The Legacy of "The West Wing" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lawrence O'Donnell

"Mister Sterling" is a television retelling of "Mister Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). If you're gonna steal, steal from Frank Capra, Josh Brolin plays an idealistic son of a former US Senator who is appointed when the current Senator from California dies. Sterling turns out to be an independent, who will not kowtow to the wishes of the Democratic governor who appointed him.

The show included William Russ, David Norona and Broadway superstar Audra McDonald as Sterling's staff and James Whitmore Jr. as Sterling senior.

While the President is never actually named, Executive Producer O'Donnell felt that "Mister Sterling" did take place in the same universe as "The West Wing." That being said, Steven Culp, who played the Speaker of the House in "The West Wing" was Senator Garland in "Mister Sterling."

O'Donnell was a long-time Capitol Hill staffer before becoming a news personality on MSNBC. He served as the Executive Producer on "The West Wing" in 2005 and 2006, and wrote eight episodes of the show, including "The Debate" (2005) between Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits.

Misiano and Graves were two of the most frequent directors on "West Wing," each directing over 30 episodes. Debora Cahn wrote 34 episodes of "The West Wing", second to show creator Aaron Sorkin (45 episodes).

Answer: Commander

In the scene, Seven of Nine pulls up a list of deceased crew members. The first several are characters who had been killed, but the rest are an in-joke by the members of the production crew as a tribute to "The West Wing." Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) was a young woman the Voyager crew liberated from the Borg collective, who was struggling to define her humanity.

The "West Wing" cast as they are listed on the viewing screen: Commander J Bartlett, Lt Commander L McGarry, Lt Commander T Ziegler, Lieutenant J Lyman, Lieutenant S Seaborn, Ensign Claudia J Craig, and Ens. Charles Young.

Answer: King of the Hill

In the "King of the Hill" episode "Stressed for Success", Bobby Hill gives a report on "President Martin Sheen" with multiple references to Jed Bartlet on "The West Wing." It aired May 2, 2004.

"King of the Hill" focused on the family of a Texas propane family and his eccentric friends and neighbors. It was on the air from 1997 to 2010. It was produced by Mike Judge, the creator of "Beavis and Butthead" (1993-1997).

"West Wing" did show up on "Family Guy" in the episode "Peter's Got Woods" (2005) with a brief shout-out to Martin Sheen. And it showed up on "American Dad" in "An Apocalypse to Remember" (2007) with Stan giving a shout out to Marlee Matlin in he role as pollster Joey Lucas.

Answer: Allison Janney

"The Disaster Show" was the 17th episode of the only season of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". The program was loosely based on a "Saturday Night Live" type variety program. The guest host in "The Disaster Show" was Allison Janney, who played Press Secretary (later Chief of Staff) C.J. Cregg on "The West Wing". There were several references to "The West Wing" and several Sorkinisms including "making a list."

Bradley Whitford played Danny Tripp, one of the producers of the show on "Studio 60." In "The Disaster Show," Danny angered the prop masters union, who went on a wildcat strike. As a result, there were no cue cards, leading to absolute chaos as Allison hosted.

Timothy Busfield was also a regular on "Studio 60" as Cal Shanley, the director of the show. Busfield is a favorite of Sorkin's, as he appeared in the Broadway cast of "A Few Good Men". He played reporter Danny Concannon, a love interest of CJ, on "The West Wing".

Martin Sheen did have a small voice over role on "Studio 60" as a radio host on "K&R: Part 3" (2007).

Other mentions to "The West Wing" universe include a "Bartlet for President" sign in the studio (The Option Period) and Mary Tate working for Gage Whitney, Sam Seaborn's former law firm (4 AM Miracle)

Answer: Fringe

In the episode "Over There: Part 1" (2010) there is a billboard advertising the eleventh season of "West Wing." And in "Bloodline" (2011) there is an advertisement on a taxi cab promoting the twelfth season of the show. One presumes the extra seasons followed the presidency of Matthew Santos.

