Sunday’s Emmys 2024 ceremony had us screaming, “Bartlet for America!”
“The West Wing” stars Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Dulé Hill, Richard Schiff, Janel Moloney took the Emmys stage to present the award for outstanding drama series.
The cast began the segment huddle around the famed Resolute desk in a recreation of the Oval Office before celebrating the show’s 25th anniversary. The beloved and critically acclaimed NBC series, created by legendary scribe Aaron Sorkin, ran from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006.
“The West Wing” cast at the 76th Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Los Angeles. ABC
“The West Wing” cast was at the Emmys to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary. ABC
The cast joked about how Sorkin and his fellow writers on the show had to “actually use their imagination” to come up with plot lines as opposed to today when, as Schiff put it, “storylines can be plucked right off the news.”
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The cast added that while much has shifted in the political landscape over the past 25 years, two things have not: the important of registering to vote and the quality of drama series on television.
The award for outstanding drama series went to “Shogun.”
THE WEST WING, from left: Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Dule Hill, John Spencer, Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Janel Moloney, Bradley Whitford,(Season 1). ©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection
A “West Wing” cast reunion had been anticipated before the Emmys telecast since the actors had all been announced as either participants or presenters.
Emmys 2024 producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay also signaled that viewers could expect to see actors reprise their roles from the popular TV shows from days past.
“The response to January was incredible, and we felt like people really connected to the nostalgia,” Harmon told Variety on Thursday, referring to the other Emmys ceremony this year — 2023’s Emmys, which took place in January due to delays caused by the actors and writers’ strikes.
Allison Janney and Richard Schiff pose after winning a trophy for “Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama Series” for their role in “The West Wing” during the 52nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles 10 September, 2000. AFP via Getty Images
Martin Sheen played President Jed Bartlet on “The West Wing.” ©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection
“So, we wanted to figure out a way to bring that nostalgia to the show on Sunday without doing the exact same thing,” Harmon added. “We really focused on television shows that everyone loved in January and Sunday, we’re going to focus on the characters, individual characters from all kinds of shows.”
Rouzan-Clay added, “Instead of trying to top ourselves, we wanted to just make sure that it was different enough that people felt like we celebrated TV in a different way.”
Main cast members of “The West Wing” last officially reunited in October 2020 for a Max special benefitting When We All Vote, a nonpartisan organization created by Michelle Obama that aims to increase voter turnout across the country.
Executive Producers Thomas Schlamme, left, and Aaron Sorkin, center, are joined by actor Bradley Whitford as they celebrate their Emmy awards for their work on “The West Wing” following the 53rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles, Nov. 4, 2001. AP
Organized by Sorkin and directed by his “West Wing” co-creator and co-executive producer Thomas Schlamme, the show brought almost all of the original “West Wing” actors back together to stage a stripped down presentation of the Season 3 episode “Hartsfield’s Landing.” The special was filmed the Orpheum Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The Emmys 2024 proved a fitting stage for the latest “West Wing” reunion, given the number of awards the Television Academy heaped on the political drama over its seven-year run.
Allison Janney cradles her Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy at the 54th annual Emmy Awards in Los Angles September 22, 2002. REUTERS
The show won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row, from 2000 to 2003, tying “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “Mad Men” and “Game of Thrones” for most wins in this category.
The series also earned a whopping total of 26 Emmys from its first episode to its last. Only “Game of Thrones” has won more (the HBO TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s books took home 38 trophies in 2016).
Janney garnered 4 Emmys for her portrayal of C.J. Cregg, while fellow regulars Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, John Spencer and Stockard Channing, along with guest star Alan Alda, won an Emmy a piece.