'West Wing' uncensored

Neat history of the show. [Link]

FALLS: Kathryn Joosten, who played Mrs. Landingham, would have probably survived the run if she hadn't decided to step out and smoke a cigarette with Aaron and me at an awards show. She told Aaron that she was up for a pilot test, and since she wasn't a regular he knew he couldn't hold her. At first I could tell Aaron was bummed, and then after she walked away he turned to me and said: "We're going to kill Mrs. Landingham …" He wasn't angry, he was just happy he had a story, and it became the crux of "Two Cathedrals," where, ironically, Bartlet crushes his cigarette on the floor of Washington Cathedral after a tirade pointed to the heavens where he questions, among other things, a God who would take someone like Mrs. Landingham.

SORKIN: We shot the service at the National Cathedral, and during rehearsals there were a number of clergy standing around watching. I walked up to a priest who was standing nearby and said, "Excuse me, Father? I think you should know that in the scene we're about to do Martin Sheen is going to curse at God." He smiled and said, "I know, it's gonna be great."