Term limits — 'West Wing' ends a remarkable 7-year run Sunday

PASADENA, Calif. — When "The West Wing" was elected to NBC's schedule 1999, not much of anybody expected it to be re-elected for six more seasons.

"Well, I think that we all felt going in that we had something very special," said Martin Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlet in this series about a sitting president of the United States and his staff. "The only real doubt we had was whether or not it would work on network television.

"It was a political show. There were no car chases or fires or special effects. The action was in the word, and we were public servants. Would an audience that had a choice support us?"

Executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. didn't expect anyone to tune in because, "as far as I (could) tell, in TV terms, nothing happened. . . . I just didn't think we had a chance."

But it was an instant hit. In its first season, it was TV's most honored show, winning nine Emmys (the most ever by a show in a single season) on 18 nominations. That number has grown to 24 wins (including a record-tying four as best drama) on 89 nominations.

Bartlet has served longer than seven of the nine real presidents since 1961.

"When I knew that (creator and former executive producer) Aaron Sorkin was writing it and I knew the pedigree of the people involved, I thought — if anything is going to make it and be an important series, this is," said Allison Janney (C.J. Cregg). "But I don't think any of us thought for a minute that it was going to do what it did."

But fans began to express "the passion they had for the show. . . . That was exciting for me to realize what an impact the show was making."

Tens of millions of viewers were passionate about the Bartlet administration. More passionate, it seemed, than about the Clinton or Bush administrations.

"One of the weirdest things about the show — and, honestly, the last thing anybody expected — was that it would be taken seriously," said Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman). "I think a lot of people misinterpreted that Aaron must be this incredibly civic-minded guy who wanted to serve Americans their civic vegetables, so he wrote a show about the White House to show how great politicians are. Actually, it's a very impatient, entertainer-storyteller hitting this material that kind of made it work."