Source: TV Zone #182
Date: October 2004
By: David Walden

As The West Wing returns to American screens for its sixth season, a long-bubbling flitation is moving towards consummation courtesy of a near tragedy. Stars Bradley Whitford and Janel Moloney talk to David Waldon...

A crossroads has been reached on the set of The West Wing, and it has nothing to do with the future of the acclaimed but ageing drama about an idealistic US president and his team of sometimes merry men. This curveball centres around two specific characters, Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and his longtime assistant, Donna Moss (Janel Moloney). Last season's finale saw Donna seriously injured in a terrorist attack in the Middle East, and Josh rushing halfway around the world to be at her bedside at a moment of crisis for the administration. For many fans, it was a crystallization that the romantic tension between Josh and his girl Friday was more than an illusion. For the actors, it was just another turn on what has been an interesting dramatic journey that may or may not lead to something more.

"We didn't lobby for it, unless Brad secretly did," says Moloney of the potential plot twist. "And I was actually surprised. I'm not sure that this will turn into anything other than just a deeper part of our platonic relationship. I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. I think that it's just part of the journey and part of the fun of them not being together."

For his part, Whitford denies any behind-the-scenes manoeuvering. He does admit that any steps to deepen Josh's connection with his right-hand woman is fine by him. "I have always been ready to move further with this relationship, and I've just been waiting for the pages to come in," he says earnestly. "What's always been fun about playing a relationship like this is that you have two people who are in such proximity to each other, who are clearly deeply and emotionally connected and are crazy about each other, but are In circumstances - emotional and work circumstances - that they simply can't act on it, and consciously don't even seem to know it. They're occasionally reminded of what's really going on by circumstances and sometimes by other characters."

It's that depth of the experience that keeps The West Wing fun for Whitford and Moloney even as the series enters its sixth season with the rumours of its future looming around them. Shaky ratings and what some see as a shaky transition in the wake of creator Aaron Sorkin's departure last year have been omnipresent conditions lately, as is the reality that the on-screen tenure of President Bartlet (Matin Sheen) can't last forever even in fictional form. But the actors prefer to focus not on what they can't control, but rather on what they are there to do.

As the fragily beautiful Moloney comments, "I thought it surely must be just really boring, really difficult at the fifth of sixth year, you know; that you're just going through the motions, that you feel tied to it and depressed somehow. And really it's like doing just this wonderful, long - very long - movie, only your characters are constantly changing , and we are constantly getting more and more challenges. So I have found it, much to my surprise, extremely stimulating creatively and really exciting."

"I think that the fear for an actor is that your talents aren't going to be exploited and you're going to be executing predictable writing and situations, and that is not true here," add Whitford, who won an Emmy for his West Wing role in 2001. "I think that this is a spectacular arena that's never been mined before." It's also a chance, according to Whitford, to tackle topics that few other TV shows are in a position to handle, such as the volatile Middle Eastern situation that is a backdrop to the Donna-Josh storyline. It will carry a heacy load in the first episodes of the new season, at a time when Iraq, Israel, oil and terrorism are ever present in the headlines and breaking news of real life.

"I don't think that we should shy away from that at all," says Whitford. "I think Aaron's great instinct about this material was his showmanship, which took dry and kind of complex material and made it human and entertaining. And that's the primary challenge of the show. I think it's great for us to be as audacious politically - not for any agenda on our part, but in order to be true to what these characters would do in that situation. I think there's a great opportunity as we head into the latter part of the administration, where you're liberated from the need to be re-elected, to see what these guys really believe in."

Filming the episodes also was an opportunity for Whitford and Moloney to work with actors from both sides of the actual Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to get their personal perspectives on the issues at hand. Whitford recalls a particular evening in Maryland, where scenes from the season opener were shot. "We were talking to these actors who came over from Israel, and an Arab and a Jew were arguing passionately and thrilled about the opportunity to talk about these issues. And it was very gratifying to me that they had a lot of respect for the script, and it's incredibly gratifying to me to be able to do something that - and I would never overstate - we're just a television show, but to be able to wrestle with these issues is a real privilege."

That West Wing has retained its ability to deal with issues of the day is a testament to the stewardship of executive producer John Wells, who's been with the drama since day one but took over as showrunner for Sorkin last season. In some ways the show is very different - fewer of the long, dialogue-heavy scenes that Sorkin specialized in, for common with the past than not.

"It's been just a little different, but I think that all of our voices have been maintained as characters, and I think they've done really interesting policy stuff," says Moloney. "He could have just come along and started cracking the whip and saying, 'This is how it's going to happen,' but he didn't. He was incredibly respectful of all of us."

Whitford adds, "John, aside from his incredible experience running a show with an incredibly sure hand in a really wild business, has the most important requirement, which is I really think he loves this show. That's what's made the show such an exciting thing to do - a love of the show, a love of the opportunity to work with the best writers, to work with the best actors, and to do something that isn't normally done on television."

How Wells decides what to do with Josh and Donna remains to be seen, but Whitford knows that the scenario is fraught with dangers of its own. "Unlike life, there's nothing more boring on television than consummation," say Whitford, "and you just want to be careful about it." But if he gets the call to get busy with his lovely co-star for the sake of art, his answer is a clarion call: "I'm ready!"

This article is the property of David Walden. TV Zone is the property of Visimag.