Tuesday, 28 August 2001 : "West Wing stuff"

• Bluemont Meets 'The West Wing': TV Show to Film Scenes in Town, Use School Band [Washington Post]
  The little western Loudoun County town of Bluemont will fill in for the New Hampshire hometown of Josiah Bartlet... Local officials stressed that the show's set is closed and that uninvited spectators will not be allowed. ..."Bluemont is so small, there's just nowhere to put spectators," Kilday said. "People can't just think one or two of them won't matter. It will matter."

• 'West Wing' Dismays the North: New Hampshirites Unhappy That Virginia Is Stand-In for Their State [Washington Post]
  It's a beautiful scene, evoking the best of rural New Hampshire's traditional connection to old-time political stumping. But this is not rural New Hampshire. It is Bluemont... [New Hampshire] is especially sensitive about impostors because New Hampshirites are almost uniformly portrayed in movies as a bunch of plaid-wearing farmers gathered around a little white church -- and filmed elsewhere.
  
  "I certainly understand where the people from New Hampshire are coming from. But I think it's logistics. New Hampshire is not close enough," said John Spencer, who plays chief of staff Leo McGarry. "I'm a northeasterner, and I do think this looks authentic."