Sports Night/The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee

The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee
Season 1, Episode 11
Airdate	December 15, 1998
Production Number	N-311
Written by	Aaron Sorkin and Matt Tarses & David Walpert & Bill Wrubel
Directed by	Robert Berlinger
← 1x10 Shoe Money Tonight	1x12 → Smoky
Sports Night — Season One

The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee is the eleventh episode of the first season of Sports Night.

Controversy strikes when a Tennessee college student refuses to play football under the school's Confederate flag. Dan pressures Isaac to support the student, in defiance of Luther Sachs. After appearing on "The View," Casey gets a dressing-down from an angry wardrobe assistant.

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),

Guest Starring: Kayla Blake (Kim), Greg Baker (Elliott), Janel Moloney (Monica), Joy Behar (Herself), Star Jones (Herself), Debbie Matenopoulos (Herself), Meredith Viera (Herself)

Co-Starring: Timothy Davis-Reed (Chris), Ron Ostrow (Will), Jeff Mooring (Dave), Doyle Holmon (Roland Shepard)

Plot Overview

Nearly Christmas, and the studio is decorated with tinsel and a wreath. As Casey puts on his dress shirt for the evening's show, Dan mentions that the unusally large number of hockey stories this evening will make "Jerome," a studio cameraman and hockey fan, happy. When Casey has no idea who Jerome is, Dan has to point him out. Dana is anticipating a hot news item out of Chattanooga, but Jeremy has nothing for her.

Seconds before the show begins, Dan is expounding to Casey on how the show is a team effort, but Casey brushes it off. Isaac comes into the control room hoping for news from Chattanooga, but there's still nothing. At the end of the show, Casey solicits nominations from the viewers for the Sports Night "Play of the Year" for 1998. After taping, Dan teases Casey for appearing tomorrow morning on "The View," which he derides as "a cooking show." But Dan's insults are just a cover for his jealousy: Luther Sachs has suspended him from making any interviews after his statements on marijuana.

The next morning, Casey is fawned over by the hosts of "The View" (sans Barbara Walters). They mention his stylish neckties, and remark that women find a man who can properly dress himself sexy. Casey accepts the praise with a joke.

At the rundown meeting, Jeremy gives the bullet points from Chattanooga: a Tennessee college student named Roland Shepard, maintaining an excellent GPA while setting rushing records for his school's football team, has refused to play while the school flies a Confederate flag outside their stadium. If the school suspends Shepard, he will lose his athletic scholarship.

Isaac gives Dan a task after the meeting. Since Luther Sachs is an alumnus of this university, he wants Sports Night to put together a segment on "the Southern tradition in sports", which Dan quickly realizes means "a piece in support of the university and their flag." He asks Isaac to resist the directive, but Isaac refuses to become personally involved.

Casey watches a tape of his appearance on "The View" when a woman knocks on his door holding two shirts. Apologetic and soft-spoken, she nevertheless has an important question for Casey: "What's my name?" When Casey draws a blank, she introduces herself as Monica, a wardrobe assistant for CSC. She claims that Casey has hurt the feelings of Maureen, the wardrobe supervisor, then adds to Casey's confusion by asking him to identify the color of a necktie (he calls it "grey," she corrects him with "gun metal") and what shirt to wear with it.

When Casey confesses ignorance, she elaborates her point. Casey isn't expected to know the finer points of neckties, color matching, patterns, etc., but when he appeared on "The View," he missed a chance to pass the praise for his wardrobe on to Maureen, who truly deserved it. Even a small mention, says Monica, would have meant a great deal to her. From this new perspective, Casey is rightly ashamed.

In the conference room, Natalie, Jeremy, Kim and Elliott discuss possible "Plays of the Year." Kim likes the U.S. Women's Ice Hockey Team, who won gold in 1998, but Jeremy dismisses them. Kim retaliates by shooting down Jeremy's suggestions as well.

Isaac watches Roland Shepard's press conference in his office. Dan enters, and Isaac informs him that six of Shepard's teammates have also stepped down from the team, endangering their scholarships. Dan has completed Luther's piece on Southern culture, but presses Isaac to do his own commentary. Isaac refuses, citing his fear that the network brass have been looking for a reason to fire him. When he was younger, Isaac says, he fought management all the time, but now he enjoys his stability. Dan tries to reassure him that if Luther were to fire him, most of the Sports Night staff would walk out right behind him. He again urges Isaac to get Luther, as a wealthy alumnus, to put pressure on the school's chancellor.

