SPORTS NIGHT

:''This article is about the American television series. For the BBC TV program of a similar name, see Sportsnight.''
'''Sports Night''' is an American television series about a fictional sports news show and the people who worked there. It focused on the friendships, pitfalls, and ethical issues they face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure. Created by Aaron Sorkin, the half-hour prime time comedy-drama^[1] aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1998 to 2000.
The show starred Robert Guillaume as managing editor and executive producer Isaac Jaffe, Felicity Huffman as producer Dana Whitaker, Peter Krause as anchor Casey McCall, Josh Charles as anchor Dan Rydell, Sabrina Lloyd as senior associate producer Natalie Hurley, and Joshua Malina as associate producer Jeremy Goodwin. Regular guest stars included William H. Macy as ratings expert Sam Donovan and Brenda Strong as Sally Sasser, the producer of ''West Coast Update'' (another show on the same network as ''Sports Night'') and rival of Dana.

Contents

Overview

Cast

Recurring guest cast

Awards

Additional airings

Similarities to ''The West Wing''

Episode list

Season 1

Season 2

DVD Release

Trivia

References

See also

External links

Overview

The fictional ''Sports Night'' is a sports news program in the style of ESPN's ''SportsCenter''. It broadcasts from the fictional Continental Sports Channel (CSC), a subsidiary of Continental Corp, owned and run by Luther Sachs. (Some believe Continental Corp is loosely based on Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns Fox Sports Net.)
''Sports Night'' struggled to find an audience and ABC cancelled it after two seasons. Although it had the opportunity to move to several different networks, including HBO, Showtime and USA, Sorkin decided to let the show pass so that he could focus on his popular drama ''The West Wing''.
Although the first season of ''Sports Night'' is a sitcom, it often is portrayed as more of a comedy-drama representative of some of Sorkin's later work on ''The West Wing.'' Sorkin intended for the series' humor to be drier and more realistic than typical sitcoms. He initially wanted the show to be recorded without a laugh track, but ABC network executives insisted on including one.^[2]
[3] The volume of the laugh track faded as Season One continued⁵ and was abandoned at the beginning of Season Two.^[4] Even where the laugh track was used, it was typically in scenes where more than one character was off-camera, to minimize the "canned laughter" effect.
The dialogue is often delivered at a rapid-fire pace and uses a technique of exposing many aspects of communication that go beyond the words that are chosen. For example:

'Dan:' I need a favor.

'Jeremy:' Is this about Rebecca?

'Dan:' Rebecca?

'Jeremy:' Yes.

'Dan:' No.

'Jeremy:' I'm rooting for you, Dan, but I really can't get involved in things like this.

'Dan:' It's not about Rebecca.

'Jeremy:' Bad things happen to people when they get involved in other people's business, a lesson I'm trying to teach Natalie. I'd like to set a good example.

'Dan:' It's ''not about Rebecca''.

'Jeremy:' What's the favor?

'Dan:' It's about Rebecca.

The show also frequently employed a technique known as "Walk and Talk," where the characters are walking from one location to the next while in conversation. This is another characteristic of Aaron Sorkin shows as "walk and talks" are used quite frequently in ''The West Wing'' and ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip''.
The show's main focus is the relationships between the characters. These include an off-again on-again flirtation and romance between Dana and Casey, the oil-and-water passion between neurotic Natalie and nerdy Jeremy, and Dan's ongoing problems with relationships in general. The character of Isaac Jaffee hovers over his staff as a benevolent but uncompromising father figure.
The show is mostly set in the studio and station offices. However, in the second season Anthony's, a local sports bar and restaurant, was introduced as another location for scenes in order to get the characters out of the work environment a little bit.
Guillaume suffered a stroke midway through the first season, and this event was worked into his character and the season's story arc.^[5]

Cast

★ Josh Charles — Dan Rydell

★ Peter Krause — Casey McCall

★ Felicity Huffman — Dana Whitaker

★ Joshua Malina — Jeremy Goodwin

★ Sabrina Lloyd — Natalie Hurley

★ Robert Guillaume — Isaac Jaffee

Recurring guest cast

★ Kayla Blake — Kim

★ Greg Baker — Elliot

★ Jeff Mooring — Dave

★ Ron Ostrow — Will

★ Timothy Davis-Reed — Chris

★ William H. Macy — Sam Donovan (season 2)

★ Teri Polo — Rebecca Wells

★ Brenda Strong — Sally Sasser

★ Robert Mailhouse — J.J.

