Today we got to go see a live taping
of The Martha Stewart Show! Yippee! I didn't realize that her
show was aired live. I thought that she didn't like mistakes
and so taped an hour earlier so that any mistakes could be edited
out, but that turned out not to be true and the show is live for all
those who get to see it at 10 am (Eastern Time Zone).
We rode the train up to NYC this
morning bright and early (6 a.m.) with my husband, but he had to go
on to work :( , in order to have plenty of time to find my way from
Penn Station to the Martha Stewart studio. It wasn't a long
walk but since I hadn't ever attempted NYC yet by myself I wanted to
have lots of buffer time.
I even wore some fancy-ish shoes like
they suggested. Haven't done that in years and years.
I had to bring my drivers license and
the kids' birth certificates to prove we were who we said we were
and then we all went through a metal detector and into a holding
room.
Joey then came in and told us that
Christina Hendricks from Mad Men would be the guest today. I don't
watch that show so don't know who she is. He then told us what
would be happening in each segment and what to do when he directs
the audience with signals at certain parts, like clapping and then
fade it slowly away, or make the Mmmmm sound for something yummy or
go awwww for something cute. We practiced a little and he
messed with everyone. He's really funny. Next we got
called by our ticket numbers into the studio and we were luck enough
to get to be on the front row!
People really do cook in this kitchen
the whole time the show is taping. Not sure what they are
cooking. Maybe lunch for the crew, but they stay in there and
cook. I thought it was just a prop kitchen more or less.
We really liked this guy.
All the plants are real and they have
grow lights on them the rest of the day.
the craft area
the cooking area
all the lighting
Martha's teleprompter
While getting everyone seated,
they started filming some promo shots to show what is coming up
after the commercial. This one is of the guy from Animal
Planet, Donald Schultz, holding one of the tarantulas.
They don't need sound for the promos and so could film while we
were moving around. They just asked that no one use any
flashes.
Seeing all the cameras was really
cool. They use 6 big cameras at all times and rotate
between the shot angles. Each camera has a person working
it and another person who follows to wind and unwind the
electrical cord so that they don't get all tangled during the
shots. Although, they did get tangled once and other crew
members ran to fix it during the live performance.
About 10 minutes before the show
started, Joey came back out and started doing the audience warm up.
He made jokes and passed out free stuff and then they turned on the
music really loud and everyone clapped to the beat and sang.
It was a lot of fun! Then we were told to put away our cameras
and recheck our cell phones to make sure they were off then the
count down began and the show started. It was exciting!
Martha came out and we stood up and
clapped loudly and then faded like we were instructed to do and then
she said her beginning piece. Then she introduced Christina and they
made cocktails together. Then it was time for a commercial
break. It was very, very cool to see what all happens during
commercials. All the crew runs onstage and moves furniture
around and fixes the set for the next piece but I was surprised to
see how stand off-ish Martha was during commercials. I never
saw her talk to the guest or smile to us or anything. She was
very serious. Although, maybe she needs to be to get her
thoughts straight for the next segment. Who knows? Maybe
today she just wasn't feeling her best. We'll have to go back
to see another time.
After each commercial break she was
back on her game and it was fun to watch all the director type
people writing messages to her on poster boards about what to
mention next or to move on to the next item or how hot the oven
needed to be or where to set the scarf. She had to read these
signs and keep talking without missing a beat.
During each commercial break, Joey
would come out and pep up the audience some more. The music
was blasting and he went around with a bag of goodies to give away
to a few of the audience members. Emily ended up getting an
umbrella and Ethan got a travel coffee mug. They were thrilled
to be singled out to get a gift.
Right before the last segment with
the designer of the spider web scarf, the cameras panned the
audience and we were on TV!! I wasn't aware that the camera
was looking at us but both kids knew it. I took a picture of
it on our TV when we got home and watched the whole show.
Cool!! We've been on TV now and so must be famous. :)
We had some visiting flat
travelers with us today and took them to the show. Here's
one of them. You can see the rest of them
here.
After the show, Martha did some more
promos for the next live show on Friday, the Halloween show and some
promos for some TV station in Kentucky or Tennessee, I forget which
one.
Then she left and never said a word
to us or acknowledged that we were even there. Maybe she just
views this as her job and that we are allowed to come in and watch
her do her job and that she is not a hostess for us and doesn't feel
that she needs to entertain at all or anything which would be
reasonable but I don't know. It just seemed weird. Oh,
well we're still planning on coming back another time because it was
so much fun to watch it all happening live!
