Cooper Allen

USA TODAY Network

In just a few weeks, Americans will go to the polls to vote in another election held in a polarized political environment.

15 years ago, though, the country first glimpsed a different kind of Washington -- albeit a fictional one. The West Wing debuted on Sept. 22, 1999, and showcased a president and White House staff that, while partisan, embodied much of what Americans of all sides want in politics.

USA TODAY Network spoke with members of the cast and executive producer John Wells about their memories of the show and its legacy.

Martin Sheen (President Josiah Bartlet)

Sheen actually wasn't originally supposed to be the central focus of the show. Yet, his portrayal of Jed Bartlet would ultimately lead to six Emmy nominations. He said during the interview that if the show had continued he would've been interested in staying on in a more limited role as an active former president.

On his original commitment to the show:

"I was asked to sign on for four to maybe five episodes of the first 22, including the pilot ... the only requirement they asked of me was that I did not play another president anywhere else as long as The West Wing was on the air. I said, 'What are the chances?'"

On his one concern:

"I did not know if the show would succeed on a network that had to sell commercial time. I did not know if a political show could sell cars and prescription drugs or insurance."

On what he asked for before joining the show as a regular:

"I only asked two things: that the president be Catholic, and that he have a Notre Dame degree. And they granted me both things very happily."

On the presidents he drew his inspiration from:

"In this order: John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton -- all Democrats, of course." (laughing)

On the critically acclaimed season two finale, 'Two Cathedrals,' in which Bartlet deals with the aftermath of his longtime secretary's death as well as the public disclosure that he had multiple sclerosis:

"There was loss, and there was possibility."

"He had to climb up out of this depression and reassert himself and his administration."

"That was a very, very satisfying episode. In fact, that's one of my favorites." (Sheen also cited season 1 episodes Take This Sabbath Day and In Excelsis Deo)

On whether he thought the show resonated across party lines:

"Absolutely, yeah, I do indeed. I think it gave the American people a sense of pride and true patriotism. Because it didn't limit it to the party in power or to any particular political party. It expanded on all of the nameless heroes and heroines down through the beginning of the republic who continue to serve as a matter of pride and principle and of moral certitude."

On what it was like being greeted as if he were the president"

"I never took it serious, mind you. I was getting on a plane one time when the show was still on the air, and a fellow passenger greeted me with, 'Good morning, Mr. President, is Air Force One in the shop?' So as long as you can have a sense of humor about it."'

Bradley Whitford (White House deputy chief of staff Joshua Lyman)

Whitford was a fixture of the White House staff, then took over the presidential campaign of Rep. Matt Santos, played by Jimmy Smits. Whitford also won the 2001 Emmy for best supporting actor, in part for his performance in the Christmas episode Noël, which delved into Lyman's struggle with the aftermath of a shooting in which he was critically wounded.

On how much Aaron Sorkin told him about his character:

"One of the sublime pleasures of doing a TV series with a writer like that is you really, you don't know. You don't have all the information about this person when you're playing a scene in the first season. ... You discover it as you go along, which is the fun of it."

On his reaction to the Noël script:

"Aaron was writing at an extraordinary level, I felt, in the second year. These scripts were plopping down every week, and they were completely realized, fleshed out pieces of dramatic writing. It was absolutely stunning."

"I was blown away when I read that script."

"I knew it was that kind of episode that was going to be very emotional, very high-stakes. And the danger when you hear that is that you're going to have a letdown when you read it. But I had no letdown."

Allison Janney (White House press secretary C.J. Cregg)

Janney won four Emmys for her portrayal of the press secretary-turned chief of staff.

On whether she thought the show would work:

"We knew it was brilliant writing. We thought it just wouldn't work somehow because it was too smart. And I think that's exactly what people loved about it."

"It worked beyond our wildest dreams."

On whether political environment in the country affected the show's popularity:

"People get incredibly frustrated with politics. And Aaron Sorkin's White House offered an antidote to what was going on in the world."

On the show's lasting impact:

"It's rewarding for me to have people come up to me still to this day and say, 'C.J., your character, made me change my major in college, and now I'm going into public service because of what you did.' "

Dulé Hill (presidential aide Charlie Young)

Hill got his big break with The West Wing and later starred on the USA Network show Psych.

