Sports Night/The Apology

The Apology
Season 1, Episode 2
Airdate	September 29, 1998
Production Number	N-302
Written by	Aaron Sorkin
Directed by	Thomas Schlamme
← 1x01 Pilot	1x03 → The Hungry and the Hunted
Sports Night — Season One

The Apology is the second episode of the first season of Sports Night.

In the second episode, writer Sorkin kickstarts three of the recurring themes which will power the show: the on-again-off-again antics of Dana and Casey, the puppy love of Natalie and Jeremy, and the inner turmoil that Dan hides with immaturity. Dan gets in trouble with the network honchos for his opinions on marijuana legalization, leading to an unexpectedly candid apology. Natalie can't hide her feelings for Jeremy, and she also can't shut up about the idea of Dana and Casey getting together.

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), David Graf (Chase), Aaron Lustig (Gilbert)

Co-Starring: Ron Ostrow (Will), Jeff Mooring (Dave), Timothy Davis-Reed (Chris), Amy Powell (Kelly Kirkpatrick)

Plot Overview

Three months ago, Dan and Casey did an interview for the magazine Esquire, and it will hit the stands tomorrow morning. Natalie notes that Dan appears nervous, but he says it's because one of the CSC aerobics women is stalking him (although he's not certain of her name). In the teaser, Casey mentions a baseball pitcher working on a no-hitter, but he loses it a minute after the teaser's over.

The next day, Casey scrutinizes the article. Dan is in trouble with network brass because he gave views in favor of marijuana legalization, but Casey is more concerned with himself: the article leaves the impression that Casey is not cool, an assertion Kim, Elliott and Dana support. Natalie asks Casey to review Jeremy's first on-air segment for the show: a highlight reel from a daytime baseball game. The reason she can't do it herself, she says, is because she has feelings for Jeremy.

In conversation with Casey, Dan claims that the interviewer misunderstood him. He wants marijuana to be decriminalized, and addiction treated as a health care issue, not a criminal prosecution. Dan also confirms that Casey is not, and never has been cool. Isaac orders Dan into a meeting with an attorney for the network, where Dan proposes that as a media figure, he ought to raise the level of debate. But Luther Sachs has demanded an on-air apology, and Isaac tells Dan to do it.

Casey tells Jeremy that his highlight tape is way too long. It's because Jeremy is too sentimental about the game, preferring to show the "battle" between the pitcher and the hitters. Casey agrees to help him edit. After a slightly contentious meeting with Dave, Chris and Will, the Sports Night studio techs, Natalie advances the idea that Casey needs a woman. Specifically, Dana. Dana doesn't believe it, and she's surprised at the notion that Casey is, in Natalie's words, "reaching right out."

Casey is having a hard time convincing Jeremy to edit anything from his tape, and Dana solves the problem by telling Jeremy exactly what to keep. She also tries, somewhat awkwardly, to ask if Casey needs anything for his new apartment, but it doesn't come off very well.

When the time comes for Dan's apology, he begins very stiffly. He pauses, and it looks like he may not apologize at all. Then he begins to tell a story about his younger brother Sam, who was very intelligent and beloved by his family. Sam idolized Dan, and took up smoking pot at 14 to be more like his older brother. When Sam was 16, he died in a car accident, driving while high with his friends. Dan directs his apology to Sam alone, and the Sports Night crew is very moved.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Natalie first raises the idea of a Dana/Casey relationship.

Characters

• We get the first hints of Dan's family problems, perhaps stemming from his perceived responsibility for his brother's death.
• Natalie admits to having feelings for Jeremy.

Trivia

The Show

• This episode has the first mention of Luther Sachs, the feared (but never seen) owner of CSC.
• The song we hear before the credits begin is "Afternoon Delight" by the Starland Vocal Band.
• Casey is incorrect about the Grammys. The Starland Vocal Band won their "Best New Artist" award in 1976. They couldn't have beaten Elvis Costello for the win, as his first album wasn't released until 1977.

Allusions and References

• One of the network lawyers makes mention of American radio host Howard Stern, making fun of Dan in his daily radio show.
• Dan makes reference to Rosa Parks.

Memorable Moments

• Isaac putting Dan in his place for comparing himself to Rosa Parks.
• Dan's story about the death of his brother Sam, and the effect it has on the normally chatty Sports Night crew.

