Free Republic

Among the worst disasters for progressivism in recent decades has been the work of Aaron Sorkin, whose impossibly articulate ratatat dialogue made it way too easy to imagine sexy technocrats saving the world. It’s great entertainment, but normalized unreasonable expectations of the flawed human beings who happen to have high IQs and impeccable credentials. As a child of the New Left, I never missed The West Wing: it was irresistible catnip for my adolescent hopes and dreams, and so much more satisfying than whatever was on the news—except for the eloquent public intellectuals on the Bill Moyers show on PBS....

The cast of West Wing wants to make sure you can vote. Republicans want to make it way more difficult for people to vote — the cast of The West Wing needs your help to stop them

More than a decade ago, actress Allison Janney played White House press secretary C.J. Cregg on the NBC drama The West Wing. So it's not shocking that Samantha Bee borrowed that character for the opening skit of her "Not the Correspondents' Dinner" special on TBS on Saturday night. In this skit, Janney ripped into a cartoonish right-wing media full of urine-drinkers, teenage Breitbart staffers, and redneck uncle bloggers. JANNEY: Yes? You're 18 in your father's suit, obviously from Breitbart. TEENAGER: Yeah. Doesn't having a female host for this dinner demonstrate a clear anti-white male bias? [Fist-bumps another white guy.] JANNEY:...

Kentucky Republican candidate for governor Matt Bevin sparred with CNN host Don Lemon in a contentious interview on national television Tuesday night. Bevin appeared on CNN to discuss the controversy surrounding Democratic Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ refusal to issue marriage licenses and her incarceration on contempt charges. The back-and-forth between Bevin and Lemon became labored at times. During the interview Lemon played Bevin a clip from the TV show “The West Wing,” which has gone viral in response to the Davis controversy in recent weeks. The clip features actor Martin Sheen playing fictional President Jed Bartlet quoting Bible verses...

Milo O’Shea, an Irish character actor — recognizable by his black bushy eyebrows, tumble of white hair and impish smile — whose films included “Ulysses,” “Barbarella” and “The Verdict,” died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 86.

Woman to be U.S. president -- on '24'Published: July 22, 2007 at 10:30 PM LOS ANGELES, July 22 (UPI) -- Actress Cherry Jones may play the next president on the hit U.S. television show "24." Sources say Jones will play the U.S. commander in chief on the action thriller, which has long been toying with the idea of a female president, the Hollywood Reporter said Sunday. The Fox network would not confirm the report. Jones would be the first major cast member added to the upcoming seventh season. Imagine TV and 20th Century Fox TV were forced to delay shooting...

(English-language translation) In the midst of the fiscal crisis that keeps 95,000 [Puerto Rico] public employees out on the street, several [opposition] New Progressive Party Representatives held a press conference to show the episode of a television series that, in their opinion, demonstrates that Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá is pulling a publicity stunt out of the situation. Representatives Liza Fernández, Albita Rivera, Georgie Navarro, and Rolando Crespo met with the island’s press to watch the episode of an American television series. The reason behind the [press] conference was to demonstrate that the Governor has copied the actions of the series’...

The new president on “The West Wing” will be a real short-timer: NBC announced yesterday it was pulling the plug on the Emmy-winning political drama in May after seven seasons. Although this season’s story line with a presidential campaign involving a Democrat played by Jimmy Smits and Republican portrayed by Alan Alda has been strong critically, ratings have sunk with its move to Sunday nights. The decision to cancel it was made before actor John Spencer, who played former presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack Dec. 16, said Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president.

Fifth Season Pre-Order Now From NBC: SANTOS NEEDS TO DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM THE TROUBLE AT THE WHITE HOUSE WHILE STAYING LOYAL TO HIS PARTY - As a Grand Jury is convened to investigate the miliatry shuttle leak from the White House, the campaign's focus changes to national security. Vinick (Alan Alda) deftly handles the issue while Santos (Jimmy Smits) is bound by his party loyalty to align himself with the Bartlet administration. Also starring Bradley Whitford, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Martin Sheen, Janeane Garofalo, Kristin Chenoweth, John Spencer, Dule Hill, Mary McCormack.

Will 'The West Wing' go Republican? With Bartlet term's end in sight, producer thinks of future LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The prospect of a change in the White House tends to draw a strong reaction, pro or con. Not from "The West Wing" executive producer John Wells, though. He seems unfazed by the coming end of Democratic President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet's tenure -- and maybe even a Republican successor. "We were a year and a half into the administration when we started the show," Wells said of the NBC drama entering its sixth season. "We have term limits in...

A coalition of groups opposed to a U.S.-led war in Iraq will have supporters call, fax and e-mail the White House and Congress next week in an effort to overwhelm switchboards and catch the attention of political leaders. "Last weekend, we marched in the streets," former Rep. Tom Andrews, D-Maine, national director of Win Without War, told a news conference Wednesday. "Next week, we're taking it to the suites of official Washington."Organizers of the "virtual march" on Washington are calling on supporters to call, fax or e-mail their two U.S. senators and the White House during business hours on Feb....

December 28, 2002 President Bartlet, Please Take Me BackBy FRANK LUNTZ cLEAN, Va. -- There is a small, humorless segment of conservative society that is now convinced more than ever that NBC's "The West Wing" is a plot, a weekly Hollywood conspiracy to overturn the electoral outcome of 2000. I should know. In 2001, I joined Marlin Fitzwater and Peggy Noonan as one of three consultants hired to provide a conservative perspective to the show's writers. Then, in the summer of this year, all three of us were dumped. To conservatives, it was proof that "The West Wing" hates...

Just a month ago, Aaron Sorkin, the man responsible for creating and writing the hit NBC series "The West Wing," walked out of a theater in Los Angeles gripping his third consecutive Emmy award for best drama. He had every reason to believe he could head right over to NBC, brandish the latest award and, using the leverage that every producer of a hit show up for renegotiation has, tell the network to pay up. But in one of the more intriguing subplots of the television season, circumstances have changed suddenly and unexpectedly for "The West Wing" and Mr. Sorkin....

<p>With President Bush away for a month, a noisy horde of sweaty construction workers and heavy machinery has descended to give the executive mansion a facelift -- about 270 projects ranging from replacing the odd door knob to ripping up and repaving an entire driveway.</p>

<p>BURBANK, California (CNN) -- Actor Rob Lowe will be leaving NBC's popular TV show "The West Wing" after the end of the coming season because, a top trade magazine reports, he isn't pleased with his salary.</p> <p>Although an official statement from John Wells Productions and Warner Brothers Television said the move was made "amicably," Daily Variety is reporting that Lowe was disenchanted over the unwillingness of producers to raise his $75,000-an-episode salary, even as they hiked co-star Martin Sheen's pay to $300,000 an episode.</p>