Aaron Sorkin and the White House

Before he became the architect of the fictional Bartlet presidency on The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin wrote the 1995 film The American President.  Sorkin’s story depicts the end of President Andrew Shepherd’s first term.  Shepherd, a democrat, is a widower...

Beyond Gil Grissom

CSI, after 15 years, has been canceled.  William Petersen starred in the show about Crime Scene Investigators in Las Vegas from its debut in 2000 until 2008 as Gil Grissom, the lead investigator of the night shift.  Grissom was fascinated by the different aspects of...

Bush, Gore, and the 2000 Presidential Election

HBO’s 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.  A complex tale involving arcane election law, Recount benefits from an all-star cast portraying the proceedings that Americans...

Stern and Stars

The 1997 movie Private Parts, based on Howard Stern’s autobiography of the same name, has fairly rich television connections. Stern, a shock jock, portrayed himself in the story recounting his rise from a $96 a week disc jockey to the King of All Media.  His...

Origins: “Casablanca”

You must remember this:  Casablanca is a classic movie.  But did you know this?  Casablanca had less than auspicious beginnings. Casablanca began as a play titled Everybody Comes to Rick’s written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison in the late 1930s.  Although...