The West Wing

I feel like I have lost a friend.

It’s always weird when a well-known actor dies. You’ve seen their face so much, heard their voice, shared laughs and cries; you “know” them so well that their passing hits you as hard as a family member. But you don’t know them. And for sure, the death affects the actor’s real family and real friends much more than it affects their reel family and reel friends.

Whatever the psychosis related to a favorite actor dying may be, it doesn’t change the fact that a person who I respected, whose talent I admired, whose work has moved and inspired me, is gone. And I must now wake up every day knowing I don’t get to see them perform anything new, ever again. And I must reconcile that fact.

I know I’m a few days late on this, I’ve had some pretty terrible computer problems, but I still wanted to share my thoughts on the passing of John Spencer (Click here to read the AP release on his death). For the four and a half seasons that The West Wing was my favorite show on television I had the pleasure of watching John Spencer create a truly terrific character, White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry. His character was the anchor of the show, as well as the anchor of the fictional white house. He sparred with Bartlett, mentored Josh, wooed Jordan, his third season defense attorney, and battled a debilitating addiction to alcohol and pain killers. I enjoyed his character so much that when he had a heart attack in the woods in the middle of the fifth season, I had to turn the TV off because I couldn’t take it. I just could not bring myself to watch a good actor die, even if he was playing a fictional character.

I think we take certain performers for granted. You just assume that they will always be there, plugging away behind the scenes, and popping up in random projects, making their scenes the best and most entertaining of whatever project they are in. Actors like J.T. Walsh, who was arguably the best character actor of his time. Or Richard Crenna, who was so good in the Rambo series and who always put a hop in my step whenever I saw him on screen.

When big stars die I’m shocked and appropriately bummed out, but I think I’m hit harder when a lesser known actor who I really like, passes. It flat out sucks that Brandon Lee, River Phoenix and Chris Farley died before their time. And Hollywood would definitely be a far different (and possibly better) place if one or all of them were still alive. But then again, there will always be more of their type of actor. There will always be more movie stars. A good character actor is far more invaluable. They provide substance, pride, honor and hello, character, to every single movie and television show that gets produced. The John Spencer’s of this world are what make entertainment entertaining. Without them all we’d have is a bunch of movies starring Tom Cruise and Paris Hilton. And that’s not a world I want to live in.

John Spencer will be missed by many. And I am one of them. I’m glad I was able to enjoy him for so long, and hope that I can continue to enjoy him in syndication and on DVD. My condolences to his family, may they know how many were touched by Mr. Spencer, and how thankful we all are for his contributions to the arts.

I’ll leave you with my Top Five Favorite John Spencer Moments From “The West Wing”:

5- The emotional breakdown he has in the episode “War Crimes” when he learns that 30 years ago when he was a fighter pilot he unknowingly killed innocent civilians.

4- When Leo rouses the troops in “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet”, leading to each staff member proclaiming “I serve at the pleasure of the President!”

3- This line, said during a fight with his wife over how much time he spends at the office, in the episode “Five Votes Down”: “This is the most important thing I’ll ever do. I have to do it well.” I love the hell out of that line. And it’s not a bad motto to live your life by.

2- The scene at the end of “Noel” when he comforts Josh by telling him a story, which in summary, basically tells Josh that as long as he has a job, Josh will always have a job. It’s a great scene, in a fantastic episode.

Here’s the story:

- “This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you. Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Father, I’m down in this hole can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.’”

1- When Charlie tells Leo that Mrs. Landingham died in a car accident in the monumental episode “18th and Potomac”. What makes this moment so good is that after Charlie breaks the news, the camera stays on John Spencer’s face for a good 45 seconds, slowly zooming in, allowing us to see the emotion wash over his face. It may not seem big, but for a primetime network drama to devote nearly an entire minute of air-time on a mere close-up of an actor speaks volumes to how much the makers of The West Wing respected John Spencer as an actor. That moment, in its own way, is revolutionary, and John Spencer is the reason for it.

Bangarang… and vaya con dios, my friend.

I know the Emmy’s happened last night, and I should probably talk about them in-depth. But the thing is, the Emmy’s are boring, useless, and are run by dinosaurs that wouldn’t know good TV if the casts of Veronica Mars and Scrubs walked up and punched them in the face. So while I know I should write about them, I don’t really feel the need to.

The thing is though, Felicity Huffman won the Emmy for Best Actress in a comedy series. And her acceptance speech was so wonderful and heartfelt that I am inspired to write about it. To write about something that she mentioned in her speech. Something that helped to get me where I am today.

But first, to business… Here’s my quick reaction to all the major Emmy winners:

Doris Roberts – Again? Really?

Brad Garrett – Should have been the Piv.

Paul Newman – Classic.

Shatner – Love Denny Crane. But I would have loved seeing Terry O’Quinn win.

Warm Springs – Never saw it. But Cynthia Nixon rules.

Patricia Arquette – Alabama Worley wins an Emmy. Suh-weet.

Tony Shalhoub – I guess Zach Braff will have to settle for being an indie darling.

Life and Death of Peter Sellers – Geoffrey Rush is brilliant.

Felicity Huffman – Best. Acceptance Speech. Ever. More on this in a minute.

