173 Fun Facts About The West Wing

In The West Wing's pilot, a staffer's date is baffled by a pager message because she doesn't know which acronym?

POTUS, she tells Sam, must be a friend of his with a funny name; he has to explain that it is not a name but a title, President of the United States, and that his boss needs him at the office.

Which state did President Bartlet govern before the White House?

New Hampshire is where Leo McGarry travelled to talk a reluctant Governor Bartlet into running for president; the show also makes Bartlet a descendant of the state's signer of the Declaration of Independence.

In 'Five Votes Down', what legislation was Leo McGarry five House votes short of passing?

A gun control bill is what Leo comes up five House votes short on; the last vote arrives only when the Vice President leans on a holdout congressman, and the Vice President then collects the credit.

Which actor played Josh Lyman in The West Wing?

Bradley Whitford was first offered a different part, the role of Sam; he phoned Aaron Sorkin to plead that Josh was the one character he was meant to play, and got his way.

What is the full first name of President Bartlet?

Josiah is a family name: the show makes him a descendant of Josiah Bartlett, a real signer of the Declaration of Independence who spelled the surname with two t's, though friends just call the President Jed.

In The West Wing, Mrs. Landingham tells Charlie that her twin sons were killed in which war?

The Vietnam War took both twins: second-year medical students who could have deferred the draft, they chose to go as medics, though their parents begged them not to.

What was C.J. Cregg's job for most of the Bartlet administration on The West Wing?

White House Press Secretary grew out of the campaign job Toby Ziegler turns up to offer C.J. on the day a Hollywood PR firm fires her for being too blunt with a client; startled to see him, she falls into her pool.

Which chronic illness does President Bartlet live with throughout The West Wing?

Multiple sclerosis entered the story almost by accident: Sorkin wanted an episode with the President ill in bed and the First Lady revealed as a doctor, and the diagnosis grew out of that.

The West Wing's creator made his name with which Broadway courtroom drama, later a Tom Cruise film?

A Few Good Men grew out of a phone call from Aaron Sorkin's sister, a Navy lawyer who was on her way to Guantanamo Bay to defend Marines accused over a hazing.

In The West Wing, which Bartlet family heirloom, made by Paul Revere, does the President hand down to Charlie Young?

A carving knife is something a family passes on, Bartlet says; Charlie spends the day shopping for a new one, only to learn the President needs it because he is giving the family's old one to Charlie.

In The West Wing, activists ask C.J. Cregg for a highway reserved for which animals?

Wolves would get an 1,800-mile road from Yellowstone to the Yukon; C.J. laughs out loud at the $900 million price, yet Bartlet later teases that she will be up all night writing a paper on wildlife protection.

Which main cast member's death during The West Wing's final season was written into the plot?

John Spencer died of a heart attack in December 2005, a season after his character had survived one on screen; the writers then had Leo McGarry die the same way on election night.

What was Toby Ziegler's position in the Bartlet administration?

White House Communications Director is quite a turn for Toby, who had only ever worked on losing campaigns; flashbacks show him drinking in a bar, sure that Bartlet's team is about to fire him.

Which cabinet post had Leo McGarry held before he ran Bartlet's first presidential campaign?

Secretary of Labor is the post Leo held before the show begins; in season one a hostile congressman digs up his past treatment for alcohol and pill addiction and threatens to make it public.

Which network originally broadcast The West Wing in the United States?

NBC executives first shelved the idea, saying American audiences were not interested in politics; the script came back out of the drawer only after a change of management at the network.

Who composed the main title theme music for The West Wing?

W.G. Snuffy Walden won an Emmy for the theme, which he says began as closing music for the third episode; the first episodes aired with a synthesiser version while the orchestra recording was finished.

For which office does Leo McGarry become a candidate in The West Wing's final season?

Vice President is the slot Leo takes on Matt Santos's ticket; he dies on election night, leaving the winner to find someone else for the job.

Which former presidential press secretary worked as a consultant on The West Wing from its first season?

Dee Dee Myers, the first woman to hold the job, became Sorkin's sounding board on White House life, and things that had really happened to her ended up in the scripts.

Which actress played Mandy Hampton, whose unexplained exit after West Wing season one gave fans the term 'Mandyville'?

Moira Kelly played Mandy Hampton for season one only; Sorkin conceded the character never worked, and she vanished without explanation, giving fans the term 'Mandyville' for any silently dropped character.

What led President Bartlet to temporarily invoke the 25th Amendment in The West Wing?

The kidnapping of his youngest daughter, Zoey, left Bartlet unable to act as both father and President; with no Vice President in office, power passed to the Republican Speaker of the House.

In '20 Hours in America', which three staffers are stranded in Indiana when the motorcade leaves without them?

Josh, Toby and Donna miss the motorcade and spend the day hitching rides across Indiana, unaware they crossed a time-zone line; the episode ends with Bartlet's 'streets of heaven' speech after a swim-meet bombing.

What was Charlie Young's initial role in the White House?

