Ann Arbor - and AnnArbor.com - feature in plot of TV drama 'Scandal'

Last week's episode opens with a scene in which a man kills himself on a quiet public street after mailing a large envelope. A few minutes into the show, the envelope—containing a musical score and a check—comes to one of the show's lead characters, Olivia (Kerry Washington), and it's quickly recognized as a coded message.

"The postmark on the envelope reads Ann Arbor," one character notes. Then another pulls up a news story about the suicide on a website that bears a remarkable resemblance to the one you're looking at now, acorn logo and all. (It's hard to be sure, but it looks like they trimmed the ".com" off our name in the logo.) The byline on the story is credited to "Ann Arbor News" and the writer "Caroline Miller."

The suicide victim turns out to be someone known to one of the characters, and off the plot goes from there.

I haven't watched the show myself before this; the local angles were caught by alert reader Katie Glupker.

The entire episode can be seen on ABC's website. The episode opens with the suicide scene—note that it's somewhat graphic. The Ann Arbor references come about 7 minutes in.

It's not the first time Ann Arbor has figured in network TV dramas; ABC's "Lost" had deep ties to Ann Arbor, and on "House," one episode mentioned that both House and Cuddy were University of Michigan alums.

"Scandal" airs at 10 p.m. Thursdays on ABC.