Never Argue With A Drunk Or A

The Monica Lewinsky Scandal Was Happening At The Very Time I Was Writing The West Wing Pilot And It Was Hard, At Least For Americans, To Look At The White House And Think Of Anything But A Punch Line. Plus A Show About Politics, A Show That Took Place In Washington, Had Just Never Worked Before In American Television. So The Show Was Delayed For A Year.

I Do Enjoy The Fact That We Don't Have A King Or Queen; We Have A Person With A Very Unusual Temp Job For A Few Years. My Favorite Moments On The Show Were Always Showing The Intersection Of The Person And The Job. Any Time Bartlet From The West Wing Could Be Something Other Than The President - A Father, Or A Husband, Or A Son, Or A Friend.

I Had Never Thought Of Doing Television. But My Agent Wanted Me To Meet John Wells, Who Had Had A Lot Of Success Producing Er And China Beach. The Night Before The Meeting, Some Friends Were Over For Dinner And Akiva Goldsman And I Slipped Downstairs To The Basement So We Could Sneak A Cigarette. He Said, "you Know What Would Make A Good Television Series? That." And He Was Pointing At The American President Poster. He Said, "there Doesn't Have To Be A Romance, Just Focus On A Senior Staffer."

I Consider Plot A Necessary Intrusion On What I Really Want To Do, Which Is Write Snappy Dialogue. But When I'm Writing, The Way The Words Sound Is As Important To Me As What They Mean.

My Preference Would Have Been To Not Go Back On The Air After 911, At All Until The Time Felt Right But That Wasn't An Option.