012 campaign season, most of the cast—including Mary McCormack as Kate Harper—appeared in a video paid for by the campaign to elect McCormack's sister Bridget Mary McCormack to a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court. Gently parodying the television series, the characters earnestly discuss the fact that voters often fail to vote in the non-partisan section of their ballots, which in this case would include court candidates such as Bridget McCormack, whose qualifications they praise. Although she is referred to as the sister of actress Mary McCormack, the characters do not recognize the name, except for Harper who finds it vaguely familiar. Bridget McCormack was subsequently elected.
''A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote''
In August 2020, it was announced that cast members
Martin Sheen
Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
,
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
,
Dulé Hill
Karim Dulé Hill (; born May 3, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series ''The West Wing'', for whi ...
,
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. In a career spanning three decades, she is known for her performances across multiple genres of screen and stage. Janney has received various accolades, including an Academ ...
,
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...
,
Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...
and
Janel Moloney
Janel Moloney is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Donna Moss on the television series ''The West Wing'', a role for which she received nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series ...
would reprise their roles for a stage version of the episode "Hartsfield's Landing". The episode was intended to raise awareness and support for ''When We All Vote'', a nonprofit organization founded to increase participation in United States elections by Michelle Obama, Lin-Manuel Miranda and others. Production began in early October 2020 at Los Angeles' Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles), Orpheum Theatre and premiered on October 15 on
HBO Max
HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...
.
Explanatory notes
References
External links
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