Courting Whitford

Shoot! TV Squad reports that Bradley Whitford, the actor who turned in such brilliant performances as Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on The West Wing before moving over to Aaron Sorkin’s too-short-lived Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, was considered for the role of New York’s new assistant district attorney on NBC-TV’s Law & Order, but he won’t be taking the part after all. He would have replaced Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy, who will receive a promotion this fall, filling the office left vacant because Fred Thompson--who played D.A. Arthur Branch for the last five years--has decided to leave the series in order to make a quixotic run for the White House.

As TV Squad explains, “Whitford was seriously being considered for the new ADA role, but he came with too big of a price tag. He lives in L.A., but L&O is taped in New York, so that would be a big bill for travel for NBC. Obviously, Whitford can’t move his family to NYC because his wife, Jane Kaczmarek, is also a working actor.”

The boyish, scene-stealing, Emmy-winning Whitford might have been a valuable addition to the L&O cast. He really held The West Wing together during its final year. But the original Law & Order (unlike its two extant spinoffs) has never allowed its regular cast members much character development. Whitford would have been a breath of fresh air, for sure, but he could well have felt confined in Waterston’s old polished shoes. Perhaps it’s for the best that he isn’t taking the role, after all.