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Here
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Date
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Source
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News/Article
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07.04.01
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Wisconsin
State Journal
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Fun
With Brad and Jane
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06.05.01
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Late
Late Show W/ Craig Kilborn
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Janel
Moloney
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05.31.01
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Rosie
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Allison
Janney
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05.16.01
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The
View
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Brad
Whitford
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02.12.01
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AP
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'West
Wing' Lovers Are in Limbo
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12.20.00
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deseretnews.com
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TV
Relationship Takes 'Wing'
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12.13.00
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The
New York Daily News
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He's
In No Position for Josh-ing on 'Wing'
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02.20.00
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AOL
Live Chat
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Brad
Whitford
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09.20.00
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The
Witchita Eagle
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Josh
& Donna Banter Strengthened As West Wing Returns
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09.16.00
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TV
Guide
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Season
Premiere Preview
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07.17.00
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AP
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Season
2 Preview
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06.00
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Entertainment
Weekly
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IT
Office Mates
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(A snippet from the article)
WSJ:
Speaking of "The West Wing," are we ever going to see some
action on the Josh and Donna front?
BW: I am ready. Been ready for a long time. And I remain ready.
(A snippet from the entire interview)
CK: --And your character…you guys have a little thing going on…there’s sexual tension between you and Josh?
JM: Josh, played by Bradley Whitford.
CK: How long has this sexual tension been going on?
JM: I think since the day that Brad and I met…and then we started and there was just a thing and ppl kept coming up to me on the street and saying so when are you guys going to do it?
CK: Yeah, do it, yeah, that’s how ppl talk on the street...
JM: They just ask…just like that. And I was really actually surprised at first because I wasn’t aware that there was this sort of ‘thing’ happening and now it’s really a ‘thing.’
CK: It’s irritating that it hasn’t happened.
JM: To you it’s irritating?
CK: As a viewer…it’s very irritating.
JM: So you want it? There’s divided camps…some people want it and some ppl don’t…I go back and forth.
CK: It’s not believable in Washington, D.C. that two ppl will wait that long to get it on. That’s the thing, you know what I’m saying?
JM: Yeah…
CK: I mean normally…I don’t know…I think…drag it out for 6 seasons, right?
JM: That’s maybe what they’re doing…the cliffhanger, you know? There’s gonna be the kiss…you know…on the dock like ER.
CK: Yeah, you know I was thinking…you seem so nice…you seem so All-American that maybe you should wait.
On Rosie, Rosie brought up the fact that none of the characters were romantically paired. Allison countered by saying "except for J&D. Everyone wants them together." She also said that Aaron Sorkin might enter that area(romantic pairings? or J/D?) next season.
When BW went on The View, he mentioned that "deep in their reptilian brains" that J/D need each other but he also said "unfortunately on TV, unlike in real life, consumation is boring" and that it needs to be done the right way.
By
Frazier Moore
Nowhere is Cupid more useful than on prime-time television.
When a TV plotline calls for love, Cupid's arrow can be counted on to pierce the heart in suitably dramatic style, infecting each victim with romance or lust, rapture or longing whatever the story requires.
Then his fevered patsies will get it together, pair off and tumble into bed. (One of every 10 TV programs includes a scene with characters engaging in sex, at least according to a recent study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.)
But there are exceptions. Sometimes Cupid slips, his arrow only grazing the heart. Such a wound sets off nagging impulses, all right. But the feeling won't be recognized as love. So how can it be acted upon?
Happy Valentines? Are you kidding? These are TV's lovers in limbo.
Meet mob boss Tony Soprano and Jennifer Melfi, his leggy psychiatrist, who are in the grip of clinical suppression on HBO's "The Sopranos."
Consider the cosmically connected FBI agents Scully and Mulder, whose hanky-panky during eight seasons on Fox's "The X-Files" has been limited to a chaste kiss (unless, of course, Mulder turns out to be the father of the child Scully is carrying, in which case, all bets are off).
Or just look to "The West Wing" and its clueless twosome, Josh and Donna.
On this hit NBC drama (Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST), Josh Lyman serves as White House deputy chief of staff. Donna Moss is his aide.
What a contrast they strike! Josh is fired-up and cocky, and as rumpled as Donna is sleek. Donna, with her big eyes and down-turned mouth, is Josh's pokerfaced foil and, in her own fractured way, a steadying force. He is her big brother. She is his mother hen.
One more thing. They are head over heels for each other. But nothing doing. They can no more confront their mutual attraction than stare straight at the sun.
