New NBC Political Drama to Star Streisand’s Stepson (As Heroic Liberal Senator)

Media Research Center ^ | November 12, 2002 | Brent Baker

[PJ-Comix]

     Update. And the answer is: It will be on NBC and it stars the son of Barbra Streisand’s husband, her stepson.

     The November 11 CyberAlert noted that NBC has a prime time drama about the White House titled The West Wing, though it’s been dubbed “The Left Wing,” and we may soon be referring to a new prime time drama about a U.S. Senator and his staff as “The Left Hill” or “The Left Chamber.” CNN’s Bill Schneider on Friday gave a glimpse at a new show in which the model for one star is Paul Wellstone and for another is Nancy Pelosi.

     The CyberAlert item relayed that Schneider did not say on what network the show created by Lawrence O’Donnell would air.

     Alert CyberAlert reader Ron Rounds of San Francisco, who appears to be a bit more adept than me at running a Google search, tracked down a couple of articles about the new drama.

     The November 7 Roll Call reported on “Mr. Sterling” in its “Around the Hill” column. An excerpt of the story by Bree Hocking:

....With the Capitol now awaiting the arrival of its latest class of neophytes, what better way to mark the occasion than with a visit from the show. The cast and crew of "Mister Sterling" will be in D.C. beginning today to film exterior scenes for the show. 

"Mister Sterling" follows the trajectory of an independent-minded, young political scion, appointed to fill the seat of a deceased Senator, as he maneuvers his way through the labyrinthine corridors of power.

The one-hour drama produced by Universal Network Television is scheduled to air midseason on NBC -- most likely in late January or February, though the date could be pushed back to early March, according to Lesley Barricella, senior publicist for Universal Network Television.

The show features Josh Brolin (stepson of Democratic activist and Hollywood diva Barbra Streisand) as Bill Sterling, the dashing former prison teacher turned Senator; Broadway star and three-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald as tough-talking staffer Jackie Brock; and William Russ (formerly of "Boy Meets World") as Tommy Doyle, the Senator's passionately partisan legislative director....

"Mister Sterling" is the brainchild of Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC senior political analyst, McLaughlin Group panelist and veteran of the highly rated political drama "The West Wing." Recreating the battles on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue should be right up executive producer O'Donnell's alley. Prior to his television and media career, O'Donnell served as a senior adviser to then-Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and was chief of staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee....

The Washington filming date should bring back fond memories for co-executive producer Jim Hart. After all, the Hart Senate Office Building is named after his father, Sen. Philip Hart (D-Mich.), who served in the world's most exclusive club from 1959 to 1976.

     END of Excerpt

     The story is no longer online.

     An actress on the show has posted a picture of the cast at: http://www.chandrawest.net/mistersterling.htm

     For a picture Josh Brolin with a rundown of his past movie roles, see: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Brolin,+Josh

     For a bio of Audra McDonald, sans picture http://us.imdb.com/Name?McDonald,+Audra

     Brolin told CNN’s Schneider that Paul Wellstone is the model for his character and McDonald gushed to Schneider about how she sees Nancy Pelosi as her model, though she plays a press secretary. For the full quotes, refer to the Nov. 11 CyberAlert: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20021111.asp#6

     So, while the public has chosen to put Republicans in charge of the White House and Senate, NBC has decided to have liberal Democrats run those branches.

[PJ-Comix]

So much for Campaign Finance Reform. The Demmycrats in the future will receive contributions from the Networks in the form of love letters to liberals TV Shows such as this one while the Republicans will be restricted by rules of the Campaign Finance Reform Act.

[ladyinred]

If this isn't a ploy to make these liberals seem so lovable to the audience, aka voters, nothing is. There are some out there who think The West Wing is real, and that Sheen is the President! Too bad we can't have a program about a conservative President or Senator who is featured in a positive way isn't it? That won't happen.