Personal Aide to the President is the job Charlie gets after walking in looking for messenger work; he later dates Bartlet's daughter Zoey.

Admiral Percy Fitzwallace advises President Bartlet from which post for most of The West Wing?

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Fitzwallace is the officer who talks a furious new President out of a massive retaliatory strike in the show's third episode, calling it too much punishment for the crime.

Which actor played Matt Santos, the congressman elected president at the end of The West Wing?

Jimmy Smits was playing Shakespeare in Central Park in summer 2004 when the show's producers came calling; a year after its creator's exit, they wanted a high-profile addition to freshen the series.

After Leo McGarry's heart attack in The West Wing, President Bartlet gives C.J. Cregg which job?

White House Chief of Staff comes to C.J. on Leo's own advice; Bartlet makes the offer in the words he once used on Leo, asking her to jump off a cliff.

Which fictional Gulf state leases the US an air base while its defence minister secretly backs terrorism?

Qumar first appears when C.J. rages at an arms sale to a country that mistreats its women; the sale goes ahead because renewal of the air-base lease depends on it.

In 'Two Cathedrals', Bartlet rages at God after Mrs. Landingham's funeral partly in which language?

Latin is the language Bartlet switches into to curse God in the empty National Cathedral, after first calling him a 'feckless thug' in English; he then grinds a cigarette into the floor.

In 'Shibboleth', Bartlet must decide whether to grant asylum to Christians who fled which country by container ship?

China is where the stowaways say they were persecuted as evangelicals; Bartlet meets one of them in the Oval Office to test whether his faith is real, the 'shibboleth' of the title.

The episode "Noel" focuses on Josh Lyman's post-traumatic stress disorder following what event?

The shooting at Rosslyn comes back to Josh when music at a White House Christmas party starts to sound like sirens; he puts his hand through a window and claims he broke a glass.

On what did Leo McGarry famously first write the slogan 'Bartlet for America'?

Leo wrote 'Bartlet for America' on a cocktail napkin to talk a reluctant Governor Bartlet into running; Bartlet later gives Leo the framed napkin as a Christmas present.

In 'A Proportional Response', Bartlet wants a devastating strike because the plane Syria shot down carried whom?

His personal physician, Morris Tolliver, had a ten-day-old baby at home, and Bartlet takes the attack personally; Admiral Fitzwallace talks him down to the measured strike the title describes.

In 'The Stackhouse Filibuster', the stalling senator has a grandson with what condition?

Autism research money had been left out of a health bill, so Stackhouse held the Senate floor for hours reading recipes aloud; Donna's fix was for friendly senators to ask him questions, letting him rest without yielding.

In "The Supremes", which actress guest-stars as Evelyn Baker Lang, the judge Josh wants as Chief Justice?

Glenn Close plays Evelyn Baker Lang; Josh's two-for-one gambit retires the ailing Chief Justice, elevates Lang, and gives the other seat to a conservative judge played by William Fichtner.

Because Emily Procter read with a Southern accent, Sorkin made Ainsley Hayes a native of which state?

North Carolina replaced Montana, where the script had first placed Ainsley; Procter, a Raleigh native, read the part in her own accent, and Sorkin let the character move south with her.

In 'Election Night', a dead Democrat winning California's 47th district creates a dilemma for which staffer?

Sam Seaborn had offered his own name as a stand-in candidate if the dead man somehow won, never expecting to be held to it; keeping his word takes him out of the White House and off the show.

The episode 'Debate Camp' covers preparations for a presidential debate between which two candidates?

Bartlet and Ritchie debate only once, in the next episode, 'Game On'; here the rehearsal questions send the story into flashbacks of the administration's first weeks in office.

Who is Josh Lyman's assistant for most of The West Wing?

Donna Moss turned up at Bartlet's campaign office after a break-up, started answering Josh's phone and told him she was his new assistant; he let her stay.

'Bartlet for America' details Leo McGarry's testimony to the congressional investigation into what?

The President's undisclosed illness is the committee's subject, but Leo's own secret is the real danger: a congressman is ready to ask about the night he drank during the campaign, until the hearing is recessed.

In 'The Indians in the Lobby', two Native American visitors refuse to leave on the eve of which holiday?

Thanksgiving is a day away when the two Stockbridge-Munsee visitors sit down to wait over a land application ignored for 15 years; elsewhere, Bartlet phones the Butterball hotline for stuffing advice.

Which actor played Toby Ziegler in The West Wing?

Richard Schiff won an Emmy as Toby in 2000, yet he was hurt by the final-season plot that turned his character into a leaker, saying it betrayed six years of work on the role.

The two-part 'In the Shadow of Two Gunmen' uses flashbacks to show what?

The early days of the Bartlet campaign show how the team formed: Josh walks out on the front-runner after hearing Bartlet speak, then pulls his friend Sam out of a law-firm meeting to join him.

In the post-9/11 special 'Isaac and Ishmael', who is trapped with the staff during a White House lockdown?