Quotes

• Dan: If I'm nervous about anything, it's that I think I have a stalker.
  Natalie: A stalker? Who?
  Dan: One of the CSC Morning Aerobics women.
  Natalie: Sandy?
  Dan: Is her name Sandy?
  Natalie: Randy!
  Dan: Mandy.
  Natalie: Mandy.
  Dan: Madeline.
  Casey: Natalie!
• (Casey is reading the article about him and Dan.)
  Casey: There is a perception in the press, never more clear then in this article, that I am not cool. Now, where do you think this perception comes from?
  Dana: I think it comes from reality.
• Casey: I am cool! I'm completely cool! Huh?
  Dana: And you dress cool.
  Casey: That's right... Wait, that was a dig, wasn't it?
• Casey: What's up with me not being cool?
  Dan: What IS up with that?
  Casey: I love music! I have a great appreciation of music.
  Dan: Dude, I've been in your car! You've got the Starland Vocal Band singing "Afternoon Delight."
  Casey: That's right!... I do not HAVE the Starland Vocal Band, it's not like I went out and bought the single, it's on my Time-Life "Sounds of the 70s."
  Dan: Well, there you have it.
  Casey: Ugh... How can I be cool again? I'm a newly divorced man, I'm young, I used to be cool, I need to be cool again. Help me... be cool again.
  Dan: (pause) Well, first I would have to disabuse you of the notion that you were ever cool before.
• Casey: Hey, Isaac?
  Isaac: Yeah?
  Casey: You think I'm cool, right?
  Isaac: Do I look like I'm in the mood to do this now?
  Casey: Not really.
  Isaac: Then let's assume I'm not.
• Chase: This is a sports network. Our sponsors expect us to project an image of good health and clean living.
  Dan: I'll think about that the next time I'm reporting on how the Miller Genuine Draft car did in the Winston Cup.
• Isaac: Danny?
  Dan: Yeah?
  Isaac: You know I love you, don't you?
  Dan: Yeah.
  Isaac: And because I love you I can say this: no rich young white guy has ever gotten anywhere with me comparing himself to Rosa Parks.
• (Jeremy has put together his first highlights reel of a baseball game.)
  Casey: Thirty to forty seconds is usually the rule of thumb.
  Jeremy: I see, and how long did mine run?
  Casey: Eight and a half minutes.
• Casey: We usually just show the pitch that puts the ball into play.
  Jeremy: But then you miss the battle!
  Casey: The battle?
  Jeremy: Yeah. He started him off with a fastball up and in, then slider away, slider away, comes back with a split-fingered change, drops the curve off the table, sets him up off-speed, then jams him high and tight. That's what got him out.
  Casey: It was a ground ball to the shortstop.
  Jeremy: The inevitable conclusion to a job well done.
• Dana: Dave, is it the monitors, or is the background on the drop starting to look beige?
  Dave: It's not beige, it's tan.
  Will: It's the gels.
  Chris: It's not the gels, it's the monitors.
  Will: It's the gels.
  Dana: Well, take a look at it, because it's starting to give me a headache.
  Chris: You want some aspirin?
  Dana: I want you to fix the monitors.
  Will: It's the gels!
• Natalie: Casey needs a woman.
  Dana: Casey needs a woman?
  Natalie: (looking at Dana) He needs a woman.
• Natalie: He needs spoons! He needs forks! He needs a woman.
  
• Natalie: He's reaching out!
  Dana: He's not reaching out!
  Natalie: He's reaching right out to you!
  Dana: He's not reaching anywhere near me!
  Natalie: You're missing the signs.
  Dana: I am not missing the signs... Wait, really?
  Natalie: Reaching right out to you!
• Dan: I have a younger brother named Sam. Sam's a genius, I mean literally. As a kid, he tested off the charts. The first computer I ever had, he built from a kit he bought with money he earned tutoring other kids in math. He's energetic and articulate, curious and funny, a great source of pride to our parents. And there's no doubt that he'd be living a great life right now, except for that he's dead. 'Cause when you're 14 years old, all you ever really wanna be when you grow up is your 16 year old brother, and in my case that meant smoking a lot of dope. The day I went off to college was the day that Sam got his driver's license, and he celebrated by taking a drive with some of his friends. Drunk, and high as a paper kite. He never saw the red light that he ran. He probably never saw the 18-wheel truck that put him into the side of a brick bank either. (long pause) That was eleven years ago tonight. And I just wanted to say, I'm sorry Sam. You deserved better in my hands... and I apologize.
• Casey: Can I just say one more thing about the Starland Vocal Band?
  Dan: Sure.
  Casey: 1978, they win the Grammy for Best New Artist. You know who they beat? Elvis Costello. Now is it your belief that Elvis Costello isn't cool?
  Dan: No, it's my belief that the Grammy voters aren't cool.
  Casey: Now they tell me.