Pilot (The West Wing)

1st episode of the 1st season of The West Wing

"Pilot"

The West Wing episode
Episode no.| Season 1
Episode 1
Directed by| Thomas Schlamme
Written by| Aaron Sorkin
Production code| 475151
Original air date| September 22, 1999 (1999-09-22)
Guest appearances

* Annie Corley as Mary Marsh
* Lisa Edelstein as Laurie
* Suzy Nakamura as Cathy
* Allison Smith as Mallory O'Brien
* Marc Grapey as Billy
* Janel Moloney as Donna Moss
* F. William Parker as Rev. Al Caldwell

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"Pilot" is the first episode of the American serial drama The West Wing. The episode aired on September 22, 1999 on NBC.[1]

## Plot

[edit]

The White House staff is being called into work early to deal with the press fallout after President Josiah Bartlet has crashed his bicycle into a tree. As the staff try to perform damage control, it is revealed that Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman made a gaffe when, after provocation by Christian activist Mary Marsh on a recent televised debate, quipped "Lady, the God you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud." Also, Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn spends an evening with Laurie (Lisa Edelstein), unaware that she's a call girl, and then tells Chief of Staff Leo McGarry's daughter, Mallory O'Brien, about it before he knows whose daughter she is.

While Lyman and Marsh are discussing a proposed public debate on one of several religious wedge issues, President Bartlet enters and corrects one of the attendees on a theological point (namely, he quotes the First Commandment, settling a dispute on which one it is). He explains that he crashed his bicycle while distracted by anger after discovering that his granddaughter, after expressing herself as pro-choice during a magazine interview, was mailed a Raggedy Ann doll with a knife stuck in its throat. The doll was sent by an extremist group whose activities the attendees, to his displeasure, have not denounced. He tells them that not only will there be no debate, but that they will denounce the extremists publicly, and are barred from the White House until they do so. Bartlet implies to Lyman that he will be allowed to keep his job despite the gaffe.

## Reception

[edit]

In a retrospective, Brittany Frederick of CBR called it the best pilot in television history and giving it a 9/10 rating, citing the episode's character development and world-building.[2] Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A-, explaining that the episode "had [him] hooked almost instantly."[3] Screen Rant's Amelia Brantley harbored ambivalent feelings, praising the writing, and Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford's acting, while opining that the episode "hasn't aged well" in multiple aspects.[4] Under the Media Research Center, L. Brent Bozell III critiqued the episode and wrote that he felt it had promoted anti-Catholicism.[5]

## Awards

[edit]

* The pilot was nominated for an ASC award.[2]

### Emmy Awards

[edit]

Won

* Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series (recipients: Tony Fanning, Jon Hutman, and Ellen Totleben)
* Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (recipient: Thomas Del Ruth, A.S.C.)
* Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (recipient: Thomas Schlamme)

Nominated

* Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominee: Aaron Sorkin; "In Excelsis Deo," in the same category, won)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Pilot Script from The West Wing". americanhistory.si.edu. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
2. ^ a b ASC awards
3. ^ Heisler, Steve (June 1, 2009). "The West Wing: "Pilot"". AV Club. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
4. ^ Brantley, Amelia (March 25, 2020). "5 Reasons The West Wing's Pilot Is Perfect (& 5 It's Not)". ScreenRant. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
5. ^ Bozell, L. Brent III (October 6, 1999). "Again, Faith Flogged in Prime Time". Media Research Center. Archived from the original on January 19, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2007. (episode cited: "Pilot")

## External links

[edit]

* "Pilot" at IMDb
* "Pilot" West Wing Episode Guide[usurped]
* West Wing Pilot Script

* v
* t
* e

The West Wing

Characters|

| Main|

* Jed Bartlet
* Leo McGarry
* Josh Lyman
* Toby Ziegler
* C. J. Cregg
* Charlie Young
* Donna Moss
* Sam Seaborn
* Arnold Vinick
* Mandy Hampton

|

Recurring|

* Dolores Landingham
* Debbie Fiderer
* Ainsley Hayes
* Amy Gardner

Episodes|

| Season 1|

* "Pilot"
* "A Proportional Response"
* "Five Votes Down"
* "The Crackpots and These Women"
* "In Excelsis Deo"
* "Celestial Navigation"
* "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet"
* "What Kind of Day Has It Been"

|

Season 2|

* "The Lame Duck Congress"
* "Noël"
* "17 People"
* "Two Cathedrals"

Season 3|

* "Isaac and Ishmael"
* "Manchester"
* "Ways and Means"
* "On the Day Before"
* "Bartlet for America"
* "Hartsfield's Landing"

