Pilot

[Admin]

From NBC:
The entire White House staff bristles with activity when it's learned that the President (Martin Sheen) injured himself during a bicycle accident, and his absence becomes a factor as chief of staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer) must juggle a host of impending crises, including a mass boat lift of Cuban refugees approaching the Florida coast and the reaction of conservative Christians to a controversial televised comment by deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford). Meanwhile, Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), the trouble-prone deputy communications director, unknowingly spends the night with a call girl (Lisa Edelstein) and then makes another critical error during a children's White House tour.

[Joey Lucas]

From Warner Bros:
Summoned at dawn in Washington, D.C., five members of the White House staff rush to the west wing for a meeting. Authoritative Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, tireless Press Secretary C.J. Cregg, high-profile Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, sleepless Communications Director Toby Ziegler and womanizing Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn, who all worked diligently to get the President elected, convene to talk about two crises: Hundreds of Cubans are on their way across the Atlantic Ocean in search of freedom; and klutzy President of the United States Josiah Bartlet accidentally sprained his ankle riding a bicycle into a tree. Some members of the staff experience crises of their own. Sam discovers the law student he slept with last night also works as a high-priced call girl. Josh's former lover and fellow campaign worker, Madeline "Mandy" Hampton, now dates and works for a senator who might vie for the office of President. Also, a rumor persists that Josh will be terminated because of a remark he made on a TV show. The comment offends the Christian fundamentalists and upsets Reverend Al Caldwell, an influential religious leader and necessary Presidential ally. Toby arranges a meeting with Caldwell and Josh apologizes, but one of the fundamentalists makes an anti-Semitic remark, infuriating the usually calm Toby.

[Admin]

"Aaron told me over lunch about his project, which was sort of an offspring of his successful film The American President," Wells said. "I loved the idea of a political drama set in the White House, so we prepared our pitch.
"NBC initially was cold to the idea because past series dealing in politics had failed miserably. But we were relentless. We finally got the go-ahead in the spring of 1999."
Wells compares The West Wing to a passionate lover: "terrific and complicated."
"We have a lot of talented actors to integrate logically into the plots. It's important to be timely and yet not directly mimic what we read in the papers about the White House," he says.
"And day-to-day production is difficult because we must create the White House without filming there."

"Drama King"
By Dusty Saunders
October 13, 2001
Rocky Mountain News

Leo McGarry is on his way to work.
"Nice morning, Mr. McGarry," says the guard in the lobby.

"We'll take care of that," says Leo, as he passes inside, through a corridor, an office,another office, a corridor, an office, five corridors, an office, a corridor, an office, a corridor, two offices, a corridor and two more offices, before settling behind his desk, 3 minutes and 26 seconds later.

The camera is with him all the way, as he has 12 separate conversations, and 133 people (maybe more - they go so quickly) pass in and out of the picture. That's more extras than populate some series in a whole season.

"White House is setting for highly touted NBC drama"
By Jonathan Storm
September 22, 1999
Philadelphia Inquirer

He [Aaron Sorkin] based "The Lambs of God" in "The West Wing" on "The Lambs of Christ," a real-life group Sorkin said does "violent things and they harass people."

"Sheen for president: Just another Clinton?"
By Rob Owen
September 19, 1999
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"After they put the pilot together, they realized that people might catch on that I'd be there only once a month. So they talked to me about a longer commitment."

Martin Sheen

Sheen adds, "I read it and said [to Sorkin], ' I'm not nuts about doing a TV series. I've never done one. But I will do this has long as you write every script that I'm involved in.'". Sheen was only supposed to appear in one out of every four episodes until all involved realized, as Sheen puts it, that "one of the rings in this three-ring circus was not being used enough."

"Wing Commanders"
By David Kronke
November 20, 1999
TV Guide (Canadian edition)

It was not a universally endorsed decision [to cast Martin Sheen]. Sorkin's co-executive producer, John Wells, afraid that Sheen would inject his own radical left-wing politics into the role, told Sorkin, "Oh boy, this is a mistake."
Nevertheless, Wells says he has been pleasantly surprised at how responsible Sheen has been when it comes to the series. "Martin is really great. He calls us and tells us he's going to be arrested [at a protest] over the weekend but not to worry about it. He's arranged for someone to make his bail and he'll be back on the set on Monday morning."

"Sheen at home in West Wing"
By Tom Jicha
January 19, 2000
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

"Originally, I wasn't going to have the character of the president in the show at all, ... I really wanted the show to be about the senior staffers, and had the fear that the character of the president would necessarily skew the show in a different direction. And I very much wanted to write ensemble drama."
... As Sorkin originally envisioned the show, the staff would work in the shadow of the president, but he would never be seen on camera except for the occasional glimpse.

