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Missing image WestWing1.jpg The primary cast of The West Wing (from left to right): John Spencer, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Stockard Channing, Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney, and Richard Schiff The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin for NBC, airing since 1999. The show is set in the White House - which serves as the residence of the President and his family - during a fictional Democratic administration. The West Wing of the White House is the location of the President's Oval Office and the offices of most of his senior staff. The show is produced and co-written by John Wells.
The West Wing universeMissing image WestWing2.jpg In a convoluted plot twist, guest star John Goodman appeared as the Speaker of the House, temporarily seated in The West Wing as Acting President The West Wing parallels the real world in many ways, yet also has several key differences. Sorkin, the show's creator, has noted in a DVD commentary track for the second season episode "18th and Potomac" that he has tried to avoid tying the show to a specific period of time. Despite this, real years are occasionally mentioned (usually in the context of elections, see below) and the show's events take place during President Bartlett's two-term 1999-2006 administration. Some real-world leaders such as Queen Elizabeth II and Fidel Castro exist in the show's universe, but most foreign countries are given fictional rulers, as well as fictional names - "Qumar," a terrorist-sponsoring Middle Eastern state based in part on both Taliban Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, is repeatedly a source of trouble for the Bartlet administration. According to maps shown on the show, Qumar appears to consist of a small part of southern Iran, including the important Strait of Hormuz. Another hotspot is "Equatorial Kundu," an African nation blighted by AIDS and civil war, resembling that of Sudan and Somalia. The events of 9/11 do not appear to have unfolded in the same way in which they did in the real world, but the country has entered into a variation of the War on Terrorism. Some recent concerns have also been reflected in the show; in the West Wing universe, for example, North Korea has nuclear ambitions similar to those it has in the real world. Main characters
All these actors have, at one point or another, appeared in the cast list during the main titles. See also: Recurring characters on The West Wing EpisodesShow's evolutionThe series had its roots in the 1995 theatrical film The American President, for which Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay. Sorkin took unused plot elements from that film and created entirely new characters around them. From all of this The West Wing was created. Initially, the character of the President was intended to be a secondary role, but it was expanded as the series progressed. The early shows were centered on young speech-writer Sam Seaborn, played by Rob Lowe. Positive critical and public reaction to Sheen's sometimes Clintonesque performance raised his character's profile, sidelining Lowe's Seaborn. This shift is one of the reasons for Lowe's departure from the show during its fourth season [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2150891.stm). The West Wing often features extensive discussion on current or recent political issues, and with the real-world election of Republican President George W. Bush in 2000, many wondered whether the show could retain its relevance and topicality. Following 9/11, the third season premiere was postponed a week. A script for a special episode was quickly written and filming began on September 21. "Isaac and Ishmael" finished shooting in about a week, an incredibly quick turn around time for a TV drama. The episode aired on October 3 and addressed the sobering reality of terrorism in America and the wider world, albeit with no specific reference to September 11. While Isaac and Ishmael didn't get universal critical acclaim, to say the least, it nonetheless illustrated the show's flexibility in addressing current events. Missing image WestWing3.jpg Popularity of the series has lead to publication of Aaron Sorkin's scripts The perceived switch of emphasis from Sorkin's dialogue-centric style of writing to John Wells' focus on plot-driven drama has angered some of the show's fan base, a few of whom feel so passionately about the switch that they are [2] (http://dontsaveourshow.org/) actively campaigning for the show to be cancelled, citing Sorkin's departure as the sole cause of the show's "decline". However, most viewers continue to enjoy the show, acknowledging that despite Sorkin's departure it is still far superior to other shows, and in its theme unique among drama series. Season 6's plotlines, including the replacement of Leo McGarry as White House Chief of Staff by former Press Secretary C. J. Cregg, have lent themselves to more of the witty rapid-fire dialogue for which Sorkin's scripts were noted. This trend appears to be accelerating with the sometimes inadvertently-comic Toby Ziegler taking on new duties as acting press secretary, the transfer of Bartlet's bodyman Charlie Young to C.J. Cregg's staff, and departures from the West Wing of Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman and his senior assistant Donna Moss to the campaigns of opposing Democratic presidential candidates. The addition of Kristin Chenoweth as Cregg's potential replacement has also been a breath of fresh air for the series. Generally, the series has rebounded a bit after a low point including most of the fifth season and the first two episodes of the sixth season. The recent episode "Faith Based Initiative", written by series regular Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman), reminded some of the rapid-fire, politically intricate and yet dryly witty scripts from the