With Season 1 of The West Wing in the books (well, it's been in the books for 18 years now, but we're talking about this blog, okay?) I thought I'd take a quick look at how the show was recognized in its first year.
Ratings-wise it wasn't a smash hit but performed very well, finishing as the 24th highest-rated program of the 1999-2000 season according to Nielsen. The show earned a rating of 9.1, which equates to about 9.17 million viewers, and had a share of 14.2 (meaning 14.2 percent of televisions that were turned on Wednesday nights were tuned in to The West Wing on NBC). It's darn near impossible to make a direct comparison between TV viewing habits in 2000 and those today, given the explosion of streaming, non-broadcast cable programming, time-shifting with DVRs, focus on certain demographics rather than overall ratings, and the like, but if you look at the top-rated Nielsen show from 2016-17 (The Big Bang Theory), that show earned a 11.5 rating (in 1999-2000 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? earned the top spot with a rating of 18.6). The most-watched programs from 2016-17 had about 14 million or so viewers ... so the performance of The West Wing in light of today's television landscape is very respectable indeed.
2000 EMMY AWARDS
As for critical/industry recognition, the show did extremely well right out of the box, earning the top Emmy award for a TV drama among several other accolades. The show won these Emmys at the award show held in September, 2000:
- Outstanding Drama Series
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Richard Schiff, for Five Votes Down and In Excelsis Deo)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Allison Janney, for Celestial Navigation and Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics)
- Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Thomas Schlamme, Pilot)
- Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Aaron Sorkin and Rick Cleveland for In Excelsis Deo)
The series also earned a couple of nominations where it was beat out:
- Martin Sheen was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, but the award was won by James Gandolfini (The Sopranos).
- Aaron Sorkin was also nominated in the Outstanding Writing category for Pilot, but lost to himself and Rick Cleveland.
2000 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
The 2000 Golden Globes were held in early 2000, with nominations announced in December of 1999, so only the first part of the television season was even considered. The West Wing did earn a few nominations, but didn't win any awards for their first year.
- Nominated for Best Television Series, Drama, but the award was won by The Sopranos.
- Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe were nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama, but again, that award went to James Gandolfini.
2000 SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS
Again, these awards were held in March 2000, with nominations out in January, so the entire season was not considered. The West Wing had only one mention at the SAG Awards:
- Martin Sheen was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, but lost to - you guessed it - Gandolfini.
So that about closes the book on Season 1. I hope you'll continue on my look at Season 2, because I think what's coming up is among the best seasons of any television drama, ever. Season 1 got us introduced to these characters, and the administration's efforts to get out of the mud and drive forward with initiatives that are the right thing to do, despite the political ramifications; Season 2 deals with the aftermath of the Rosslyn shooting, and more importantly, the relevations of President Bartlet's medical condition and the fallout from that becoming public as the administration starts to look toward the 2002 election.
And it's gooood, folks. So good. Season 2 starts with a two-part episode, where we get to see how these people were pulled together into the original Bartlet campaign and how that all got off the ground. My post on that will be coming shortly. Stay tuned!
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