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The West Wing
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The West Wing was THE Emmys juggernaut in the first half of the 2000s. Winning the Outstanding Drama trophy for each of its first four seasons, it was the last hurrah for network dramas at the Emmys. And while, shockingly, Martin Sheen never took home an Outstanding Lead Actor trophy for playing President Jed Bartlet, six other main cast members did end up winning a total of nine Emmy Awards for their acting work. Allison Janney won four as press secretary CJ Cregg, while it was one Emmy apiece for Richard Schiff as communications director Toby Ziegler, Bradley Whitford as chief political strategist Josh Lyman, John Spencer as chief of staff Leo McGarry, Stockard Channing as First Lady Abbey Bartlet, and Alan Alda as presidential candidate Arnold Vinick.
At the Emmys, it’s not only important that you deliver a great performance all year, but that you submit the right episodes. During the years The West Wing aired, lead performers submitted one episode apiece while supporting actors were allowed to submit two. That adds up to sixteen total West Wing episodes that ended up winning gold for the performers. Some of these episodes were great, canny submissions, while others were head-scratchers. We decided we’d rank them, because this is the internet. It’s what we do.
"Access"
Season: 5
Episode: 18
Date aired: 3/31/04
Who won: Allison Janney, Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role in 2004
As an episode, I’d say “Access” is polarizing, but I’ve never encountered anybody who says they love it. It’s a stylistic reach of an episode from the first post-Sorkin season that ultimately didn’t feel like a West Wing episode at all. The faux-Frontline format is a fun genre, and it gives Janney a chance to do a different kind of acting, which is probably why it was an Emmy submission for her, but there’s no zing to the events of the episode, and we can see why this was the Emmy that Janney was sure Mariska Hargitay, and not she, would win.
"The Women of Qumar"
Season: 3
Episode: 8
Date aired: 11/28/01
Who won: Allison Janney, Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role in 2002
This was the season that Janney made the jump from submitting as a supporting actress to a leading one. She definitely got herself a showcase episode to do it with. “The Women of Qumar” is the first episode of season 3 (save for the hastily-assembled “Isaac and Ishmael”) that feels like it was written in a post-9/11 America. Sorkin created the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Qumar and proceeded to funnel into it all of his newly kindled anxieties about war with the Muslim world. It wasn’t all that pretty, and it feels pretty reactionary in retrospect, but CJ’s big “they’re beating the women, Nancy!” moment will live on forever.
"Bartlet for America"
Season: 3
Episode: 9
Date aired: 12/12/01
Who won: John Spencer, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in 2002
The Bartlet impeachment storyline had its ups and downs. The downs mostly included some murkily-lit, maudlin hours like this one, where Leo spends the bulk of the hour waiting for the other show to drop about an alcohol relapse he suffered while campaigning for Bartlet. Maybe it’s that it hurts to watch Leo brought so low, even in flashback, but the only part of this episode that fully satisfies (and it was likely the part that got this episode submitted) is Leo breaking down at the memento Bartlet gives him.
"Two Weeks Out"
Season: 7
Episode: 14
Date aired: 3/19/06
Who won: Alan Alda, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in 2006
As the lesser of two Arnold Vinick-centric episodes, this is the one where he’s nursing a broken hand and an even more broken campaign. Alda is excellent throughout the seventh season, so you could have submitted any number of episodes. I’m not sure why this one was picked, exactly, but he delivers in a strategic press conference where he shows why Vinick would be such an attractive political candidate.
"We Killed Yamamoto"
Season: 3
Episode: 20
Date aired: 5/15/02
Who won: John Spencer, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in 2002
John Spencer’s Emmy for The West Wing‘s third season was richly deserved and a long time coming, but it’s too bad it came for episodes that reflected our least favorite shades of Leo. Sorkin wrote his White House chief-of-staff to be a real hawk in the post-9/11 era, which really came through in this episode where he strong-armed Bartlet into ordering a covert assassination of the Qumari defense minister.
"Five Votes Down"
Season: 1
Episode: 4
Date aired: 10/13/99
Who won: Richard Schiff, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in 2000
While he’s not a huge part of the central plot of this episode, that sees the West Wing staff scrambling to recover the five lost votes needed to pass a anti-gun bill (such science fiction, that an anti-gun bill could even come within five votes of passing the House!), Toby has a great runner where he gets into hot water over financial disclosures when it’s discovered that the lone stock issue he holds is worth $125,000. An early sign that Schiff could do the more comedic stuff along with the drama.
