A couple of articles about “The West Wing,” both with some tidbits:
- Executive Producer John Wells claims he hasn’t decided who will win the presidential election: Republican Vinick (Alan Alda) or Democrat Santos (Jimmy Smits).
- The season will end with back-to-back episodes set at the Republican and Democratic conventions.
- Santos does’t have to win in order for one or more current castmembers to continue with the show.
- Martin Sheen is still in negotiations about returning to the show “in some capacity” next season; the Times says he will definitely be back next season.
Incidentally, the Times says that the show’s ratings are up slightly this year from last year, that the show has received a creative jolt due to the ending of Bartlet’s administration, and that it will likely be renewed for at least another season.
I find it very hard to believe that Wells hasn’t already decided the outcome of the next WEST WING presidential election. We’ve had a whole episode and large parts of others dedicated to the fledgling Santos campaign and almost nothing on the Vinick side.
Santos doesn’t have to win in order to have some current cast members stay with the show? Huh? What? Even in a changing-of-the-guard between members of the same party, there would most likely be an almost complete staff turnover. That’s just how the White House seems to work.
How in the world could Wells justify having a Republican White House retain any key members of the Bartlet team?
Of course, this is tv and, with a Santos victory, I could see opportunities being created for most of the current cast who would shift into new positions.
Sadly, I doubt that Alison Janney’s CJ would be among them. Josh would certainly be Santo’s Chief of Staff and what position would that leave for CJ? She wouldn’t go back to her Press Secretary position because that would not only be a step back, it would be at least TWO steps back.
The thing about the CJ character is that she’s not a wonk. She came to the original Bartlet campaign from a Hollywood PR background. The fact that she was promoted to Chief of Staff over a couple of other people who could be viewed as more qualified is a testament to how valuable her contribution to the administration became. But this wouldn’t make it easy to shift her into some other political position within a new administration.
I think a new adminstration would mean the departures of Janney, John Spencer, and Richard Ziff who play the most senior Barlet staffers, as well as Stockard Channing and Martin Sheen in all but “special guest star” capacity once or twice a season.
The exciting part of this is that the shakeup could actually create a lot of drama for the characters remaining with new positions for Janel Moloney, Bradley Whitford, Dule Hill, and Kristin Chenoweth, among others. I could even see recurring characters like assistants Debbie and Margaret returning.
As you can see, I’m bored at my job and have given this way too much thought. :)
With so many real-life Emmy Awards, it’s hard to believe that the West Wing will toss out virtually the entire company. I realize that there is virtually no other way to continue, but I don’t want to start over. Certainly not without Sheen, Janney and Co.
In the past, only 2 series (that spring to mind) lived thru a major cast members leaving… ER seems to anticipate it and have new people in place to keep the flow going.
Mash weathered Henry’s death, Trapper’s departure as well as Frank’s, but there too, we didn’t have to wave goodbye to the magic, only small parts of it.
No matter what happens to Alison Janney, I will gladly go watch her. She’s been a favorite for a long time, even before “Claudia Jean”