High-school students on a tour are stuck in the cafeteria, where the staff take their questions about terrorism; meanwhile Leo interrogates a White House worker whose name matches a suspect's alias.

In 'Ways and Means,' what tax policy divides the administration and Congress?

Estate tax repeal is the Republican goal, sold under the name 'death tax'; one episode later Bartlet kills the repeal with the first veto of his presidency.

In 'The Crackpots and These Women', what does Bartlet insist on cooking for his staff?

Chili night is where Josh hands the President back a card that would rush him to safety in a nuclear attack, because none of his friends were given one.

In The West Wing's 'The Long Goodbye', C.J. flies home for a school reunion and confronts what?

Her father's Alzheimer's dominates the trip: the retired maths teacher still talks of writing a handbook for teachers.

In The West Wing, cartographers tell C.J. Cregg that which standard world map distorts the size of continents?

The Mercator projection makes Greenland look as large as Africa, the visitors show her; when they flip their preferred map upside down, C.J. protests that it is freaking her out.

In 'Ninety Miles Away', Leo's secret back-channel talks with Cuba's ailing dictator aim to achieve what?

Lifting the trade embargo is the prize in talks so secret that Leo slips away to meet Castro face to face; when rumours spread, Bartlet must choose between the deal and pressure to keep sanctions.

In The West Wing's finale, Bartlet gives Charlie Young his own copy of what?

The Constitution, the copy his own father once gave him, is Bartlet's parting gift on his last morning in office; he says he considered a tie with the scales of justice but figured Charlie would use this more.

Which studio, also behind ER and Friends, produced The West Wing?

Warner Bros. Television faced a cast revolt in 2001, when four of the actors banded together over pay; the studio threatened to sue them, then more than doubled their salaries.

Who took over as head writer after Aaron Sorkin left at the end of Season 4?

John Wells, an executive producer since the pilot, became head writer when Sorkin left; under him the show moved out of the Bartlet White House and onto the campaign trail to pick a successor.

Which director set The West Wing's visual style and championed its 'walk and talk' scenes?

Thomas Schlamme directed the pilot and, as executive producer, shaped the show's look with long tracking shots down the corridors; he left alongside Sorkin after season four.

The West Wing tied which show's drama Emmy record?

Hill Street Blues was among TV's lowest-rated shows in its first season, yet it was renewed and went on to set the mark; The West Wing matched it by the end of its run, and Game of Thrones passed both in 2016.

In 'Celestial Navigation', Josh Lyman has to brief the press because a colleague has just had which procedure?

A root canal leaves the usual briefer mumbling through a swollen cheek, so Josh takes the podium and, baited by reporters, invents a presidential 'secret plan to fight inflation'.

Which three real presidents did Martin Sheen say Bartlet was a conglomeration of?

Kennedy, Carter and Clinton were the models Sheen named, all Democrats; he said the aim was to show the best the office had offered in recent history.

What does Donna Moss become after Santos wins the election?

Chief of staff to the First Lady is Helen Santos's offer to Donna after she spent the campaign as its spokeswoman, having quit the White House a year earlier to work for a rival candidate.

At which university does Charlie Young enrol to study law as The West Wing ends?

Georgetown's law school accepts Charlie with the help of a recommendation letter from Bartlet; he had already earned his degree there through night classes while working at the White House.

Which actress played Mrs. Landingham, the President's personal secretary?

Kathryn Joosten might have stayed for the whole run: a producer recalls that Sorkin chose to kill Mrs. Landingham off after Joosten mentioned at an awards show that she was up for another pilot.

Will Bailey leaves the Bartlet White House to work for which presidential hopeful?

Bob Russell, newly made Vice President, hires Will as chief of staff to plan a run for the top job; the campaign later pits Will against his old colleague Josh.

In The West Wing, Lord John Marbury is first called in to advise on a crisis between which two countries?

India and Pakistan are on the brink of nuclear war over Kashmir when Bartlet sends for the eccentric British expert, who walks in and mistakes Leo for the butler.

Which city was Matt Santos mayor of before entering Congress?

Houston's former mayor had decided not to run for Congress again when Josh Lyman tracked him down and talked him into a presidential campaign instead.

Which cabinet post does President-elect Santos offer Arnold Vinick?

Secretary of State is the offer Santos makes in 'The Last Hurrah'; Vinick, who had been weighing another run in four years, ends up working for the man who beat him.

Which Broadway star played deputy press secretary Annabeth Schott?

Kristin Chenoweth, fresh from Wicked on Broadway, joined in season six; her Annabeth becomes Leo's aide on the campaign trail and is the one who finds him collapsed on election night.

Which actor played Charlie Young in The West Wing?

Dulé Hill joined in the third episode: Charlie was added to the scripts after the show was criticised for launching with an all-white main cast.

Which screen legend was first offered the role of President Bartlet, though talks stalled?

Sidney Poitier was offered the presidency first, but Sorkin recalled the talks 'didn't get far'; Jason Robards was next, until doubts about his health ruled out a weekly series.

