‘West Wing’s’ Sorkin held on drug charges
Aaron Sorkin, the creator and executive producer of NBC’s “The West Wing,” was arrested on drug possession charges yesterday afternoon while attempting to catch a Southwest Airlines flight from Burbank, Calif., to Las Vegas.
Mr. Sorkin was arrested for possession of “illicit” mushrooms after airport screening personnel allegedly found the controlled substance in his baggage during a routine preflight weapons check, according to Burbank Airport Police Sgt. Tom Davenport.
Mr. Sorkin, 40, was arrested and booked by Burbank police. The multiple Emmy winner was released on his own recognizance after a $10,000 bail bond was posted. It was not disclosed who posted the bond on Mr. Sorkin’s behalf.
Mr. Sorkin is scheduled to be arraigned April 30. There was no immediate comment from his press representatives, Warner Bros. Television (series producer of “The West Wing”) or NBC.
“The West Wing,” co-executive-produced by John Wells and Thomas Schlamme, won the outstanding drama series and writing Emmy Awards in September and twice won best TV series in the Electronic Media Critics Poll (winter 2000 and 2001).
Mr. Sorkin, who signed a four-year, $16 million development deal at Warner Bros. Television in July, is well-known for writing “A Few Good Men” and “The American President” in addition to writing and executive-producing ABC’s acclaimed but little-watched “Sports Night.”
Aikman joins Fox team: Fox Sports made it official today: Quarterback Troy Aikman, who tearfully announced his retirement from the Dallas Cowboys last week, will be partnered with play-by-play veteran Dick Stockton on Fox’s NFL broadcasts next season. Also doing analysis with Mr. Aikman will be former Cowboys fullback Daryl “Moose” Johnston, who retired from the NFL after the 1999 season.
‘Today’ finalizes concert series: “Today’s” sixth annual concert series starts Friday, April 27, with Rod Stewart performing outside the NBC morning show’s Studio 1A at Rockefeller Plaza.
The acts booked for the successive five months include Sting (May 4), Destiny’s Child (May 11), The Backstreet Boys (July 2), Shaggy (July 6), Neil Diamond (July 27), Melissa Etheridge (Aug. 10) and Macy Gray (Sept. 14).
XFL ratings rise: On the next-to-last Saturday of the XFL’s maiden season, the overnight ratings perked up a bit. The average of Nielsen’s 49 metered markets was a 2.0 rating, up 18 percent from the two previous Saturdays. The Sunday night game on UPN averaged a 1.2 rating in the overnights, which was flat week to week.
The XFL season concludes Saturday with the broadcast on NBC of what the XFL has dubbed “The Million-Dollar Game” between the San Francisco Demons and the Los Angeles Xtreme.
AtomShockwave plans new service: AtomShockwave is preparing to announce that it will launch a new online digital photo service. The service will allow PC users to store digital photos on their computers and create multimedia slide shows enhanced with music. The new product makes AtomShockwave the latest entrant into the red-hot digital photo industry, joining Microsoft, Kodak and QBeo.TV.