News Archive 1999-2000
12.29.00 - "The West Wing" has been nominated for eight TV Guide Awards: Drama Series of the Year, Actor of the Year in a Drama Series (Martin Sheen), Actress of the Year in a Drama Series (Allison Janney), Supporting Actor of the Year in a Drama Series (Rob Lowe, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, and Bradley Whitford), and Supporting Actress of the Year in a Drama Series (Stockard Channing).
12.21.00 - "The West Wing" receieved Golden Globe nominations for Best
Dramatic Series, Best Actor in a Dramatic Series (Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe),
Best Supporting Actress (Allison Janney) and Best Supporting Actor (Bradley
Whitford). Congratulations!
12.21.00 - Amy Amatangelo at dish
this says that "The West Wing" is her number two show of the ten best shows
of the year.
12.21.00 - Ken Tucker put "The West Wing" on the top of his list of the
10 Best TV Shows of 2000 in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly.
12.19.00 - "The West Wing" was ranked #2 out of TV Guide's Top 10 Shows
of 2000.
11.30.00 - "The West Wing" has been nominated for a People's Choice Award
for Favorite Television Dramatic Series.
11.30.00 - Robe Lowe will be doing a cameo in the Miramax comedy "A View From the Top" starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate and Candice Bergen. Lowe plays a pilot who garners the lavish attentions of flight attendant Paltrow.
11.22.00 - Aaron Sorkin and his wife, Julia welcomed their first child,
a baby girl on Saturday, November 18. Mother and daughter are doing great.
11.18.00 - Read an extra's experience while The West Wing was filming location shots in Washington D.C.
11.11.00 - In the November 11th issue, TV Guide gives Jeers to
tough calls. The magazine's Jeer on October 28th to The West Wing for
the flashback of a Verizon pay phone in New York City rang some bells. Should
the sign have read Bell Atlantic (Verizon's precursor, as they suggested) or
NYNEX (Bell's forerunner)? Can't say: Wing doesn't occur in real time,
which explains why President Bartlet isn't up for reelection.
11.6.00 - Martin Sheen and Dule Hill spent the last Saturday before the
election stumping for Vice President Al Gore in Bethlehem, PA. Also appearing
were Helen Hunt, Alfre Woodard, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rob Reiner and Ben Affleck.
10.25.00 - FoxNews: Does The West Wing Lean Left? Richard
Schiff Answers
10.17.00 - The West Wing was number one in the Nielsen ratings for the week Sept 28-Oct 4.
10.9.00 - Martin Sheen was arrested at a protest as Vandenburg Airforce Base on Saturday, October 7. The protest was against military space technology.
Twenty-three protesters were cited for misdemeanor trespassing and failure to
disperse, warned in writing not to return to the base for at least one year,
then released.
9.14.00 - Marlee Matlin gave birth to her second child, a son, at an
undisclosed Los Angeles-area hospital Tuesday. Matline and policeman husband
Kevin Grandalski also have a 4-year-old daughter.
9.11.00 - Picture of Stockard Channing arriving at the 2000 Emmy Awards
9.11.00 - "The West Wing" Emmy Award Wins! (9)
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Thomas Schlamme for the "Pilot")
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg)
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Aaron Sorkin & Rick Cleveland for "In Excelsis Deo")
Outstanding Art Directed for a Single-Camera Series (Jon Hutman, production designer, Tony Fanning, art director, and Ellen Totleben, set decorator for the "Pilot")
Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series (Barbara Miller, C.S.A., John Levey, C.S.A., Kevin Scott, C.S.A., Casting Executives)
Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Thomas A. Del Ruth, A.S.C., director of photography for the "Pilot")
Outstanding Main Title Theme Music (W.G. Snuffy Walden, composer)
9.11.00 - By bringing home nine Emmy awards last night, "The West Wing" broke the record held previously by "ER" and "Hill Street Blues." The previous high of eight Emmys was also set by those series in their freshman seasons.