"I then felt like that would quickly get hokey," Sorkin said. "That we will constantly be just missing the president. As he walks around the corner, we'll see the back of his head. He'd be like the next-door neighbor on 'Home Improvement,' somehow, and that was going to be silly."

So he decided to make the character of President Josiah Bartlett an infrequent visitor to the show, and Sheen was contacted about playing the part -- and signed to appear in just four episodes.

"When we had originally spoken about it, we would see the president every few episodes, and that was going to take care of my hokey problem," Sorkin said.

The pilot was an indication of how Plan B might have gone. After spending most of the episode with the staff, the president appeared only in the final few minutes of the program. But Plan B quickly gave way to Plan C.

"We all had such a good time making the pilot that we decided to become more steady," Sorkin said.

And it was soon after shooting on the pilot began that Sorkin and his fellow executive producer, John Wells, decided to make the change. Very soon.

"When we saw Mr. Sheen's dailies," Wells said. "At the end of the first day, we all sort of looked at each other and said, 'Oh, boy, this is a thing.'

"What can happen is you put an actor into a show in a guest part or a part that you only expect to see occasionally, and you look at the dailies and realize that that's someone you want to see all the time -- that you want to write for. And we went back and said,'We had a great time. Did you?' "

"And so I agreed to join the cast," Sheen said.

"What would 'West Wing' be without a chief executive?"
By Scott D. Pierce
April 12, 2000
Desert News

We actually scored the pilot, which was re-cut. The original pilot that we sold to the network was a hybrid of some big orchestral temp music and a score I did. Once it got picked up, we went back in and scored the show.

By the time it actually went on the air, the first couple of episodes had an electronic version of the theme, not the orchestra. It was the same arrangement, because by that time it had been orchestrated but 'the theme wasn't finished by the first scoring session. We actually recorded the main title theme during the second orchestral session, for Episode #3, I believe. But we dropped it back into the early episodes so that if you see it now, it has the new orchestral theme.

"Interview with W.G. Snuffy Walden"
By Mel Lambert
December 2000
INSIGHTS

Interesting, because on the first DVD of Season One, the pilot and remaining episodes have a different sounding theme to the rest of the episodes


"The role of C.J. in the pilot wasn't huge. We knew it was going to be -- she was the press secretary, one of the regulars. But after the third or fifth episode, everybody started saying the same thing at our meetings: 'Allison is just going to be a break-out, huge part of this show.'" - Aaron Sorkin

"'West Wing' spokeswoman can talk the talk"
By John Kiesewetter
October 10, 2001
Cincinnati Enquirer

The pilot episode was originally supposed to end with Sheen's President Bartlet giving a pep talk to his staff in the White House mural room, followed by a hard cut to black. Schlamme suggested to Sorkin that they take the opportunity to bring the audience into the Oval Office for the final scene, which might end with a crane shot of Bartlet's desk and the presidential seal on the rug.
"Aaron said, 'I don't know if we need that crane shot, do we?'" Schlamme recalls. "I said, 'I think it will convey a sense of where we're going in future episodes, the idea that here's this guy in this famous room asking what's next?, and you see the seal on the floor. It's a very powerful image.'"

Sorkin acquiesced to Schlamme, and the more elaborate final scene worked beautifully.

"'Wing' man: Producer-director helps shape a hit"
By Alan Sepinwall
March 3, 2002
Newark Star-Ledger

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion:

In the bar of the Georgetown Four Seasons Hotel, Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) is having a drink with his friend Billy (Marc Grapey), a reporter. It’s late and as his friend chatters and his glass empties, Sam turns his attention to the beautiful woman eyeing him from across the bar.

First thing in the morning, Leo McGarry (John Spencer) is at home in Chevy Chase relaxing and doing the crossword puzzle. The peace of the morning is broken when the phone rings – it’s Potus. As the sun rises over Washington, D.C., the rest of the White House senior staff gets the same part. C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) gets a page and immediately falls off the treadmill at the gym; Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) is woken up by the pager at his desk, and Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) gets word from the cockpit as his plane approaches Washington National.

As for Sam, he obviously consummated his evening eye contact because he wakes up in the bedroom of the dark-haired beauty from the night before. The woman, Laurie (Lisa Edelstein), reads him his page. Sam, still dripping from the shower, immediately says he’s sorry, he has to go.

LAURIE: Tell your friend Potus that he’s got a funny name and he should learn how to ride a bicycle.
SAM: I would, but he’s not my friend, he’s my boss, and it’s not his name, it’s his title.
LAURIE: “Potus?”
SAM: President of the United States.

