| Genre: | Serial drama |
| Creator: | Lawrence O'Donnell |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 10 (1 unaired) |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Network: | NBC |
Mister Sterling is an American drama television series created by Lawrence O'Donnell for NBC. The series ran from January 10 to March 14, 2003. Starring Josh Brolin as an idealistic United States Senator, the series featured Audra McDonald, William Russ, David Noroña, and James Whitmore as members of his staff. Despite mostly positive reviews, the series aired on Friday nights. It was canceled after 9 episodes aired and the show ranked 58th in the yearly ratings (9.83 million viewers, 6.7/12 rating/share)
Although it had numerous similarities to The West Wing in style and tone (especially the show's idealistic attitude towards politics) and the unnamed president in the series is stated to be a Democrat, it was not set in the same universe as O'Donnell's other political show. It is unknown if a cross-over would have ever occurred had Mister Sterling not been canceled; however Steven Culp played presidential aspirant Sen. Ron Garland on Mister Sterling and House Speaker Jeff Haffley on The West Wing, and Democrats appeared to be in the majority in the US Senate on Mr Sterling, while in The West Wing consistent Republican control of both Houses of Congress was a key plot point.
James Whitmore was nominated for a 2003 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing former Governor Bill Sterling, the senator's father.
The series was produced by Bernadette Joyce, co-producer; Garry A. Brown, co-producer; Michael Dinner, co-executive producer; Sandy Frank, co-producer; Jim Hart, co-executive producer; Jeff Melvoin, co-executive producer; Andrea Newman, producer; Lawrence O'Donnell, executive producer; Chip Vucelich, co-producer; William Bradley, consulting producer.
This is a list of candidates who are running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Bill Sterling: