The West Wing: After Aaron Sorkin's departure

Published 2:15 AM PST Wednesday, Sep. 24, 2003
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A new, if temporary, president is in 'The West Wing,' while behind the scenes, new writers must fill Aaron Sorkin's shoes

Martin Sheen is starting his fifth season as President Jed Bartlet, who this year must cope with the kidnapping of his daughter.

In a way, "The West Wing" itself is like the characters on the series: When things look bad, it rises to grand heights.

After creator Aaron Sorkin announced in May that he was leaving the production, he produced two spellbinding hours of television to close the season. Then on Sunday, though considered a long shot this year, the series won its fourth Emmy in four tries.

Tonight, NBC's "The West Wing" starts its fifth season, for the first time without a script from Sorkin, a virtuoso writing talent, without production help from co-creator and Emmy-winning director Thomas Schlamme and, on the screen, without Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) in the Oval Office.

It is time again for heroics, and the best we can say is that there are some, but maybe not enough. We'll explain in a moment.

Tonight's episode was written by John Wells, another four-star producer and writer ("ER" and "China Beach," among others). He's the last remaining original executive producer of "The West Wing," and his production company has overseen the show since its start.

The series picks up with John Goodman, the Republican speaker of the House, serving temporarily as president in Bartlet's Democratic White House, in part because the vice president had resigned amid a scandal.

Bartlet has stepped aside -- in what one character called "a stunning act of patriotism and a fairly ordinary act of fatherhood" -- because his daugh- ter's been kidnapped and he's not sure he can act like a reasoned president instead of an angry father.

Goodman is, as always, outstanding as a different kind of leader than Bartlet: sharp, forceful, unquestioning of his own abilities or direction. But just like Bartlet, he is moral and dedicated, and that has always been one of the joys of "The West Wing," this argument that public service is noble and (in this fictional world) attracts the best Americans to all sides.

What also has not changed is the complex plotting, the attempt to show the interwoven, often-contrary demands of world politics, and difficult ethics in an inconsistent, violent world.

That, too, has always been a joy of "The West Wing," the acknowledgment of a huge, often-ignored truth: The world is a complicated place.

But with so much changed behind the camera, there are, of course, some substantive changes to the show.

In case you somehow missed it, Sorkin and Schlamme, longtime partners in TV, said in early May they were leaving "The West Wing," stunning much of Hollywood, which rarely sees creators depart such a successful show.

Neither Schlamme, one of TV's best and most distinctive directors, nor Sorkin, a man Wells says may be America's most talented writer of stage or screen, has said why they left. The assumption, however, is that with mounting pressures from NBC and the studio, Warner Bros. Television, over ratings, costs and, as Sorkin admits is a trademark, late scripts, everyone involved decided the best way to solve every problem was a change of administration.

Enter Wells, riding to the rescue like a hero of "The West Wing." Wells took over both the producing and writing chores and told reporters last week that he always dreaded the scenario that Sorkin would move on and he would have to step in.

"I was scared to death," Wells said in a conference call. "It was a terrifying experience because you are staring up at the talent of Aaron Sorkin."

Wells tried to talk Sorkin into writing the first episodes this season, essentially getting Bartlet, and Wells, out of the pickle Sorkin created.

"I think 'begging' wouldn't be too strong a word for it," Wells said. "I begged him for over a month to come and do the first couple, and he felt it was time for us to do it on our own."

Wells said he and Sorkin still talk often, but not so much about the show as about their craft.

"We had lunch last week," Wells said. "You know, writing is so damn hard. He was like, 'How you doing? Are you holding up?' It's shop talk. It's two writers getting together and complaining."

Wells said to expect changes if for no reason other than that he doesn't write like Sorkin. That means fewer patches of dense -- and witty -- dialogue and fewer walk-and-talks, those quick tours through the White House as characters cleverly explain pretty much everything that's going on in the show.

"Aaron does that exceedingly well and it's very difficult to do," Wells said. "We will probably shy away from that."

There will, however, be more clout for Republicans on the show, and not just because Goodman is president for a while -- Wells would not say how long that lasts. Sorkin set up a Washington, D.C., with Republicans holding solid control of Congress.

Wells also said he does not intend to start digging into the characters' home lives as he does on his other shows.

"We will spend a little more time learning about the first family, but not to the extent of more than an episode here or there," he said. "The rest of them don't have a home life."

All in all, it doesn't sound like radical surgery. Now we get back to the question of whether "The West Wing" has pulled out another one.

Answer: It's hard to tell.

It's hard to know how different the series will be just by looking at tonight's episode because the story line is so extraordinary -- Sorkin's season-ender didn't feel like a regular "West Wing" either -- because a different guy is president and because Sorkin set this story arc in motion.

A few weeks in, when Bartlet's back in the Oval Office and Wells and his crew are dealing with day-to-day Washington, then we'll know for sure.

But still, off the cuff, it feels like a different show. The instinct is to say it's more like "ER," with its slightly slower and more angst-filled dialogue scenes, but that may be just because we know Wells is a creator of "ER."

But whatever it is, "West Wing" is missing a bit of the snap of Sorkin, and his unique ear for rhythm and the human voice. The conversations miss Sorkin's short, sharp punches and the multiple layers he added with one hard sentence.

And Wells is right about how tough it is to do walk-and-talks. One early sequence with chief of staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer) almost feels like a spoof, like a "Saturday Night Live" skit on "The West Wing."

But the emotional power is still there, and the cast remains outstanding as the crisis reaches the brink tonight.

A change of pace and rhythm will matter some to the show, but most important is tone, and Sorkin said he always considered "The West Wing" to be a Western, where in the end the guys in the white hats step up and save the day.