Hollywood Takes on Sept. 11 Attack

By Stephen M. Silverman

Monday September 24, 2001 11:44 AM EDT

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NBC on Friday delayed next Wednesday's season premiere of its Emmy-winning 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 that studio entrances have been shut down, barricades erected and some studio tours cancelled. "The FBI provided a threat advisory to the movie studios in Los Angeles," FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura confirmed, adding, "It seems to be a credible threat." In related news, the Academy Awards will remain at its new Hollywood home, the Kodak Theater, rather than retreat back to the Shrine Auditorium, after settling security concerns raised following the terrorist attacks. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences had threatened to pull the March 24 show from the new 3,600-seat venue unless certain safety issues were resolved. Conversely, the second annual Latin Grammy Awards, which were moved from Miami to L.A. over security concerns and then canceled Sept. 11 after the terror attacks on America, will be not be rescheduled, it was announced Friday. Michael Greene, head of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, said the decision to scrap the show came after "careful consideration and days of deliberations" with producers, venue operators, security specialists and others.