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Sports Night/Ten Wickets

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Ten Wickets
Sportsnight-tenwickets.jpg
Season 1, Episode 21
Airdate April 13, 1999
Production Number N-321
Written by teleplay
Aaron Sorkin
story
Matt Tarses
Directed by Robert Berlinger
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Sports NightSeason One

Ten Wickets is the twenty-first episode of the first season of Sports Night.

Big news comes in threes this episode, as Dan has a talk with Rebecca, Casey mends fences with Dana, and Jeremy tries to make sense of cricket, "the game of the civilized sportsman."

Starring: Josh Charles (Dan Rydell), Peter Krause (Casey McCall), Felicity Huffman (Dana Whitaker), Joshua Malina (Jeremy Goodwin), Sabrina Lloyd (Natalie Hurley) and Robert Guillaume (Isaac Jaffe (credit only))

Guest Starring: Kayla Blake (Kim), Greg Baker (Elliott), Teri Polo (Rebecca), Jeff Mooring (Dave), Ron Ostrow (Will), Timothy Davis-Reed (Chris)

Contents

Plot Overview

It's been six days since the bomb scare at CSC, and Casey is still fuming. Dan has gotten over it, and he wishes Casey would do the same. Casey wonders why, if a mad bomber uses religion as his justification for threatening CSC, do religious leaders not come out to condemn the idea? Dan is tired of repeating this conversation.

In the control room, Dana admits that she's been forgetful recently, but she doesn't say why. Natalie takes a moment to announce that she is still Jeremy's girlfriend, so he attempts to break up with her again but it doesn't hold very long.

The next day, Jeremy's on the phone with a contact in Trinidad when the connection goes bad. Jeremy brings the news to Dana that a cricket player in New Delhi has done something amazing, but Dana is more concerned with her misplaced shoes. Dana doesn't know anything about cricket, and neither does Natalie. Jeremy tells them that a player named Chauncy St. John has "taken all ten wickets," but even he doesn't know what that means. Dana begins the rundown meeting by... forgetting about the rundown meeting.

Later on that day, Jeremy is still trying to put the news in terms he or Casey can understand, when Dan pops in with happy news that Rebecca will be meeting him after the show. When Dan notices that Casey isn't sharing his enthusiasm, he sees it as payback for not sharing his outrage over the bomb scare. Dan agrees to fake some outrage, but Casey still can't manage to fake happiness for Rebecca's return. He warns Dan that his feelings may still end badly.

Dana is in Isaac's office, talking with Isaac on the phone. After some well-intended ribbing, she wonders why Isaac has asked the staff not to visit him in the hospital. Natalie reminds her that Isaac's too proud to allow himself to be seen as an invalid. Dana also lets slip that she believes Casey's anger towards her might be justified.

In the edit room, Natalie is watching a tape of a cricket match with Jeremy without absorbing much. She asks him if they can go out tonight, or stay in (and rent some porn!), and Jeremy reminds her that in his eyes, they're temporarily broken up. Dan shows them both with the gift he bought for Rebecca: an antique Chinese abacus. His enthusiasm suddenly gives way to doubt. Natalie tries to reassure him, and he decides to be honest and direct and to tell Rebecca that he loves her.

Dana finds Casey writing the night's show. She's noticed that he's been slipping in asides and small jokes about Jerry Falwell on the air, and she wants him to stop. Casey loses his temper and launches into a tirade, and Dana threatens to suspend him from the show if he makes another on-air remark.

Jeremy spots Rebecca in a corner of the studio. She seems hesitant to talk to Dan, and Jeremy has guessed the reason why. But before she can go back to her office, Dan gives her a warm greeting and presents her with wine, flowers and his gift. She tries to make sports small talk, but Dan sees in her eyes that something's wrong. She tells him that she's going back to her Steve Sisco, and Dan is crushed.

After the broadcast, Dana comes out and apologizes to Casey. They go to a quiet corner where Dana apologizes for threatening Casey with suspension, and Casey apologizes for testing her authority. She also apologizes for passing the late broadcast to Sally, then blurts out that Gordon will ask Dana to marry him. Casey asks her what she'll say, and she tells him she'll say yes.

Jeremy finds Natalie sitting alone in the newsroom after the show. She's just learned about Gordon's pre-proposal. She brightens up when Jeremy tells her that the temporary breakup is over. Dan comes out of his office, drunk on wine. At the same time, Casey confronts Natalie, blaming her for not hearing the engagement news earlier. After all four of them digest the news about Rebecca and about Dana, Jeremy offers a toast to Chauncy St. John, which the others answer. Casey gripes again about Falwell, so they toast him too.

Natalie admonishes Casey for giving up too easily. She reminds him that, unlike Rebecca, Dana isn't married yet. Casey decides he needs a plan.

Notes

Arc Advancement

Happenings

  • Rebecca decides to dump Dan and attempt reconciliation with her husband.
  • Jeremy and Natalie get back together (although Natalie denies they were ever broken up.)
  • Gordon tells Dana that he intends to propose to her.
  • Although Isaac does not appear this episode, we learn by Dana that he is now able to use the phone and walking (with a cane).

