In Excelsis Deo

I just reviewed the entire first season of West Wing and I’m well under way in Season Two. Over fifteen hours prone in my bed this weekend and here’s what I have to show: a slightly broader (and glossier) knowledge of confederal politics in America; a latent numbness in my social skills; and a persisting pain in the lower back.

The best episode for me was the Christmas episode, In Excelsis Deo. I did a little reading up on that episode and discovered a disturbing exchange between Sorkin and the co-writer, Rick Cleveland. Here’s the long and the short of it.

In Excelsis Deo started as a story by Cleveland about his father who fought in the Korean war and fell on hard times back in the “real world”. The story was patched up and rewritten by Sorkin and ended up winning an Emmy for best writing. Cleveland asked Sorkin if he could dedicate the award to his father at the ceremony but instead he was snubbed. Sorkin didn’t thank him - in fact, he didn’t even say a word to him. Later, Rick Cleveland told the NY Times:

You might not remember me from that night. I was the guy wearing the little wire-framed glasses, standing directly behind Aaron Sorkin. I had a dumbfounded smirk on my face, and I imagine I must have looked like a member of Sorkin’s security detail. When he was done speaking, he kind of ushered me offstage with him, and, dumbly, I followed.

Instead of an apology, Sorkin fired back with this:

I gave a staffer named Rick Cleveland a script assignment . . . Because Rick had worked for months on his, I gave him, rather than a Story by credit, a co-Written By credit and put his name ahead of mine. For my script, he received a Humanitas nomination, an Emmy Award and a Writers’ Guild Award. At the end of the first season, Rick was fired. Not by me and for economic reasons. It was by John Wells and it was for lack of performance.

Cleveland went on to write for Six Feet Under. I think his performance speaks for itself.