In the control room, Dana gets suggestions from Dave, Chris and Will for "Plays of the Year," but hates them all. Isaac enters and asks Dana to remove Dan's piece so he can give his own editorial. Dana has already anticipated this, possibly because Dan told her to. Casey introduces "Isaac Jaffe, managing editor of Sports Night" to the TV audience. Isaac's editorial praises the bravery of Shepard and his six teammates. He declares that the South has much to be proud of, but the Confederate flag is a desecration of that culture. It would be unforgivable, he claims, to ask Americans to walk beneath it. He then asks Luther, an alumnus "of wisdom and vision, strength and compassion," to use his influence to remove the flag and save these students.

When the cameras stop rolling, the entire studio applauds. In the control room, Luther has already called from his office, and Isaac goes to his office to take the call. When the show returns from commercial, Dan and Casey have set aside time to personally thank the crew members who work on the show. Casey gives the wardrobe department first billing, but they mention the cameramen, gaffers, PAs, makeup, hair and promise to thank many more in the days leading up to Christmas. As the episode ends, the camera pulls back to reveal the dozens of crew members who keep the show running.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Isaac reluctantly picks a fight with Luther Sachs when he challenges him to exert pressure on the chancellor of Luther's alma mater.

Characters

• Casey is reminded of the many other crew members that make Sports Night run smoothly.

Referbacks

• Isaac's reminder to Dan that he did not want to be the "champion of all things black" refers to 1x02, where Dan failed to gain any sympathy for his fight with network brass by comparing himself to Rosa Parks.
• Dan first mentioned how boring he finds professional soccer in 1x03, although this episode is the first time he mentions it on the air.

Trivia

The Show

• The Sports Night logo at the end of this episode has a red-and-white Christmas cap perched on top. The episode originally aired on 15 December 1998.
• The View is a real daytime talk show which airs on ABC, the same network which aired "Sports Night."
• Janel Moloney, who guest stars here, would later become a regular cast member on Aaron Sorkin's next project: The West Wing.

Behind the Scenes

• At the opening of the episode, Dan refers to "Jerome," a camera operator. This is a shout-out to Steadicam operator Jerome Fauci, who helped the episode directors plan the elaborate Steadicam shots frequently used on "Sports Night." According to this interview, Fauci actually was the camera operator for this scene, and was concentrating so intently on his work he didn't notice the actors repeating his name over and over again!
• Except for Monica, all of the crew members whom Dan and Casey thank at the end of the show are real members of the Sports Night crew. Dan and Casey mention some names without referring to their jobs:
  • Keri McIntyre is the 1st assistant director, Nicole Burke & Shawn Hanley are 2nd assistant directors
  • Jode Mann is the property master, assisted by John Frantz
  • Jeff Wheat is the technical coordinator
  • Skip Cook is the key grip, Phil Heath is another grip
  • "Joan and Chris" might refer to Joan Goldberg, the segment producer and Chris Bangma, a Steadicam operator
  • Mark Johnson is the set decorator
• Casey credits Janet Ashikaga as the editor of the show, the one who "cuts the film." In so doing, he breaks the illusion of reality: while "Sports Night" the ABC comedy would need an editor, "Sports Night" the live sports-news broadcast would not!

Allusions and References

• Besides the "big names" that the staff mentions this episode (Bobby Knight, the Yankees, Michael Jordan, etc.), Kim refers to the U.S. Women's Ice Hockey team's gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics. Jeremy mentions downhill skier Hermann Maier. Dave mentions golfer Mark O'Meara, while Will prefers Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

Memorable Moments

• Dan teases Casey for appearing on "a cooking show."
• Monica's quiet, yet devastating, way of reminding Casey about the other members of the Sports Night team.
• Kim's snarky reaction to Jeremy insulting women's ice hockey.
• Dan professes his loyalty to Isaac.
• Isaac's editoral
• Sports Night's real crew members being thanked in person by the stars of the show.

