Rob Lowe as | Sam (Samuel Norman) Seaborn | Deputy Communications Director |
Moira Kelly as | Mandy (Madeline) Hampton | Public Relations Consultant |
Dulé Hill as | Charlie (Charles) Young | Personal Aide to the President |
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 |
Guest Star | ||
Janel Moloney as | Donna (Donnatella) Moss | Assistant to Deputy Chief of Staff |
Elisabeth Moss as | Zoey Patricia Bartlet | Bartlets' youngest daughter |
Suzy Nakamura as | Cathy | Assistant to Deputy Communications Director |
Allison Smith as | Mallory O'Brian | Teacher / Leo McGarry's daughter |
Renee Estevez as | Nancy | Mrs. Landingham's Assistant |
Al Frann as | Mr. Joe Willis | Congressman |
Charley Lang as | (Matt) Skinner | Congressman |
Michael O'Neill as | Ron Butterfield | Head of POTUS' Secret Service detail |
Kenneth Tigar as | Gladman | Congressman |
Co-Starring | ||
Kathryn Joosten as | Mrs. Landingham | President's Secretary / Delores (first name) |
Devika Parikh as | Bonnie | Communications' Aide |
Eric Balfour (uncredited) as | Frat Boy | from TVGuide.com |
Blake Sheilds as | Frat Boy #1 | |
Justin Urich as | Frat Boy #2 | |
Bradley James as | Secret Service Agent #1 | Donnie |
Greg Wrangler as | Secret Service Agent #2 | |
Juan A. Riojas as | Secret Service Agent #3 | |
Gathering Marbet as | Waitress |
Cynthia Mostoller, National History Day teacher of the year in 1998, was enchanted with a character presented as an eighth-grade social studies teacher, Mr. Willis, who becomes a congressman from Ohio and votes his conscience in a battle over a bill.
"I'm an eighth-grade social studies teacher from Ohio. And the show was exactly on target with what we are teaching right now," she says.
"Lessons in entertainment"
by Cathy Lynn Grossman
December 14, 1999
USA Today
These [census] scenes work, says [Thomas] Schlamme, precisely because they're not about teaching. "You're involved with the fact that Sam is the smarter one and C.J. has to be the student at this moment, so you're enjoying that, first and foremost," Schlamme explains. "From a directing point of view...[t]he essence of the scene is not about teaching us about the census; it's about how are these two people going to end up being closer to one another by the end of this episode. So if you start from that, then you can lay on... any dialogue you want and it's fascinating."
"The Real White House"
by Matthew Miller
March 2000
Brill's Content
"Make the Census interesting, who'd have thought?" says (real) White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.
"You Could Call It the Wonk Wing"
by Jay Branegan
May 15, 2000
Time Magazine
Mr. [Scott] Reid [communications director for Paul Martin, the Canadian Finance Minister says, a discussion of tax cuts versus tax rebates was punctuated by one West Wing staffer who said repeatedly: "I want to keep more of my money! I want to buy a DVD!" The line became a favourite among staff in Mr. Martin's office, who now use it themselves.
"Ottawa insiders see selves in TV's idealistic West Wing"
by Francine Dube
May 18, 2000
National Post
"That Aaron can make things like the census as fascinating as he does on the show is a benefit for anyone who watches." - Richard Schiff
"A Taste of 'West Wing's' Nonpartisan Politics"
by Steve Hochman
September 11, 2000
Special to The Los Angeles Times
"You just say the word "census" and people fall asleep. It's a questionnaire; turns out it's terribly important." - Aaron Sorkin"They did a program where a third of the episode involved a recurring story line, and it was the debate on census and statistical sampling. And they did a better job of framing the issue, the politics on each side, and the passions on each side, than anybody in the broadcast world did throughout this debate. We've been having this debate for two years. It's a very interesting debate. It's got to do with the future, and how we're going to allocate our money. It has to do with the politics of Democrats versus Republicans. It's perfect for the kind of arguments we have here in Washington, and I can't tell you that I ever saw anybody put this story on television." - Joe Lockhart [former press secretary for President Clinton]
"And I thought Aaron was crazy. I read that, and I was like, "Well, this is going to be the most boring thing ever." And then as we did it, we had such a good time, and I learned, right along with C.J., as did my friends who watched the show. And now I can guarantee you everyone who saw that show is going to fill out their census because they saw how, and they learned how important it actually was and what it means." - Allison Janney
"Popular Politics"
by Terence Smith
September 27, 2000
Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
"When you do a show on the census, 13 million or 14 million people watch it all the way through," ... "And somebody at the White House was saying, when we want to talk about something, if we get the news cycle, it's maybe a million people, and if we bring up the census, the channel changes." -Bradley Whitford
"Hail to "The West Wing""
by Gail Pennington
October 4, 2000
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
On the "Dave of Love" Remember in Sports Night when Dana is dealing poker and she hands out the Ten of Hearts, calling it the "Dave of Love?" I think he used it again in TWW? One night, Aaron and some friends were playing poker (Brad Whitford among them) and one of the guys, John DiSimmio from Castle Rock had called it that. Aaron, an amateur poker player, thought everyone just did this. Much to his surprise, after that episode of SN aired, he got a call from the actual DAVE OF LOVE.
Whoops!
Posted at AaronSorkin@yahoogroups.com
by AJ
September 12, 2003
Message 31492
Notes from "A Conversation with Aaron Sorkin" at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills
'When someone is able to explain to me, say, the census, what seems to be an arcane argument in front of Congress, and they can make me smile when explaining it well, then I want to dramatise that. I'm certainly better at something like that than dramatising the end of the world.'
"Wing and a prayer"
by Jay Rayner
July 10, 2005
Observer
El Dorado native Alex Graves has been involved with the NBC television drama series "West Wing" almost from the beginning - in fact, he joined the series at its sixth episode.
"El Dorado native Graves nominated for an Emmy"
by Steve Smith
August 9, 2005
El Dorado Times
I think of Michael O'Neill [who played Secret Service Agent Ron Butterfield], who just came on with such conviction. He was just using all of himself from the first day he walked in and briefed the president on security. You were like, "This guy has a heart and a home, and this guy's for real." - Bradley Whitford
"Fearless Leaders"
by Jenelle Riley
May 11, 2006
Back Stage