On his reaction to the first show shortly before he was cast:

"I remember watching the pilot and I said, 'If they can do this every week, this will be one of the greatest shows of all time.' "

On first joining the show:

"One thing I learned in acting class ... was to use what you have. And doing the first episode that I came on, doing those scenes, Charlie was supposed to be nervous because he was in this great place, and Dulé was nervous." (Laughing)

On his early encounters with Martin Sheen:

"One of the first things Martin did was he showed me a handshake that Laurence Fishburne taught him during Apocalypse Now. ... We still do it to this day."

On his reaction to the shooting resulting from his character's interracial relationship with Bartlet's daughter:

"I was glad that we dealt with it, instead of trying to act like that didn't exist." (He noted that the show had received hate mail over the storyline of Zoey Bartlet and Charlie Young's on-screen relationship)

On ending the show following John Spencer's death (Spencer, who played Leo McGarry, White House chief of staff for most of the show's run, died in 2005) -->

"West Wing without John Spencer isn't The West Wing, to me anyway."





Stockard Channing (first lady Abbey Bartlet)

Channing only appeared in a handful of episodes in the first season, but her role on the show gradually expanded. During the interview, she said she didn't model her portrayal of Abbey Bartlet after an actual first lady.

On first learning of her expanded role over lunch with Sorkin:

"He sat down at lunch and said, 'How would you like to be a doctor?' And I said, 'OK.' And he said, 'Because I wrote the teaser before lunch and in it POTUS has a cold. And I think he really has MS, and you're his doctor.' And then he started telling me about this thought he had that if he had been diagnosed with MS and he was hiding it from the world and I was his doctor that was a pretty good dramatic situation. And I said, 'Sure, works for me.'" (Laughing)

On whether she's like Abbey Bartlet:

"I thought she was pretty fabulous. I would love to be as much like her as possible, but I have no idea."

Joshua Malina (deputy communications director, and later top Bob Russell aide, Will Bailey)

Malina, who had worked with Sorkin in the past, joined the show in season four as Rob Lowe exited.

Were you a fan of the show before you joined?

"I was a big fan of the show."

"Stepping onto that show was a dream. That was like hitting the lottery."

On his reaction to people who didn't like his character's defection to Vice President Bob Russell, who would run for president:

"This is John Wells' way of keeping me on the show."



"I didn't think there was a very good chance that I was going to take Bingo Bob all the way. But we gave it a shot."



On the show's resonance with viewers, given the politics of the time:

"Obviously, for the lefties among our audience, it was a nice escapist theater, a fantasy of what an administration might be. And then the fact is, plenty of Republicans watched the show too. So I think, really, wherever you fell on the political spectrum ... there was also something very seductive about at least positing a political world where most people cared deeply and were idealistic and were doing their job because they wanted to make the country a better place."

"If anything, it's become more partisan and more broken and more dysfunctional, and so I think people on both sides of the aisle would still like to see a little bit of that fantasy political theater."

Melissa Fitzgerald (Carol Fitzpatrick, aide to the press secretary)

Fitzgerald wasn't a regular cast member but her tenure with The West Wing spanned the entirety of the series' run. She now serves as senior director of Justice for Vets. At a recent event on behalf of the group, she even enlisted the help of former castmates Janney and Janel Moloney.

On what she told someone after reading scripts to Sports Night (another Sorkin-written show) and The West Wing:

"I think that Sports Night is going to be the best show on TV, and I think that The West Wing is going to be the best show ever on TV – and I was right." (Laughing)

On the show's depiction of government:

"I think that government can and should be a force for good in people's lives, and I think this show, The West Wing, showed people who were working really hard to make government a force for good in people's lives. And we want that and we need that, and I think we deserve that."

John Wells (executive producer)

Wells was an executive producer of The West Wing from the beginning, but assumed the role of showrunner following Sorkin's departure after season four.

On where he wanted to take the show heading into season 5:

"I was just trying to follow in the footsteps of what we'd already been doing, to accurately portray in an entertaining but hopefully moving way...a period in a president's time in office."

On taking over after the cliffhanger ending to season 4, with Zoey Bartlet kidnapped and the president temporarily relinquishing power:

"I said, 'Aaron, what happens next? He goes, 'I have no idea.'" (Laughing)

On whether The West Wing would be picked up by a broadcast network now:

"I think it's very, very difficult to sell the kind of shows that I've been involved with to the broadcast networks now. They don't take as many chances, and accordingly they don't get as many opportunities to take chances."

On why the show's appeal transcended partisan lines:

"Whether you're a Republican or whether you're a Democrat, you hope for basic integrity and values in a president."

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