The West Wing: Aaron Sorkin and Cast interview (2001)
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and actors Martin Sheen, John Spencer, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford discuss "The West Wing" and what has lead to its success.
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This was just before Two Cathedrals dropped. One of the great episodes of TV ever.
The Bacons great great episode
“Watch this”
@@Superdelphinus I think about that line a lot
I could not agree more. Two Cathedrals is the high water mark for network television. Soon thereafter, the world changed the way we consumed media. But in that moment, network TV put its' hands in its' pockets, looked away, and smiled.
@@geofffleming12 Facts.
"This would be my swan song for hour-drama, I think, in my career. There's no better way to go out." 26:04 I miss John Spencer. Such a great actor and so great on the show. RIP
He got his wish. 😊
@@SkywalkerSamadhi too young😢
Gut punch. :(
That wound up being sadly true, I love Leo so much!
John Spencer was brilliant in the WW. There was no better way for him to go out and he went out on top of his craft. RIP Mr. Spencer.
OMG, seeing John Spencer/Leo McGarry is getting me all teary eyed. Perfect man for that character.
Greatest show ever - the first four seasons are incredible. It was never the same without Rob Lowe and Aaron Sorkin, those first 4 are magic. Even on it's worst day though, better than most things on even now.
It's melancholy in a way, to hear John Spencer talking about this as his swan song already in 2001, given that he would have a fatal heart attack before the end of the series. RIP; he was an amazing actor.
Yes, that is interesting how that turned out because you know it wasn't said as a 'premonition'. Incredible actor & always glad when shows, including this one, include deaths of their actors in the writing because it gives the viewers a chance to grieve & say goodbye.
All these years later, John Spencer’s death just makes me cry. He was my very favorite character. I loved Leo. I named my cat after him. And yes Two cathedrals is still the best television episode ever written for anything.
Where is President Bartlet when you need him? I still miss this show. Really enjoyed the ensemble cast, the premise and the education it provided. One of the best, well written shows ever on television.
6:16 "You're not... sir." I love how everyone just cracks up. It's really heartwarming how much of a family these people were.
So much irony with the 'um..uh...uh...ahh' speaking style by Sorkin, who writes such beautiful, snappy, dense prose for his characters.
Always thinking of the exact words.
Why even bring up his speech?
@@user-yh8ik3xw8s Unfortunately, Sorkin had a drug problem back then. He left the show at a certain point to go into rehab.
Writers also tend not to be great public speakers.
It may be ironic, but it's rather typical. I am horrific with public speaking, but I know how to articulate myself well with writing. I befriended a person via message boards who was employed in college administrations only to learn she was a stutterer in real life. I went to high school with a Japanese immigrant who rarely spoke due to his insecurity of his thick accent, however, his writing in English was not only fluent but filled with specific colloquialisms.
For the last year, so many times I almost wrote "Bartlet for America" on a paper napkin....
I actually did
I wrote it on a napkin years ago, it still is on my office wall.
LET BARTLET BE BARTLET
Cw Cody I wished he had been president as long as the show had been on! It was my alternate political reality, as I had totally given up on those running the country! Great writing, great actors, quick pace, a great hour & you always learned something new!
West Wing is a show about smart, funny, kind, ambitious people with hearts and consciences trying to do the Right Thing.
The West Wing is one of the greatest shows ever
I used to watch this show with a friend and co-worker - a very, very sensible woman - and her husband every week. One Monday when we met for lunch, I asked if she'd heard that Martin Sheen had been arrested at a protest over the weekend. She said, "Oh, he shouldn't do things like that, he's the Pres- " D'oh!! If only!!
The episode they are referring to involving flashbacks of President Bartlett's childhood was AMAZING television! This show never never gets old! It's as relevant today in 2020 as it was when it aired.
I feel like John Spencer was the guy who REALLY knew how great this show was going to be when all was said and done.
Greatest television show of all time 🏆
It makes me sooo nostalgic, sad and desperate for this kind of integrity, honesty, and diplomacy in politics today.
Oh my goodness, that is so true, how I long for that again Johnny Ross
Oh if only it was !!
second best.....Sopranos is #1
Now Allison Janney holds an Oscar.
Much ❤ to "The Big Lady."
I don't know what I was watching back on TV in '99. Never watched this show, not sure I would have like it. But, I just decided to spend time on Netflix and watch it. But I love the show. I love the humor and characters. I just can't image the fast pace, the people constantly moving, the thick dialogue, etc. And, most of all, great writing!
Don't you believe it is a "pressure cooker" in the White House?!!!!!!
