‘The West Wing’ Set to Celebrate 25th Anniversary with White House Event
Throughout its seven-season run on NBC, “The West Wing” would often feature President Josiah Bartlett (played with ever-convincing gravitas by Martin Sheen) posing the question, “What’s next?” to his colleagues and staff. Well, now, according to a Deadline report, we’re finally getting an answer as the White House plans on celebrating the 25th anniversary of the landmark political series with an event featuring President Joe Biden, as well as members of the original cast and crew. This celebration will take place September 20, two days before the anniversary of the show’s debut. Some of the cast are also set to present at the Emmy Awards this Sunday, September 15.
Created by Aaron Sorkin and produced by Warner Bros. Television, “The West Wing” first aired on NBC on September 22, 1999. Featuring a main cast that included Sheen, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Allison Janney, Rob Lowe, Richard Schiff, Stockard Channing, and Dulé Hill, the series covered the two-term Presidency of Jed Bartlett, as well as the ascendancy of future president Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits).
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While promoting the recently published “What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to ‘The West Wing,’ Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service,” authors and cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack, as well as Sheen, met with Biden at the White House last month, resulting in a viral moment that saw the real life President offer the fake one the chance to address the press gaggle.
Sorkin also helped promote the book last month with an event at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. When asked why the show took off and why it remains such a strong influence, the writer put most of the credit on his collaborators.
“Honestly, I think it would for roughly the same reason it worked when it did, which is that, first of all, it was a good show, just good stories well told by a great group of people,” he said to the crowd at the Skirball Cultural Center. “But by and large, in popular culture, our leaders are portrayed either as Machiavellian or as dolts, right? It’s either a ‘House of Cards’ or ‘Veep.‘ The idea behind ‘The West Wing’ was what if they were as competent and as dedicated as the doctors and nurses on hospital shows, the cops on the cop shows, the lawyers on a legal drama, that kind of thing. And the result was something that was idealistic and it was aspirational.”
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