- Overlaps between "Sports Night" & West Wing By Peter Vetsch
-
"Sports Night" was Aaron Sorkin's first TV series: it aired on ABC for two
seasons before being cancelled due to low ratings. However, it was often
recognized as "the best show that no one is watching", and for good reason.
The show revolves around the production and airing of a fictional prime time
sports show (also called "Sports Night") on a cable sports network called CSC
(Continental Sports Channel). The two anchors of the show are Dan Rydell
and Casey McCall, who have been partners for years and are best friends off
the air. The executive producer of the show is Dana Whitaker, who calls the
shots from the control room when Dan and Casey are on the air. She is
assisted by associate producer Natalie Hurley and producer Jeremy Goodwin,
and answers only to Isaac Jaffee, managing editor of "Sports Night". The show
offers an insider's look into the making of a TV program, and features the
wit and dialogue that Sorkin also brings to the West Wing.
"Sports Night" currently shows on Comedy Central at 11:30 am MT, check your local listings.
Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition
Available September 10, 2008
With breakout and memorable performances by Josh Charles (In Treatment ), Robert Guillaume (Benson ), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives ), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under ), Sabrina Lloyd (Sliders ) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing ), this was writer/producer Aaron Sorkin's (A Few Good Men , The American President ) first television series. And it was director Thomas Schlamme's first collaboration with Sorkin. The pair, who would continue to click brilliantly with The West Wing and Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip, may not have known it at the time, but with Sports Night they defined a new style and raised the bar for all television programs to follow
Critically acclaimed when it debuted on ABC in 1998, Sports Night was an innovative half-hour program about a team of funny, smart and likeable people who put on a daily live sports cable newscast, much like ESPN's SportsCenter.They are a group of consummate professionals whose personal lives operate in apparent chaos, communicating every uncensored thought and feeling through a libretto of witty and honest chatter over the hum of the separate-but-integrated live show-within-the-show.
- 10th Anniversary Special Features:
- The Show: All-new interviews with Josh Charles, Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause, Joshua Malina, Robert Guillaume, show creator Aaron Sorkin and director/executive producer, Thomas Schlamme and many more reveal the whole story of Sports Night.
- Face-Off: SportsCenter employees compare their real-life experiences with the characters on Sports Night
- Looking Back: A conversation with show creator Aaron Sorkin and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme
- Inside The Locker Room: What made the show work and how it was done
- Gag Reel
- 8 Cast and Crew Episode Commentaries
- 40 page booklet with an special introduction written by Aaron Sorkin
-
-
|
Overlaps between West Wing & Other Sorkin Writings
Home
