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President Bartlet and the senior staff are busy in this week's The West Wing preparing for a live event with thousands of school children nationwide via video and teleconference, to talk about a space probe that is was suppose to land on Mars and begin conducting scientific experiments. However, there are problems with the space probe, and NASA informs the President's staff that the signal has been lost. In addition, the President must deal with a fire in a Russian nuclear missile silo that Russia refuses to acknowledge, and because the President missed a scheduled meeting with the ambassador form Iceland, he is persuaded by Leo, his Chief of Staff, that it would be politically wise to attend an Icelandic symphony with the ambassador at the Kennedy Center. Two other subjects in this week's show had to do with the President's dislike of green beans and whether or not a U.S. postage stamp should carry the figure of a Puerto Rican states right advocate.

The opening scene portraying the President practicing for the video/tele event with the school children was an accurate portrayal of a Presidential activity. The real President does practice before such events. However, the part about Sam delivering a perfect, beautiful opening statement for the President off the top of his head was a little overdone. The White House speechwriters are good, but they are not perfect, as the show implies.

The most interesting aspects of this week's show, from an insider's perspective, were the scenes portraying the President's visit to the Kennedy Center to attend the symphony. Unlike the sets used for other scenes in the show, this set was completely accurate because it was the actual Kennedy Center. Everything from the President's arrival in the parking garage of the Kennedy Center to C.J.'s scene on the outdoor veranda over-looking the Potomac River, appeared have been actually filmed on location at the Kennedy Center.

In reality, the real President visits the Kennedy Center regularly. The three large halls each have a Presidential box with a small reception area, a bathroom, and very comfortable seating for the President and his or her guests. As the show portrayed, the entrances to the box seats are through doors on the second floor, with the President's seal above the door. Inside, there are small champagne bottles with the President's seal, which is a favorite keepsake for any guests to the President's box.

When the President is not using the box, the White House staff members are permitted to bid for tickets to the box, and may take guests. It is one of the best perks of working at the White House.

The only comment regarding the fire in the Russian nuclear silo is that the scene from the Situation Room, where the President was briefed, showed a very overdone set. The scene showed all kinds of electronic equipment and sophisticated devices. In real life, at least as of five years ago, the majority of electronic equipment in the Situation Room were television sets tuned into CNN.

The President's dislike of green beans is similar to President Bush's dislike of broccoli. The broccoli issue did not become a big political issue, like the green bean thing in the show. However, there was an event at the White House where an organization of broccoli producers delivered a huge truckload of the green stuff to the south lawn and presented Mrs. Bush with a beautifully ribboned bouquet of a broccoli crown. Mrs. Bush had the truckload of broccoli donated to charities in Washington.

Regarding the stamp, it is unlikely that the real West Wing staff gets heavily involved in choosing stamps and those scenes from the show where probably greatly exaggerated.

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