Johnny Carson – He will be missed in a way that Leno can only dream about.

James Spader – I love Boston Legal. The Spader is finally getting his, which rules.

Lost – This is my show, so I’m happy for them, but this might have been premature.

Everybody Loves Raymond – Well duh. Like this wasn’t gonna win?

Ok good, that’s done. And now on to more important matters.

Felicity Huffman deserved an Emmy. And I’m glad she won for Desperate Housewives. Mostly I’m glad she won because if Hatcher had, there was a 50/50 chance of Marcia Cross pulling her wig off to reveal that crazy Melrose scar, and then blowing up the whole damn building.

Of course, Felicity should have won a long time ago, for an entirely different show…

During her acceptance speech, right after she thanked David Mamet for putting her in his plays, she thanked Aaron Sorkin for seeing those plays and casting her in Sports Night. And it was right about then that I started tearing up and drafting my first of most likely many Felicity Huffman love letters. Because anyone that takes the time to praise Sports Night, well, they go straight to the first page of my cool book.

You see, Sports Night wasn’t just another good TV show; it was a touchstone of quality that I can only wish for in other shows. Sports Night, among other things, is the reason you are reading this right now. Sports Night, among many other things, is the crystallization of all the various pieces of art (written, performed or otherwise) that inspire me to be a better person, inspire me to work harder, and inspire me to put my fingers on the keys, and tap out my heart and soul.

Sports Night, for all those that don’t know, was a tragically short lived “sitcom” on ABC from 1998-1999. Written and created by Aaron Sorkin, and directed by Thomas Schlamme, the series revolved around the cast and crew of a fictional sports news show, called Sports Night. The show ran for two seasons, won countless critical praises, and was watched by a grand total of fourteen people, which is why it was abruptly cancelled. And also because Sorkin decided to go off and make The West Wing (another series that inspired me, but that’s another blog post).

On the show, Felicity played producer Dana Whitaker, who tore her hair out trying to corral the egotistical, funny, sensitive, high maintenance, yet loveable anchors of her sports new show, Casey McCall and Dan Rydell. She was aided by Issac Jaffe, the executive producer, played by the incomparable Robert Guillaume, and by her junior producers Natalie and Jeremy. The cast was made up of mostly unknowns (unless you remember Josh Charles from his stunning turn in the Stephen Baldwin classic Threesome). The direction was top notch, the acting superlative and all other areas of production were of superb merit. But the writing soared above all.

Sorkin created characters that knew how to talk. And not in a stupid sitcom joke talk way, but in a real, intelligent way. You see, that’s the great thing about a Sorkin script, you know you’re dealing with smart people. His smart people enjoy being smart, and talking smartly with other smart people. And this dichotomy created some of the most amazing, funny, sincere, and heart-wrenching dialogue exchanges I have ever been lucky enough to experience. I can think of a dozen scenes just off the top of my head that still make me go “wow”: the six southern gentleman speech by Isaac, Dana getting attacked by the fly, the poker speech by Jeremy, the courtship of Rebecca Wells, Dan meeting the homeless guy, Casey telling his son just how proud of him he is, Jeremy freaking out over the hunting piece he was forced to produce, Bill Macy’s Farnsworth speech to the network brass, just about any fight between Casey and Dana, and on and on.

I’ve watched, loved and rejoiced in many shows, but only a select few really make me think. Even fewer make me challenge the way I think. And even fewer few make me want to stop everything I’m doing, lock myself in a room and write my own masterpiece. Sports Night is at the head of that group (along with The West Wing, Quantum Leap, Scrubs, and a few more shows I’ll reveal another day). What makes Sports Night stand out above the others was that it laid the groundwork for Sorkin to write the first two seasons of The West Wing, which very well may be the finest 44 hours of television ever devised. But while the writing on The West Wing was probably better, and figuratively “smarter”, Sports Night was a show that I could have written for. And that makes it special to me.

Also, it was short lived. Sports Night was a bright, shining star that burned away too fast. Like Tupac Shakur, Brandon Lee, Chris Farley, River Phoenix and all the other talents that we lost too soon, Sports Night had very few moments in this world. It was born, it was loved, and it was taken away from us before we had a chance to grow cynical about it. The great thing about having the show on DVD is that whenever I’m feeling down, or uninspired, or thinking that I shouldn’t spend my days slaving away over a blank page and a flashing cursor, I can pop in a disc and watch episode after episode of storytelling at its absolute apex.

I’m sure I’ll write more about what Aaron Sporkin meant to me. And what those first two seasons of ‘Wing’ did for my writing. But for now, I want to take this opportunity to share my love for the brilliance of Sports Night. And to thank everyone involved with the creation, production and execution of the show. Your hard work and struggle was worth it. You may not have convinced a nation to pay attention, but you sure did convince me. And the stories, the characters, and most of all, the words, will live on inside my heart and mind, forever present in my creative conscious, pushing me to challenge my limitations, and pursue the truth of my work.

In ways I can count, and in others I can not even begin to comprehend, Sports Night has lifted, changed and inspired me. And in the end, what more could you ask for from a television show?

Bangarang, Felicity Huffman! And thank you for thanking for Sports Night. My love letter is in the mail.

Click here to buy Sports Night, the complete series, on DVD.