Which comic actor was considered for the role of Toby Ziegler?

Eugene Levy made it a two-man race for Toby: Sorkin recalled him as 'strong and sad and very compelling', and Levy later said he had been sure the part was his.

Which actor played Vice President Bob Russell?

Gary Cole played Bob Russell, the Colorado congressman who becomes Vice President midway through the series; mocked as 'Bingo Bob', he later loses his own party's presidential nomination.

Sorkin made headlines in April 2001 after being arrested for possessing what?

Hallucinogenic mushrooms, along with marijuana and crack cocaine, were found in Sorkin's bag by security at Burbank airport; a court sent him to a drug diversion program.

Which Season 4 Christmas episode opens with a teaser almost entirely in Yiddish?

'Holy Night' opens with a Yiddish-language flashback to 1950s Brooklyn introducing Toby's father, Jules Ziegler, a former Murder, Inc. man who turns up at the White House for Christmas.

Which future Mad Men star played Zoey Bartlet on The West Wing?

Elisabeth Moss played Zoey Bartlet in 25 episodes, years before Mad Men made her a star; Sorkin built the season-four cliffhanger around her character.

Which musicians played themselves on The West Wing?

James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma and Jon Bon Jovi all played themselves: Ma performs at a Christmas party in 'Noël', Taylor sings at a White House reception, and Bon Jovi joins the Santos campaign tour.

Which 1995 film's unused plot elements led Sorkin to create The West Wing?

The American President, written by Sorkin, left him with unused plot threads about staffers; Martin Sheen played the Chief of Staff in that film.

Which real-world controversy delayed The West Wing's debut by about a year, per Sorkin?

The Clinton–Lewinsky affair made the network shelve the pilot for about a year, fearing viewers could not take a White House drama seriously while the scandal ran.

Which earlier Sorkin sitcom developed the snappy dialogue style he reused on The West Wing?

Sports Night, Sorkin's ABC sitcom set behind the scenes of a cable sports show, lent The West Wing plot ideas, episode titles, character names and several actors.

On which night and time did The West Wing air for its first six seasons?

Wednesdays at 9pm was the show's slot for six seasons; the switch to Sunday nights for season seven brought a ratings slump, and the network cancelled it that year.

Which country's fledgling government reportedly used West Wing DVDs to study democracy?

Myanmar's new parliament tried to learn democracy from old West Wing episodes, the New York Times reported in 2011; Hillary Clinton said she told its Speaker, 'I think we can do better than that.'

Which cast member holds The West Wing's record for most Emmy wins, with four?

Allison Janney's four Emmys, two supporting and two lead, are the record for a cast member; Martin Sheen was nominated six times without winning.

Which is the only season in which The West Wing failed to win an Emmy?

The sixth season (2004–05) was the only one without an Emmy win; season seven bounced back with Alan Alda's supporting-actor award in 2006.

Which West Wing episode won the series' only writing Emmy, shared by Sorkin and Rick Cleveland?

'In Excelsis Deo', the season-one Christmas episode about a homeless Korean War veteran's funeral, won the 2000 writing Emmy; Sorkin later feuded with Cleveland online over how much Cleveland had contributed.

Which future MSNBC host wrote for The West Wing and played Bartlet's father in flashbacks?

Lawrence O'Donnell, a former Senate staffer, wrote and produced for The West Wing and played Bartlet's cold father in the 'Two Cathedrals' flashbacks, long before hosting The Last Word on MSNBC.

Which fictional fan website does Josh get into trouble with in 'The U.S. Poet Laureate'?

LemonLyman.com is the fan site where Josh posts a reply and is pilloried for it; Sorkin wrote the plot as a swipe at online forums after his own sparring with fans.

Which university did Jed Bartlet attend as an undergraduate?

Bartlet is a Notre Dame graduate who once considered the priesthood before earning his economics doctorate at the London School of Economics.

Which radio host is 'Dr. Jenna Jacobs' in 'The Midterms' a caricature of?

Dr. Laura Schlessinger was the target: Bartlet's Bible-quoting takedown borrowed from an open 'Letter to Dr. Laura' that spread online in 2000, and its author was paid for the use.

Which fictional California city's nuclear plant nearly melts down during The West Wing's 2006 race?

San Andreo's near-meltdown in 'Duck and Cover' wrecks Vinick's lead: the press learns he had pushed regulators to get the plant running decades earlier.

What game does President Bartlet play against Sam and Toby through the night in 'Hartsfield's Landing'?

Chess: Bartlet comes home from India with chess sets as gifts and plays Sam and Toby in turn, using the games to think through a standoff in the Taiwan Strait.

In which fictional African nation does Bartlet intervene to stop ethnic cleansing?

Equatorial Kundu is where Bartlet sends troops to halt ethnic cleansing in 'Inauguration'; the storyline has drawn comparisons with the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when the real United States did not step in.

In The West Wing, which landmark does foreign defence minister Abdul Shareef plot to destroy?

