‘The West Wing’ has lost a key fan
“The West Wing” lost one formerly loyal viewer this season. When creator Aaron Sorkin left the series after it had won consecutive outstanding drama Emmys its first four seasons, “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David -- who left that show years before it ended -- gave him some advice.
“I don’t know Larry David well,” Sorkin told the audience Thursday evening at a Writers on Writing program sponsored by the Writers Guild Foundation. “But he beseeched me not to watch the show after I left. There’s nothing good that could come from it. Either the show would be wonderful and I’d feel miserable, or it’d be terrible and I’d feel miserable. But either way, I was going to feel miserable. So I have not watched.”
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 2, 2004 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday June 02, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 104 words Type of Material: Correction
Aaron Sorkin -- A Quick Takes item in Saturday’s Calendar section said the movie script that Aaron Sorkin wrote about Philo Farnsworth, a pioneer in the invention of television, is called “The Farnsworth Production.” The correct title is “The Farnsworth Invention.” The item also said that Sorkin, the creator of “The West Wing,” might return to television with a late-night sketch comedy show. In fact, the show he has in mind would be for prime time and would take place at a fictional late-night sketch comedy show, in the same way that his “Sports Night” series was set at a nightly cable sports program.
A boyishly peroxided Sorkin said he still loves TV, however, and hopes to return, possibly with a late-night sketch comedy show. Before that, though, he and his partner, director Thomas Schlamme, will produce “The Farnsworth Production,” an original script Sorkin penned about the genesis of television for New Line Cinema.
He’s also doing a rewrite of his 1989 play “A Few Good Men” before it opens on London’s West End. “I was 28 when I wrote it. I’m better now and I’d like to take a crack at it again,” he said.
-- Mimi Avins