And with that, we enter the West Wing of the White House, Leo McGarry, the chief of staff, walks briskly through the West Wing corridors, efficiently taking care of business. Staffers and aides bark information at him as he plunges through offices and hallways. The news of the morning is that 1,200 Cuban refugees are at sea trying to reach Miami. If they survive the trip, they’ll arrive around sunset. On home turf, Josh Lyman is in hot water, having insulted the entire Christian right with a thoughtless remark on a TV show the night before. Leo makes it clear the President’s furious and Josh’s job is in real jeopardy.

When he reaches the Oval Office, Leo tells the President’s secretary, Mrs Landingham (Kathryn Joosten), that her boss broke Leo’s expensive bike, he’s a klutz. A grandmother and bodyguard all in one, Mrs Landingham says she doesn’t like that kind of language in the Oval Office. Leo gathers his staff, gauges reactions about the Cuban crisis, Josh’s faux pas on television, and the fallout from the President’s accident. All in all, it’s a typical morning’s work.

Behind closed doors in his office, Josh watches and re-watches a tape of his gaffe on Capitol Beat. Unable to change the moment he sits and stares at the television, watching himself tell fellow guest Mary Marsh (Annie Corley), an important religious conservative, that her God got caught cheating on his taxes. Josh’s assistant, Donna Moss (Janel Moloney), comes to the door with a cup of coffee. Josh turns, but barely acknowledges the steaming cup in her hand. He asks Donna how long she’s worked for him. “A year and a half,” she says.

JOSH: And when was the last time you bought me a cup of coffee?
DONNA thinks . . .
JOSH: (cont.) It was never. You’ve never bought me a cup of coffee.
DONNA: (picking up the mug) If you’re going to make a big deal out of –
JOSH: Donna, if I get fired I get fired.
DONNA: Do you think he’s going to do it?
JOSH: (beat) No.

Toby, in a rare moment of sympathy and peacekeeping, tells Josh that he’s arranged a meeting over coffee that afternoon with Marsh and the Reverend Al Caldwell. Josh isn’t wild about begging for apologies, but Toby abruptly insists that this meeting take place. When he says he wants to help Josh save his job, he adds that Josh shouldn’t take his concern as a gesture of friendship.

As he’s leaving, Toby waves a newspaper in front of Josh – he reads that Mandy Hampton (Moira Kelly) just came to town. Josh snatches the article, leans back, and says to himself that it’s a good picture of her. He wonders who she’s working for and what brought her back to the political arena.

She has not come back as a friend, though. Mandy’s consulting for Senator Lloyd Russell, a man popular with white suburban women, upper-middle class black men, and the teacher’s union, and who’s no friend of the President. In other words, someone who might be a serious political rival to the President down the road.

Before the coffee meeting bring too much chaos to the table, Leo has a conversation with the Reverend Al Caldwell (F. William Parker). The President told Leo to fire Josh – the administration is taking this very seriously. However, the President thinks Caldwell’s gotten too close to religious extremists like Mary Marsh and John Van Dyke; Caldwell claims he needs them for political muscle.

Sam returns a page and is surprised to hear a woman answer “Cashmere Escorts.” In rushing from Laurie’s shower, out the door, and to the White House, Sam realizes he must have switched pagers with her by mistake. Losing the pager is suddenly the least of his problems; he calls Laurie, he needs to see her.

Josh needs the scoop on Mandy and her presence in D.C., so they arrange to meet for lunch. They’re only a few bites into their sandwiches when a couple of students recognize them: “Didn’t you guys used to be a thing?” one of them asks. They did. Listening to her discuss her job and her new boss, Josh figures that not only is Mandy working for Lloyd Russell, she’s dating him, too. Mandy exacts some revenge by telling Josh something he doesn’t know: The New York Times is going to run a poll with a 48% unfavourable rating for the administration.

Knowing how this situation could explode in his face, Sam goes into Laurie’s apartment to retrieve his pager. Before Sam can say what’s on his mind, Laurie pre-empts him: “Am I a hooker?” “No, no,” Sam says. He asks if it’s possible she’s a “very high-priced call girl.” That’s how he’d put it. No holds barred, she is. Laurie admits she should have told him, but she wanted Sam to like her. Here’s his biggest problem: he does.

Al Caldwell’s group is shown to the Mural Room as a crowd of nine-year-olds waits in the Roosevelt Room. Sam has been given the ultimate responsibility of teaching Leo’s daughter’s class about the history of the White House, something he admits he knows nothing about. What’s worse, he doesn’t even know which one is Leo’s daughter.

