Trivia for
"Sports Night" (1998) More at IMDbPro »

• Joshua Malina (Jeremy Goodwin) originally auditioned for the role of Dan Rydell
  
  
• Robert Guillaume's real-life stroke was written into the story line as a stroke suffered by his character, executive producer Isaac Jaffee.
  
  
• The character of Casey is loosely based on former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Craig Kilborn.
  
  
• During one episode, Dan shakes writer's block by reminding himself why he got into writing in the first place - to impress women. 'Josh Charles (I)', who plays Dan Rydell, was also in Dead Poets Society (1989) in which Josh Charles' character writes poetry is to woo a woman.
  
  
• Throughout episode 2-20, "Bells and a Siren", Dan jokes that his young publicist should be at home watching "Felicity" (1998). Felicity was produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Tony Krantz- the same team responsible for this show.
  
  
• Originally conceived as a movie, Aaron Sorkin was unable to devise a coherent plot. The episodic nature of television solved this.
  
  
• The show was finally canceled when Aaron Sorkin decided to concentrate on his other show, "The West Wing" (1999). Low ratings on ABC also contributed to its demise. But it did receive several attractive offers to continue on cable TV. However, all the deals included Sorkin as a writer but Sorkin declined.
  
  
• The tapes and decks used on the show are U-Matic (aka 3/4") format, which, in the late '90s, would have been quite outdated. The standard they would have likely used at the time would have been Betacam. The U-Matic equipment, which looks very much alike the Betacam equipment, would have been available far more cheaply than Betacam gear, especially for use as a prop.
  
  

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