Sports Night: You're reading an introduction, so stick around

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Sports Night, an overview: Sports Night was a comedy with very dramatic overtones, that ran on ABC (US, not Australia) from 1998 to 2000. It was the brainchild of writer/producer/wunderkind Aaron Sorkin, who went on to create The West Wing. Fans of both shows will notice both actors, themes, and even occasionally lines of dialog that have made it to both.

The show centers around a nightly sports wrap up show, on a cable sports network. It's patterned after ESPN's Sports Center, a real show that Aaron Sorkin watched from his hotel room while filming The American President (which gave him ideas for another show, but I digress). The show is set in New York City, and regularly shows views of the twin towers in it's outside shots.

An interest in sports, or knowledge about sports casting is not a prerequisite for enjoying Sports Night. Like all good newsroom/tv studio based comedies or dramas (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Murphy Brown, E.N.G, etc), Sports Night's strength is in its characters.


And what wonderful characters they are:


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Casey McCall: played by Peter Krause (pronounced like "Yowza", not like "louse"). When the show starts, he has just been divorced from his apparently shrewish wife Lisa. (Sorkin seems to have a thing about Lisas, witness Sam Seaborn's - Rob Lowe - fiancee) He has a grade school age son, Charlie, who he sees on weekends, and obviously dotes over. He is extremely intelligent, with an Ivy League education. Speaks several languages. He is not especially cool, though he likes to think so.

Casey, and his best friend (there's enough chemistry between them for slashers to say more) Dan Rydell co-anchor Sports Night. They've written and worked on screen together since post college days, moving to larger and larger markets. Casey was offered Conan O' Brien's job as host of Late Night, but turned it down because he wanted to continue working with Dan, even in a less prestigious job.

Sharing the journey with them, has been Dana Whitaker, supervising producer for Sports Night. She and Casey have been close for many years, and have a canonically "Will They/Won't They relationship.

You may have seen Peter Krause more recently on HBO, where he's one of the stars of Six Feet Under.

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Dan Rydell: Played By Josh Charles, Dan is the woobie of Sports Night (though Casey and other characters get their turn, too). Brilliant, but troubled, he has emotional issues that drew him to seek out psychotherapy. Foremost of these is the death of his younger brother Sam, who crashed his car at age sixteen, while driving while impaired, behaviors (the impairment) he picked up from Dan, who was two years older. One of the best episodes of the show, "The Apology" centers around this story, and how Dan is affected eleven years later. Dan has a strained relationship with his father, who comes across as a prejudiced jerk on the show (and even more so in fic).

Most recently, Josh Charles had a supporting role in the S.W.A.T movie. He also had a varied career as a teen actor, in films such as Hairspray, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, and Dead Poets Society. Look for him in a slashy role in Threesome.


Dana Whittaker: Played by Felicity Huffman is the show's supervising producer.. Grew up as the only girl in a family with a slew of brothers, one of whom is a professional football player. Sent to an exclusive girl's school in order to give her feminine qualities, she's one of only a few women working in sports casting at her level. She's well respected, and a little bit weird.

Has an ill fated romance with district attorney Gordon, played by famous show killer Ted McGinley. Is canonically thought to be meant for Casey, and a running plot point is based on this assumption.

Huffman is married to respected actor William H. Macy, who played a supporting role on the show.

Natalie Hurley: played by Sabrina Lloyd, is second in command to Dana. The pair are close friends. Natalie is either cute as a button, or annoying, depending who you ask. She was responsible for hiring, and eventually the on again, off again girlfriend of Jeremy Goodwin. He's Jewish, she's definitely not. Their blending of cultures made for some of the better humor on the show.

You may have seen Sabrina as Wade, on Sliders. Recently she was Ed's love interest on the NBC show.

Jeremy Goodwin: played by Joshua Malina, is one of the show's behind the scenes people, doing everything from producing and editing segments, to attempting to get the station Y2K compliant. He's somewhat geeky, but well liked - especially by Natalie. He's one of the show's moral centers, and gets some of the best Sorkin speeches. He's a terrific actor, which may be why Sorkin has used him in most, if not all, of his projects.

Currently, Joshua Malina can be seen on The West Wing, where he replaced Rob Lowe.

Isaac Jaffe played by Robert Guillame, is executive producer of Sports Night. The father figure of the show, he's beloved by the gang. A true pioneer, working in sports journalism and television at a time when it was unheard of for African Americans to do so, he nurtured Sports Night into what it is today. Midway through the run of the actual show, the actor had a stroke. It was written into the show, and Guillame played his character with similar issues. His part was on a level with Martin Sheen's role on TWW, being the name, in an ensemble of lesser knowns.
That's the main ensemble. There are a slew of secondary and tertiary characters, from people who play technicians, to girlfriends, and other peripheral characters.





Relationships and Pairings: The main relationship on the show is the strong friendship between Dan and Casey. They choose to share an office, writing together like a well lubed machine, even though they each do have their own offices. Even if one doesn't read anything slashy into their friendship, it's portrayed as one of the strongest bonds between men on television. They are definitely "Sensitive New Age Guys", unafraid to be physically and emotionally supportive of each other.

Casey/Dana. Mostly UST, Dana places obstacles in the way of them getting together, because she doesn't want him when he's still rebounding from the divorce.

Jeremy/Natalie: probably the most realized het relationship on the show. They have actual chemistry, and a hell of a lot of cuteness.

Jeremy also had a fling with a porn star he met at a bar, while with most of the SN gang. She's nice, and smart, and is a character similar to the prostitute Sam Seaborn didn't know had that job in the early days of TWW. Jeremy tells Natalie she's a "choreo-animator" ("She teaches dances to cartoon character??") when circumstances make them meet.

Dan/Rebecca Wells. Canonically, Dan dates Rebecca Wells, a woman who works on the business side of CSC (the network). Rebecca is played by a brown haired Teri Polo (late of Northern Exposure, and now starring on 'I'm with Her'. He's a big ol' flirt, in general. (But we all know he goes home to Casey)




Why I love Sports Night, and hope you will too: First off, the writing. This was often Sorkin at his very best. Sharp and witty, warm and sweet, he made you care about these people. He made them real.

Dan and Casey. One of the best pairs of guys on TV, they're as bonded as Clark and Lex, but without the science fiction and comic book overtones. Their friendship/relationship (take your pick) is legendary in a real way.

Also, neither is hard on the eyes

The show is multilayered, with major emotional plot lines, laugh out loud humor, and trivia. It has something for all tastes.



Fanfic and Communites:: Unfortunately, Sports Night's main fic archive has been down for retooling for some months. There are signs it will be back sometime soon. Smaller archives exist, such as :

Our Boys : Sports Night (which has a West Wing collection as well),

And various authors' collections.

On LJ, Sports Night fic can be found at SN100, and In the Tall Grass (a WW and SN fic group).

A Yahoo group "SlashSN" exists for slashfic, and their archives can be searched for fic as well. (It's a good place to browse until the main archive returns).