Bartlet's tenure as a fictional Democratic President of the United States is a preeminent aspect of the series. His origin as a recurring character evolved due to Sheen's acting finesse; Sorkin and fellow West Wing writers shaped Bartlet's role within the show accordingly.
Oliver Babish ( Oliver Platt ): The fifth and final White House Counsel of the Bartlet administration, but the second of the two characters to be shown in that position during the series. Diligent and zealous, he first appears advising President Bartlet when the President is considering revealing his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis to the public.
Doug Westin (Steven Eckholdt): Liz Bartlet's husband, a fat-headed jerk who has an affair and runs for Congress on the Bartlet coattails. Not a very well-written character. 112. Peter Lillienfield (Holmes Osborne): a venal Republican who publicly throws Leo under the bus for his substance abuse problems.
Toby Ziegler In the early, best seasons of The West Wing, when the show was about how furiously the protagonists had to struggle to achieve any kind of change, Toby Ziegler represented a crucial component, a misanthropic idealist whose grumbling rage masks an irrepressible desire to do what's right.
Speaking to Empire Magazine, Sorkin explained how it was his biggest regret to not make her a series regular. He said: “I made a mistake with Emily Procter. I loved her on the show and when I had a chance to lock her up as a series regular, I didn't take it.
He left a lucrative law practice in Chicago to serve in the White House. However, he strongly feels that Bartlet is too moderate on affirmative action, capital gains, public schools and free trade (in Ainsley's words). He was replaced by Oliver Babish, however, this was not disclosed until the episode Bad Moon Rising.
John Larroquette played Lionel Tribbey in the episode And It's Surely to Their Credit. He is best known for his role on the television series Night Court, where he played another high-profile attorney, Dan Fielding, a role which won him several Emmys for Best Actor.
Emily ProcterEmily Mallory Procter (born October 8, 1968) is an American actress and activist. She played Ainsley Hayes in the NBC political drama The West Wing (2000–2002; 2006) and Det.
C.J., however, seems more than reasonably distressed by the whole incident. She pays Hoynes a visit to give him a warning, and it becomes clear that she was one of the women with whom the Vice President had an affair.
Sam SeabornSamuel SeabornOccupationDeputy White House Communications Director (seasons 1-4) Deputy White House Chief of Staff (last episode of season 7)FamilyUnnamed fatherSpousean ex-fiancée - Lisa SherborneNationalityAmerican8 more rows
Emily ProcterAinsley Hayes is a fictional character played by Emily Procter on The West Wing, an American serial political drama. Primarily appearing in the second and third seasons for a total of twelve episodes, Ainsley served as the Associate White House Counsel under the show's president, Josiah Bartlet.
Elizabeth LarroquetteJohn Larroquette / Spouse (m. 1975)
Elizabeth LarroquetteJohn Larroquette / Wife (m. 1975)Larroquette met his wife Elizabeth Ann Cookson in 1974 while working in the play Enter Laughing. They were married July 4, 1975, as that was the only day they had off from rehearsals. They have three children, Lisa, Jonathan, and Ben.
Though she now calls sunny Los Angeles home, Emily Procter — who you might know as the star of television's The West Wing and CSI: Miami — has infused her home with the warmth and comfort of her native state, North Carolina.
She departed from the show without plot explanation after the first season ended. Series creator Aaron Sorkin said that the character was not working out, and the decision for Moira Kelly's departure from the show was amicable: "Moira is a terrific actress, but we just weren't the right thing for her.
53Â years (October 8, 1968)Emily Procter / Age
Disappears after the first season of The West Wing and is never mentioned again. Angela Blake ( Michael Hyatt ): Worked for Leo McGarry while he was Secretary of Labor .
Sheila Brooks ( Patricia Richardson ): Senator Vinick's chief of staff and Vinick-Sullivan campaign manager; She, like Vinick, is portrayed as level-headed and not overtly partisan. Often at odds with the more conservative voices in the party, she leaves the campaign weeks before election day to placate the Republican base (Season 6–7). In her final appearance, Brooks is mentioned as possibly being hired as Chief of Staff to the Republican Senate Majority Leader. Having renewed her friendship with Vinick, she makes an argument that convinces the Senator that he shouldn't run for president again—and that he should accept President-elect Santos' offer to become the next Secretary of State.
