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PARALLELS;

Don't I Know You?

Bradley Whitford (Actor - Danny Tripp) - As most fans of Aaron Sorkin will know, Brad Whitford was a regular in The West Wing for its entire seven-year run, as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman.

Matthew Perry (Actor - Matt Albie) - Matthew Perry guest starred in a handful of West Wing episodes at the end of the show's fourth season as Republican lawyer and Associate White House Counsel Joe Quincy.

Timothy Busfield (Actor - Cal) - Another West Wing regular, Tim Busfield freuqently guest starred as Washington Post journo Danny Concannon. He also directed some episodes of Sports Night.

Felicity Huffman (Actor - Herself) - Aaron Sorkin gave Huffman, of Desperate Housewives fame, her big break when she took on the main role of Dana Whitaker in Sports Night. She also guest-starred in a West Wing, "The Leadership Breakfast", as the shrewd Republican Ann Stark and joins Studio 60 to guest-host the fictional show in the pilot episode as herself.

Akiva Goldsman - Another nice little nod here; Akiva Goldsman, the writer of films such as A Beautiful Mind and who Sorkin credits in the West Wing script book as having given him the idea for the award-winning series, makes a little cameo in the pilot, where he presents Matt with his WGA award.

Rob Reiner - The director of two Sorkin films, The American President and A Few Good Men, cameos in "The Focus Group" as the guest host of an episode.

Kris Murphy (Actor - Karen) - Played another White House reporter, Katie Witt, in The West Wing.

Evan Handler (Actor - Ricky Tahoe) - Early in season 3 of The West Wing, Evan Handler guest starred in several episodes as one of Bruno Gianelli's guys, Doug.

Carlos Jacott (Actor - Ron Oswald) - Blink and you'll miss him, but Carlos Jacott did in fact appear in the season 3 West Wing episode "Bartlet for America" as "N.H. Marketing Guy #2".

WG "Snuffy" Walden (Composer) - Snuffy Walden composed the scores for both The West Wing and Sports Night.


What's In A Name?

Danny - Apparently, Sorkin likes the name Danny - so much so that he's given it to key characters in all of his three television ventures (Dan ("Danny") Rydell in Sports Night, Danny Concannon in The West Wing and Danny Tripp in Studio 60) and his acclaimed play and film A Few Good Men (in which the main character is Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee).

Harriet Hayes - The name Hayes belonged to another blonde Republican sex kitten in The West Wing, Emily Procter's Ainsley.

Alliterative Names - They're everywhere in Sorkin's writing: Harriet Hayes, Simon Stiles, Sam Seaborn, CJ Cregg, Bobbi Berstein, Wilson White, Nancy McNally, Casey McCall...


Should've Seen That Coming

On Air Implosions - In Studio 60's pilot, Wes Mendell implodes on air, leading to his sacking. Josh Lyman nearly suffered the same fate in The West Wing's opening episode after telling a christian fundamentalist that "the god you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud" on TV.

Phantom Chairs - In the West Wing episode "What Kind of Day Has it Been", Josh Lyman (Whitford) goes to sit at his desk only to belatedly realise that his chair is missing. Matt Albie faces a similar predicament at the Writer's Guild Awards in the pilot.

Loopy Back Meds - In The West Wing's "Five Votes Down", the President takes a little too much back medication (Leo asks him, "Which [pills] did you take, sir, the Vicodin or the Percocet?" to which Bartlet blinks: "I wasn't supposed to take 'em both?) and goes a little loopy. In the pilot, Matt is recovering from back surgery and is taking "a little Vicodin and some Percocet and a steroid called Nortisone, the side effect of which is mania--I swear to God, it says so right on the bottle", leaving him "pretty stoned".

Drug Addiction and Coming Clean - Danny Tripp is a recovering cocaine addict who, several days before Wes's outburst, tested positive for drug use (and thus can't get bonded for at least 18 months). He admits as much in episode 2 during a press conference with the newly-hired executive producers, himself and Matt. Another Danny - Dan Rydell, writer and anchor in Sports Night - has a history of drug abuse for which he apologises in an on-air broadcast during the second episode of that series, "The Apology". As of that episode, Dan had been clean for 11 years. Up until that weekend prior to the pilot, Danny had also been clean for 11 years.

Praying Before Every Show - In the pilot, it's mentioned that Harriet prays before every show. In the Sports Night episode "Cliff Gardener", Sam says that Natalie prays before every show.