The Golden Gate Bridge plot is foiled, but evidence that Shareef backed it leads Bartlet to authorise his assassination in the season-three finale 'Posse Comitatus'.

Which actor played former one-term Democratic president D. Wire Newman?

James Cromwell played D. Wire Newman, the one-term Democrat who rides with Bartlet to Republican Owen Lassiter's funeral in 'The Stormy Present'.

Which subject does President Bartlet lecture a sleepy Josh Lyman about into the small hours in The West Wing's first season?

National parks are his passion: when he proposes a staff outing to Shenandoah, Josh mutters that it is as good a place as any to dump his body, and Bartlet, who was about to let him go home, starts on Yosemite.

Joey Lucas, the deaf Californian consultant on The West Wing, becomes the Bartlet White House's go-to expert in what?

Opinion polling is how Joey Lucas serves the staff after she first arrives to complain as campaign manager for a House candidate the White House is not backing; Bartlet's advice is that she run for office herself.

What state does Bartlet's 2002 opponent Robert Ritchie govern?

Robert Ritchie is the Governor of Florida, played by James Brolin as a folksy Republican whom Bartlet trounces in the season-four debate.

What 'four words' does Bartlet write to explain keeping Hoynes on the ticket?

'Because I could die' is the note Bartlet hands Hoynes in 'Stirred', after campaign strategists float replacing him on the ticket with Admiral Fitzwallace.

Which Dire Straits song closes The West Wing's season-two finale, 'Two Cathedrals'?

Brothers in Arms was written into the plan by Sorkin himself: the show's composer said there was never any question the song would end the episode.

Which actor played Republican Speaker and briefly Acting President Glen Allen Walken?

John Goodman played Walken, the Missouri Republican who must resign as Speaker to serve as Acting President, then hands the office back to Bartlet within days.

Which West Virginia governor becomes Vinick's running mate?

Ray Sullivan, the West Virginia governor played by Brett Cullen, joins Vinick's ticket as a social conservative to balance the pro-choice Vinick.

Which state decides the Santos–Vinick election?

Nevada is the last state called; Santos wins it by about 30,000 votes for a 272–266 Electoral College victory over Vinick.

Which real politician did writer Eli Attie use as a model for Matt Santos?

Barack Obama, then an Illinois state senator fresh from his 2004 convention speech, was the template: Attie phoned Obama adviser David Axelrod to ask about him.

Which Pennsylvania governor does President-elect Santos choose as his number two after the election?

Eric Baker had been the early favourite for the nomination before dropping out of the race; Santos plans to put his name to Congress under the 25th Amendment once in office.

What is Bartlet's final official act before leaving office?

Pardoning Toby Ziegler comes down to the wire: Bartlet leaves the paper unsigned on his desk all morning, then signs it as he walks out to the inauguration.

What are Bartlet's last words to his successor?

On Inauguration Day in 'Tomorrow', Bartlet tells Santos 'Make me proud, Mr. President', and Santos replies, 'I'll do my best, Mr. President.'

Which streaming service briefly dropped The West Wing in December 2024, then restored it?

Max pulled the series in a cost-cutting review that its leadership had not been told about; once they learned, they restored it in January 2025.

On The West Wing, 'Take Out the Trash Day' is the staff's name for dumping unwelcome news stories on which day?

Friday: the White House releases the stories it likes least in a single batch so that each gets less attention, and does it at the end of the week because Saturday's paper is the least read.

Which two actresses co-wrote the 2024 West Wing book What's Next?

Melissa Fitzgerald, who played C.J.'s assistant Carol, and Mary McCormack, who played Kate Harper, wrote What's Next to spotlight the public service the show inspired as well as its backstage stories.

Which cast member co-hosted The West Wing Weekly podcast with Hrishikesh Hirway?

Joshua Malina, who played Will Bailey, co-hosted The West Wing Weekly from 2016 to 2020, working through the series one episode at a time with cast and crew as guests.

Which president's giant cheese inspired The West Wing's 'Big Block of Cheese Day'?

Andrew Jackson, in Leo's telling, kept a two-ton cheese in the White House foyer for anyone hungry; the real wheel was devoured by a crowd of visitors within hours in 1837.

Which episode inspired the 2006 'West Wing Plot' in Britain's House of Commons?

In 'A Good Day' House Democrats hide in an office until a vote is called; Conservative MPs copied the trick in January 2006 to ambush Blair's government on the religious hatred bill.

Which actress played First Lady Abbey Bartlet?

Stockard Channing played Abbey Bartlet, a surgeon who voluntarily gives up her medical licence for as long as her husband is in office; the role won Channing a 2002 Emmy.

Which West Wing episode did the cast restage as a play for the 2020 benefit special?

'Hartsfield's Landing' was restaged at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles; in it Josh frets over every ballot in a tiny town that votes just after midnight, hours ahead of the rest of its state's primary.

Who played Leo McGarry in the 2020 benefit special?

