Pilot (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
Guest actors
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

"Pilot" is the first episode of the American serial drama The West Wing.

Plot

In the series premiere, the White House staff is being called into work in the early hours of the morning to the news that President of the United States Josiah Bartlet has crashed his bicycle into a tree, much to the press' enjoyment. The staff must run damage control on this and a gaffe by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman who, after provocation by Christian activist Mary Marsh on a televised debate, quips "Lady, the God you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud." Also, White House Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn meets and spends an evening with Laurie (Lisa Edelstein), unaware that she's a call girl, and then tells White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry's daughter, Mallory O'Brien, about it before he knows whose daughter she is.

While Mary Marsh and Josh are discussing an appropriate compensation, in the form of a public debate on one of several volatile Christian issues, President Bartlet enters and corrects one of the attendees on a theological point. He explains that he crashed his bicycle while distracted by anger after discovering that his granddaughter, after expressing herself as pro-choice during a pre-teen 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'll denounce the extremists publicly, and are barred from the White House until they do so.

Bartlet meets with his senior staff, telling them, "Break's over." Before Josh leaves, he says, "'Too busy being indicted for tax fraud? Don't ever do it again", implying that he is allowed to keep his job. The episode ends with the President calling, "Mrs. Landingham! What's next?"

Sub-text - Cuban refugees

The sub-text story throughout the episode is the plight of a large number of Cuban refugees, thought to be leaving Havana for Miami. At the episode's end, President Bartlet receives news that the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence reported that approximately 1,200 people had left Havana and, with an approaching storm, about 700 had turned back, about 350 were missing assumed dead, and 137 refugees had landed in Miami and claimed asylum.

End Scene

The end of the series finale, "Tomorrow", is very similar to the final scene of the pilot. In the pilot, President Bartlet calls to Mrs. Landingham to tell him 'what's next', and she recites his schedule for the day, her voice fading off as the episode ends. In the penultimate scene of the series finale, President Santos asks 'what's next' as well, ending with Josh similarly reciting his schedule before the final scene showing President Bartlet flying home to New Hampshire.

Reactions

L. Brent Bozell III wrote that he felt the episode promoted anti-Catholicism.^[1]

Awards

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

Emmy Awards

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

↑ Bozell, L. Brent III (1999-10-06). "Again, Faith Flogged in Prime Time". Media Research Center. Retrieved 2007-09-08. (episode cited: "Pilot")
↑ ASC awards

External links

The West Wing Episode Guide

The West Wing episodes

Season 1	"Pilot" "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" "A Proportional Response" "Five Votes Down" "The Crackpots and These Women" "Mr. Willis of Ohio" "The State Dinner" "Enemies" "The Short List" "In Excelsis Deo" "Lord John Marbury" "He Shall, from Time to Time..." "Take out the Trash Day" "Take This Sabbath Day" "Celestial Navigation" "20 Hours in L.A." "The White House Pro-Am" "Six Meetings Before Lunch" "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" "Mandatory Minimums" "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" "What Kind of Day Has It Been"

Season 2	"In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I" "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II" "The Midterms" "In This White House" "And It's Surely to Their Credit" "The Lame Duck Congress" "The Portland Trip" "Shibboleth" "Galileo" "Noël" "The Leadership Breakfast" "The Drop-In" "Bartlet's Third State of the Union" "The War at Home" "Ellie" "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" "The Stackhouse Filibuster" "17 People" "Bad Moon Rising" "The Fall's Gonna Kill You" "18th and Potomac" "Two Cathedrals"

Season 3	"Isaac and Ishmael" "Manchester, Part I" "Manchester, Part II" "Ways and Means" "On the Day Before" "War Crimes" "Gone Quiet" "The Indians in the Lobby" "The Women of Qumar" "Bartlet for America" "H. Con-172" "100,000 Airplanes" "The Two Bartlets" "Night Five" "Hartsfield's Landing" "Dead Irish Writers" "The U.S. Poet Laureate" "Stirred" "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" "The Black Vera Wang" "We Killed Yamamoto" "Posse Comitatus"

Season 4	"20 Hours in America, Part I" "20 Hours in America, Part II" "College Kids" "The Red Mass" "Debate Camp" "Game On" "Election Night" "Process Stories" "Swiss Diplomacy" "Arctic Radar" "Holy Night" "Guns Not Butter" "The Long Goodbye" "Inauguration, Part I" "Inauguration: Over There" "The California 47th" "Red Haven's on Fire" "Privateers" "Angel Maintenance" "Evidence of Things Not Seen" "Life on Mars" "Commencement" "Twenty Five"

Season 5	"7A WF 83429" "The Dogs of War" "Jefferson Lives" "Han" "Constituency of One" "Disaster Relief" "Separation of Powers" "Shutdown" "Abu el Banat" "The Stormy Present" "The Benign Prerogative" "Slow News Day" "The Warfare of Genghis Khan" "An Khe" "Full Disclosure" "Eppur Si Muove" "The Supremes" "Access" "Talking Points" "No Exit" "Gaza" "Memorial Day"

Season 6	"NSF Thurmont" "The Birnam Wood" "Third-Day Story" "Liftoff" "The Hubbert Peak" "The Dover Test" "A Change Is Gonna Come" "In the Room" "Impact Winter" "Faith Based Initiative" "Opposition Research" "365 Days" "King Corn" "The Wake Up Call" "Freedonia" "Drought Conditions" "A Good Day" "La Palabra" "Ninety Miles Away" "In God We Trust" "Things Fall Apart" "2162 Votes"

Season 7	"The Ticket" "The Mommy Problem" "Message of the Week" "Mr. Frost" "Here Today" "The Al Smith Dinner" "The Debate" "Undecideds" "The Wedding" "Running Mates" "Internal Displacement" "Duck and Cover" "The Cold" "Two Weeks Out" "Welcome to Wherever You Are" "Election Day" "Election Day Part II" "Requiem" "Transition" "The Last Hurrah" "Institutional Memory" "Tomorrow"

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Jack Smight for "Eddie" (1959)
Robert Mulligan for The Moon and Sixpence (1960)
George Schaefer for "Macbeth (II)" (1961)
Franklin J. Schaffner (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)
Lee H. Katzin (1968)
David Greene for "The People Next Door" (1969)
Paul Bogart for "Shadow Game" (1970)
Daryl Duke for "The Day the Lion Died" / Fielder Cook for "The Price" (1971)
Alexander Singer for "The Invasion of Kevin Ireland" / Tom Gries (1972)
Jerry Thorpe for "An Eye for an Eye" / Joseph Sargent for "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" (1973)
John Korty for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman / Robert Butler for "Part III" (1974)
Bill Bain for "A Sudden Storm" (1975)
David Greene for Episode 8 (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)
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)
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 "Brain Salad Surgery" (1998)
Paris Barclay for "Hearts and Souls" (1999)
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)
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)

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