★ Ted McGinley — Gordon Gage (season 1)

★ Jayne Brook — Abby Jacobs (season 2)

★ Paula Marshall — Jenny (season 2)

★ Megan Ward - Pixley (season 2)

Awards

''Sports Night'' poster (1998) with a reference to ''Charlie's Angels''

In addition to numerous awards and nominations from various guilds, the show was nominated for eight Emmys and one Golden Globe. It also won three Emmys

★ Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series - "Cut Man" (2000), Janet Ashikaga

★ Outstanding Director for a Comedy Series - "Pilot" (1999), Thomas Schlamme

★ Outstanding Multi-Camera Editing for a Series - "Small Town", Janet Ashikaga

Additional airings

★ After its cancellation, the rerun rights to the show were briefly picked up by Comedy Central.

★ In 2004, ABC1, a British offshoot of ABC, began broadcasting Season 1 of ''Sports Night'' in the United Kingdom for the first time, although the second season did not air until January 2006.

★ It was also aired briefly in Latin America on Sony Entertainment Television. The Spanish version of this channel currently runs the show in Spain.

★ Australia's Foxtel cable network aired ''Sports Night'' on The Comedy Channel in 2005.

★ The show was aired in Turkey on DiziMax in 2006.

Similarities to ''The West Wing''

''The West Wing'' emulated ''Sports Night'' in many ways, including many of the same cast and crew members. The shows even share many similar storylines in the years when Aaron Sorkin acted as head writer. ^[6]
[7]
[8]

★ Both the dialogue style and the steadicam tracking shots used in ''Sports Night'' are also used in ''The West Wing''.

★ Joshua Malina starred on ''The West Wing'' as White House staffer Will Bailey.

★ Clark Gregg, Teri Polo, Timothy Davis-Reed, Ted McGinley, Nina Siemaszko, Felicity Huffman, Ron Ostrow and actor/director Timothy Busfield have all appeared on ''The West Wing''.

★ Janel Moloney guest starred as Monica Brazelton, a wardrobe assistant, in Season 1's "The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee". Sorkin was so impressed with her performance^[9] that he brought her in to audition for ''The West Wing'', where she became a series regular playing Donna Moss.

★ Lisa Edelstein guest starred in two episodes of ''Sports Night'' as fill-in anchor Bobbi Bernstein. In the first episode, she was depicted as slightly deranged for thinking that she and Dan had had an affair. In the second appearance, it is revealed that Dan is the one who is wrong and had forgotten her. She also figured prominently in the first season of ''The West Wing'' as a prostitute that Sam Seaborn accidentally slept with.

★ Cress Williams, Nadia Dajani, John de Lancie and Alanna Ubach have all guest starred on both shows.

★ Ross Deane and Stuart Goetz worked in the sound departments of both shows.

★ Alex Graves has worked as director on episodes of both shows.

★ Paul Redford has worked as writer for ''Sports Night'' and is credited as being part of "miscellaneous crew" on both shows

★ W.G. Snuffy Walden acted as composer for the score of both shows.

★ Kayla Blake, who played associate producer Kim on the show has also been credited as Elsie Sniffen. Former ''The Wonder Years'' actress Danica McKellar played the role of Elsie Snuffin (the sister of Joshua Malina's character) in several ''The West Wing'' episodes.

★ Felicity Huffman guest starred in a second season episode of ''The West Wing'' as Ann Stark, the chief of staff for the Republican Congressional Leadership (in the episode "The Leadership Breakfast"). During the episode, Ann presents Toby Ziegler with a jar of New Hampshire maple syrup (after President Bartlet expresses his disgust that the maple syrup being served at the leadership breakfast is from Vermont and not his home state). This is a reference to a ''Sports Night'' episode in which Dana is going to Vermont for the weekend and offers to bring back maple syrup for her friends.

★ Sorkin reused many names of characters and incidental names from ''Sports Night'' in ''The West Wing''. For example, in the "Intellectual Property" episode of ''Sports Night'', one character is named Mallory (the name of Leo McGarry's daughter in ''The West Wing') and the name of one athlete mentioned in a meeting is Landingham (the name of President Bartlet's secretary in the first two seasons of ''The West Wing'' is Delores Landingham). A couple of episodes in the first season mention a college football coach named Rostenkowski; ''The West Wing'' mentions a congressman with the same name.

