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CNN Live Today
Talk With 'West Wing' Creator Aaron Sorkin
Aired July 18, 2002 - 12:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, "The West Wing," we have been telling you about the Emmy nominations, and that was the big winner last year. This year, it's received 21 nominations, and we have Aaron Sorkin on the phone.
Good to talk to you, Aaron.
AARON SORKIN, CREATOR, "THE WEST WING": Good to talk to you.
PHILLIPS: So are you excited.
SORKIN: It's incredibly exciting. It's a great morning for us.
PHILLIPS: So what's the secret? Why does this show do so well?
SORKIN: Gee, I have no idea.
PHILLIPS: You have to have some idea, Aaron, come on.
SORKIN: I'm surprised when anyone outside my immediate circle of friends watches it. So we're always thrilled to get this kind of recognition. I'm particularly happy for the cast and crew.
PHILLIPS: My parents watch, too, I have to let you know. There you go, you've got two more people watching.
SORKIN: OK.
PHILLIPS: what do you think of "Six Feet Under." This is a show that is just above you now with regard to nominations. What do you think of that show?
SORKIN: I think it's great.
PHILLIPS: Do you watch it?
SORKIN: I do, sure, like everybody else, and I think it's great. Alan Ball is one of my favorite writers, and I love the show, and it's particularly sweet, because Krause, who got nominated for best actor this morning, was in "Sports Night," which was a show I did, too.
PHILLIPS: Of course, we have to get that plug in there, too.
OK, back to your show, OK? SORKIN: OK.
PHILLIPS: How do you think the war on terrorism effected how many people watch your show?
SORKIN: It's tough to talk about something like the war on terrorism in the same sentence as something like a TV show.
PHILLIPS: But your show is so realistic, though. You really deal with issues that are very reality based, and the acting is so good, and just the language and the scenarios are so true to life.
SORKIN: Yes, but we really found out what true to life was this year, and I think that not just for our show. I think for everybody, you know, everybody makes TV shows, everybody who makes movies and plays, you know, we kind of got our legs taken out from under us for a year. I'm proud of everybody here for working hard, sticking together, doing a terrific season last year, and we're back, and we feel like we have a fresh start now.
PHILLIPS: How do you think it's effected how well your actors do, considering what's happening in real life right now and looking at your show, you think that's effected the quality of acting?
SORKIN: Again, we all learned on September 11th what hard is, and so I'm reluctant to say that it was hard this year, but it was. The cast, and the crew and the staff, I mean, everybody really rose to the challenge as a team. It was a really a wonderful thing to see, and we met the challenge.
PHILLIPS: Aaron Sorkin, creator of "West Wing," thanks a lot for the little last minute interview here.
SORKIN: Good talking to you. Take care.
PHILLIPS: For more on which other shows have the best shot at an Emmy, we go to KTLA Entertainment editor Sam Rubin.
Sam, good to see you. It's been a while.
SAM RUBIN, KTLA ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Hey, Kyra, nice to talk to you.
PHILLIPS: It's a busy time right now.
RUBIN: An extraordinarily busy time, that started very early this morning. But you know what, it was worth waking up for, because there were some surprises. So many of us who watch the Emmys always think of it year in and year out as sort of same old, same old. But the Academy said they were going to get a little more modern this year, and they did. Let me show you a list of some of the nominees. And I think it reflects very much how the Academy has changed and how new shows are finally being recognized in the dramatic category.
Take a look, "Six Feet Under," as you mentioned, freshman year, 23 nominations for that show. "West Wing" with Aaron Sorkin there, "CSI," "Law and Order" and "24." "24" and "Six Feet Under" both new shows, both doing very, very well.
Comedy categories include "Sex and the City," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Friends," "Will and Grace," and this is the one, Kyra, I'm really pleased about "Curb Your Enthusiasm." This is the little scene show from Larry David, the fellow who created "Seinfeld." It's a great show, very, very funny, very sort of inside there, Larry, with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, trying to sort of replicate what life after "Seinfeld" was like. A funny show, and the Academy recognized it.
And what's been happening a lot in Hollywood is people say, gee, there great work being done on television, and you wouldn't necessarily know it to watch the Emmys. Maybe this year you will, and of course today, you have been talking about the troubles of AOL-Time Warner.
One division has reason to smile today. HBO, once again, really dominates the Emmys, nearly a hundred nominations, and some of the HBO series, of course, "Six Feet Under," as we made reference to, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Sex and the City," all getting a slew of nominations. HBO having a great, great year, even without "The Sopranos."
This year, "The Sopranos" was not eligible for any nominations because no new episodes basically aired during the past -- quote, unquote -- TV year. But still, HBO with these other shows does very, very well.
PHILLIPS: Sam, you mentioned "Curb Your Enthusiasm." My husband and I love that show. Tell me if this is true, he says that it's all ad-libbed.
RUBIN: Yes, what happens is that they create a scenario. In this instance, the clip that we're looking at, Larry David is going in to pitch a new show with the actress Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and they sit there with actors playing TV executives and more or less go through it, and I imagine they spent a long time doing it.
One other thing that may give HBO and a show like this an advantage, they don't do that many episodes. I thing they made 10 or 13 "Curb Your Enthusiasms," but they were all very, very good. I'm glad you and your husband enjoyed it. It's a terrific show, and this is going to give it more promotional push, no question about that.
PHILLIPS: All right, Sam Rubin from KTLA.
Great to say.
RUBIN: Likewise, Kyra, talk to you soon.
PHILLIPS: All right, you got it.
Talk to you soon.
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