"The Last Hurrah"
Season: 7
Episode: 20
Date aired: 4/30/06
Who won: Alan Alda, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, 2006
This is the episode where President-Elect Santos reaches across the aisle and offers Arnold Vinick the Secretary of State job. Alda does a great job with puttering, aimless Vinick and then later cunning, distrustful Vinick.
"Galileo"
Season: 2
Episode: 9
Date aired: 11/29/00
Who won: Allison Janney, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, 2001
Janney’s two submissions for season 2 were a real puzzle. She had so many big guns to choose from — “The Leadership Breakfast” where she and Toby clash; “The Fall’s Gonna Kill You” where she learns about the President’s MS — that it’s a puzzle why she went with “Galileo.” That said, she has a couple great moments here, including a tense interaction with an ex of hers who she passed over for a promotion (“I’m GREAT at sex!”), and the above “broader theme” for a presentation to school children about the space program that went belly-up. Also, shows how much I know, because Janney won her second consecutive Emmy anyway.
"Gone Quiet"
Season: 3
Episode: 6
Date aired: 11/14/01
Who won: Stockard Channing, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, 2002
The main plot of this episode, involving a lost submarine off of the North Korean coast and a state-department expert played by Hal Holbrook who gives the President a hard time, is a really fun one. Abbey Bartlet is relegated to a subplot with Oliver Babish, going over MS/impeachment business, but it gives Stockard Channing the chance to square off with Oliver Platt for some Emmy-worthy back-and-forth.
"In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part 2"
Season: 2
Episode: 2
Date aired: 10/4/00
Who won: Bradley Whitford, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, 2001
Josh is in surgery for the entirety of this episode, so all of Whitford’s big scenes here are in flashback. The biggest one is when he and Bartlet have the conversation that will forever forge their bond, at the airport after Josh’s father has died.
"Dead Irish Writers"
Season: 3
Episode: 15
Date aired: 3/6/02
Who won: Stockard Channing, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, 2002
With Allison Janney bumped up to the lead category, Channing was able to finally step into the winner’s circle. The bulk of this episode deals with Abbey facing impending sanctions over the MS affair, which is well enough, but the real highlight is an epic wine-guzzling sesh between the First Lady, CJ, and Amy Gardner (and, fine, Donna shows up later to bemoan her newly Canadian citizenship).
"Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics"
Season: 1
Episode: 21
Date aired: 5/10/00
Who won: Allison Janney, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, 2000
In the wake of the “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet” awakening, the West Wing staff waits impatiently for the results of the first polling numbers since they decided to get aggressive with their agenda. CJ’s optimistic forecast of a bump in numbers is largely brushed off, leading to a crisis of confidence that her counsel is no longer useful to Bartlet. What ends the episode is the world’s classiest toldja-so smirk.
"Celestial Navigation"
Season: 1
Episode: 15
Date aired: 2/16/00
Who won: Allison Janney, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, 2000
Two words: “ROOT CANAW.” It’s very likely that Allison Janney would have won her first Emmy Award for any combination of episodes from The West Wing‘s stellar first season, but submitting this largely comedic showcase, where CJ has to have emergency root canal surgery, temporarily loses the ability to pronounce most consonants, and then has to upbraid Josh for his horrific press conference, is the stuff of pure screwball gold. Just try to call someone “hostile” after this without thinking “HOSTOW! HOSTOW! YOU GET HOSTOW!”
"In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part 1"
Season: 2
Episode: 1
Date aired: 10/4/00
Who won: Allison Janney, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, 2001
It’s truly strange that Janney submitted Part 1 (where she does a lot of dazed reacting to the shooting) instead of Part 2 (where we get the flashack to CJ as an awful film publicist plus that great press conference at the end where she runs down all the other gun deaths that night), but again, Janney still won, so you can’t really argue with results.
"In Excelsis Deo"
Season: 1
Episode: 10
Date aired: 12/15/99
Who won: Richard Schiff, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, 2000
Probably the first truly buzzy episode of The West Wing, “In Excelsis Deo” was the textbook definition of an Emmy submission episode. Schiff’s Toby Ziegler got a great showcase both in and out of the White House, as he investigates the death of a homeless veteran and tries to get a respectful funeral for him.
"Noel"
Season: 2
Episode: 10
Date aired: 12/13/00
Who won: Bradley Whitford, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, 2001
The best of the West Wing Christmas episodes was also a slam-dunk Emmy submission for Bradley Whitford as Josh (even though the episode’s most memorable scene belonged to Leo). Josh experiences the depths of post-traumatic stress merely months after his near-death experience, which includes blowing up at the President and cutting his hand open. The scenes with Josh opposite Adam Arkin as the appointed shrink are some of Whitford’s spiky best.