Besides, they've trained their eyes on far more urgent matters. "The West Wing" understands that for many people, love must wait its turn behind other, more pressing demands. For Josh and Donna, the demands of the White House never stop.
So here they are: smart, quick-witted, exhilarated by their work, and busy as heck. And despite the fact that from time to time they date (other people) they are lonely in their crowded lives.
While Josh (Bradley Whitford) was a major presence on the series from the start, his balky entanglement with Donna (played by Janel Moloney, who only this year became a series regular) wasn't part of the original concept.
"But very early on, Aaron saw something in the chemistry between Brad and me," says Moloney, referring to "West Wing" creator-writer Aaron Sorkin. "In the pilot, there's a scene Aaron wrote one morning and passed on to us to shoot the same day."
The scene begins as Donna barges into Josh's office.
"I say, 'Put this shirt on.' And he says, 'No.' And I say, 'Josh, you've been wearing the same clothes for 31 hours. Put it on.' And he won't. And then I say, 'All the girls think you look really hot in this shirt.' He puts it on.
"I really think that scene sparked something."
So does Sorkin, who gives her the credit for making Donna an audience favorite. "Janel turned a recurring character who has a couple of lines every once in a while into what became a weekly set piece: the Josh-Donna Scene."
A Josh-Donna Scene often finds them shoulder-to-shoulder, coursing through the West Wing offices as their repartee races even faster than they do:
"Are you gonna behave yourself tonight?"
"It's a bachelor party."
"I'm saying"
"I can hold my liquor."
"No, you can't."
"I can drink with the best of them, Donna!"
"You can't drink with ANY of them, Josh."
"I'm in politics, OK? I can drink."
"You have a very sensitive system."
"I
wish you'd stop telling people that. It makes me sound like an
idiot."
Without even fathoming just what it is they share, Josh and Donna prove in scenes like this how intimately they share it.
"It's
really fun to play," says Whitford. "You have these two people who
are ga-ga about each other " I mean, just like nuts, way down in their
reptilian brain stems. Yet they could not conceivably bring
their feelings to the surface."
Maybe they can't, but "West Wing" fans sure haven't given up hope.
"Even people on the street come up to me and say, 'OK, when are they gonna do it?' Moloney marvels.
"I'm sure," says Whitford, "it will bubble over at some point."
But the role of Cupid falls to Sorkin, who confides that "every time I talk about getting Donna and Josh together, my partner Tommy (Schlamme) shouts, 'No! Wait another year!'
"They are in a tough spot," Sorkin reasons, "because she works for him. Besides, sexual and romantic tension is, to me, much more fun than taking the tension away by having the sex and romance."
So " bottom line " viewers shouldn't hold their breath?
"No," insists Sorkin, "I WANT you to hold your breath. Please DO hold your breath!" Why not? In lieu of heavy breathing, that's what Josh and Donna do.
By Scott Pierce
Amid
all the crises, high drama and humor that takes place in the hits series "The
West Wing," there may or may not be a romance going on between two of
the regular characters.
Well,
"romance" would be far too strong a word for the relationship between
deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman and his assistant, Donna Moss. But there
are hints that the two have feelings for each other that are stronger than
just those of co-workers. And, as far as Bradley Whitford is concerned, that
spark has been there since "the first day" that Janel Moloney appeared
on the set.
"I
didn't know Janel at all," Whitford said. "And we shot one take
of this thing and I went back to (creator/writer/executive producer) Aaron
(Sorkin) and I said, 'I love her!' I just thought she was funny without knowing
she's funny.
"Sometimes
she knows," he said as Moloney gave him a look.
And
Moloney said that she, too, knew there was something there from the start
— despite the fact that something has never really been expressed by
either character in any episode.
"When
I got the script, I felt like there was a special relationship," Moloney
said. "I didn't really know what it was going to be. In the pilot, I
think I had maybe two small scenes, and I had a very strong feeling that there
was something to be said about them, this relationship.
"I
think something happened for me on the third episode when we did that long
walk and talk and I asked for a raise and I was sort of threatening to —
I've even forgotten what the thing was. I was sort of bribing him or doing
something that wasn't so nice, but it was so much fun for me, and I just knew
that there was a lot more to be seen in terms of the relationship."
Enough so that Moloney was upped from recurring character to regular this season, with her name added to the opening credits. Which guarantees a lot more of those walk-and-talk scenes as Donna and Josh spar.
The
two actors say those scenes aren't necessarily easy just because of the logistics
of filming people in motion. "There's a logistical demand that's tricky,
but it's such fun stuff," Whitford said.
