Already at odds with the network over Casey's recent lack of professionalism, the team is struggling to get the go-ahead to air a human interest feature on an African runner who's about to compete in his first major race since recovering from a potentially career-ending leg injury. Natalie finds herself attracted to Jeremy, a nerdy but knowledgeable applicant for an opening on the production team
Dan is misunderstood on his opinion over marijuana and the law. When Luther Sachs reads this, he demands an on-air apology; Isaac seconds it, as does Dana. But no one will answer as to whom he should be apologizing to. Casey worries about why he is not considered ""cool"" like Dan is. Dan is stalked by one of the CSC fitness show stars.
Jeremy gets the ""call"" from Isaac and Dana, to go out on assignment for CSC's hunting show. While he wants to move up, he has a problem with hunting animals. Natalie tries to orchestrate romance between Casey and Dana, during one of Luther Sach's parties. Technical errors occur on the set.
Casey spins out of control, due to jealousy when Dana starts seriously dating Gordon. He swats flies that no one else can see, kicks fire hydrants and other odd behavior. Dana, Natalie, and Jeremy wonder where all their ""good"" ideas went and CSC has to pay royalties after Dan sings Casey ""Happy Birthday"" on the air.
Dana is excited to be getting a notorious football player, Christian Patrick on the show. The staff is not when his lawyers force them to not mention the ex-girlfriend he badly abused, Mary Pat Shelby. When Natalie goes to pre interview him, he assaults her. Dana's decision about whether to break the story is a difficult one, and it is not the same as Dan and Casey's. Also Dan wrestles with whether or not to get a goatee and Dana realizes her absence of a sense of humor.
This episodes title represents it three main themes. "The Head Coach" involves Casey's harsh treatment on a coach's bad decision. "The Dinner" is about Jeremy's major decision about where to take Natalie on their first date. And the morning mail is about the hate mail Natalie receives after the events of last week's episode.
Jeremy writes a letter to his deaf sister about his new job at Sports Night. In it he describes the last few days there, including Dan's writer's block and the beating of an 80-year-old Negro League ball player, Archibald Russell. He also talks about his love for Natalie. Isaac's mad that his daughter is dating a Republican and Casey tries to annoy Gordon, Dana's new man.
November 23rd marks the birthday of Thespis, the Greek God of Theater. A legend states that on his birthday he has been known to haunt live productions, and for the first half-hour of it, Sports Night is targeted. This date also is the anniversary of Dan and Casey's first broadcast, and Casey can't remember. Issac worries over his expecting daughter, and Dana worries about making Thanksgiving for her mother.
The team broadcasts an Everest climb, the first one since 1954. Jeremy realizes he's got something to live for, Natalie. Casey searches for food, as Dan searches for a charity to give to. Dana takes her niece to see ""The Lion King"", and discovers a love of the theater.
It's snowing in Pittsburgh so, the anchors of the 2 AM West Coast Update are stuck and the staff have to stay to do the show. Instead of going to Atlantic City, Dan and Casey and the staff have a poker tournament. Natalie is angry with Jeremy because he skipped an outing with her to go play tennis with an old girlfriend who is now an actress. Casey approves a rundown from the 2AM producer, Sally without consulting Dana, making her feel very angry and unappreciated. Isaac is shrinking.
A southern African American football player and five other students refuse to play at a Tennessee college where the Confederate flag is hung. Luther Sachs the owner of CSC and alumnus of the college sides with the college, but Isaac disagrees and says so on the show. Casey goes on "The View" and takes credit for his wardrobe, which he doesn't deserve and this leads Dan and another staffer to teach him that the show is a team.
Certain employees try to position themselves for a promotion when rumors of Isaac's leaving start to circulate.
It's Dana and Casey's night off, and neither wants to take it. They decide to double date, Dana with Gordon and Casey with Lisa a lawyer who's on a blind date. Natalie is left to produce the show for the first time, and has to handle an 11th hour trade, which in its chaos, Isaac and Jeremy question her authority. Casey's replacement is Bobbi Bernstein a psychotic woman who thinks that Dan slept with her in Spain and never called.
Rumors spread about Isaac's job status when the Wall Street Journal reports the recent trouble between Luther Sachs and Sports Night. J.J. begs Isaac to let him forward messages to Luther instead of Isaac doing it himself. This leads Isaac to realize that J.J. is the only one to gain if there is turmoil between the show and company. Maybe J.J. is starting trouble? Dana is nervous that Gordon is going to dump her because she is so preoccupied with work. Dan feels he should apologize for not calling Rebecca after he met her in the elevator. She doesn't remember him, though.
Having been rebuffed by Rebecca, Dan turns to Casey for help in dating her. Casey, still wrestling with his feelings for Dana, refuses. Next Dan turns to Jeremy in his efforts to be ""more than friends"" with Rebecca. Meanwhile, Dana agrees to go snorkeling with Gordon even though she is terrified of fish. Casey: ""Sometimes you just stand there -- hip-deep in pie."" Rebecca [to Jeremy]: ""Is everyone who works on your show deranged?""