Often at odds with the more conservative voices in the party, she leaves the campaign weeks before election day to placate the Republican base (Season 6–7). In her final appearance, Brooks is mentioned as possibly being hired as Chief of Staff to the Republican Senate Majority Leader.
In "The Short List" (Ep. 1.9), Josh Lyman tells Danny that C.J. likes "goldfish.". Although Josh is referring to the snack crackers of the same name, Danny mistakenly believes he is referring to the aquatic creature; after giving C.J. the fish, Danny mentions that the pet-store owner had named it "Gail".
Bruno Gianelli ( Ron Silver ): A sharp political operative and consultant introduced in the third season as the campaign manager of Bartlet's 2002 bid for reelection, and continues in this role through the fourth season. His unmatched track record of victories includes a House district that no Democrat has won for decades, several different U.S. senators and state governors, as well as a win for an unspecified Israeli prime minister. The character reappears as Eric Baker's campaign manager for the 2006 Democratic primary, only to become an independent consultant to Republican nominee Arnold Vinick after Baker withdraws from the race. The change of political affiliations mirrored Ron Silver's real-world change of party affiliation, as the noted liberal actor campaigned for President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.
Admiral Percy "Fitz" Fitzwallace ( John Amos ): Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Seasons 1–5). Fitzwallace is a career surface warfare officer. He is killed by terrorists while on a diplomatic mission following his retirement.
Lionel Tribbey ( John Larroquette ): The fourth White House Counsel of the Bartlet administration, but the first to appear in the series. He is shown to have extremely liberal views and to be incredibly animated and theatrical in his displeasure that the President tends to be more moderate in action.
While Bartlet's campaign efforts are damaged by the controversy, he nonetheless defeats the Republican nominee, Governor Robert Ritchie of Florida, by a landslide and is returned for a second term.
Bartlet's best friend, Leo McGarry, persuades him to run for president around the fall of 1995, writing the slogan "Bartlet for America" on a cocktail napkin. Although initially a dark horse, Bartlet eventually defeats the Democratic frontrunner, U.S. Senator John Hoynes of Texas, whom Bartlet asks to join the ticket as his vice-presidential running mate. He defeats the Republican nominee for president, winning a close election with just 48 percent of the vote, 48 million popular votes and a 303–235 margin in the Electoral College .
Sorkin said that Bartlet's tirade against God in the episode " Two Cathedrals " is therefore directed just as much at Bartlet's own father as it is at God. However, when his father's unkind and sometimes abusive treatment of him is mentioned by Toby Ziegler, Bartlet attempts to defend his father.
In the middle of the show's first season, it is revealed that Bartlet has multiple sclerosis. According to Sorkin, this was not planned; the plot came about because he wanted to write an episode in which the president was in bed watching a soap opera and the audience discovered that the first lady was a physician.
Sorkin said he took some of Bartlet's characteristics from his own father, namely his "great love of education and literature [and] all things old," his " [belief] in a genuine goodness in people," and his "'Aw, Dad' sense of humor.".
He does, however, express regret at his inability to balance the budget in his eight years in the White House. Bartlet does not shy away from using the military when he feels it is necessary during his eight years in the White House, and deals with major foreign policy crises in various parts of the world.
Josiah Edward " Jed " Bartlet is a fictional character from the American television serial drama The West Wing, portrayed by Martin Sheen. The role earned Sheen a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 2001, as well as two SAG Awards . Bartlet's tenure as a Democratic President of the United States is a preeminent aspect ...
The son of Lee Babish, an appeals court judge in Chicago, and the grandson of Walter Babish, a former Chicago District Attorney who once received a gavel from Louis Brandeis-which was given to Oliver when he entered Yale Law (a tradition in his family dating back four generations).
Babish attended the University of Chicago for his undergraduate degree in economics before attending Yale University. During his time at Yale, he had a paid internship with the Assistant Attorney General of Connecticut . Babish remarks that the Attorney General reminds him a lot of President Bartlet.
While clearly a highly skilled legalist, Oliver's occasional passionate outbursts are somewhat surprising, though no more so than those of his prede cessor, Lionel Tribbey. Oliver has a strict personal moral code, which he will not (apparently) compromise. In the office he appears somewhat slapdash with regard to the day-to-day details of business, but when the President needs him he seems to be utterly focused.
