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Behind the scenes of one of the most powerful clubs in America.

The Great Chelsea Mystery, or Welcome Back from Thanksgiving!

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It’s the Monday after an otherwise quiet holiday week. Your in-laws are gone, your co-workers clad in formless sweaters and jumpers to hide the turkey and then there’s the question of how to shed these newfound pounds?  Why not spend your time fretting over what Chelsea Clinton and NBC News may or may not have done over this election year?

Buzzfeed has the exclusive that NBC News put the kibosh on a planned series of ads featuring Chelsea Clinton, who is a special correspondent with the bureau,  lending her voice and possibly likeness to a marriage-equality campaign during the election. The ads, focusing on legislation in Washington state, were questionable but seemed to be online only:

Three people who saw the videos confirmed their existence to BuzzFeed. They were fully prepared, with the script approved in advance, one source said. The video wasn’t intended for TV broadcast, a second source said, suggesting they were instead to be used as web-based videos. The source added that multiple efforts had been intended beneficiaries of the former First Daughter’s support.

So what exactly did these ads seem to say that caused NBC to backtrack? Well, technically Clinton is an employee of the news division and can’t be shown endorsing any specific measure up for the election. Even if she is a “special correspondent,” she’s still under the peacock’s shadow. But does this actually matter? Not especially. It’s the news equivalent of getting a yogurt with your Peppermint Mocha as a “healthy” reward after so little has happened last week.

But give it a day or two! There’ll be more important things to discuss rather than what seems like an attempt by TheFour.com to get their name on Google Trends. Instead, The National Christmas Tree was spotted on a flatbed truck near the Capitol this morning! And as the weeks lead up to the inauguration, the comings and goings of the administration are sure to be the real news instead of a web-only video that someone in corporate deemed too risque.

When Ms. Knope Came to Washington

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For the third time in the history of the televised image, Vice President Joe Biden appeared on screen in a semi-fictional universe. While Leslie Knope may have the traditional reaction when it comes to being in the presence of VP Biden, we know it’s all in fun for the councilwoman from Pawnee, Indiana.
[Read more…]

After The Election, Biden Heads to Parks and Recreation

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Vice President Joe Biden and David Axelrod

Now that the election is over, we can get Vice President Joe Biden to where he really needs to be–meeting  Leslie Knope.

Or, to be more precise, Amy Poehler on the set of Parks and Recreation for their upcoming episode. The fifth season premiere featured Poehler (who plays the recently elected city councilwoman Knope) in D.C. with cameos from Senator John McCain, Barbara Boxer and Olympia Snowe. But for the November 15th episode, Vice President Biden shows up in the cold open according to Entertainment Weekly.

It’s no secret in the show that Knope has a crush on Biden, but it turns out the cameo was harassed by Beltway politics:

Once the producers committed to shooting an episode in D.C., the process of landing Biden was “so much less difficult than we ever possibly imagined,” says Schur, noting: “His staff really loves the show, and he apparently had watched the show with his family and his family liked it… The hardest part was keeping it secret for so long because there’s all these FEC rules and equal-time rules. We couldn’t air it before the election because it was the equivalent of a campaign contribution to advertise for one candidate.”

This is far from the first time that the vice president has appeared on TV. He’s read the Top Ten on Letterman, shown up constantly on Hardball, Meet the Press and The Daily Show. But this is the third time that he’s ever appeared on a scripted television show. The second was Robert Altman’s sequel to Tanner ’88, the Sundance Channel mini-series Tanner on Tanner. But the first? Way back in 1993, then Senator of Delaware, Biden appeared as himself on the PBS game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? to offer the host some support:

Greg: Hello?
Joe Biden: Greg, Senator Joe Biden here.
Greg: Oh, hey, Senator.
Joe: I just wanted to let you know that I proposed a Congressional resolution naming you “The Best Detective of the Year”.
Greg: Why thank you, sir.
Joe: But some people were more comfortable with “Best Detective of the Month”.
Greg: Uh-huh.
Joe: And a few preferred “Best Detective of the Work Week”. Then someone suggested “best” is an awfully strong word, so we decided to name you “The Somewhat-Notable Detective of the Next 12 Minutes”. Congratulations, Greg.
Greg: Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. Good-bye. Thank you.

We can only hope he suggested the same when the episode airs next week.

Kevin Spacey's House of Cards brings Millions to Maryland

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Sets are under construction in and around Baltimore for the filming of the Netflix drama series, “House of Cards,” which will begin rolling next month. The city, just an hour north of the Capitol, has already seen a boost in production thanks to tax incentives and new productions. Two HBO political-themed shows, “Game Change” starring Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, and Ed Harris and “VEEP” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus have just wrapped in Baltimore and ended a long drought of film and television production since “The Wire.”

The Baltimore Sun‘s David Zurawik chronicles the increase in production and jobs, along with an approximate $70 brought to the state in his piece “‘House of Cards’ brings Hollywood to Harford County.” He details the massive undertaking of shooting two seasons (26 episodes) with big names attached, including, Oscar winners and nominees Kevin Spacey, director David Fincher and executive producer and screenwriter, Beau Willimon (The Ides of March).