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23 unusual facts about The West Wing


355th Fighter Wing

In the television series The West Wing, White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry flew F-105s for the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing during the Vietnam War.

Anthony Drazan

He also directed episodes of the television series Trinity and The West Wing.

Antiquities Act

The Antiquities Act is referenced in The West Wing season one episode "Enemies", where President Bartlet uses it to counter an amendment attached to a bill by Congress that would allow an area of the Montanan wilderness to be strip-mined.

Bill Anschell

His musical compositions have been heard on numerous network and cable programs, including NBC's The West Wing, FX's Damages, HBO's The Wire, CBS'sThe Defenders, NCIS: LA, The Mindy Projects and the soundtrack of the PBS movie Old Settler.

Concurrent resolution

In Season 3 Episode 12 of The West Wing, President Josiah Bartlet accepts a censure via a concurrent resolution in relation to hiding the fact that he has Multiple Sclerosis

Dan Deublein

Deublein has played roles in numerous television shows including Beverly Hills, 90210, General Hospital, Port Charles, JAG, Arrest & Trial and The West Wing.

Dude Walker

Dude has appeared in several popular TV shows, including The West Wing, One Life to Live, and The Wire.

Dundas, Ontario

In early December 2004, The West Wing did some filming; remaking parts of Dundas (Town hall, a residence, and Deluxe Restaurant) into New Hampshire locales.

Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story

Kelly and Sheen are also co-stars of the NBC dramatic series The West Wing.

Force Protection Condition

In a 2003 episode of the political drama The West Wing, "Red Haven's on Fire", President Bartlett orders military bases in Africa to go to THREATCON Charlie after a suicide bombing.

Jakob Schäuffelen

His TV series Kanzleramt, which was somewhat similar to the NBC hit series The West Wing, depicted life and work of a German chancellor, slightly resembling the then acting chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Jerry Levitan

Levitan is also an actor with roles in a string of Canadian and international films and television series, including a guest appearance in The West Wing, and one of Canada's pre-eminent children's entertainers.

Kirkwood, California

In episode 4 of season 2 of The West Wing entitled "In This White House", Deputy White House Communications Director Sam Seaborn references Kirkwood in a television program debate about school funding, though he mistakenly states that Kirkwood is located in Oregon.

Leaf peeping

The term "leaf peeping" has been used in numerous TV shows, including "And It's Surely To Their Credit," an episode of The West Wing which originally aired on November 1, 2000.

Needham, Norfolk

The television series The West Wing had a recurring character named, "Lord John Marbury, Earl of Croy, Marquess of Needham and Dolby, Baronet of Brycey."

Paul Scheuring

Following the completion of Prison Break, Scheuring began production of AR2, a drama co-developed with The West Wing director/exec producer Thomas Schlamme.

Pink Squirrel

In the The West Wing season 2 episode "Bartlet's Third State of the Union", the character Ainsley Hayes drinks a Pink Squirrel while wearing a bathrobe and dancing in her office.

Proposed flag of Taiwan

The hearts-in-harmony flag was a prominent part of the plot in the episode "A Change Is Gonna Come" of the TV series The West Wing.

Shaw Island

Shaw Island was featured during the fifth season episode "Access" of the political drama The West Wing as the site of a standoff between terrorist suspects and the US government, similar to the Waco, Texas Branch Davidian standoff.

Sphingosine kinase

During "100,000 Airplanes", a third season episode of The West Wing, sphingosine kinase is fictitiously described as "the enzyme believed to control all signal pathways to cancer growth."

Texas's 18th congressional district

In the TV series The West Wing, the Texas 18th was represented by fictional Democratic Presidential Candidate Matt Santos.

William Richert

Richert claimed Sorkin's screenplay was a thinly-veiled plagiarism of Richert's 1981 'The President Elopes', and that the television series The West Wing was derived from part of the same screenplay.

Zina Zaflow

She has made numerous appearances in American television dramas such as ER, Grey's Anatomy, 24 and The West Wing.


Brokered convention

In the last two episodes of season six of The West Wing, the Democratic party fought through a brokered convention, with dark horse candidate Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) eventually prevailing.