9.6.00 - Amnesty International will honor seven individuals - including
Martin Sheen - with its first Enduring Spirit Awards "in recognition of their
personal commitments to help others secure equal, fair and humane treatment
around the world." Sheen will be recognized for his activism promoting South
and Central American rights. As political off-screen as in his soundstage White
House, Sheen has advocated more liberal political asylum policies in the U.S.
and marched with Rev. Jesse Jackson to protest immigration reform legislation
in 1993. He also has worked to fight nuclear proliferation, domestic violence
and homelessness.
9.1.00 - Richard Schiff's wife, Sheila Kelly, recently gave birth the
couple's baby girl, Ruby.
8.18.00 - Thomas Schlamme has signed a production and development deal
with Warner Bros. Television. The one-year pact calls for Schlamme to remain
an executive producer on "The West Wing" alongside Aaron Sorkin and John Wells while developing new projects for the studio.
8.16.00 - John Wells has given back the Family Television Award presented
to "The West Wing" earlier this month after Allison Janney's comments in support of the actors' strike were deleted from the telecast, Variety reports. "The West Wing is not interested in an award from an organization that supports censorship of free speech," Wells said in a statement. The awards are handed out by the Association of National Advertisers, one of the groups involved in the dispute.
8.8.00 - The Viewers for Quality Television named "The West Wing" TV's
best quality drama, and its stars, Martin Sheen and John Spencer, best actor
and supporting actor respectively.
8.4.00 - "The West Wing" took home the best drama prize at the second
annual Family Television Awards, presented Thursday in Beverly Hills.
7.29.00 - Sorkin has signed a new development and production deal with
Warner Bros. Television. Read all about it at Netscape.
7.26.00 - Actor Martin Sheen, whose son Charlie has a history of drug
problems, says the courts need to deal harshly with addicts. "I've seen how
devastating drug addiction can be. Drug addicts need to be held directly accountable
by the court with real sanctions," Sheen said in a statement declaring his opposition
to Proposition 36 on the November ballot. The measure would send as many as
37,000 Californians a year into drug treatment programs rather than jail. Sheen
said Monday he was the honorary chairman of the campaign against the initiative.
Proposition 36 proponents claim the measure includes plenty of tough penalties
for people who flounder in treatment programs. If voters pass the measure, people
convicted of drug possession or being under the influence of drugs would be
sentenced to attend a year or more of drug treatment.
7.21.00 - TV Guide Online: Will
the West Win?
7.20.00 - "The West Wing" has been nominated for eighteen Emmy Awards
for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series (Pilot), Outstanding
Casting for a Drama Series, Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series
(Pilot), Outstanding Costumes for a Series (The State Dinner), Outstanding Directing
for a Drama Series (Pilot), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a
Series (In Excelsis Deo and What Kind of Day Has It Been), Outstanding Main
Title Design, Outstanding Main Title Theme Music, Outstanding Lead Actor in
a Drama Series (Martin Sheen), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
(Richard Schiff and John Spencer), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama
Series (Stockard Channing and Allison Janney), Outstanding Sound Mixing for
a Drama Series (In Excelsis Deo), Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (In
Excelsis Deo and Pilot), and Outstanding Drama Series. The Emmy Awards will
be presented on September 10th and broadcast live on ABC.
7.18.00 - TV Guide Online: Sheen's
Spin Control - Really an article on the fact that Charlie Sheen is joining
"Spin City," but a little bit about how the two political shows starring father
and son will be sharing a time slot this fall.
7.17.00 - Zap2It.com reports that Moira Kelly will not return for the
new season of "The West Wing." Executive Producer Aaron Sorkin told critics
Friday at a luncheon that the actress, who played political consultant Madeline
Hampton on the NBC drama, was a "good sport" about leaving the show. However,
Sorkin said, there was a lack of "chemistry" between Kelly and the other cast
members. Sorkin also announced that Peggy Noonan, a former speech writer for
Ronald Reagan, will be joining "West Wing" as a consultant, along with Marlin
Fitzwater, who served as press secretary in the Bush and Reagan administrations.