first few seasons which made the Sorkin-created and penned drama such a big hit. Ironically, the episode chronicled Lyman's departure from the White House to run the presidential campaign of Congressman Matt Santos. The passage of time on the show relative to that of the "real world" has always been somewhat ambiguous. When "The West Wing" premiered in late 1999, the Bartlet Adminstration was said to have been in office for a little less than a year, implying that Bartlet was initially elected in 1998. (In real life, U.S. presidential elections were held in 1996, 2000, and 2004.) In the second season episode "17 People", Toby Ziegler questions whether Vice President Hoynes will be dropped from the 2002 ticket, specifically mentioning the year. That election was held in the fall of 2002 in real world time, but it appears the show sometime between then and Season 6 moved a year ahead of time; the filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary (which in show time should be January 2006) was in the episode "Faith Based Initiative", aired in January 2005. Presidential electionsThe last real president that is known to have existed in the show's universe is Richard Nixon. The show has never discussed how the election cycle was knocked off the real schedule by 2 years; it might have been the result of a constitutional amendment. Presidents in between Nixon and Bartlet include Democrat D. Wire Newman (James Cromwell) and Republican Owen Lassiter (now deceased). It has not been clearly stated that Newman and Lassiter served directly before President Bartlet, although it is implied that they did. It is clear, however, that Newman (vaguely based on Jimmy Carter) lost an election to Lassiter (based on Ronald Reagan) who then proceded to serve for two full terms. In an episode centering around Lassiter's funeral, Bartlet and Newman were shown to be the only two surviving former Presidents, along with former Acting President Glen Allen Walken. The story of the 1998 general election in which Bartlet won his first term has not been elaborated on significantly. However, Bartlet's battle for the Democratic nomination in 1998, primarily against Senator John Hoynes of Texas but also including Senator William Wiley of Washington, was the subject of the opening two-part episode of the second season, "In The Shadow of Two Gunmen". The third season episode "Bartlet For America" filled in some more details of the 1998 election, such as how Leo McGarry convinced then-New Hampshire Governor Bartlet to run, how Bartlet came to pick Senator Hoynes as his running mate, and how Bartlet collapsed from a MS attack and Leo had an alcoholic relapse on the night of the final debate. Both of these episodes made extensive use of flashbacks to show these events. Bartlet's opposition in the 1998 general election has never been named and little has been said about that election. What has been said is that Bartlet won with only 48% impling a three-way race. It is also implied that the electoral college vote was close. It was stated that Bartlet won in the state of Oregon by a few thousand votes and it's implied he won the states of Texas, New Hampshire and California. The 2002 election pitted Bartlet, running for a second term, against Republican Governor Rob Ritchie of Florida (James Brolin). Bartlet was not challenged for the Democratic nomination, while Governor Ritchie emerged from a large Republican field. The race was very tight until Bartlet's spectacular performance in the one and only presidential debate. Bartlet ended up winning in a landslide in both the electoral college and popular vote. Democratic Senator Howard Stackhouse flirted with a third-party run as a liberal alternative to Bartlet, but withdrew from the race well in advance of the election and endorsed President Bartlet. Bartlet's staff briefly considered dropping incumbent Vice President John Hoynes from the ticket in favor of Admiral Percy Fitzwallace (John Amos), the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, but Bartlet vetoed the idea, believing that Hoynes was best qualified to serve as president if Bartlet were to die or become incapacitated. The 2006 election, which will almost certainly occur before 2006 in real time due to the speeding up of the show's timeline, has not yet had its field narrowed down. So far, the candidates for the Democratic and Republican nominations include:
Supreme Court appointmentsSeveral episodes of "The West Wing" have focused on the President's power to fill vacancies on the United States Supreme Court by nominating justices, who take office if the United States Senate confirms them. To date, President Bartlet's appointments have been:
Presidential Order of Succession
Secretaries who have names but no actors listed as having played them have only been mentioned on the show. These listings are as of Season Six. There have been several Cabinet members replaced in the intervening years; it is possible that others have been replaced as well, but not mentioned on the show. AwardsThe West Wing has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003, along with 19 individual Emmys awarded for the writers, actors and crew. It holds the record for most Emmys won by a series in a single season. The actors who have won Emmys include:
W.G. "Snuffy" Walden (thirtysomething) received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music, 2000. Martin Sheen, the central character and the most acclaimed actor on the show, has yet to win an Emmy, though he did win a Golden Globe for Best Actor. The show has won two Screen Actors Guild Awards. BroadcastersFirst-run
Reruns/syndicationHome video releasesA program of home video releases is underway; as of February 2005, the following seasons of The West Wing were available: Missing image WestWing4.jpg Missing image WestWing5.jpg
External links
fr:À la Maison Blanche ja:ザ・ホワイトハウス
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