Season 4|

* "20 Hours in America"
* "Game On"
* "Twenty Five"

Season 5|

* "The Warfare of Genghis Khan"
* "An Khe"
* "Full Disclosure"
* "Eppur Si Muove"
* "The Supremes"

Season 6|

Season 7|

* "The Debate"

Other|

"A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote"

Other|

* Theme music
* Awards and nominations
* The West Wing Weekly
* The West Wing Thing

* v
* t
* e

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

1950s|

* Jack Smight for "Eddie" (1959)

1960s|

* Robert Mulligan for The Moon and Sixpence (1960)
* George Schaefer for Macbeth (1961)
* Franklin J. Schaffner for The Defenders (1962)
* Stuart Rosenberg for "The Madman" (1963)
* Tom Gries for "Who Do You Kill?" (1964)
* Paul Bogart for "The 700 Year Old Gang" (1965)
* Sydney Pollack for "The Game" (1966)
* Alex Segal for Death of a Salesman (1967)
* Paul Bogart for "Dear Friends" (1968)
* David Greene for "The People Next Door" (1969)

1970s|

* Paul Bogart for "Shadow Game" (1970)
* Daryl Duke for "The Day the Lion Died" (1971)
* Alexander Singer for "The Invasion of Kevin Ireland" (1972)
* Jerry Thorpe for "An Eye for an Eye" (1973)
* Robert Butler for "Part III" (1974)
* Bill Bain for "A Sudden Storm" (1975)
* David Greene for "Part I: Chapters 1 & 2" (Rich Man, Poor Man) (1976)
* David Greene for "Part 1" (Roots) (1977)
* Marvin J. Chomsky for Holocaust (1978)
* Jackie Cooper for "Pilot" (The White Shadow) (1979)

1980s|

* Roger Young for "Cop" (1980)
* Robert Butler for "Hill Street Station"(1981)
* Harry Harris for "To Soar and Never Falter" (1982)
* Jeff Bleckner for "Life in the Minors" (1983)
* Corey Allen for "Goodbye, Mr. Scripps" (1984)
* Karen Arthur for "Heat" (1985)
* Georg Stanford Brown for "Parting Shots" (1986)
* Gregory Hoblit for "Pilot" (L.A. Law) (1987)
* Mark Tinker for "Weigh In, Way Out" (1988)
* Robert Altman for "The Boiler Room" (1989)

1990s|

* Thomas Carter for "Promises to Keep" / Scott Winant for "The Go-Between" (1990)
* Thomas Carter for "In Confidence" (1991)
* Eric Laneuville for "All God's Children" (1992)
* Barry Levinson for "Gone for Goode" (1993)
* Daniel Sackheim for "Tempest in a C-Cup" (1994)
* Mimi Leder for "Love's Labor Lost" (1995)
* Jeremy Kagan for "Leave of Absence" (1996)
* Mark Tinker for "Where's 'Swaldo?" (1997)
* Mark Tinker for "Pilot" (Brooklyn South) / Paris Barclay for "Lost Israel, Part 2" (1998)
* Paris Barclay for "Hearts and Souls" (1999)

2000s|

* Thomas Schlamme for "Pilot" (The West Wing) (2000)
* Thomas Schlamme for "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part I" & "Part II" (2001)
* Alan Ball for "Pilot" (Six Feet Under) (2002)
* Christopher Misiano for "Twenty Five" (2003)
* Walter Hill for "Deadwood" (2004)
* J. J. Abrams for "Pilot" (Lost) (2005)
* Jon Cassar for "Day 5: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m." (2006)
* Alan Taylor for "Kennedy and Heidi" (2007)
* Greg Yaitanes for "House's Head" (2008)
* Rod Holcomb for "And in the End..." (2009)

2010s|

* Steve Shill for "The Getaway" (2010)
* Martin Scorsese for "Boardwalk Empire" (2011)
* Tim Van Patten for "To the Lost" (2012)
* David Fincher for "Chapter 1" (2013)
* Cary Joji Fukunaga for "Who Goes There" (2014)
* David Nutter for "Mother's Mercy" (2015)
* Miguel Sapochnik for "Battle of the Bastards" (2016)
* Reed Morano for "Offred" (2017)
* Stephen Daldry for "Paterfamilias" (2018)
* Jason Bateman for "Reparations" (2019)

2020s|

* Andrij Parekh for "Hunting" (2020)
* Jessica Hobbs for "War" (2021)
* Hwang Dong-hyuk for "Red Light, Green Light" (2022)
* Mark Mylod for "Connor's Wedding" (2023)
* Frederick E. O. Toye for "Crimson Sky" (2024)

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