★ Season 1 episode 23: "What Kind of Day Has It Been" is also the title of the season 1 finale of ''The West Wing'' and the series finale of ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip''. Also in this episode, Casey tells his son that "the only thing you have to do to make me and your mom happy is to come home at the end of the day"; a line President Bartlet paraphrases to his daughter Ellie (played by Nina Siemaszko) in ''The West Wing''. Nina Siemaszko also guest-stars in this episode. Also Jeremy quotes from The Lion in Winter which is latter mirrored in a conversation between Toby and the President in ''H.Con 172''

★ The plot of Season 1 episode 18: ''The Sword of Orion'' was similar to that of the episode of ''The West Wing'' entitled ''Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail'' in season 2. In the ''Sports Night'' episode, Jeremy's father and mother are getting divorced after the revelation by his father that he has been having an affair for Jeremy's whole life. Jeremy takes it hard and becomes fixated on a specific thing at work: a boating disappearance during a sailboat race in Bermuda. In ''The West Wing'' episode, Sam's dad reveals exactly the same thing, Sam takes it hard and becomes fixated on finding out the truth about an espionage case in the 1950s involving a White House staffer.

Episode list

Season 1

No.	Title	Original Airdate	Writer(s)	Director
1	"Pilot"	September 22, 1998	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
2	"The Apology"	September 29, 1998	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
3	"The Hungry and the Hunted"	October 6, 1998	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
4	"Intellectual Property"	October 13, 1998	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
5	"Mary Pat Shelby"	October 20, 1998	Tracey Stern, Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
6	"The Head Coach, Dinner and the Morning Mail"	October 27, 1998	Matt Tarses, Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
7	"Dear Louise"	November 10, 1998	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
8	"Thespis"	November 17, 1998	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
9	"The Quality of Mercy at 29K"	December 1, 1998	Bill Wrubel, Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
10	"Shoe Money Tonight"	December 8, 1998	Aaron Sorkin	Dennie Gordon
11	"The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee"	December 15, 1998	Aaron Sorkin, Matt Tarses, David Walpert, Bill Wrubel	Robert Berlinger
12	"Smoky"	January 5, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
13	"Small Town"	January 12, 1999	Paul Redford, Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
14	"Rebecca"	January 26, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
15	"Dana and the Deep Blue Sea"	February 9, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
16	"Sally"	February 23, 1999	Rachel Sweet, Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
17	"How Are Things in Glocca Morra?"	March 9, 1999	Rachel Sweet, Aaron Sorkin	Marc Buckland
18	"The Sword of Orion"	March 23, 1999	David Handelman, Mark McKinney, Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
19	"Eli's Coming"	March 30, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
20	"Ordnance Tactics"	April 6, 1999	Aaron Sorkin, Paul Redford (story)	Alex Graves
21	"Ten Wickets"	April 13, 1999	Aaron Sorkin, Matt Tarses (story)	Robert Berlinger
22	"Napoleon's Battle Plan"	April 27, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
23	"What Kind of Day Has It Been"	May 4, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme

Season 2

No.	Title	Original Airdate	Writer(s)	Director
24	"Special Powers"	October 5, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme
25	"When Something Wicked This Way Comes"	October 12, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
26	"Cliff Gardner"	October 19, 1999	Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
27	"Louise Revisited"	October 26, 1999	Miriam Kazdan (also story), Aaron Sorkin	Marc Buckland
28	"Kafelnikov"	November 2, 1999	Matt Tarses , Bill Wrubel	Robert Berlinger
29	"Shane"	December 7, 1999	Kevin Falls, Matt Tarses, Bill Wrubel	Robert Berlinger
30	"Kyle Whitaker's Got Two Sacks"	December 14, 1999	Tom Szentgyorgyi, Aaron Sorkin	Dennie Gordon
31	"The Reunion"	December 21, 1999	Kevin Falls, Aaron Sorkin	Dennie Gordon
32	"A Girl Named Pixley"	December 28, 1999	David Walpert	Dennie Gordon
33	"The Giants Win the Pennant, the Giants Win the Pennant"	January 11, 2000	Matt Tarses, Aaron Sorkin	Pamela Dresser
34	"The Cut Man Cometh"	January 18, 2000	Bill Wrubel, Aaron Sorkin	Alex Graves
35	"The Sweet Smell of Air"	January 25, 2000	David Handelman, Kevin Falls, Matt Tarses, Aaron Sorkin	Alex Graves
36	"Dana Get Your Gun"	February 1, 2000	David Walpert	Alex Graves
37	"And the Crowd Goes Wild"	February 8, 2000	Tom Szentgyorgyi, Aaron Sorkin	Alex Graves
38	"Celebrities"	February 29, 2000	Aaron Sorkin	Robert Berlinger
39	"The Local Weather"	March 7, 2000	Aaron Sorkin (also story), Pete McCabe (story)	Timothy Busfield
40	"Draft Day: Part I – It Can't Rain at Indian Wells"	March 14, 2000	Matt Tarses, Aaron Sorkin	Bryan Gordon
41	"Draft Day: Part II – The Fall of Ryan O'Brian"	March 21, 2000	Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Falls (story)	Danny Leiner
42	"April is the Cruelest Month"	March 28, 2000	Bill Wrubel, Matt Tarses	Don Scardino
43	"Bells And A Siren"	April 4, 2000	Chris Lusvardi, David Walpert, Aaron Sorkin	Don Scardino
44	"La Forza Del Destino"	May 9, 2000	Aaron Sorkin	Timothy Busfield
45	"Quo Vadimus"	May 16, 2000	Aaron Sorkin	Thomas Schlamme