The kids are transfixed by Sam, without understanding a word he’s saying. He fumbles through some stuff about his former career as a lawyer before Mallory O’Brian (Allison Smith), the teacher, asks him about the building. Now Sam’s really in trouble. He says the White House was built several years ago; the Roosevelt Room is named for the 18th President, FDR; and the chairs were made from lumbar from a captured pirate ship. Miss O’Brian yanks Sam into the corridor: “Are you a moron?” She tells Sam the 18th President was Ulysses S. Grant and that the Roosevelt Room is named for Theodore Roosevelt, of whom there is a large painting on the wall. Is it possible that the Deputy Communications Director, in charge of crafting the message of the White House, knows nothing about the White House?

Sam knows he’s whipped, but before Mallory goes back in, Sam asks which of the kids is Leo McGarry’s daughter. He thinks if he can make her laugh, his life would be much easier. Mallory’s at her wit’s end, and wants to know why she should make his life easier.

SAM: Ms. O’Brian, I understand your feelings, but please believe me when I tell you that I’m a nice guy having a bad day. I just found out that the Times is publishing a poll that says a considerable number of Americans feel the White House has lost energy and focus. A perception that’s not likely to be altered by video footage of the President riding his bicycle into a tree. As we speak, the Coast Guard is fishing Cubans out of the Atlantic Ocean while the governor of Florida wants to blockade the port of Miami. A good friend of mine’s about to be fired for going on television and making sense, and it turns out I accidentally slept with a prostitute last night. Now would you please, in the name of compassion, tell me which one of these kids is my boss’s daughter.
MALLORY: That would be me.
SAM: You
MALLORY: Yes.
SAM: Leo’s daughter’s forth grade class.
MALLORY: Yes.
SAM: (pause) This is bad on so many levels.

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion: (cont)

The inevitable moment has come: Josh, Toby, and C.J. meet the representatives of the religious right. Remembering Toby’s advice, Josh is polite, even humble. In his best-rehearsed voice, he says he wasn’t speaking for the President, he was glib and insulting, and he apologizes. But Mary Marsh pushes all apologies aside – she wants to deal. Josh insulted them; what do they get? “Public morals, school prayer, or pornography, take your pick,” she says. And she insists they only deal with Toby since she’s sure Josh will be gone by the end of the day. She tells Josh that it was only a matter of time: “That New York sense of humour.” Josh shrugs it off, but Toby quietly interrupts, “She meant Jewish.” Josh doesn’t want to go there and Caldwell tries to move the meeting along.

John Van Dyke tries to make a point about the First Commandment, but Toby and Mary Marsh are squaring off on Biblical trivia “The First Commandment says ‘honour thy father.’ ” Toby is enraged: If they’re going to argue, they should at least get the Commandments right. “ ‘ Honour thy father’ is the Third Commandment.” “Then what’s the First Commandment?” asks Van Dyke.

Out of nowhere, a booming voice silences the room. There’s a man standing in the doorway supporting himself with a cane. And he says, in answer to Van Dyke’s question, “I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other God before me.” With tremendous presence, President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) enters the room. Spiritedly, Van Dyke asks if our children can buy pornography at a street corner for five dollars, isn’t that too high a price to pay for free speech? No, says the President, it’s too high a price for pornography. Bartlet’s clearly in no mood to debate with extremists. He pointedly asks Reverend Al Caldwell how many times he’s asked him to denounce the fringe group, the Lambs of God?

It seems Church and State have met once again. His wife, Abbey, told him not to do anything when he’s angry but he was as angry as he’s ever been when he got on that bike the other day. It seems his twelve-year-old granddaughter, Annie, gave an interview in a teen magazine, and in the midst of conversations on boys and fashion, she mentioned her views on a woman’s right to choose. The President has read his Bible from cover to cover and he asks which part of it inspired the Lambs of God to send his granddaughter a Raggedy Ann doll with a knife stuck through its throat. Without allowing another moment of discussion, he tells Caldwell to denounce these people. And until he does, “you can all get your fat asses out of my White House.”

Once the group has gone, Bartlet addresses his staff with the simultaneous love and strictness of a father. He reprimands them for taking a little break, thinking about their personal lives or about keeping their jobs. He wants to get to work: 1,200 Cubans left Hawaii this morning, 700 turned back, 350 are missing, presumed drowned, and 137 have been taken into custody in Miami. “With the clothes on their backs they came through a storm,” Bartlet says. “And those that didn’t die want a better life. They want it here. Talk about impressive. My point is this: Break’s over.”