When Casey has a one-night stand and does not tell anyone, the entire staff, led by Dan, prods him for details. After Gordon cancels a date with Dana, she questions the status and future of their relationship. Jewish Jeremy, panics when he is set to visit Natalie's parents for a Catholic holiday, he knows nothing of.
A televised tennis match heads into overtime, delaying the start of Sports Night and forcing Dana to choose between canceling a date with Gordon and handing the show over to Sally. Meanwhile, Jeremy uses the delay to write to Louise; and Dan's charms are beginning to work on Rebecca.
Hit hard by the news of his parents' impending divorce, Jeremy pushes himself to solve the mystery of a yachting disaster. This will be his first feature length story. Meanwhile, romance is in the air when Rebecca agrees to watch a baseball game with Dan.
Dan's day is not shaping up to be a good one as Bobbi Bernstein returns to the broadcast, and he discovers Rebecca's husband hasn't quite reached ""ex"" status. Meanwhile, Casey and Dana's bickering escalates until news that Isaac has suffered a stroke reaches the staff.
Isaac's in the hospital, the network brass is all over Dana, Jeremy wants to break up with Natalie, Rebecca may go back to her husband and Casey continues to see Sally -- something's bound to explode -- let's hope it's not a bomb in the building!
Jeremy can't figure out how to report a great story no-one understands. Natalie doesn't accept Jeremy's attempts to break up with her. Rebecca gives Dan her decision. Dana starts losing things and Casey doesn't want to stop the Jerry Falwell jokes.
Gordon has proposed to Dana, and Casey is seething, but tells Dan he plans to ""take the high road' and follow Napoleon's Battle Plan: Show up and see what happens next. Dan reminds Casey that Napoleon lost at Waterloo and died in exile, and announces his intention to ""step in"". So Dan tells Natalie about Gordon's fling with Sally. Natalie runs straight to Dana, who confronts Gordon who, in turn, tells Dana about Casey's fling with Sally. Then Dana confronts Sally, who reveals she has been sleeping with Casey for months. Confused? You won't be on the tonight's episode of . . . oh wait, that's another show!
Season One Finale. Gordon has an announcement for Dana. Dan helps Casey and his son Charlie with a problem. Dana has a big new camera and she's threatening to use it. Isaac's back!
Second Season Opener Isaac returns to the job, but the effects of his stroke appear to be affecting his performance. The 90-day ""cooling off period"" following Dana's canceled wedding is drawing to a close, and Dan encourages Casey to ask Dana out. Natalie and Jeremy fight over a job she's offered in Galveston, TX.
Rumors abound that a "ratings guy" is being brought in to raise the show from its third place status. To Dana's suprise, Isaac announces the rumors are true. Dana has an "epiphany" that she and Casey should date other people for six months. Dan is invited to a Hillary Clinton fundraiser, and in his efforts to impress the First Lady, confuses secular with non-secular in a conversation about schools. This causes him no end of distress, and he proceeds to obsess about it to Casey.
With Sam Donovan around stiffness ensues both on and off the set. Dana debates leaving the show, after she feels everyone is blaming her for the shows problems. Natalie tells her that if she goes she has to bring her, and Jeremy, and Dan, and Casey. The tension grows, when the network bosses demand that the staff meet with J.J. and his boys for some notes. Sam is offered Isaac's job but he turns it down, and tells them where to go, thus showing he does have feelings.
Jeremy becomes concerned when he finds out Natalie is writing to his deaf sister Louise. Dan and Casey become, very competitive about an Internet poll, over whose cooler. Casey convinces Jeremy to rig the computer to vote for him 2,000 times a minute. When Dana goes out with an old friend from high school, Cab Calloway, Casey is angry. Dana as a spur of the moment action takes off her underwear during the meal.
Jeremy tells Dana that there is no reason to hire people to prepare for the expected Y2K computer problems; he has made the computers Y2K compatible. To prove this, Jeremy, rigs the computer to say that it is December 31, 1999 and hold a Y2K test to prove that there will be no computer problems when the studio rolls into 2000. The results are total darkness. Dan picks up a therapist in a bar, who invites him out on a date... or does she really just think he needs some therapy?
Natalie obsesses over the loss of hell. In a nod to real-life racist John Rocker, Casey interviews an old friend, Shane McArnold, who heaps disdain on his new home city of New York and all its inhabitants. Casey promises to ""fix it"" out of loyalty, but Dana knows it's good television and leaves it as is. Meanwhile, Dan's therapist Abby is opening up Dan's true feelings about his family, making him more and more dysfunctional.
Dana is extremely proud when her brother gets two sacks in a football game. She becomes determined to show others how he did it. Jeremy is nervous about firing Corbin Davis, a cousin of JJ's who is screwing up simple assignments. Jeremy gives him a pep talk and Corbin tells him, that he doesn't take sides when JJ talks bad about this show. Because of a drug scandal involving football players erupts, Casey travels to Ohio to find out the names, Tina fills in. When the names are uncovered, one hits close to home for Dana... literally... her brother.
