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The West Wing is hands down one of the most beloved series in television history. Aaron Sorkin created a political fantasy world where the people in power couldn’t just be trusted, they could be inspiring. For seven seasons, some of the greatest actors in TV history — including the likes of Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, Rob Lowe, Elisabeth Moss, Dulé Hill, Janel Maloney, and of course, Martin Sheen — wove human drama into our nation’s biggest ideological debates. Needless to say, we’re still nerding out over the show a decade after its finale.
So it was a total thrill to see Sorkin reunite with Whitford, Hill, Moloney, Schiff, Joshua Malina, Melissa Fitzgerald, and series director and executive producer Thomas Schlamme at the 2016 ATX Festival this morning. The panel, titled “The West Wing Administration” was moderated by West Wing writer Lawrence O’Donnell and gave both the fans and the creative team a chance to celebrate its amazing run.
The hour-plus event was a non-stop treat for West Wing fans. Luckily, if you missed it, you’ll soon be able to hear the whole thing on an upcoming episode of “The West Wing Weekly” podcast. That said, if you’re chomping at the bit for details, here were the five biggest takeaways from the event:
Aaron Sorkin Can Be Humble!
It’s a well-worn show business cliché that Aaron Sorkin can be…er…difficult. The genius screenwriter, show runner, and playwright has a penchant for writing stories about great men with great ideas delivering great monologues about them. Some of this grandeur has crossed over into his public persona.
However, throughout the entire West Wing Administration panel, Sorkin seemed dead set on foisting praise on everyone but himself. From the opening segment, where he gave director Thomas Schlamme credit for creating the “walk and talk” to the moments where he gleefully shared stories about moderator Lawrence O’Donnell’s contributions to the storylines, Sorkin was the paradigm of humility. He wanted to make it clear to the audience that the magic of The West Wing was that it was a team effort and that the event should be honoring the team. He ran through all the great actors who had been on the series “and a crew of a hundred or so people, all of them as dedicated to doing the show well as we all were and all of them a better people to spend a long day or often times long night than you’re ever going to find.”
It came down to Bradley Whitford to take a moment (or two) to thank Sorkin for creating the show. Whitford declared, “No human being will ever again write 22 one-hour episodes for four years – beautifully written, complicated verbally, complicated personally, funny, about something, as 11 feature films a year. It is extraordinary. It will never, ever happen again!”
The Very First “Walk & Talk”
Most of the big ATX Festival events start with a screening and then lead into a panel. For The West Wing reunion, the organizers were tasked with selecting one clip to represent the entire series. They wound up choosing the very first “Walk and Talk.”
Moderator Lawrence O’Donnell would introduce the event by musing that the scene, which appears at the very beginning of the pilot, establishes what would later be the tone of the entire series. We watch Leo McGarry weave through the White House, interact with characters, and debate various important pieces of state. The relatively short scene sets up storylines, relationships, and establishes articulate political arguments. It’s also beautifully shot in fluid motion by Thomas Schlamme. I caught Schlamme watching the scene in the wings before being ushered on stage and he was beaming.
Later when Sorkin asked Schlamme, “How much would you pay to take that pilot and do it all again?”, the director admitted that “I would pay everything to take everything back I shot.” However, Schlamme took a moment to savor his good work. He said, “I was really proud of it — I think for the first time.”
How The Internet Saved ‘The West Wing’
Throughout the panel, a number of interesting tidbits emerged, like how “The Jackal” was written into the show because Alison Janney kept singing it in her trailer or that Janel Moloney decided that the subtext of her role was that Donna was 100% in love with Josh before she met Bradley Whitford. Sorkin even admitted that he struggled with writing the characters of Toby and CJ for the first few episodes.
The biggest revelation? The Internet boom saved The West Wing. The series was shelved for years because of the Lewinsky scandal and only given a chance because a twist in trending fate. Sorkin explained:
Thanks, Dot Com!
“The West Wing” Is A Loving Symphony
One thing that came across was the cast’s enduring respect for one another. The stars repeatedly lauded their castmates for looking out for one another. Janel Moloney shared how Bradley Whitford went out of his way to secure her an extra take back when she was still on the fringes as a guest star.
One key metaphor was to liken the whole production to a symphony. Richard Schiff explained that he felt that Toby was “the oboe in the orchestra, in that they play the entire music, but until everything else stops, you don’t know he’s even there.”
Josh Malina — who was the butt of many jokes throughout the event — said he was the triangle.
Popcorn Watch 2016
As soon as the cast hit the stage, it was clear that one person was going to be having a little bit more fun than the rest. Richard Schiff brought a giant tub of popcorn that he gleefully chomped down on throughout the panel. At one point, he offered Bradley Whitford some, too. The two actors traded the tub back and forth while everyone spoke.
We asked Schiff privately later if the popcorn was good: “So good!” he enthused.
“It was really good theater popcorn — very unusual these days — because usually they cover it with yellow crap. I meant to compliment them during the panel, but I forgot to.”
Stay tuned for more from our chat with Schiff later this week on Decider.