[T Lady]

That's just the way the Dems intended it to happen, so they could literally monopolize the political landscape. Talk Show host Dennis Prager had a great discussion on this subject on the Thursday prior to Election Day. He stated,in so many words that only millionaires and those with keen fund-raising skills (like our Coin-Operated Governor here in California) can run under the cumbersome rules of Campaign Finance Reform.
...This also hinders promising contenders from the Black community, in which millionaires are in short supply. Lovely bunch of folks aren't they?

[AD from SpringBay]

They should rename it: The A$$hole of Miss Fortune.

[PJ-Comix]

Too bad we can't have a program about a conservative President or Senator who is featured in a positive way isn't it?

Or a comedy show parodying the liberal political shows.

[T Lady]

There are some out there who think The West Wing is real, and that Sheen is the President!


These people are delusional. Period.

[Fraulein]

BARF ALERT!

[Dante3]

I read somewhere on the Internet that Streissand has a son of her own who is totally weird and she has kept him hidden. In this age of the tabloids, this doesn't ring true. Maybe an attempt to get sympathy for her.

[VadeRetro]

Heroic Liberal Senator

Is there any other kind? </sarcasm>

[hope]

More from the "Theater of the Absurd." If these hollywood types ever wake up and smell the coffee, they will surely die!

[PJ-Comix]

I read somewhere on the Internet that Streissand has a son of her own who is totally weird and she has kept him hidden. In this age of the tabloids, this doesn't ring true. Maybe an attempt to get sympathy for her.

The report was CORRECT. Her son is a transvestite....or transexual. I forget which. But imagine the biggest, gender-confused, cross-dressing type you would see in Greenwich Village and you have her son.

[Zebra]

McCain-Feingold is as unconstitutional as it gets. It will not survive the first challenge that goes before the United States Supreme Court, and will only get that far if it originates through the discredited Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This was your classic cowardly legislation that was passed to allow do-nothing career pols to head fake the gullible into believing that they were the catalysts for reform. Now they can blame the Supeme Court for frustrating the "will of the people" again.

The only meaningful reform in campaign finance will start with term limits. It is that simple.

[colorado tanker]

This show will last as long as the Supreme Court sitcom. I'd give it two months, only because it will fail in one but the libs won't admit it until they lose a lotta money.

[DoctorMichael]

I always felt Liberals were living in a fantasy land, completely divorced from reality.

This show and the West Wing will allow them to indulge themselves.

[Political Junkie Too]

First James Brolin, then Josh Brolin. Streisand said that Wellstone was assassinated, but who knew she meant he was killed in order to be the inspiration for a new Hollywood TV show starring her relatives?

-PJ

[Izzy Dunne]

Streisand said that Wellstone was assassinated, but who knew she meant he was killed in order to be the inspiration for a new Hollywood TV show starring her relatives?

LOL! So do you think B.S. had him offed to help her stepson's career?

[Bush2000]

Hey, I say let the Dems have their fantasyland version of reality. Meanwhile, we'll dominate the real world.

[Political Junkie Too]

Maybe it's like that film of OJ with the banana. People say things unconciously. ;-)

-PJ

[leadhead]

Ought to call it the "Left Nostril" in honor of BS

[Contra]

This is funny! They can't have it in real life so they make it up, as you say, fantasyland. Now we see the Hollywood connection to the Democrat Party. You know once in a long while I watch West Wing and I do so just to see what these liberals come up with and to have a good laugh. To me, liberals are funny, sickening, but also very funny. I honestly do not like any of them on that show. I guess they're trying to make them look like good people, committed, compassionate, intelligent, etc., but to me they come off looking phony, ridiculous, like pompous ass*s. There might have been a time when liberals through the media, the news, TV shows, movies, etc. could shape people's opinions but I think that is changing, thanks to the Internet, Drudge, Rush, Washington Times, etc. Now people have alternatives to the liberal drumbeat. Liberals can have the movies, TV, make believe and fantasyland, while the conservatives will control real life.