On The Tube

Sorkin Vs. Sofer

Wednesday night viewers of the new fall TV season
will have to decide between an ensemble drama set
in the White House and an ensemble comedy about
finding family where you least expect it.

MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to the Jewish News

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92 Detroit Jewish News

ooking for a few good men?
Hollywood found one in
Aaron Sorkin.
While crashing at a
friend's apartment in New York, the
would-be actor found a beat-up semi-
electric typewriter just calling out to
him. He beat a path to the machine
and keyed in on his future. His effort?
A play, Removing All Doubt, which
never did do that for producers — it
was never produced. But for the
Syracuse University graduate, the play
became the thing.
His next attempt? A military mys-
tery: A Few Good Men.
The Broadway hit attracted more
than a few good supporters: Having
seen the play, Katherine Hepburn
demanded audiences buy tickets to
what she thought was a darn good
yarn.
Sorkin wove that success into a
major screenplay. And he could handle
the truth; he had become one of the
entertainment industry's most success-
fill young writers.
Another good effort, Malice, fol-
lowed.
But it is in the contraction of size
and space that Sorkin has contracted
his best efforts: He is a TV titan now,
a big force on the small screen, having
pitched and created the fast-paced,
verbal volleyball of a comedy Sports
Night for ABC.
Now, he's squared off to take on the
Oval Office in The West Wing, a new
NBC drama that premieres 9 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 22. The unimpeach-
able cast includes Martin Sheen as the
president, Richard Schiff as his direc-
tor of communications and Rob Lowe
as the associate director.
There will be no intern dilemmas
to make the_ West Wing go south;
after all, sometimes a cigar is just a
cigar.
But Sorkin is smokin'. Will the new

Michael Elkin is entertainment editor
of Philadelphia's Jewish Exponent.

N

Aaron Sorkin on "The West Wing"•
"The show is set in the White House,
and we want it to feel like a real White
House and not like a television White
House. Issues are going to be on the
show, but really only as fodder for
drama, which is what we're doing."

show have a liberal dose of politics
tossed in?
"Well, obviously, politics is going to
play a part in the show. The show is
set in the White House, and we want
it to feel like a real White House and
not like a television White House," he
says. "Issues are going to be on the
show, but really only as fodder for
drama, which is what we're doing."
Will the West Wing have a left
wing or right wing tip? "The show is
probably going to be all over the
map," he says.
This is not uncharted territory for
Sorkin, who was able to paint the
town red after taking on the White
House so successfully with The
American President, starring Michael
Douglas as the chief executive and
Annette Bening as his love interest.
Sorkin's own kitchen cabinet of life-
time advisers , applauded his efforts.
After all, why shouldn't his parents
have shepped nachas?
"After all those years dragging
themselves to see me in school plays,
to the community centers, with smiles