DVD Release

Complete series DVD cover.

On November 5, 2002, Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 for the first time.

Trivia

★ Both season finales ended with metaphors for the fate of the show, and the way ABC failed to promote it properly. In the 1st season, Jeremy is obsessed with a baseball game where one team is going down to defeat. He thinks they'll have a 9th inning rally, very similar to the unknown fate of the show. A major plot point of the second season involved the sale of CSC. The eventual purchaser of the network tells Dana "Anybody who can't make money off of ''Sports Night'' should get out of the money-making business." This is an obvious jab at ABC's failure to make the show a hit.

★ Aaron Sorkin originally wanted ''Sports Night'' to be a film, but when he couldn't come up with a solid plot for it, he instead made it a television show, thinking the episode format would be easier to create ongoing plots throughout.^[10]

★ Joshua Malina initially wanted the role of Dan Rydell.

★ Brenda Strong and Felicity Huffman would later work together again on ''Desperate Housewives''.

★ Casey McCall is said to be modeled after Craig Kilborn. Dan and Casey's professional and personal relationship is said to be modeled after Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, who were the most well-known team on ''SportsCenter'' on ESPN.

★ Though mentioned quite a bit during the show, Luther Sachs, the CEO of Continental Corp, is never seen.

★ In the ''Family Guy'' episode "Let's Go to the Hop," a kid realizes while he's under the influence of a hallucinogenic toad that he "finally gets Aaron Sorkin's ''Sports Night'': It's a comedy that's too good to be funny."

★ In the episode "Dear Louise," Natalie tells Casey there is an error on the teleprompter, and that they left out the 's' in the phrase 'bulging disk.' This actually happened on ''SportsCenter'', and anchor Steve Levy said 'bulging dik' before correcting himself.^[11]

★ In the episode "Cliff Gardner", J.J. and two other Network Executives critique the material written by Dan and Casey, finding it to be too funny for the average viewer. It has been speculated (not confirmed) that the conversation was adapted from a conversation Sorkin had with ABC Network Executives regarding the show's material.

★ Many of the various crew members mentioned by Dan Rydell and Casey McCall during the closing scene of the "Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennesee" episode are the names of actual crew members of the ABC show.

References

1. Sorkin still writing on 'Sports Night,' 'West Wing'
2.
3. 'Sports Night' one of best players in season's starting lineup
4. Sports Night: The Complete Series Mike Pinsky
5. Malina Gets Into the Swing of `Sports Night': But critically acclaimed show may need a ratings boost to survive second season
6. Actors Overlap between Sports Night & West Wing Peter Vetsch
7. Miscellaneous Overlaps between Sports Night & West Wing Peter Vetsch
8. Episode Overlaps between Sports Night & West Wing Peter Vetsch
9. The West Wing: The Official Companion, , , , Pocket Books, , "Janel Moloney came to us via Sports Night. She did an episode of Sports Night in the first season and just parked it in the bleachers with one scene that really knocked me out."
10. Their Championship Season: In the Dugout with the MVPs of Sports Night Richard Firstman
11. Keeping it real on 'Sports Night'

See also

★ ''The West Wing''

★ ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip''

External links

★

★

★ Interview with Robert Guillaume from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. This interview may not be available in some countries outside the U.S.

★ Episode Guide - TKTV

★ First season interview with Aaron Sorkin

★ Recaps from Television Without Pity

★ Inside.com article on the demise of ''Sports night''

★ ESPN article comparing itself to ''Sports Night''