TV addicts, prepare to celebrate. If, like us you’re a big fan of US White House drama The West Wing - and specifically the “earlier, funnier” years that were overseen by creator Aaron Sorkin - you’ll be no doubt thrilled to hear that Bradley Whitford, best known as Josh Lyman, has been cast in Sorkin’s next show, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip.
Studio 60 follows the behind-the-scenes dramas of a Saturday Night Live-style TV comedy show. And Sorkin has chosen an assortment of thesps to launch the new series. Matthew Perry, who some might remember from a vaguely popular sitcom (“Chums”, was it?) will co-star alongside Whitford, playing a former staff member on the show who returns to help run it when the current executive producer has a meltdown on air (think Network) and is fired.
Also on board are Timothy Busfield (The West Wing’s Danny Concannon), Steven Weber (last seen in Timecode), US comedian DL Hughly, Nate Corddry (one of The Daily Show’s fake correspondents) and Sarah Paulson, who was last seen as the doomed research scientist in Serenity.
Given Sorkin’s slightly dodgy history of late script delivery, it’s comforting to know that some of the team who helped make The West Wing such a success early on are also returning, including director and regular Sorkin collaborator Thomas Schlamme. The show is shooting a pilot this month and US network NBC has already ordered 13 episodes. It’s still early days, but if anything is a sure-fire seal of quality, it’s Sorkin’s name at the top of a show.