But
the two admit they're somewhat surprised that their walking has attracted
as much attention from some viewers as their talking. At least there's an
explanation for Moloney's rather distinctive gait.
"You
put on 4-inch heels and a little tight skirt and you're probably going to
walk exactly the same way," she said. "That's it. That's all I do
is learn my lines and put on those heels."
But
she's not the only one whose walk has been noticed by viewers.
"People
always ask me, 'Does Brad really walk like that?' " Moloney said. "
'With that swagger?' I say, 'Yeah, I think he does, a little faster on the
show.' "
Whitford
is less amused by the question.
"This
really upsets me because I had no idea that I had this obnoxious arrogant
strut," Whitford said facetiously. "And it's funny because it reminded
me of the first time I was ever in a movie. I remember watching it, and you're
huge (on the screen). And seeing my face didn't bother me because I know what
that is, but seeing myself walk away from behind, 30 feet away, really upset
me. But no, I can guarantee you that there was no, 'Hey, man, I've got to
come up with a walk for this.' "
Not
that he has let the questions about his walk affect him.
"(It's)
no different from the sort of overwhelming self-consciousness I feel about
everything," Whitford said.
"You've got so much to do that the last thing you can think about is how you're walking," Moloney said.
"If
you're thinking about how you're walking, you're in pretty bad shape."
"So
the walks are just sort of sadly us," Whitford said.
And
any preoccupations with the walking don't diminish their enjoyment of the
talking that goes on between Josh and Donna.
"I
just loved the relationship right off the bat," Whitford said. "Then
you get these things from Aaron, like (last year's) Christmas episode —
there's a moment when I give her a gift when you realize there's really something
here. But we're really sort of taking our cues from Aaron."
And
they're grateful to the man who writes the scripts.
"I think what Aaron has written that you don't see often is two people who are just, you know, in their reptilian brain stems, mad for each other, but they have no idea," Whitford said. "And that's an interesting dynamic in a relationship that you don't see very often."
(A snippet from the article)
Among other unconventional plot twists this season, there's no resolution in sight for the incessant flirting that goes on between Lyman and his assistant, Donna Moss, played by Janel Moloney.
"These two people, Josh and Donna, are so nuts about each other, but they don't even know it," says Whitford. "Josh adores her, but I don't know what will happen between them."
(A snippet from the entire transcript)
Host: On a lighter note, one of our members, C****B*****74, said, I love the banter and chemistry between your character and Donna. Does Aaron Sorkin have any plans for making them a romantic twosome?
Bradley Whitford: Well, you know, I adore Janel Moloney, and she -- the very first day that -- she was not a regular when the series started, and we had a scene in the pilot, and I walked out to the monitors after the first take, and I just said to Aaron and Tommy Schlamme, our producer, I love her. And Aaron right away picked up on a sort of really fun relationship to play, which you don't get to play too often. They're these two people who clearly are gaga about each other way down in their reptilian brain cells, but there's no way they can imagine acting upon it. And it is a very fun thing to play. Aaron has no idea where it's going to go. I know that it will -- I'm sure it will go somewhere. It is a tricky thing on television because, unfortunately for audiences, there's often nothing more boring than consummation.
Host: Right.
Bradley Whitford: You know.
By Bob Curtright
Actress Janel Moloney has the chemistry with Bradley Whitford as his assistant and becomes a full-fledged cast member for the second season in two weeks.
NBC's newly crowned Emmy champ, "The West Wing" -- nine awards, including best drama -- returns for its second season two weeks from tonight.
Yes, of course, it will sort out the assassination attempt that ended the first season and left the question "Who's been shot?" hanging in the air like "Who shot J.R.?" two decades ago for "Dallas."
But that question will be gotten out of the way quickly in one episode.
A more substantial change in the series itself is that Moira Kelly is out and Janel Moloney is raised to regular cast status.
Kelly, the top female lead as savvy but acerbic political consultant Madeline Hampton, was supposed to be an on-again, off-again love interest for deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford). It seems they had a romantic history, but careers kept them apart until she rejoined the president's staff.
But there was much more chemistry between Josh and his sly, sarcastic, manipulative but well-meaning assistant, Donna (Moloney, originally almost a walk-on), who worked themselves into a sort of David and Maddie ("Moonlighting") or Sam and Diane ("Cheers") battle-of-the-sexes banter during the first season.
And with Donna's promotion to major character -- she even has a last name now: Moss -- by creator-writer-producer Aaron Sorkin, you have to wonder whether the sexual tension floodgates have just been opened.
Moloney, known for TV movies "Then She Was Gone" and "To Save a Child," thinks not, although Whitford said he wouldn't be surprised.