Sterling K. Brown stepped in as Leo McGarry because the role's original actor had died in 2005; Emily Procter, the show's Ainsley Hayes, read the stage directions.

Which voting non-profit did the 2020 West Wing reunion special benefit?

When We All Vote is the non-partisan voting drive Michelle Obama launched in 2018; she appears in the special herself, alongside Bill Clinton and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

What Secret Service code name is C.J. Cregg given on The West Wing?

Flamingo is C.J.'s Secret Service code name, one of the show's running jokes about her height; the President's daughter Zoey is 'Bookbag'.

How does Mrs. Landingham die at the end of Season 2?

In a car accident: a drunk driver hits her as she drives her brand-new car back to the White House to show the President, a loss that shakes his faith in the season finale.

Where was Mrs. Landingham working when she first met the teenage Jed Bartlet?

His father's prep school, where she was the headmaster's new secretary; she pushed the teenage Jed to confront his father over women on the staff being paid less than men.

Which country's crisis is the staff handling on the day of Mrs. Landingham's funeral?

Haiti: its army has surrounded the US embassy, where the elected president is sheltering, so Bartlet works the crisis from the Situation Room on the day of the funeral.

What is Martin Sheen's birth name?

Born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez in 1940, he took the stage name Sheen, after Bishop Fulton Sheen, to avoid typecasting; his son Charlie Sheen also adopted it.

In which Ohio city was Martin Sheen born?

Dayton, which the show also made C.J. Cregg's hometown; Sheen has said he deliberately failed the University of Dayton entrance exam so he could go and act instead.

Which Francis Ford Coppola film earned Sheen a BAFTA Best Actor nomination?

Apocalypse Now cost Sheen a heart attack at 36 during its chaotic Philippine shoot; he had earlier starred in Terrence Malick's Badlands.

Toby Ziegler is fired from the Bartlet White House after confessing to leaking classified information about what?

A secret space shuttle: its existence was leaked so the military craft could be sent to rescue three astronauts running out of oxygen on the International Space Station.

Whom does Bartlet nominate to the Supreme Court in season one's 'The Short List'?

Roberto Mendoza gets the nod after frontrunner Peyton Cabot Harrison III turns out to reject a constitutional right to privacy; the retiring justice had urged Bartlet to pick Mendoza all along.

Whom has C.J. Cregg married by the time of The West Wing's season-seven flash-forward?

Danny Concannon, the White House reporter who pursued her for years; the flash-forward that opens season seven shows them three years on, married with a baby.

Which actor played White House reporter Danny Concannon?

Timothy Busfield played Danny Concannon in 28 episodes; Danny is the reporter who uncovers the administration's hand in a foreign minister's assassination, then agrees to hold the story.

Which real journalist moderated the live season-seven episode 'The Debate'?

Forrest Sawyer, the former ABC News anchor, moderated 'The Debate', the Santos–Vinick episode performed live in November 2005, once for the East Coast and again for the West.

Which Friends star received an Emmy nomination for guest-starring on The West Wing?

Matthew Perry earned Emmy nominations in 2003 and 2004 as Joe Quincy, a Republican lawyer in the counsel's office whose digging exposes the Vice President's affair and forces him to resign.

What job does Sam Seaborn accept in the incoming Santos White House in the final episodes?

Deputy Chief of Staff is the job Josh offers Sam, who accepts only if Josh takes a holiday first; Rob Lowe had quit in season four over pay and a shrinking role, returning for the finale.

On The West Wing, which bird provides one of the Secret Service code names for President Bartlet?

Eagle is one of the names agents use for him over their radios. Another is Liberty.

Which original West Wing star, once a member of Hollywood's Brat Pack, left the show during its fourth season?

Rob Lowe later said he left because his co-stars had been given a raise and he had not. He came back for two of the last four episodes.

Which future House star played Laurie, the law student Sam Seaborn spends the night with in The West Wing's pilot?

Lisa Edelstein appeared in five episodes as the call girl paying her way through law school. Five years later she became Dr. Cuddy, the hospital boss on House.

Which pet does a smitten reporter give C.J. Cregg in The West Wing's first season after misreading a tip from Josh?

A goldfish was the result when Josh said she liked goldfish, meaning the snack crackers. The prop team later dressed the bowl of the fish, Gail, with tiny ornaments matching an episode's theme.

President Bartlet of The West Wing, a former college professor, holds a Nobel Prize in which field?

Economics, and he had to share the prize with a far more conservative Japanese economist, a man he respects but does not much like.

Which fruit does President Bartlet tell his West Wing poker table is the only one with seeds on the outside?

Strawberry is the answer he wants, though botanists would quibble: each speck on the surface is really a tiny fruit holding its own seed.

On poker night in The West Wing, C.J. Cregg insists that the spring equinox makes it possible to balance what?

An egg is what she finally stands on end, alone in the room at midnight. The belief is a myth, popularized by a 1945 Life magazine article about a Chinese New Year custom.

Which M*A*S*H star won an Emmy as Republican presidential nominee Arnold Vinick in The West Wing's final season?

