Melissa Fitzgerald

Mary McCormack

A behind the scenes look into the creation and legacy of The West Wing as told by cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack, with compelling insights from the cast and crew exploring what made the show what it was and how it's impassioned commitment to service has made the series and relationships behind it endure. 

Whats Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, It's Cast and Crew, and It's Enduring Legacy of Service

Katheryn

Fear is useless. Faith is necessary. Love is everything.

Through seven season of The West Wing, there may have been no greater threat to the smooth run of production than Richard Schiff in an uncontrollable case of the giggles.

It's kind of a perfect phrase, right? This idea—that there's always going to be another problem to solve, that every day we get up and try to do better, that the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die—embodies the aspirational beauty of politics and service. 

I've always been impressed with the fact that that they really shouldn't take—and they mostly have not, as far as I know—political sides in defending the Bill of Rights and due process for whomever. Going back to the Nazis' right to march in Skokie [Illinois]. You have to be completely on the side of the Constitution and what it stands for, regardless of whether you like the message or not.

I've been a fan of West Wing since I was 12 years old. I've seen the series more than a dozen times and learned that you can actually wear out a DVD by watching ours too much. This book is an incredible behind the scenes book, with anecdotes on its creation that are funny and meaningful. My favorite parts weren't the behind the scenes look at casting or making of some of my favorite episodes, or stories of the actors. Instead, I enjoyed learning about the acts of service and the involvement of the entire cast in civil service and charity work. Finally, the final words, the Jed Bartlet speech cobbled together from the bits of the scripts was an incredible message. It's an amazing book, I loved it. 

Whats Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, It's Cast and Crew, and It's Enduring Legacy of Service

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