White House Correspondents Insider

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

Mr. Goodman Comes To Washington with Amazon

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John Goodman has been a representative, an acting president and now he’s returning to Washington in his most demanding role: a rep. roommate in a group house.

Goodman is the lead in the upcoming Amazon Studios series “Alpha House,” about four Republican senators living in a rowhouse on Capitol Hill. Part of an experiment last month–which you can still see for free here–Amazon picked up “House” along with four other original series according to Deadline.

The series comes from longtime Doonesbury scribe Garry Trudeau following the daily lives of an all-too-common situation when it comes to Hill life on and off the Capitol. While there’s a Bill Murray cameo in the pilot, the inspiration came from a legit group house of rotating Democratic senators. The other selections from Amazon Studios may not be as wonky, but who knows what could happen when they have to deal with “House of Cards” season 2?

“Alpha House” will be released sometime in 2014.

Crossfire Gets Caught Back Up in New CNN

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It’s been nearly eight years since Crossfire broadcast from Washington, but that won’t stop CNN from bringing back the infamous debate show.

TVNewser floated the rumor on Friday that the once-iconic 23-year old debate show that taped at George Washington University could be returning to CNN under Jeff Zucker‘s reign. This comes after the 2005 cancelation when Jon Stewart appeared on the show, then hosted by Tucker Carlson (“on the right”), James Carville and Paul Begala (“on the left”); he then gave one of the most historic media smackdowns ever recorded, so much that the CNN executives canceled the show to lick their wounds.

Deadline confirmed today that the show will return in June. What isn’t confirmed, however, could fill that eight-year gap up to the very edge. No host, no setting and no team are confirmed for this new Crossfire. Nor do we know what Zucker is planning. But in three months there’ll be another show joining CNN’s murky programming–whether it is day or night remains to be seen.

Until then, to build anticipation, remember this delightful theme song:

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.

Ideas In Action Joins Your Sunday Wonk Fest

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Fishbowl DC brings word that Jim Glassman’s Ideas in Action will join the Sunday local viewing habits in September.

The half-hour show will “air weekly on two public television stations – Howard University Television (WHUT Channel 32) at 9:30 a.m. and Maryland Public Television (MPT) at 8:30 a.m.” The show will continue to be taped from the Newseum and on location in Dallas.

Glassman, a former host for Capital Gang Sunday and current executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, leads the discussion series that focuses on central topics such as cybersecurity or dissent on the Internet rather than rope-a-dope talking points about traffic jams in Los Angeles.

Ideas currently airs in select markets via PBS and streaming via its website. You can check for local availability here.

If you’re playing at home, that means your average Sunday can now include Ideas In Action among every other show you keep DVR’ed for Monday Morning Talking Points.

Fingers Crossed for This Week and This Fall on TV

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[picappgallerysingle id=”4987232″ align=”center”]The Beltway’s TV presence is going wider–if not global–in the coming weeks

TVNewser confirms August 1st as the start date for Christiane Amanpour’s premiere at This Week, which sadly ousts Jake Tapper from the temporary position. Meanwhile, Rick Sanchez is being bumped up to 8 pm on July 22nd until the Fall premiere of the Untitled Eliot Spitzer/Kathleen Parker Show.

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