Alan Alda played the California senator in 28 episodes across the last two seasons. The Emmy came in August 2006, three months after the finale aired.

In The West Wing's first season, President Bartlet collapses in the Oval Office after rehearsing which annual speech?

State of the Union address rehearsals end with him on the floor. A Navy doctor blames flu, though the First Lady is worried enough to cancel a trip and hurry home.

In The West Wing's 'The Cold', a poll putting Santos level with Vinick prompts Josh Lyman and Donna Moss to do what?

Share a kiss is what they finally did, seven seasons in. Footage of the moment leaked online from a preview DVD weeks before the episode aired.

Charlie Young walks into The West Wing's first season applying for which White House job before Josh Lyman promotes him?

Messenger, part-time, was all he was after, since he was supporting his younger sister. Josh was impressed enough to put him at the President's side instead.

Abbey Bartlet makes her first West Wing appearance at a state dinner honoring the new president of which country?

Indonesia's leader proves a frosty guest of honor on a night that also brings a hurricane, a looming truckers' strike and an armed standoff in Idaho.

In The West Wing's first Christmas episode, Toby Ziegler arranges a military burial for a homeless veteran of which war?

Korean War service had earned the man a place at Arlington. Toby was called in because his business card was in the pocket of the dead man's jacket.

Which Oscar winner's final role was President Bartlet's boyhood priest in The West Wing's first season?

Karl Malden heard the President's confession holding the same Bible he had used as the priest in On the Waterfront, 46 years earlier.

In The West Wing's 'The White House Pro-Am', the sudden death of which body's chairman rattles the markets?

Federal Reserve succession turns awkward when it leaks that the First Lady's preferred candidate is her former boyfriend, setting up what the Bartlets call their first Oval Office fight.

C.J. Cregg celebrates a Supreme Court confirmation in The West Wing's first season by lip-syncing to which track?

The Jackal is a 1993 track by British jazz guitarist Ronny Jordan. The scene won it a new audience, and the actress later repeated the routine on Arsenio Hall's talk show.

Which late-night host plays himself at a Hollywood fundraiser in The West Wing's first-season '20 Hours in L.A.'?

Jay Leno mingles with David Hasselhoff at a studio boss's party, which the host threatens to cancel over a bill to bar gay people from the military.

In The West Wing's 'The Debate', what does Arnold Vinick propose in place of his opening statement?

Throwing out the rules, with their two-minute answers and ban on direct exchanges, turned the hour into a free-for-all. Both actors took a crash course in debating so they could improvise.

The heckler in The West Wing's 'The Debate', the audience's only scripted outburst, was played by which crew member?

An executive producer, Christopher Misiano, did the shouting. Every other reaction from the audience was spontaneous, and so was the moderator's handling of it.

In The West Wing's 'The Debate', Matt Santos pledges that America will lead the world within ten years in which field?

Education was his signature issue. His Republican rival called the pledge a lie and argued that America should accept that not every child needs college.

In The West Wing's 'The Cold', President Bartlet briefs both candidates on sending US troops to which country?

Kazakhstan sits between two nuclear powers squaring up over its oil. Bartlet commits tens of thousands of soldiers, then admits to his would-be successors that he has no exit strategy.

Which former Bartlet campaign manager fears being fired by the Republicans in The West Wing's 'The Cold'?

Bruno Gianelli ran Bartlet's re-election before crossing the aisle to advise Arnold Vinick. Here party bosses want the campaign to veer right, and he suspects he is the price.

In The West Wing, the card telling Josh Lyman where to shelter in a nuclear attack is issued by which body?

National Security Council cards were real: Sorkin took the idea from George Stephanopoulos, who showed him his own. A fellow White House veteran insisted they did not exist, having never been issued one.

In The West Wing's 'The Crackpots and These Women', what does a guilty Josh Lyman do with his nuclear-shelter card?

Hands it back is the short version: he returns it to the President at a party, saying he would rather be with his friends. C.J., Sam and Toby had not been given one.

Guilt over his nuclear-shelter card leads The West Wing's Josh Lyman to tell his therapist that his sister died how?

In a house fire, his older sister Joanie died while babysitting him, and he escaped by running outside. Being singled out for rescue a second time is what troubles him.

Which future Parks and Recreation star had an early role as an activist lobbying C.J. Cregg in The West Wing?

Nick Offerman pitched a wildlife road during the staff's day of meetings with fringe groups, a decade before he became the deadpan Ron Swanson.

A TV host introduces C.J. Cregg by her full first names in The West Wing; what do the initials stand for?

Claudia Jean is how the host announces her, in full, when she goes on his show to discuss a presidential speech. Almost everyone else sticks to the initials.

Toby Ziegler of The West Wing, whose father worked for the mob, grew up in which New York City borough?

Brooklyn is where his immigrant father served Murder, Inc., the mob's enforcement arm. The backstory drew partly on the family history of the actor who plays Toby.