Yes. 2020 was so into it for a week and some
Talented cast
26:16 John Spencer's comments - both chilling and gratifying knowing that he dies literally in last season. If you watch the DVD commentary of the 2002 episode for which he won an Emmy, he breaks down in crying in gratitude for receiving the award. (Remember that next time when you see someone get an award. It's a big deal. And for that actor it is extremely gratifying.)
49:16 He said "Thank you, Charlie." For a moment, I thought he was talking to Dule Hill lol
It's crazy to see how excited they are about Two Cathedrals and it did not disappoint.
Allison finally speaks at 14:28
Noticed that too. This interviewer kind of annoyed me by 1) not really addressing each person equally-most notably Allison- and 2) talking over them when they’re trying to share a thought
What an amazingly talented, kind, intelligent group of people. Truly wish they were really running the country right now
Happy to hear Bradley Whitford call out David Chase. David Chase and Aaron Sorkin paved the way for Vince Gilligan, Matthew Weiner, Bryan Fuller, and any other showrunner you want to mention. Those two shows opened us up to every great drama of the 2000s.
Yes ^. Something at this time in television churned out The mighty power of the ensemble cast , which became evident as to become indispensable, and then elevated with refined 3 dimensional characterizations and world immersion, held up by so many details that it's no longer just entertainment but an exhibition of storytelling skill and creative license.
The Sopranos ; not being a "procedural" held it's own by breaking the mold aesthetically, while teaching us about "real family" - where TWW I think had a different but still transformative goal, in humanizing the highest office in the land and teaching us about civic duty, i.e. "real checks and balances".
The way Bradley comments on "the cult" of the work , Id wager was not unlike the mood on the set of The Sopranos. People taking it seriously, striving for perfection, and in both cases ALL starts with the writing. When a production exists inside that kind of creative bubble, everything is drawn into the center of gravity and everyone orbits around it, "submitting" to the greater purpose of the story! Bradley said it well - writers writing what they want to write, not what they want to "sell" is demonstrably the proper way to make good tv. 😄
The. Best. Show. Ever.
It’s absolutely about the characters. I felt so invested in these characters.
I named my dog after Tobi and my daughter after Abigail Bartlet! I absolutely connected with these characters!
Im watching this show again and i am astonished how it really does not portray the current positions of the parties but it nails current events even now! the greatest show ever.
My two favorite shows of all time: The West Wing and The Newsroom. Gee..I wonder what they have in common. Would love a reboot of both shows.
and they're very liberal
No doubt the best television show of my lifetime!
🙏🏼👍🏻💪🏽❤️🔥Best show of all time!!!!!!
The West Wing is a close second. The best show of all time belongs to Hill Street Blues, which started a whole trend of serialized, multi episode, interweaving Arc storylines involving a huge regular cast, and employing a mix of drama, comedy and very interesting characters. And what a great bunch of characters , captain furillo Joyce Davenport , Lieutenant bunts Lieutenant Hunter , belker , John LaRue, detective Washington , Hill and renko , Lucy Bates Sergeant Stan Yablanski and we can't forget Phil esterhaus - Hill Street and it's movement away from episodic television, where 1 story and a subplot begins and ends within one 45 Minutes episode was followed by St Elsewhere and Dallas, which later begat ER. I love The West , but you can't appreciate it without recognizing it's excellent forerunners.
Love, love, love this show and every cast member! Just discovered it half a year ago (thank you, Colette) and we're up to season 4 currently...
Sadly, after Aaron Sorkin leaves the show, season 4 is his last, the quality totally changes. I couldn't watch it after the first 4 seasons. But the first 4, are timeless and so special.
I have all 7 seasons on DVD. Nothing since has surpassed this show's superb quality of writing and acting. A legend in it's own lifetime.
Did you watch Madam Secretary?
Linda Sechrist
No I haven’t. I’ll look it up. I might be able to find it on one of our TV Channels in the U.K.
Six Feet Under?
pink love never saw that show.
@@JoeCasanovax Never saw Six Feet Under. Maybe it's on Netflix or Amazon Prime. I'll check it out.
Greatest show on Earth
“Hollywood is full of people trying to sell you a joke they don’t think is funny” 12:39 brilliant observation 🙌
The most brilliant show I've ever seen. My daughter's high school political science teacher has made this required watching. And i'm sure she's not the only one to do this. And for once, my daughter doesn't mind doing her homework with her dad LOL.
I'm a high school history/civics teacher (chair) and what makes me a better teacher than your daughter's teacher..is that I recommend this show (which has a tremendous liberal bent), I don't require it.
Did I teach your daughter, because I would regularly show episodes to my American government classes! Lol. Seriously, you could learn a lot about our system of government by watching this show.
@@temporarystranger95 It's so true. I learned so much more about our government from this show than I ever did in school.