Butterball

In The West Wing episode "The Indians in the Lobby", President Josiah Bartlet calls the number (referred to as the "Butterball Hotline" in the script) to discuss stuffing and cooking his Thanksgiving turkey.

Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States

Joshua Malina portrayed Chief of Staff Will Bailey of the Vice President Robert Russell in the fictional Bartlet Administration on the multiple Emmy Award-winning television drama The West Wing.

Claire Coffee

Claire Coffee (born "Claire Elizabeth Coffee" on April 14, 1980) is an American actress best known for her roles as Cassie Tatum on The West Wing (2003), as Nadine Crowell on General Hospital (2007–2009), as Janie Ross on Franklin & Bash (2011–2012) and as Adalind Schade on Grimm (2011–present).

Claire Yarlett

Since then, Yarlett has been active on television, appearing in the daytime drama Days of our Lives between 1990 and 1991 and making frequent guest appearances in shows such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, ER, The West Wing, Becker, Frasier, and Lois and Clark.

David Shatraw

He has made guest appearances in TV series including Cold Case, The West Wing, and Six Feet Under, and has appeared in movies such as Live From Baghdad and In Her Shoes.

Don Chastain

Other series in which Chastain appeared as a guest star include The Real McCoys, Rhoda, The Rockford Files, All My Children, Hawaii Five-O, The West Wing, and Scrubs.

Joseph Vassallo

Vassallo's television credits include guest appearances on Diagnosis Murder, The West Wing, Alias, Damon, and My Wife and Kids.

Lisa Cuddy

When Edelstein heard she had to do a strip scene in the episode "House's Head", she called actress Sheila Kelley, wife of Richard Schiff (with whom Edelstein had worked previously on The West Wing and Relativity).

Lisa Edelstein

Bigger roles in TV dramas soon followed, among them the lesbian sister on ABC's Relativity (1996); a high-priced call girl turned Rob Lowe's date on The West Wing (1999); an assigned male at birth (AMAB) transgender woman on Ally McBeal (2000); and Ben Covington's (Scott Speedman) girlfriend on Felicity (2001).

Michael Mulheren

Mulheren has guest starred on several TV shows including Royal Pains, White Collar, Rescue Me, Law & Order, 30 Rock, The West Wing, and Lipstick Jungle.

Middletown, Delaware

The episode of The West Wing entitled Two Cathedrals (#44) was partly filmed at St. Andrew's School.

Obi Ndefo

He is a graduate of Yale University's drama school and has also appeared on such television series as Angel, The West Wing, The Jamie Foxx Show, Stargate SG-1, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Crossing Jordan, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.

Patrick Thomas O'Brien

To name just a few T.V. shows, he has appeared on Monk, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, Baywatch, Boston Common and Home Improvement.

Port Perry

Port Perry has attracted many film crews over the years, both for feature film and television; it doubled as the Maine town of Mooseport in the 2004 film Welcome to Mooseport and was used briefly as a small town in New Hampshire during the sixth season of The West Wing.

Ronny Jordan

Jordan's song "The Jackal" (from his 1993 album The Quiet Revolution) gained prominence when actress Allison Janney in the role of C. J. Cregg lip-synched it in the episode "Six Meetings Before Lunch" of The West Wing.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

His work in primetime series have included The Cosby Mysteries, New York Undercover, NYPD Blue, Touched by an Angel, The West Wing, Third Watch, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and five episodes of Law & Order (which coincidentally stars Lackawanna Blues star S. Epatha Merkerson), among others.

Sandy Creek, New York

This event was made famous in an episode of the the television show The West Wing.

Steve Klong

After establishing himself as a first-rate session and touring drummer for several years, he also founded The King Klong Music Group, a successful TV and commercial production music house whose clients included Subway, Volkswagen, Budweiser, CSI: Miami, The West Wing, Cold Case, The Amazing Race, NFL Football and many more.

Todd Purdum

Their relationship is the basis for the relationship between C.J. Cregg and Danny Concannon on the TV show The West Wing.