Quotes

• Dana: Jeremy, tell me what's happening in Chattanooga. Tell me quickly, tell me succinctly. Bullet points. We're on the air in less than two minutes, so don't give me a valedictory address. Talk to me as if I'm a small child. Tell me what's happening in Chattanooga.
  Jeremy: I don't know what's happening in Chattanooga.
  Dana: (pause) Okay. Tell me a little more than that.
• Dan: (on-air) We'll bring you the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and because we've got soccer highlights, the sheer pointlessness of a zero-zero tie.
• Isaac: (re: the story in Tennessee) We don't know anything?
  Dana: We don't know much.
  Isaac: But, fundamentally, we're still a news-gathering organization, right?
  Dana: Sure.
  Isaac: Then what's the problem?
  Dana: We're not very good.
  Isaac: (muttering) That's what I thought.
• [Casey is being interviewed on "The View."]
  Joy Behar: Before we went to commercial, you were saying that you and Dan write together.
  Casey: Yes.
  Star Jones: How does that work?
  Casey: Well, I take the nouns and verbs, Danny handles the adjectives and prepositions, and anything with an umlaut, we toss a coin.
• Dana: By the way, in the memos that are circulating, we're spelling Chattanooga about 14 different ways, now what do we know?
  Jeremy: Two Os, three As.
  Dana: That's it?
  Jeremy: No, there are other letters too.
• Isaac: Danny, I need to talk to you.
  Dan: Good, 'cause I need to talk to you too. Who should go first?
  Isaac: Since I don't really care what you have to say, I think it should be me.
• [Luther Sachs wants the show to do a piece on the Confederate flag.]
  Isaac: There are days, Danny, when I'm just too tired to fight that man.
  Dan: Well you gotta let us know when it's one of those days and we'll fight him for you.
  Isaac: You gotta stop thinking of me as the champion of all things black.
• Casey: I'm sorry, I'm not very good at remembering names.
  Monica: Who was the number two man on the Boston Red Sox staff in 1977?
  Casey: (pause) It was Ferguson Jenkins.
• [Monica scolds Casey for not crediting CSC's wardrobe supervisor on "The View."]
  Monica: You're not expected to know what shirt goes with what suit or how a color in a necktie can pick up your eyes. You're not expected to know what's going to clash with what Dan's wearing or what pattern's gonna bleed when Dave changes the lighting. Mr. McCall, you get so much attention and so much praise for what you actually do, and all of it's deserved. When you go on a talk-show and get complimented on something you didn't, how hard would it be to say "That's not me. That's a woman named Maureen who's been working for us since the first day. It's Maureen who dresses me every night, and without Maureen, I wouldn't know gun metal from a hole in the ground." (pause) Do you have an idea what that would've meant to her? Do you have any idea how many times she would've played that tape for her husband and her kids?
• [Debating the "Play of the Year"]
  Kim: Women's ice-hockey.
  Jeremy: You're kidding.
  Kim: The U.S. women's team won the first Olympic Gold Medal in ice hockey and there were over 4000 fans in the arena to see 'em do it.
  Jeremy: They beat a team of Slovakian cocktail waitresses and there were over 4000 people at my cousin Jacob's bar-mitzvah.
• Isaac: (on-air) This afternoon, an extraordinary young man named Roland Shepard made what had to have been an excrutiating decision. He said he wasn't playing football under a Confederate flag. Six of his teammates then chose not to let Shepard stand alone. And I choose to join them at this moment. In the history of the South, there's much to celebrate. And that flag is a desecration of all of it. It's a banner of hatred and separatism. It's a banner of ignorance and violence and a war that pitted brother against brother, and to ask young black men and women, young Jewish men and women, Asians, Native Americans, to ask Americans to walk beneath its shadow is a humiliation of irreducible proportions. And we all know it.
• Isaac: (on-air) God go with you, Roland Shepard and you six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee. God's not done with any of you yet.
• Dan: You know I could kiss you on the mouth right now, right?
  Isaac: (laughing) Then stay over there.
  Dan: I could get very physical with you right now.
  Isaac: Danny...
  Dan: I'm having some very kooky thoughts here.
• Dan: (on-air, re: the show PAs) We've got some people who don't get paid much, but that's okay, 'cause the hours are terrible.