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| Rob Lowe as | Sam (Samuel Norman) Seaborn | Deputy Communications Director |
| Moira Kelly as | Mandy (Madeline) Hampton | Public Relations Consultant |
| Allison Janney as | C.J. (Claudia Jean) Cregg | Press Secretary |
| Richard Schiff as | Toby (Tobias Zachary) Ziegler | Communications Director |
| John Spencer as | Leo Thomas McGarry | Chief of Staff |
| Bradley Whitford as | Josh (Joshua) Lyman | Deputy Chief of Staff |
| and Martin Sheen as |
Jed (Josiah Edward) Bartlet | President of the United States |
| Special Guest Star Reuben Santiago-Hudson as |
Captain Morris Tolliver M.D. | Naval Officer / President's Physician |
| Guest Starring | ||
| Lisa Edelstein as | Laurie (Brittany Rollins) | Call Girl / Law Student |
| Merrin Dungey as | Daisy Reese | last name from script |
| Renee Estevez as | Nancy | Mrs. Landingham's Assistant |
| John Bedford Lloyd as | Senator Lloyd Russell | Mandy's client |
| Janel Moloney as | Donna (Donnatella) Moss | Assistant to Deputy Chief of Staff |
| Suzy Nakamura as | Cathy | Assistant to Deputy Communications Director |
| Tim Matheson as | Vice President John Hoynes | |
| Co-Starring | ||
| Kathryn Joosten as | Mrs. Landingham | President's Secretary / Delores (first name) |
| NiCole Robinson as | Margaret | Hooper (last name) / Assistant to Chief of Staff |
| Gilles Savard as | Larouche | spoke French |
| Bill Duffy as | Staffer | Larry |
| Jana Lee Hamblin as | Bobbi | Reporter |
| Victor Love as | Mike | Reporter |
| Andy Umberger as | Stevie | Vice President's Chief of Staff |
| Rose Rollins as | Suzanne | |
| Robyn Pedretti as | Candy | Aide to the Vice President |
| J. August Richards as | Bill | |
| Melissa Fitzgerald as | Carol | Fitzpatrick (last name) Assistant to the Press Secretary |
| Peter James Smith as | Ed | Congressional Liaison |
| Mary Kay Wulf as | Janet | |
| Tammy Tavares as | Woman | |
| Chuti Tiu as | Woman #2 | |
| Steven M. Gagnon as | Officer #1 | |
| Eric Fleeks as | Officer #2 | |
| Chris Hendrie as | Businessman | |
| Paul Doherty as | Aide #1 | |
| Neal Moran as | Aide #2 | |
| Bradley James as | Secret Service Agent | Donnie |
| Brad Van Grack as | Pedestrian |
"As a writer, I don't like to answer questions until the very moment that I have to. In the second episode, we find out our president was a three-term congressman, two-term governor and Nobel laureate. ... That's not something I jot down on a legal pad. It comes up naturally as you explore the episodes." - Aaron Sorkin
"The brains behind the shows"
by Eric Deggans
August 17, 1999
St. Petersburg Times
Day 1 Tuesday, July 27, [1999] 8:30 A.M.Deep inside the West Wing of the White House, in communications director Toby Ziegler's office, Ziegler's deputy, Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), is nervously telling him about (what else?) a sex scandal. But this one doesn't involve the president - it involves the deputy himself. "About a week ago," Seaborn confesses, "I accidentally slept with a prostitute." Ziegler (Richard Schiff) is unamused. "What did you do, trip?" he asks, demanding to know who else is aware of the indiscretion, which could have consequences extending far beyond the labyrinthine White House corridors. "Cut!" yells director Thomas Schlamme, ending the first scene on the first day of shooting ...
Stepping from behind the monitor on which he has been watching the action, Schlamme walks onto the set to show Lowe how he wants the actor to pick up the cover of a glass jelly-bean dish on Ziegler's desk. "Reach for it like this," the director says, demonstrating the motion, then inadvertently slamming the glass top back down so hard that it shatters. "See? Acting isn't so easy," quips Lowe, as crew members freeze, unsure how Schlamme will react. ... "Top department?" he calls out, laughing, to the relief of the crew.
...
NBC is worried about the leftish leanings of the pilot, in which the president dramatically berates members of the religious right. Thus, during these all-important first hours of shooting, the notoriously hands-on Sorkin is absent from the set - he's being grilled on these issues by network executives.