Sorkin said Fitzwater asked him "I'm not going to be the resident right winger
am I?" while, he said, "Peggy had no such concerns."
7.17.00 - "The West Wing" won three awards at the 16th annual Television
Critics Association Awards: Program of the Year, Best Drama and Best New Program.
7.10.00 - In a semi-annual poll, held by Electronic Media, of television
critics from 57 daily U.S. newspapers, "The West Wing" was voted the second
favorite show of TV critics across the country (second to "The Sopranos").
6.29.00 - Bradley Whitford and Janel Moloney (Donna Moss) have been named
the "It Office Mates" by the June 30th issue of Entertainment Weekly.
6.12.00 - Allison Janney and Stockard Channing are two of the 17 actresses
who will co-star in "It's a Girl Thing," a four-hour Showtime miniseries scheduled
to air early next year. The show will deal with the life of a different woman
who is connected to other women through a common therapist.
6.9.00 - Happy Birthday to Aaron Sorkin!
6.6.00 - "The West Wing" has received six nominations for Television
Critics Association Awards, including best drama series, best new program and
best program of the year. Martin Sheen, Allison Janney and Aaron Sorking were
also singled out for individual drama achievement honors. The winners will be
announced Saturday, July 15th during a ceremony hosted by Ben Stein.
6.6.00 - Rob Lowe has just begun filming a new HBO movie called "Proximity"
with James Coburn. Lowe plays an inmate who is marked for death by a shadowy
group led by Coburn's character. Lowe escapes, then gets chased through Cleveland.
Filming is expected to be completed in early July and the movie will probably
come out next year.
5.3.00 - TV Guide: Martin
Sheen's Change of Heart
3.31.00 - "The West Wing" won an American broadcasting Peabody Award.
One member of the Peabody committee called it "a magnificent episodic series
that depicts the tension and backroom drama of presidential politics with an
unusual mixture of maturity and humanity."
3.10.00 - "The West Wing" was honored Tuesday evening by the 17th Annual
William S. Paley Festival held at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.
In attendance were Aaron Sorkin, John Wells, Thomas Schlamme, Martin Sheen,
Rob Lowe, Allison Janey, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Dule Hill and Bradley
Whitford. Sorkin talked about how he pitched the idea for the show to Wells
over lunch with their agents, saying he "didn't want to do a TV version of 'The
American President'...I really wanted to do a show about the Senior Staff,"
Sorkin said. Wells added, "No one else thought it was a good idea. NBC bought
it. But it sat on the shelves for some time until some of the newer executives
saw our idea and gave us the green light." Sorkin also shot down rumors that
he borrowed from real life events in the White House concerning Monica Lewinsky.
"I turned in the pilot to NBC right before Christmas and right after that, Monica
Lewinsky came onto our radar and the scandal broke with the President." In regard
to Clinton, Wells, Schlamme and Sorkin mentioned how Clinton invited them to
the White House and spoke to them from the Oval Office. "Clinton is very pleased
by the show," Schlamme said. "His senior staff watches the show and he hears
about it on Thursday. They're pleased by how well they're represented on the
show."
3.5.00 - Martin Sheen received a TV Guide Award for favorite actor in
a new show.
2.10.00 - On TV
Land's list of the 2000 best things on television, "The West Wing" is #608.
2.2.00 - Martin Sheen has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 12th, 2000 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center and televised live nationally on TNT at 8pm ET.
1.24.00 - TV Guide Online: Rob
Lowe, Older and Wiser
1.11.00 - Presidential
Poll by Phil Rosenthal, Telvision Critic in the Sun Times.
12.20.99 - "The West Wing" and "Sports
Night" have been named the sixth best television shows of 1999 by Entertainment
Weekly.
12.20.99 - "The West Wing" has been named part of the best of TV by TV
Guide.