Characters

  • Dana apologizes for dumping the show to Sally, and Casey apologizes for testing her authority.
  • Casey decides he needs a plan to break up Dana and Gordon.

Referbacks

  • Dana passed control of a broadcast to Sally in 1x17.
  • Someone threatened to bomb CSC last episode.

Trivia

The Show

  • An explanation on what "getting all ten wickets" actually means:
    • Cricket's resemblance to baseball is only superficial. In cricket, the batsman is the defending player, and the bowler (the one who throws the ball) is on offense. The bowler attempts to throw his ball at the batsman's "wicket," a set of three wooden stumps, and the batsman defends by hitting the ball. If the batsman fails, and his wicket is knocked down, then the bowler has "taken his wicket."
    • In a game of cricket, each side plays a set of ten batsmen only once; once a batsman is "dismissed," he's out for the remainder. So Chauncy St. John out-threw and dismissed the opposing team's entire offense, then his own team scored runs to win the game.
    • See Wikipedia for more info on cricket and wickets.
  • Natalie's use of a "ringing bell" metaphor is Sports Night's first mention of the sport of boxing. Surprising, considering that enormous "Raging Bull" poster Dan and Casey have in their office.

Behind the Scenes

  • A supposedly "final" draft of this episode's script featured Dan singing the opening lines from Bruce Springsteen's "When You're Alone" while he drinks wine. This may have been left out due to music clearance issues.

Allusions and References

  • Casey: We've got the Phoenix Suns in the morning, we've got Warren Moon at night, we got rhythm, music, the works!
    Two more Broadway show tune references from Casey: "I Got The Sun In The Morning" from Annie Get Your Gun and Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm."
  • Jeremy: There are countries other than ours!
    Dana: Yes. There is, for instance, Belgium. To name but one.

    Possibly an oblique reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, where to most alien races, the word "Belgium" is considered an incredibly rude curse word.
  • Also, the sport of cricket takes on cosmic implications in the third book of the Hitchhiker's series, Life, the Universe and Everything.
  • Casey focuses his general aggression towards religious leaders at televangelist Jerry Falwell. He makes special mention of the Teletubbies controversy, although in fairness, the statement was not made by Falwell. It was an editorial written by someone else, printed in Falwell's National Liberty Journal.
  • Casey posits that the Spanish singer/actress Charo has more adherents then Jerry Falwell.

Memorable Moments

  • Natalie makes her two-minute affirmation.
  • Jeremy talks to himself on the phone.
  • Dana walks out of the rundown meeting.
  • Jeremy reads a page of cricket lingo.
  • Natalie tries to tempt Jeremy with dinner, a movie or porn.
  • Rebecca breaks Danny's heart.
  • Dan to Jeremy: "Then you are my sworn enemy!" Followed by hugs all around.

Quotes

  • Dana: There are three things that I'm doing. I'm losing things, I'm forgetting things... and there's a third one.
  • Natalie: (into the control room mic) Everybody, this is your nightly two-minute confirmation that I'm still Jeremy's girlfriend.
  • Jeremy: (re: the cricket news) It was incredible.
    Dana: What was incredible?
    Jeremy: I don't know.
  • Jeremy: Dana, a very big sports story is happening.
    Dana: Jeremy, if a very big sports story was happening, we'd know it.
    Jeremy: We do know it, we just don't understand it.
  • Dana: Kim, do you know anything about cricket?
    Kim: What's goin' on?
    Dana: A guy in New Delhi just did something.
    Kim: What?
    Dana: Jeremy won't tell us.
    Jeremy: I honestly don't know! And I wouldn't have even brought it up except that whatever this guy did it was huge.
    Natalie: What did he do?
    Jeremy: He took all ten wickets in an inning.
    Natalie: What does that mean?
    Jeremy: I don't know!
  • Dana: (at a rundown meeting) Folks, before we start, I'd like to say that I've been forgetting things lately. Losing things. I apologize in advance, you'll know it when you see it. Anyway, that's all. (Dana exits, then walks back inside.) We have a run-down meeting now. (everyone nods)
  • Dan: I can fake my enthusiasm and you'll never know the difference.
    Casey: That's all I'm asking.
  • Casey: (re: Jerry Falwell) His guidance, for instance, on the great purple Tellytubby matter, was fraught with the kind of theological sophistication that only Jerry Falwell and a cafeteria full of sixth graders could devise! I know I'm going way out on a limb, but I think Jerry Falwell's a fatass! Who did I just offend? I'm eager to talk to them. I have a typewriter and I'll use it as I see fit.
  • Dan: (to Rebecca) I want you to know I would kiss you right now, full on the lips, but there are people around and it's unprofessional. (turns) Leave people!
  • Dan: I've had a little wine. Someone wants to make book on whether or not I'll be havin' a little more, I would not bet against me.
  • Jeremy: Listen. Think about this: halfway around the world, a lone man has accomplished an extraordinary athletic feat.
    Dan: What?
    Jeremy: I don't know.
    Dan: Good enough.