Gilbert and Sullivan - Throughout the West Wing episode entitled "And It's Surely To Their Credit", characters debate whether the song "He Is An Englishman" is from Pirates of Penzance or HMS Pinafore. In the final scene, the senior staff give Ainsley Hayes a proper welcome to the White House with a rendition of the Gilbert and Sullivan song. In "The Cold Open", the opening sketch features a musical number to the tune of the Major General's Song from Penzance.

Accidental Window Breakage - In the Sports Night episode "The Reunion", Dana accidentally shatters a window in the control room after slamming a door too hard. In The West Wing's "Inauguration Part II: Over There", Will attempts to bounce a ball off a window as Toby has done so many times and consequently breaks the window. Another West Wing episode, "Bartlet for America", has CJ throwing a basketball and accidentally smashing a window. In "The West Coast Delay", Matt accidentally breaks one of his office's windows when he slings a baseball bat over his shoulder without noticing what's behind him.

Power Failure - In The Focus Group, Studio 60 is plagued by power outages all week. In Sports Night's "Kafelnikov", Jeremy accidentally cuts out power to the entire studio during his Y2K test, while in West Wing's "The War At Home", the White House's post-State of the Union polling is stalled by a blackout.

Cricket - Sure, nobody understands it, but you just can't avoid it - at least not in a Sorkin show. Sports Night's "Ten Wickets" has Jeremy trying to follow up an incredible cricket play he doesn't understand. Jed Bartlet, referring to a televised cricket match, says that whenever somebody tries to explain cricket to him he just wants to hit them over the head with a teapot in The West Wing's "What Kind Of Day Has It Been?". "The West Coast Delay" includes the use of cricket scores to confirm the time because nothing else is happening in sports.

Talented Black Unknowns - The West Wing had Charlie Young, an intelligent talented but undiscovered African-American youth who was taken under the wing of the older professionals at the White House. It's a similar situation in "The Wrap Party" with Darius, a gifted young African-American comedic writer who gets taken under the wing of the more experienced Matt and Simon.

Ex-Lovers Forced to Work Together - Early on in The West Wing, Josh's ex-lover Mandy Hampton is hired as the White House's media director. Mandy used to work for the Bartlet campaign prior to the President's election, but left prior to the beginning of the series. In Studio 60's pilot, Harriet's ex-lover Matt returns to Studio 60 as executive producer, having been fired from the show prior to the beginning of the series.

Entire Writing Staff Leaves - The West Wing's Will Bailey was left to write a series of speeches with the aid of only four interns after the entire speechwriting staff quit in "The California 47th". Matt was faced with a similar problem following "The Option Period", in which the entire writing staff save for the untried Darius and Lucy quit.

Important People Spring a Character From a Small Town Jail - In a series of bizarre events in "Nevada Day" parts one and two, Jack, Simon and Danny found themselves in Pahrump, Nevada negotiating Tom's release from jail. In the West Wing episode "Celestial Navigation", Sam and Toby travelled out to a small town to negotiate the release of their Supreme Court nominee Roberto Mendoza from jail. Both characters were in jail on driving-related charges: Mendoza was wrongfully accused of drink-driving, while Tom had failed to answer to a speeding ticket.

Inability to Tell a Joke - Harriet spends much of "B-12" trying and failing to repeat a joke she's been told and is repeatedly informed that she "can't tell a joke". In Sports Night's "Mary Pat Shelby", after discovering that she is not thought of as funny, Dana attempts and fails to tell the staff a joke.

Christmas Episodes - A Sorkin staple: The West Wing boasted "In Excelsis Deo", "Noel", "Bartlet For America" and "Holy Night" - which, incidentally, ended with a montage over the song "O Holy Night", much like Studio 60's "The Christmas Show". Sports Night had "The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee" and "The Reunion". In the latter, Dan enthusiastically expounded on the virtues of attending midnight mass despite being Jewish himself; Matt Albie, also a Jew, has a similar enthusiasm for Christmas.

Baseball Bats as a Mental Aid - In Aaron Sorkin's play and film A Few Good Men, protagonist Daniel Kaffee thinks best when he's holding his baseball bat. Matt seems to develop a similar habit after being given a baseball bat by Harriet.


You Said It Right

Playing With Pain - In the Sports Night episode "The Cut Man Cometh", Casey gets a paper cut before a show but bravely declares that he will play through it, for he "[plays] with pain". Matt says likewise in the pilot when asked if he should be out of bed so soon after his back surgery. Yeah, Casey's just a big baby.