"Fringe" was a Fox series about an eccentric scientist and his son who team up with the FBI to investigate a mysterious global conspiracy. It aired from 2008 to 2013, and stared Anna Torv (FBI agent Olivia Dunham), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop) and John Noble (Dr Walter Bishop).

"Eureka" was a Sci-Fi series about an eccentric community in California. "Warehouse 13" was about a team of field agents recovering supernatural artifacts. "Falling Skies" starred Noah Wyle fighting an alien invasion.

Answer: Gupta

"Outsourced" ran on NBC during the 2010-11 season for 22 episodes. It starred Ben Rappaport as Todd Dempsey, a fish out of water manager trying to deal with the staff of an Indian call center.

Gupta (Parvesh Cheena) is the one who gave a somewhat bizarre take on the career of Martin Sheen. The Sheen reference is in "Guess Who's Coming to Delhi" (2011).

Rajiv (Rizwan Manji) was the assistant manager at the call center. Manmeet (Sacha Dhawan) was the cool employee and ladies man. Asha (Rebecca Hazlewood) had a will-they, won't-they relationship with Todd.

Answer: John Spencer

Al Gore hosted on December 14, 2002, two years after he conceded the 2000 presidential election (where he won the popular vote) to George W Bush. In a funny taped segment, Gore visits the set of "West Wing" and interacts with the cast. He begins with Martin Sheen, and meets Allison Janey and John Spencer; Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford show up towards the end.

Gore is relishing the opportunity to sit at the President's desk in the Oval Office and asks Spencer to deliver the "Joint Chiefs" line. Gore dramatically tells him "Tell them...we're going in." The "West Wing" cast tries to persuade Gore to go to a sushi restaurant, but he wants to stay at the desk. Whitford points out that Gore did win the popular vote, so they let the former Vice President stay.

The "West Wing" was a frequent topic of discussion on SNL. Rob Lowe hosted in 2000, and Charlie Sheen brought up the show when he hosted in 2001. During the Pierce Brosnan episode (May 5, 2001), there was a spoof of the "West Wing" that Sorkin had written while on magic mushrooms. The show also make brief appearances during "Weekend Update" over the years.

Answer: Pine Gap

Pine Gap was a mini-series on Netflix in 2018 based on US intelligence agents working in Australia. Pine Gap is a real intelligence gathering base located near Alice Springs, Australia.

In recent decades, the United States Navy has been naming aircraft carriers after former US Presidents, so naming one after Bartlet makes sense. The real-life carriers named after Presidents are the Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42), John F. Kennedy (CV-67), Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), George Washington (CVN-73), Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and George H.W. Bush (CVN-77).

"Bridgerton" (2020) is set in 18th century England, so not too many aircraft carriers. "Longmire" (2012-17) was a crime drama set in Wyoming, and "Cobra Kai" is a sequel to the "Karate Kid" films.

Answer: Richard Schiff

"Pure Evil and a Piece of Cheescake" is the 20th episode of season 3 of "Mom". The series stars Janney and Anna Faris as dysfunctional moms. The episode has Christy (Anna Faris) making the Dean's list at college.

Bonnie (Janney's character) has a dream sequence in which she is President, and she has a "walk and talk" with Schiff as her advisor. The episode aired May 5, 2016.

Answer: Gary Cole

Gary Cole played Andrew Klein, a fairly ineffective agent that Ari had been keeping afloat. His last chance was an opportunity to bring aboard Sorkin as a client. Klein's extremely pissed off wife torched the notes for his meeting with Sorkin, so Klein drove his car into his own house. Ari and Sorkin wound up visiting him in jail. Klein actually quotes a line from "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" in an attempt to impress Sorkin; it doesn't work. The episode was "The Sorkin Notes," which aired August 30, 2009.

Cole played Vice President Bob Russell, who replaced the former Vice President (Tim Matheson) when he was involved in a sex scandal. Cole was in 22 episodes, Matheson was in 19. Ron Silver was political consultant Bruno Gianelli in 19 episodes. And Michael O'Neill was Ron Butterfield, the head of the President's security detail, in 15 episodes.