Thespis

The date is November 23, which holds special significance for a number of reasons. To begin with, the date marks the five-year anniversary of Casey (Peter Krause) and Dan's (Josh Charles) working relationship -- an event that seems to hold more importance to Dan than to Casey. When Casey fails to remember this milestone, Dan becomes passively hostile toward Casey -- which in turn angers Casey. In frustration, Casey asks the Sports Night crew why November 23 is an important date and Jeremy (Joshua Malina) announces that the date marks the anniversary of the first spoken performance by the ancient Greek actor Thespis, who is universally accepted as the first actor. Furthermore, Jeremy elaborates, Thespis is now a ghost who enjoys haunting any type of production that occurs on November 23rd, and that the crew should be prepared for a night filled with unexpected mishaps. Isaac (Robert Guillaume), in the meantime, is fretting over an argument he had with his wife just prior to her departure for California to be with their nearly full-term pregnant daughter -- only to later learn that his daughter has gone into early labor due to some unexpected and potentially serious complications. Dana (Felicity Huffman) is also worked up over her impending duties as host for her family's Thanksgiving Day festivities, since this is her first attempt at hosting and she'd rather not have to deal with what she believes her mother's reaction will be.