Pilot (The West Wing)
Encyclopedia
"Pilot" is the first episode of the American serial drama The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
.
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 the President of the United States has crashed his bicycle into a tree, much to the enjoyment of the press. The staff must run damage control on this and a gaffe by Deputy Chief of Staff Josh LymanJosh Lyman
Joshua "Josh" Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama The West Wing. For the majority of the series, he was White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Josiah Bartlet administration...
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, Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn
Sam Seaborn
Samuel Norman "Sam" Seaborn is a fictional character portrayed by Rob Lowe on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is best known for being Deputy White House Communications Director in the Josiah Bartlet administration throughout the first four seasons of the series.-Creation and...
meets and spends an evening with Laurie (Lisa Edelstein
Lisa Edelstein
Lisa Edelstein is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her role as Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the television drama House.-Early life and education:...
), not knowing she is a call girl
Call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who is not visible to the general public; nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency...
, and then tells White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
Leo McGarry
Leo McGarry
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by John Spencer on the television serial drama The West Wing. The role earned Spencer the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. McGarry's character, the former United States Secretary of Labor, begins the series as the White...
's daughter, Mallory O'Brien
Mallory O'Brien
Mallory O'Brien is a fictional character on NBC's drama "The West Wing". The character is portrayed by Allison Smith. Mallory is the daughter of Leo McGarry, White House chief of staff and 2006 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, and his ex-wife, Jenny McGarry...
, about it before he knows whose daughter she is.
While Marsh and Lyman 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 Anne doll with a knife stuck in its throat. The doll was sent by an extremist group which the attendees have not denounced the activities of. 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.
Inaccuracies
Many of these inaccuracies are attempted as a joke, meant to poke fun at the decisive nature of politics.- In one of the first scenes, Communications Director Toby ZieglerToby ZieglerTobias Zachary 'Toby' Ziegler is played by Richard Schiff on the television serial drama The West Wing. For most of the series' duration he is White House Communications Director.-Creation and development:...
is on a plane and, in an attempt to use his cell phone while still in-flight, declares to the flight attendant that the plane they were flying on was "a Lockheed L-1011Lockheed L-1011The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, commonly referred to as the L-1011 or TriStar, is a medium-to-long range, widebody passenger trijet airliner. It was the third widebody airliner to enter commercial operations, following the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Between 1968 and 1984, Lockheed...
that came off the line 20 months ago." However, Lockheed discontinued the L-1011 in 1984 as a result of declining sales. In fact, by 1999, most domestic airlines still in service had abandoned the Lockheed L-1011 in favor of newer designs from BoeingBoeingThe Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
and AirbusAirbusAirbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
. - Toby ZieglerToby ZieglerTobias Zachary 'Toby' Ziegler is played by Richard Schiff on the television serial drama The West Wing. For most of the series' duration he is White House Communications Director.-Creation and development:...
states, "'Honor thy father' is the Third CommandmentTen CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
." This is however the fifth commandment in Jewish tradition. - Leo McGarryLeo McGarryLeo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by John Spencer on the television serial drama The West Wing. The role earned Spencer the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. McGarry's character, the former United States Secretary of Labor, begins the series as the White...
states that he recommended an "Exocet missile strike against his air force." The ExocetExocetThe Exocet is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Hundreds were fired in combat during the 1980s.-Etymology:...
is an anti-ship missile, and not in use by the US military. In that same phone call, he insists that Gaddafi's name is misspelled in a New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
crossword. The name is Arabic, so there is no objective way to transliterateTransliterationTransliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
it. - Sam Seaborn says the Roosevelt room is named after Franklin D Roosevelt. Mallory O'Brien attempts to correct Sam, saying that the room is in fact named after Theodore, pointing out that his portrait hangs in the room. In fact the room is named after both Franklin and Theodore, and both of their portraits hang in the room.
Emmy Awards
Won:- Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series (recipients: Jon Hutman, Tony Fanning, and Ellen Totleben)
- Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (recipient: Thomas Del RuthThomas Del RuthThomas Del Ruth, A.S.C. is a cinematographer. He was born on May 1, 1942 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, in the United States of America. He is the son of film director Roy Del Ruth, and actress Winnie Lightner...
, A.S.C.) - Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (recipient: Thomas Schlamme)
Nominated:
- Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominee: Aaron SorkinAaron SorkinAaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
; "In Excelsis DeoIn Excelsis Deo"In Excelsis Deo" is the 10th episode of the first season of The West Wing. It originally aired on NBC December 15, 1999, as the show's Christmas special. Events circle around Toby getting involved in the fate of a deceased Korean War veteran, reactions to a severe hate crime, and the ongoing...
," in the same category, won)