Special Powers - "Don't endow it with special powers," Danny tells a superstitious Matt, referring to the clock in "The Cold Open". In the Sports Night episode, appropriately titled "Special Powers", Jeremy declares that "women don't have special powers". (Of course, he's eventually proven wrong. Hmmm...)

I'm Your Wingman - In "The West Coast Delay", Tom tells Matt that he would like to be "[Matt's] wingman." "You need a wingman and you've always been mine." "I have?" Matt asks, to which Tom returns, "You could start." The exchange is reminsicent of a conversation between Brad Whitford's Josh and Toby in The West Wing episode "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail": "Let me tell you something, though. That was the second time this year I almost got killed and both times I was with you so you're going to need a new wingman." "You were my old wingman?" "Yeah."

Over-Sexed Whoremongers - In Sports Night's episode "Napoleon's Battle Plan", Dana bursts into Dan and Casey's office, having just found out that Casey has been sleeping with a colleague, Sally, and yells, "You are a sleazy, slimy, adolescent, oversexed, overpaid blowhole!" When Harriet finds out that Matt has slept with Jeanie in "The Cold Open", she bursts into the writers' room, yelling, "You are an adolescent, oversexed, whoremonger with the sensitivity of a head of cabbage!"

Dangling Modifier Jokes - In "The Long Lead Story", Matt tells Martha O'Dell that "you know me better than my parents", to which Martha counters that she's never met his parents. "I was doing a dangling modifier joke," she clarifies for Matt when he protests. In West Wing's "Dead Irish Writers", the First Lady declares that "Women talk about their husbands overshadowing their careers. Mine got eaten!" To which CJ responds "Your husband got eaten? ... I'm on dangling modifier control." In the Sports Night episode "Intellectual Property", Casey reads from Dana's desk calendar: "Saturday the 2nd, Aztec Two-Step at the Bottom Line with Gordon. Sunday the 10th, Turandot at Lincoln Center with Gordon. I'm assuming, although your modifier was dangling, that you were going with Gordon to see Turandot, and that you weren't going to see Gordon in Turandot."

Where'd You Kiss Him? - When Harriet, in "The Wrap Party", confesses to almost kissing Matt, is asked where this happened, she replies, "On the mouth", forcing Jeannie to clarify, "Where in the building?" In The American President, after finding out that Sydney kissed the President, her sister wants to know where. Sydney similarly misinterprets the question, replying, "On the mouth." Leading to the question, "Where in the White House?"

Looking at Naked Women - Tom's thoughts on strippers ("The Wrap Party"): "I like looking at naked women as much as anybody, I just don't like it to be a crowd experience." The West Wing's Josh's thoughts on strippers ("Take This Sabbath Day"): "Men don't like that anymore ... we still like naked women a lot. It's looking at them in a room full of your best friends that makes you feel a little... uncomfortable."


Art Imitating Life

Sorkin and Schlamme - The characters of Matt and Danny have been said to be based upon writer-director duo Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme. Particularly, Danny's drug addiction has been compared to Sorkin's own well-documented drug problems. Matt's relationship and subsequent breakup with Harriet can be compared to Sorkin's relationship with Kristin Chenoweth.

Jamie Tarses - The head of ABC's entertainment division between 1996 and 1999, Jamie Tarses was the first woman and one of the youngest people to hold such a position in an American broadcast network. She was the source of inspiration for Jordan McDeere who herself was called Jamie in early pilot drafts.

Kristin Chenoweth - A Tony Award-winning actress and singer and a born-again Christian who in 2005 made an appearance on The 700 Club to promote an album of spiritual music, upsetting some of her gay fans. After assuring her fans that she supported gay rights, she was disinvited from performing at a Women of Faith conference in September 2005. She drew further criticism when she did a bikini-clad photo spread in the March 2006 issue of FHM. She's also a former girlfriend of Aaron Sorkin and claims that Matt and Harriet have "an argument me and Aaron had and it's pretty much verbatim".

Maureen Dowd - The character of Martha O'Dell, the redheaded, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist bears some striking similarities to the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maureen Dowd, another ex of Sorkin's.

Rick Cleveland - There is some unconfirmed speculation that Ricky Tahoe was intended to be a mockery of Rick Cleveland, with whom Aaron Sorkin had a public dispute following their joint Emmy win for their writing of the West Wing episode "In Excelsis Deo".


Deliberate Allusions or Crossovers

Bartlet for America Poster - On one of the walls outside Harriet's dressing room is a prop from The West Wing, a "Bartlet for America" poster used during Jed Bartlet's election campaign.