@@newt0830 Wow. That's pretty condescending. I think you'd be a better teacher if you could manage to have the conversation with your students about the fact that it's liberal and what the conservative take on some of the topics would be. Especially at this time, with as divisive as our country has become, this show often demonstrates how people with different viewpoints on both sides of the aisle can come together and get things done.
I’m watching this in January of 2024 and it makes me want to weep at what this year is going to be, at what it possibly holds at the end. This showed me what an almost perfect presidency would be…..with language that was beautiful and tragic and that moved me in ways I cannot possibly describe. God, we have fallen so low. 😢😢😢
i'm a republican, BUT i love the west wing and WISH we had people in the white house like them. Democrat and Republican i've not seen a group like the ones on this show. Season 2 episode 1 STILL makes me CRY now days when i watch it
I never missed Rob Lowe
Amen! As a lifelong Democrat, I loved the character of Ainsley. Every time she spoke, I listened. I really listened and considered her point of view. Amazing…
i agree
Totally agree. Well said.
Martin has a great laugh. It cracks me up. I miss this show so much.
This was right before Two Cathedrals (widely considered the best episode) premiered.
Arguably some of the best writing and best acting in television history-bar none!!!
oh my god, charlie rose has always been that age
I still like to watch this show. I learned so much about how politics work and how Washington works. Loved the character development over the years that it ran. Wish we had a Bartlett type in the Ehite House now.
Thanks for posting this. During my coved-19 lock in its great seeing this wonderful cast talking about a wonderful show. #okokwhat’snext
Yes it was.
Allison Janney is the greatest actress ever
Charlie is a class act. That whole stage are all class acts. All flawed, all human, and all an inspiration
I still, 2024, go back and rewatch all the seasons of the West Wing! The writing is beautiful. I miss the 22 episode season format! And the we are Still debating the same issues today! Lol!
What kind of foresight, Devine blessing and karma does it take to bring all these incredible people together?
I just finished this show and it was awesome
What a fantastic get together this is..Smartest show ever yet these guys are so beyond patronising..
Greatest show in television history
Half of this fifty-minute program are of Aaron Sorkin carrying on. Ten minutes in, I skipped over his remaining contributions, and it became a very enjoyable interview.
Brilliant writer. There is no West Wing without him, and these actors, as great as they are, would have had nothing to bring to life if the words were not first written on page.
It took almost 4 minutes before the address Allison. Before she even speaks! CJ is the BEST! WTF? I know she was the new comer on the show.... but CR! Not surprised he wasn’t WOKE.
Finally saw this show! (Thx HBO 😈) i waited to be in a mood of political state. From The News Room to this REALLLLY showed that this show in particular really set the precedent (no…pun?) now i knew why The News Room was so good! Both shows really had that family and together we prevail. John Spencer… wow! Sorkin really predicted some what of our future. We always knew eventually. Man oh man seeing so many of them become what they are now and is so satisfying. I literally would wait because i wanted it to last forever. Replaying scenes just to further understand the depth. This has become a Top 5. My man Santos. From democrat to a diplomat to a gang set and bike cluv
This was such a great show - well written and acted. There is nothing that comes close to it on tv today.
100% this show has made me get involved in politics, it helped me find out how much I care and d enjoy trying to understand why? Why are we so divided, why the laws are changing in the wrong direction in my opinion.
The writing in this series is about making it the way it should be and no longer is. It saddens me that the quality of most politicians do not raise to the level of the characters in this series. Sad but it makes me read more and try to figure things out, when I get to retire I would like to contribute by volunteering in schools, if I can influence one kid, that is all I need….
“We, I think, approach this believing that the people who watch television are at least as smart as the people who make television shows.”
I know they make movies but, Disney needs to figure that out fast. The West Wing was a truly great show along with News Room, and it really shows the difference in a great writers mentality versus the panicked jumbled mess movies are today. It makes me sad to to see this clip and know that something like The West Wing may never come back around in main stream media, both in film and television.
It’s even worse when the only place I can talk about this is a RUclips comment section because my peers just don’t understand why film should be held to a standard like this. The same peers that complain about movies and TV being “boring” the second time viewing...
Clap! Clap! I've been watching The Newsroom on a practically an endless loop for a month. America is NOT the greatest country in the world...but we can be! God bless Mac's pad!
"Plain spoken=plain folken"
They're talking about Bush as this was taped in 2001.
Yeah, they definitely weren't speaking about Donald. He's so dumb he makes "plain spoken" sound like genius by comparison.
If there's two thing to pull from this it's:
Richard Schiff is Toby Ziegler. From tone and facial ticks to just what gear the guy is in depending on the context
Writing for a White House Press Secretary must be a series of trying to answer clever questions with snippy answers and failing 4 or 5 times a day.
Seems like they forgot that Allison Janney was even there.