"I'm sure Aaron (Sorkin) will have lots of fun writing more and more stuff for Donna and Josh," Moloney said.
"The banter is such a fun part of the show. People have told me they really like that. But I don't know about romance."
Whitford thinks it may be more of a subliminal relationship.
"You don't often see two people who are on some level, you know, in their reptilian brain stems, mad for each other but they have no idea. It's an interesting dynamic in a relationship," Whitford said.
"The first day that we shot, I didn't know Janel at all, but after the first take, I just loved her. She's funny without knowing it. I just loved the relationship between Josh and Donna right off the bat," he said.
Moloney said the chemistry took a little longer for her.
"I think that when I got the script, I felt like there was a special relationship but I didn't know what it was going to be. In the pilot, I had literally only two small scenes," she said.
"But I think it happened in the third episode when we had this long walk-and-talk and I asked for a raise and was trying to bribe him into doing something. I just knew that there was a lot more to be seen in terms of the relationship."
Most of the scenes between Josh and Donna are on the run through White House corridors, so they have to be quick on their feet mentally as well as physically. Moloney kids Whitford off-camera that she has noticed a definite swagger to his walk. Is it the character Josh or the actor Bradley.
"I had no idea that I had this obnoxious, arrogant strut," Whitford said with a wince.
"It reminded me of the first time I was ever in a movie. I remember watching how huge you are on the screen. Seeing my face didn't bother me, but watching myself walk away from the camera really upset me. I can guarantee you I'm not doing this on purpose," he said.
"The walk, sadly, is pretty much me."
Moloney, who blossomed during the first season, said her elevation to regular cast status validates what she has always felt as part of a closely knit ensemble.
"I feel like I've been very, very, very much a part of the show, both creatively and socially, since the first day. I felt very much a part of the 'The West Wing' family. I was treated like that as well," she said.
"But there's a definite sort of thing when you actually become a regular. I'm surprised I feel that but, yes, there is some excitement that I didn't know I had."
Whitford, who is married to actress Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle," is having a great year, too, what with the success of both of their shows and her Emmy nomination as best comedy actress (she lost to Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond").
"It's completely shocking to us what a year it's been," he said. "We're very grateful. We're humbled because we know how difficult it is to get that call back, let alone a job, let alone a show that works, let alone a show that people actually embrace."
Whitford said critics of the show say the characters are too idealistic, but he says that's accurate.
"The people I've met at the White House, the people I've met on both sides of the political spectrum, are, by and large, people who could be making a massive amount of money doing something else. They are in Washington because they believe in it," he said.
"The biggest surprise about Washington was that I was expecting a much more cynical outlook from these people."
The major difference between the real White House and the reel White House, he said, isn't attitude but timing. The TV politicians can actually get something done in an hour.
"The way problems are solved (in real life Washington) is slightly less lubricated than what happens when we deal with an issue in an hour," Whitford said.
"But the real power of this show is being able to talk about issues in a way that people will watch."
�More than one person is hit,� says executive producer Aaron Sorkin, �but only one is critical.� That character�s life hangs in the balance throughout the expanded season opener... �I don�t want to make it �The Love Boat� goes to the White House,� says Sorkin, �but everybody likes romance, so I would count on seeing a lot of it.�
Moira Kelly will not be rejoining the cast this season but Janel Moloney will be promoted to series regular. When asked about the hopes for romance between Josh and Donna, Sorkin joked that fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme feels that it should be saved until the fifth season.
Ages:
40, 28 Why Them? As The West Wing's deputy chief of staf, Josh
Lyman, and his assistant, Donna Moss, they're the Bartlet administration's
Tracy and Hepburn--too busy debating the issues to realize they should be
having their own state of the union. "They're completely in love,"
says Whitford. "What's great is Aaron [Sorkin] never wrote it as a romantic
thing. It just sort of came out. We have so many scenes together...it comes
across. Actually, when I find out she's going out on a date, it drives me
batty. I'm happily married to Malcolm in the Middle's Jane Kaczmarek],
but I have to ask 'What Hollywood loser has taken her out and got her liquored
up?'" So, will sparks fly anytime soon? Says Moloney: "I don't think
anything's inevitable with Aaron Sorkin except good writing." Wouldn't
be here without: Whitford: Minoxidil Who's got it? Moloney says
it's her sisters, Carey and Meegan, while Whitford favors C-SPAN founder Brian
Lamb. Who's not it? Whitford: "George W. Bush. He's emphatically,
completely, not IT. He's ITless." Next Term 2 of West Wing