Aaron Sorkin | The New York Observer

Hey ABC, Are You Out Of Ideas? We Can Help!

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:29:32 -0400

It certainly didn’t take long for ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson to fill the void left by Ben Silverman in the “what is he thinking?” department. Case in point: The news earlier this week that ABC is teaming with Friends creator Marta Kauffman for an adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife. On the surface, this seems like a good idea, especially in light of the feature film...

Aaron Sorkin, Times Columnist by Proxy

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:38:20 -0400

Yesterday in her New York Times op-ed column, Maureen Dowd presented one of her signature imaginary dialogues. But instead of imagining her own little Sunday morning playhouse production about the head of Lehman Brothers talking to the Monopoly Guy on a bread line or whatever, she outsourced the effort to her ex-boyfriend, West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin.

This isn't the first time Ms. Dowd has relied on someone else to write her column: On October...

Tuning Out: Sorkin's Farnsworth Invention to Close March 2

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:24:26 -0500

Despite the hubbub over The Farnsworth Invention being Aaron Sorkin's first big project since Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip closed down, the Broadway play's sales have been dismal and producers announced that they'll be tuning out on March 2. Produced by Steven Spielberg, the $4 million production arrived on Broadway during an unusually crowded season of straight plays, not to mention November's 19-day stagehands strike, causing ticket sales to suffer, according to Variety.

Weekly...

Sorkin Reinvents the Boob Tube; Plimpton Reinvents Cymbeline's Imogen

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:52:42 -0500

It’s not a good sign, perhaps, that the first show out of the gate after the Broadway strike, Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention, should be about the discovery of theater’s mortal enemy, television. Worse: Mr. Sorkin (creator of The West Wing) has written the kind of pseudo-historical docudrama that would be perfect for television.

At least the play’s technical gobbledygook about cathode ray tubes is marginally easier to grasp than Copenhagen’s...

Hot Tickets: Farnsworth Invention, Magnetic Fields, Aretha Franklin

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:45:34 -0500

THEATER

Now that the Broadway strike is over, there’s going to be a mad rush for tickets and most of this weekend's shows will be sold out. But throw some elbows and get a good spot on line for Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention, which is opening on Monday, Dec. 3. It's so good, it'll make you forget Studio 60.

[Check here for tickets.]

CONCERTS

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Aaron Sorkin Gets Standing-O At Farnsworth Invention Preview

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:29:55 -0400

“The Farnsworth Invention is actually very complex with 150 characters at more than 50 locations,” said Des McAnuff, director of Aaron Sorkin’s new Broadway play The Farnsworth Invention, which opened to previews last night. Mr. McAnuff stood in jeans and a black suit coat lined with multi-colored pinstripes in front of a full house at the Music Box Theatre. “So please forgive us if we need to stop. I’ll come out with some witty...

Theater Previews: The Farnsworth Invention

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:52:38 -0400

Aaron Sorkin, the TV scribe behind “The West Wing” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” will debut his new play, The Farnsworth Invention in previews starting tonight at the Music Box Theatre. Opening night is scheduled for Nov. 14.

According to the website’s description:

It’s 1929. Two ambitious visionaries race against each other to invent a device called “television.” Separated by two thousand miles, each knows...

New Yorkers Find Home On Small Screen

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Of those, Six Degrees, the ABC drama executive-produced by J.J. Abrams, is, by a narrow margin, the most nakedly worshipful. Here, the city is some sort of web...

New Yorkers Find Home On Small Screen

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:00:00 -0400

The city of New York is a magnificent place to be, if you’re on television. At least nine of the coming fall shows take the city’s wonderfulness as their theme or inspiration—10, if you count the one about Los Angeles that’s really about New York. Of those, Six Degrees, the ABC drama executive-produced by J.J. Abrams, is, by a narrow margin, the most nakedly worshipful. Here, the city is some sort of web of...

This Is Your Brain on The West Wing … Whither Kristin Chenoweth? … Joel Grey, Vampire for Hire

Sun, 22 Apr 2001 20:00:00 -0400

Wednesday, April 18

One pill makes you larger. One pill makes you small. And another little dose of something, allegedly, makes you write earnest, Emmy-winning NBC dramas. Feed your head writer! West Wing creator and Scarsdale native Aaron Sorkin was busted by cops at a Burbank, Calif., airport on Sunday, April 15, after hallucinogenic mushrooms were found in his luggage. Arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, Mr. Sorkin faces arraignment on April...

Can Harvard Lampoon Rescue Wrestling Show? … Smackdown ! Beats Action

Sun, 26 Sep 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Wednesday, Sept. 22

Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling, which has been flagging in the ratings behind Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, is looking to hire real TV writers to spruce up its shows. As it stands now, the story lines are left up to the wrestlers themselves, who are bigger on brawn and bluster than they are on imagination. So you get " Raa raa raa grrr " and not much melodrama in the ring. Thus...

Aaron Sorkin Delivers White House Show to NBC

Sun, 09 May 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Wednesday, May 5

National TV Turn-Off Week is finally over, and thank goodness! It was easily the longest week we've ever spent. It was sponsored by TV-Free America, a group that claims to be nonpartisan. A group that is against everything decent people hold dear is "nonpartisan?" Ha! Write your Congressional representative or e-mail TV-Free America at tvfa@essential.org. Anyhoo, there's no better way to celebrate the end of that most un-American week by tuning in...