Todd Daugherty was about to say the same thing !! Let CJ speak!
Who?
I don't think Richard Schiff spoke any more than Allison did. I think it's just that Aaron's hemming and hawing took up 3/4 of the hour
"the big lady" Allison Janey is the best. And what a good sport!
Is Allison Janney wearing the same jacket and shirt she's wearing in the Season 3 episode Manchester during the scene where she goes to see the First Lady at the ranch?
LOVED this show, and really appreciate these artists talking about their craft. Now that T-rump is out of the white house, it would be great if Mr. Sorkin wrote and produced a sequel to The West Wing, about the trump white house. He could call it: THE WORST WING.
i loved that it wasn't blowing up buildings, TWW got me to LOVE WORDS
The fact that this came out the night before Two Cathedrals...
Was the best show ever on television
Just hearing the intros of these main characters makes you think of the 1927 Yankees.
thanks, best show ever
The best TV show ever.
Oh my god I'm thinking "Look how young Aaron is here, he must be 30 years old!" He was 39 during this. I must be getting old or something.
+KhasAdun Lucky you; *I've* gotten positively ancient!
Love Aaron Sorkin's work but listening to him speak drives me up the wall. You can tell he is a genius but the "uh uh uh uh um um" is nerve racking
Totally agreed. But remember that when this was filmed he was in the midst of a pretty serious cocaine habit. He's still got some verbal ticks in sobriety, but nowhere near this annoying.
its called COKE..and not the soda
Something I am pleased to see posted ! ( Thanks guys ) John
I'm conservative but there was nothing that I found objectionable about the show. It was brilliant!!
I thought it did a good job of debating both sides.
Loved the searies, outstanding. thank you
"The shows are all done with language," Beautiful.
It would be great if we had a president who would do the "right thing" no matter what?!!!!!
Another irony: when Aaron said he wanted to show/see a President do something you don’t see on TV: being sick [in bed] & having to watch television all day... well, it’s reality now😑
Allison Jenny does not get to speak until 14:29 Others talk about CJ much more than her
I wish common-sense, common-good and common-goals were as ferociously sought after, in reality, as they were on this show. Growing up watching this made me want to fight.
Now in my current head space, I realize how fantastical and delusional this fight makes people. It simply isn’t reality.
People making fun of Sorkin’s speaking: My god, how effing brilliant and talented does a person have to be in order for people to cut them the slightest slack when they show any kind of human weakness or struggle?
these people, my god. Fantastic. Rip John Spencer
If Alison was British she’d be a Dame by now like Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.
Awww geez... so many things are hitting home as I watch this for the first time in 2024... John Spencer saying that he'll never do another hour long drama, America being obsessed with their presidents' being plain spoken or just plain stupid as if that's something to aspire to, Richard thinking that Charlie is turning to him because he has complaints (and we all know how Richard felt about Toby by the end).... Rob Lowe being missing, all the actors talking over each other and proving that Aaron and Tommy made the right choices in casting because they are all so incredibly wordy... sigh.
Rest in peace John Spencer.
Love the movie. A few good men.
We all do.
10min into watching this...Allison is yet to speak a weird. Feels like a typical corporate meeting
Great interview, badly mic'd. Seems like they had a lazy boom mic operator that eventually got over to the speaker. You can see lapel mics but they don't seem to always work. It's a shame.
They...we...were all so young!
HANDS DOWN, ... The BEST TV series ever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WW
never heard a talking style like aaron's before.
There is not even a single shot of all of them together in this interview. I wonder why :)
Spenser’s comments about how long he’d like to play this part is so ironic.
This was definitely during Mr. Snorkins crack days
coked out...helps with energy so I hear. lot on addiction and rehab in this show,...writes from the heart. Spencer the oldest looking 57 yo
I just finished binging this show, I did not hear any French except once from Hoynes.
Why did I have to wait almost 15 min until the only woman gets to speak? Love the show. It's just very is old-fashioned in terms of gender equality, as is seen even in this group interview.
Aaron Sorkin is the smartest writer in america , he should never be allowed to speak in public for any length of time. I mean
...
What's the incident at the airport they are taking about at the end?
Aaron was arrested at the Burbank Airport for possession of mushrooms
@@mab0512 he was into shrooms too?? I know he liked Coke but didn't know he tripped as well 😂
Allison and I have the same birthday 🎂 November 19th!
RIP John Spencer (Leo McGarry)
President Sheen
Dr Glassman or Robert Tooley
CJ was in "The Help" as Emma Stone's mom or "I,Tonya" wasted Margot Robbie as Lavonda Golden... However the role, Allison do her best!
Mikhaila I misunderstood you. Don’t worry about it. We’re friends.
13 mins in and Allison Janney hasn't got a word in yet.