Dana gets edgy as the arrival of her brother comes close. As part of a Secret Santa, Casey searches for the perfect gift for Isaac. Natalie tells Casey that if his gift isn't cheap and located within two blocks of the building he's getting socks. When Natalie gives Dan a tape to watch of her work as an anchor, he tells her it was great, when it really was just mediocre. The crew struggles to name an athlete of the century. Dan decides to go to midnight mass, even though he's Jewish.
Dana worries when Casey goes out on a date. Jeremy's optimism about his award nomination fades.
Casey goes out with Pixley again much to Dana's dismay. Dan wants to do a story on the amazing World Series win by the Giants in 1951, and finds out that Isaac was actually at the game, although he missed the key home run. When Casey finds out Isaac never told him, but told Jeremy he questions their special bond.
While prepping to cover a major fight, Dana and Casey duke it out over their stalled fling, and Dan's dad, Jay, hits town for a tense visit. But after the match goes south, the CSC staff bands together to knock out a killer show, including an hour's worth of coverage of a fight that lasted under a minute and a correspondent who only will respond to being called "the cut man", calls Dan; Casey, and Casey; Dan. He also shows he has no idea what he is talking about, when he talks about the last winner of the Miss America pageant, Miss Rochester.
The crew is excited when they get a chance to interview Michael Jordan; that is until the strings began to be attached. First they find a paper in the press packet, that coaches Michael how to steer away from sports questions, next they are told to only talk about his new cologne, and then they get a request for total editorial control to Michael. They drop the interview when they discover that they were picked because of their ratings vulnerability. Sam returns and sets Dana into a frenzy, he later meets Sally. Casey frets over what to do in front of Charlie's class, when he is invited to show and tell.
Natalie and Jeremy fight over going to a club. Dan finagles the night off. A substitute anchor can't do his job because of his girlfriend. Dana and Sam share a moment.
Jeremy and Natalie's break-up ripples through the show after Jeremy asks for his ""stuff"" back. Casey's dilated pupils provide comic relief for Dan and the crew. Dana deals with Sam's imminent departure. A riot breaks out at Madison Square Garden and Natalie questions turning over the show's filmed coverage of the event to the police.
The staff prepares for a game of "Celebrities". Jeremy, feeling left out, goes to the bar and makes a new friend, then panics when he realizes who she is. Isaac, despite his vast knowledge of American popular theatre, cannot recall the lyrics of "How Are Things In Glocca Morra".
Dan decides to skip therapy and spends an hour in Abby's office telling her so. Jeremy e-mails the porn star he blew off, then decides to tell her in person why he's not going to see her again. Casey decides to bribe the gang with international cuisine to get them to watch a track and field event in the wee hours. Dana decides to seek shelter from a rainstorm in church.
Casey and Dana try to psyche each other out as they prepare to make their NFL draft day predictions. Dan gets glum when his golf date with PGA star David Duval is jeopardized - by his job. Jeremy tells Natalie about Jenny - except for the part about her being a porn star. Casey questions Dan's attitude and Dan questions their relationship.
As NFL draft day unfolds, relationships unravel. Jeremy anguishes over Jenny's visit to the studio, where she and Natalie discover common ground and she and Jeremy come apart. After giving him a talking-to behind closed doors, Casey is stunned when Dan humiliates him in front of millions.
The network deals a financial blow to "Sports Night" that has Isaac and Dana reeling - the show's Olympic coverage is going to be cut to the quick and Natalie's job may be cut entirely! Depressed about his disgraceful on-air behavior toward Casey, Dan decides to hold a Passover Seder, which Jeremy turns into a theatrical event that has a healing effect on everyone.
Upset when Natalie gets a job interview with Saturday Night Live, Dana encourages everyone to undermine her confidence. Dan's publicist wants him on the PR fast track - starting with an appearance in New Jersey! Casey and Jeremy roll up their sleeves and try to get to the bottom of CSC's financial woes. Isaac stresses over his stroke's effect on his grandson.
While at Anthony's trying to drown their fears about the future of "Sports Night," Dana meets a mysterious stranger who seems to know a great deal about the bidding for Continental Corp.; and Dan tries to convince Casey that a move to LA might not be a bad thing.
Bidders drop out of the auction for Continental Corp., which causes concern for the future of the "Sports Night" team. Meanwhile, Casey prepares to look for new work without Dan, who is reunited with a familiar face from his past.
All-new interviews with Josh Charles, Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause, Joshua Malina, Robert Guillaume, show creator Aaron Sorkin, Director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme and more cast and crew reveal the story of Sports Night, from inception to cancellation to legacy.
The real-life counterparts to Sports Night's fictional team tell us what the show got right. Featuring SportsCenter anchors Josh Elliot and Jay Harris, Senior Coordinating Producers Glenn Jacobs and Michael Schiffman, Associate Producer Elizabeth Sosbee and Researcher David Rose.
An intimate conversation with Aaron Sorkin and THomas Schlamme.
A behind the scenes wlook at the creeative and technical innovation of Sports Night.
The original ABC Promos.