Charlie Young raises his younger sister on The West Wing because their mother was killed doing which job?

Police officer in D.C. was her job, and she died on a shift Charlie had talked her into swapping. With his father long gone, he put college on hold to support his sister.

Republican Ainsley Hayes joins which team in The West Wing's White House after out-arguing Sam Seaborn on TV?

The Counsel's Office took her on as an associate after she humiliated him on a political talk show. She had been headed for a career as a conservative pundit.

Which West Wing character, played by NiCole Robinson, is Leo McGarry's eccentric and fiercely protective assistant?

Margaret Hooper is so devoted to Leo that she is often caught listening in on his private meetings, yet the two are regularly at odds over how to run the office.

Leo McGarry's past rehab for alcohol and which prescription drug becomes a scandal in The West Wing's first season?

Valium and drink had once put him in treatment. When he meets the young staffer who leaked his records, the two agree to give each other a second chance.

Danny Concannon, The West Wing's veteran White House correspondent, files his stories for which newspaper?

The Washington Post keeps him on the beat in five of the seven seasons, while a rival named Greg Brock reports for The New York Times.

Which of President Bartlet's daughters on The West Wing is the middle child, who trains as a cancer specialist?

Ellie is first seen as a medical student unsure of her specialty. She and her father love each other but are written as very different personalities.

President Bartlet tells his West Wing poker table that only three English words begin with which pair of letters?

DW opens dwarf, dwell and dwindle. He undercounted, though: dictionaries also list dweeb and the old word dwine.

A lost US spy drone over which country keeps pulling President Bartlet away from The West Wing's staff poker night?

Russia's president has to be phoned and asked to hand it back, at first with a cover story about environmental research. He does not buy it, so Bartlet ends up telling him the truth.

The West Wing's poker-night episode 'Evidence of Things Not Seen' takes its title from which book of the Bible?

Hebrews 11 uses the phrase to define faith, in a verse that also speaks of the substance of things hoped for.

What sends The West Wing's White House into lockdown midway through the poker night in 'Evidence of Things Not Seen'?

A gunman's shots, three of them, hit the briefing-room windows just as C.J., Toby and Will are starting a card-tossing contest there.

In The West Wing's 'Mr. Willis of Ohio', what was Joe Willis's job before he took over his late wife's House seat?

Schoolteacher: he taught social studies, and it shows. He is the one congressman who listens to the argument, then changes his vote because it persuaded him.

Toby Ziegler delays joining a West Wing poker game to watch the House vote on how to conduct what?

The census fight was over whether statistical sampling could replace a door-to-door head count. Toby stays by the television until one unlikely convert's vote is read out.

Which news does Leo McGarry hide from President Bartlet at the poker game in The West Wing's 'Mr. Willis of Ohio'?

His broken marriage is still a secret when the unknowing President sends his love to Leo's wife as the game breaks up. Leo owns up the next evening and is told to go and fix it.

Will Bailey turns up to a West Wing staff poker game in uniform because he is a reservist in which service?

The Air Force has called him up for duty in Wyoming, to look into why two missile-silo operators did not act on an alert that turned out to be a meteor.

Which comedy veteran joined The West Wing as Deborah Fiderer, President Bartlet's quirky new secretary?

Lily Tomlin's character flunks her first interview, groggy on medication and admitting to being both a professional gambler and an alpaca farmer. She is hired on a second try.

Which future NCIS lead earned an Emmy nomination as Simon Donovan, C.J. Cregg's bodyguard, in The West Wing?

Mark Harmon's four-episode turn caught the eye of NCIS creator Donald Bellisario, who then cast him as Gibbs, the part he went on to play for 18 years.

Which Oscar winner for Children of a Lesser God played Joey Lucas, a recurring consultant on The West Wing?

Marlee Matlin, deaf since she was 18 months old, won Best Actress at 21 for her first film. On the show an interpreter named Kenny voices her signed lines.

Which future Weeds star played Amy Gardner, the feminist campaigner who dates Josh Lyman on The West Wing?

Mary-Louise Parker landed the part by leaving Aaron Sorkin an unsolicited voicemail. The character was created for her in the third season.

Which Animal House star played John Hoynes, President Bartlet's ambitious running mate, on The West Wing?

Tim Matheson, who was Otter in the 1978 comedy, earned two Emmy nominations for the part. He also directed one of the show's final episodes.

Which actress, credited only as a guest star throughout The West Wing's first season, played Donna Moss?

Janel Moloney appeared in every episode of that first season all the same, and was moved into the main credits from the second.

Which star of Good Times and Roots played Admiral Percy Fitzwallace on The West Wing?

John Amos was James Evans Sr., the father on Good Times, and the adult Kunta Kinte in Roots, a part that brought him an Emmy nomination.

Which Heathers star played Jack Reese, a lieutenant commander who catches Donna Moss's eye in The West Wing?

Christian Slater's character is a White House military staffer whose romance with Donna proves brief. His breakout role was the sociopathic J.D. in Heathers.