'West Wing' Takes on Sept. 11 Attack

By Stephen M. Silverman

Saturday September 22, 2001 11:51 AM EDT

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NBC on Friday delayed next Wednesday's season premiere of its Emmy-laden popular White House drama series, "The West Wing" to allow creator and producer Aaron Sorkin to develop an episode dealing with the attack on America. The special episode is scheduled to air on Oct. 3 at 9 p.m., with the season's kickoff episode now slated to air Oct. 10. The new episode, "Isaac and Ishmael," will be built around an all-night discussion about terrorism among a group of students and members of the fictional administration that is featured on the show, reports New York's Daily News. Meanwhile, back in real life, Hollywood has put itself on guard following a FBI warning about possible terrorist acts, Variety reported. As a result, studio entrances were shut down, barricades were erected and some studio tours were cancelled. "The FBI provided a threat advisory to the movie studios in Los Angeles," confirmed FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura. "The uncorroborated threat states that a film studio in California could be the target of a terrorist attack in retaliation for any possible bombing attacks by the United States in Afghanistan. It seems to be a credible threat."