He went on to appear in almost every episode in the series, entirely because of how incredible the character Sorkin and Sheen created together was. Bartlet wasn’t a phantom figurehead; he was inspiring, frustrating, flawed, genius, courageous, and paternal. He’s remembered as one of the greatest fictional presidents, and deservedly so. We dream of a real commander in chief who was half the president Bartlet was. – KO
In the early, best seasons of The West Wing, when the show was about how furiously the protagonists had to struggle to achieve any kind of change, Toby Ziegler represented a crucial component, a misanthropic idealist whose grumbling rage masks an irrepressible desire to do what's right. Toby was simultaneously the most and least optimistic senior advisor to Bartlet, functioning as his better angel but also his worst critic. The character suffered in later seasons, particularly once Sorkin left, and Schiff himself complained about the leak storyline he was handed in season seven, which never jibed with the character he helped conceive. But in those early seasons, I lived to watch Ziegler go nose-to-nose with the President and challenge his pragmatism. – DS
You can feel Abbey Bartlet’s passion about everything from the proud tremor in her voice to her knock-down, drag-out fights with her husband. She’s a fiery First Lady not content to sit on the sidelines, but her desire to help her husband with his illness almost seals both of their fates. She cares deeply about her family – to a fault in multiple cases – and never let people push her around. For a woman in a Sorkin show to be so fierce and unique is a rarity, and a massive credit to Channing’s portrayal. – KO
When Joey Lucas storms into Josh’s office in season one’s “Take This Sabbath Day,” Josh can’t figure out what the hell is going on. He’s seeing a man talking, a woman wildly signing, and he’s just hung over enough to not get any of it. Joey cuts right through his bullshit, just as her polls do.
The degree to which Vice President Hoynes was or was not antagonistic to the Bartlet White House was unpredictable and ever-changing; his arguments with Leo, C.J., Josh, and especially the President were electric. He was the best kind of complicating factor in the West Wing universe.
Played By: John Laroquette. Number of Episodes: 1. Lionel Tribbey was the first, and maybe the best, of many White House Counsels who would come down the pike, brandishing a cricket bat and unfurling furious monologue after furious monologue as he's forced to add a Republican (Ainsley Hayes) to his staff.
Gina Toscano. Played By: Jorja Fox. Number of Episodes: 5. There have been a lot of great Secret Service characters on The West Wing, but no one embodied Gina’s mix of robotic professionalism and sublimated heart that goes into being a bodyguard quite as well.
And on “The West Wing Weekly” podcast, the actor Joshua Malina, who played Will Bailey in the show, and Hrishikesh Hirway, a musician and superfan, have been hosting an episode-by-episode discussion of the program since March 2016. They are currently up to the final season, which only has a few more episodes scheduled.
People who don’t like “The West Wing” say, as they have all along, that the program presents an unrealistically idealistic view of government, that it moralizes, that it preaches, that it incorrectly suggests that minds can be swayed by grand gestures and eloquent speeches.
He is thinking of a particular time in Season 3 when the hostile Congress investigates President Bartlet after he fails to disclose his multiple sclerosis while running for office. But instead of impeaching him, the Republicans censure him.
He has appeared on “The West Wing Weekly” podcast and seems to see himself as a “West Wing”-style politician. When he opened his presidential campaign office, Mr. Buttigieg posted a video of himself walking down the hall while interacting with his aides, one of the classic shots from the show.
Katherine Bell Butler, 43, a lifelong conservative from Sharpsburg, Ga. , who describes herself as “not crazy over Trump,” said that she had the boxed set, and had watched every episode of “The West Wing” “multiple times.”.
Bradley Whitford, the actor who played Josh Lyman, the deputy White House chief of staff, has called the show “liberal porn,” and that is true, in a way. Its president, Josiah Bartlet, is a progressive Democrat whose policies run firmly to the left.
President Bartlet doesn’t live in the White House, even on TV, anymore. But his fans find solace in streaming an old favorite. Martin Sheen as President Bartlet in “The West Wing,” a drama that posits Washington is run by good people.
The election of 2012 saw an important shift in the way politics is conducted and in the way it is covered by the media. Whether we’re looking at President Obama’s team of number-crunchers or the rise of Nate Silver’s 538 Blog, politics is more quantitative than ever.
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