An exhaustive playwright-turned-screenwriter who lived in both figurative and literal darkness, Aaron Sorkin created some of the most intelligent, optimistic and entertaining television in recent memory. Through highfalutin verbal flourishes and brilliant, idealistic characters who seem to only fail from undying loyalty, Sorkin presented a fictional world that seemed at odds with his own harsh and cynical reality. But his unflinching onscreen idealism was made honest by the sheer density and scope of his writing, particularly on “The West Wing” (NBC, 1999-2006), Sorkin’s oft-awarded and