...
Although Sorkin is at NBC headquarters, he is present here in spirit - in the form of a three-man mariachi band he hired to serenade the cast outside the sound stage upon their 2 p.m. return from lunch. "Did Aaron do this?" asks Bradley Whitford (deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman) before grabbing Allison Janney (press secretary C.J. Cregg) for a dance in the street. Says Janney, "I'd do anything for Aaron."
...
At 3:30 p.m., when he [Aaron Sorkin] steps onto the set for the first time, he finds Schlamme busy explaining to Lowe, Janney, Whitford, Schiff, and John Spencer (Leo McGarry, chief of staff) the movement he wants to see in a scene that takes place inside the chief of staff's office. Sorkin watches them work for a minute before blurting, "I've rewritten this. You should get the pages in about an hour. It doesn't change that much, but some of the lines are different." Cast members exchange furtive glances at Sorkin...
Four hours later, Lowe, Janney, Whitford, Spencer, and Schiff are still inside the chief of staff's office as Schlamme seeks the perfect take. As it nears 8 p.m., patience is wearing thin. "Is it too late for me to get back into features?" asks Lowe, ... "This is breaking my balls."
Sensing the tension, Schlamme jokes, "That's right. I want an uncomfortable, mean f---ing set." "Then why don't you get James Cameron to direct?" says his director of photography. Finally, at 8:30 p.m., Schlamme gets what he needs. "And cut!" he says. "That's a wrap. See you all tomorrow."
Day 2 Wednesday, July 28, [1999] 9 A.M.
Because AFTRA, the TV-actors' union, requires a 12-hour break between shooting days, things start slightly later today back in the chief of staff's office, where Schlamme is shooting what is known as "coverage."Day 3 Thursday, July 29, 9 A.M.
Shooting resumes on Sound Stage 19, with a scene that takes place in the deputy chief of staff's office. In the scene, Seaborn tells Lyman that he wants to phone the prostitute again because, "She's not what you think."Despite his cram session yesterday, Lowe is fumbling his lines and becoming increasingly frustrated. "F--- me!" he yells, after blowing a line for the second time in a row. This throws the rhythm off for Whitford, who begins missing his lines.
Finally, at 3 p.m., after nearly 20 takes, Schlamme gets what he needs, and the cast and crew break for lunch.At 4:30 p.m., back inside Sound Stage 19, Schlamme resumes shooting the scene involving Lowe and Whitford's discussion about the prostitute. The scene is so familiar by now that even crew members are mouthing the words.
"Politically Correct"
by Julian Rubinstein
October 1999
US Magazine
Aeden Babish, an assistant writer for the series, claims that Yeshiva University was selected randomly for the text, and that this "does not necessarily express negative sentiments toward your University...but let's face it you're not exactly known for your sports program."
"Yeshiva University Goes Prime Time"
by Commentator Staff
November 1, 1999
Yeshiva University Commentator
He then said that it wasn't a problem until the second episode, when Sam wants to go off and find Laurie and reform her, and Rob came to Aaron and said (Aaron starts a perfect Rob Lowe impersonation), "'Oh, oh no, We can't do this! We can't!' I said to Rob, 'You just did the episode where you actually SLEPT with her'. did you forget that scene?"
Posted at TheWestWing@egroups.com
by Jenn
September 26, 2000
Message 6797
Notes from the Harvard Law School Forum with Aaron Sorkin
"I was supposed to recur, but after Moira got the job at the White House, I somehow disappeared. I'm lost in the halls of the West Wing somewhere." - Merrin Dungey
"Dungey Jumping"
by Bruce Fretts
November 16, 2001
Entertainment Weekly
"[Creator] Aaron Sorkin [modeled their relationship on] the dynamic that Jack Kennedy had with Lyndon Johnson," Matheson tells TV Guide Online. "Johnson had a bit of an outsized ego and Kennedy had his group of intellectuals, and they were just different. Johnson didn't feel he was being utilized enough; I think Hoynes feels the same way. He was the majority leader of the Senate and like all senators, he feels he could be president and should be!" - Tim Matheson
"West Wing VP Disses Cable Talkers"
by Daniel R. Coleridge
July 17, 2002
TV Guide Online