Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip/The West Coast Delay

The West Coast Delay
Season 1, Episode 4
Airdate	October 9, 2006
Written by	Mark Goffman Aaron Sorkin
Directed by	Timothy Busfield
← 1x03 The Focus Group	1x05 → The Long Lead Story
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip — Season One

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The West Coast Delay is the fourth episode of the first season of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and the fourth episode overall. When a 90-second rant on News 60 turns out to be plagiarized, the cast and crew scramble to broadcast an apology live for the west coast feed.

Special Guest Star: Christine Lahti (Martha O'Dell)

Guest Stars: Cyia Batten (Wendy), Kelvin Yu (Kevin Yu), Michael Hyatt (), Ayda Field (Jeanie Whatley), Diana-Maria Riva (Lilly Rodriguez), Merritt Wever (Suzanne), Fred Stoller ()

Notes

Host/Musical Guest

• It is presumed that there was no host or musical guest for this episode of the show. The marquee outside of the studio is blank and the few legible cards on the line-up board do not specify who is delivering the monologue.

Line-Up

• The cards on the board schedule the show's sketches as follows (in chronological order):
  • Cong. Booster
  • Opening Montage
  • Monologue
  • Mascot Poker
  • Comm. 1
  • Head Butters
  • Enron Early Years
  • ?
  • Comm. 2
  • MTP w/ Juliette Lewis
  • Comm. 3
  • News 60
  • Comm. 4
  • UNKNOWN
  • Comm. 8
  • Mane Rain
  • Church Bingo
  • Comm. 9
  • ?
  • Comm.10
  • Good Nights

The colors seem to indicate writers for the sketches, yellow certainly being Matt. Special segments like musical performances and the news are marked in red and purple, respectively, while unmovable elements like commercials are marked in white.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Vanity Fair: Martha O'Dell, a famed reporter for Vanity Fair, has been assigned to cover the regime change within the show. She is given full access to the cast, crew and studio but will only be around the studio occasionally due to being required to file her columns in Washington, DC.

Characters

• Harriet: Harriet has been dating a major league baseball pitcher named Darren Wells since shortly after she and Matt broke up. Wells presumably plays for a California-based team like the Dodgers.

Referbacks

• 1x03 - The Focus Group: Although Jordan told Matt that she wanted the show to make fun of her arrest, Ricky and Ron are still wary to write a sketch about her problems. Ricky mentions that if someone were to write a sketch making fun of the president of the network, it wouldn't be him.

Trivia

The Show

• Darren's Number: According to the number on the baseball bat, Darren Wells' phone number is (310) 678-6500. This would place Wells in the West Los Angeles/South Bay areas of LA County. At the time that the episode was broadcast, the phone number led to an office at Enterprise Fleet Services, a rental car company.

Behind the Scenes

• Dowdy O'Dell: Martha O'Dell is an influential Washington, D.C.-based columnist who writer Matt finds attractive. In real life, writer Aaron Sorkin used to date influential Washington, D.C.-based New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.