I’m a TV junkie and proud of it!

Okay, no surprise that.

This week marks the start of the 2007-2008 television season. Well, a handful of shows premiered last week, but the majority of shows kick into gear this week…and I’m excited. I love this time of year, reading up on all the upcoming shows to decide which ones I want to try watching, and anticipating the return of all my favorites.

Tonight marks the return of two of my favorite shows. Heroes and How I Met Your Mother. HIMYM is, hands-down, the funniest show on television. I watch a couple other comedies, but this one makes me laugh more than any other show. I do my best to get everyone I know hooked on it too. Last time Lisa came over I played her about half of the first season on DVD. And she loved it. So, see, it’s a good show. Try it out! A couple episodes from last season remained on my TiVo for months for re-watching pleasure. “Robin Sparkles/Slap Bet” and “Showdown”. All I have to do is mention the name Robin Sparkles and my husband starts laughing. We watched it so much this summer my seven year old, hubby and I can all sing the lyrics to “Let’s Go to the Mall…Today”.  You really have to watch it to understand, but suffice it to say that episode is probably the hardest I’ve laughed at television…ever. I’ve been waiting more than four months for a new episode, and will be glued to my TV tonight watching it, and laughing. That’s a guarantee.

I love paranormal shows, and generally give every one a try. Heroes was my favorite new show of last season. I love the mythology, the characters and the story. I love how Heroes isn’t just a TV show–it’s interactive. I really feel like Tim Kring, the creator of Heroes, is taking television to a new level, and I applaud his ideas and dedication to making Heroes a unique and original experience.

The new show premiering tonight I’m most excited about is Chuck. I rented a copy of the premiere episode from Blockbuster (included on the same DVD were the premiere episodes to Journeyman, which I’ll talk about next, and Life, which I’ll talk about on Wednesday.) The first episode of Chuck is awesome. The tagline of the show says it all: Computer geek by day. Government operative by night. I love stories that feature underdogs, and Chuck is that. Chuck is a member of the Nerd Herd (think Best Buy’s Geek Squad). He’s awkward around women, he’s got a supremely nerdy best friend, and his favorite past time is playing computer games–so much so his fingers are often in bandages. His whole life changes when his former college roommate sends him an encoded email transmission that downloads government secrets into his brain. The first episode has all the things that draw me in to a show. Fast, witty dialogue, fun characters, a great premise, action, adventure and lots of humor. Adam Baldwin, a favorite actor of mine–oh Firefly, how I miss you–brings his trademark over-the-top alpha obnoxiousness coupled with snide humor that I adore. Chuck is my top pick for brand-new shows premiering tonight.

As for Journeyman, I had high hopes for the show, based on the little I knew about it. I love time travel stories and thought the premise could be interesting. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it past the first fifteen minutes of the show. I need to be grabbed in the first few minutes–give me the hook, show me interesting characters I want to care about, make me laugh with fun dialogue, give me a reason to stay tuned in…this show had none of that going for it. The opening was bland, the characters unappealing, the dialogue trite and lacking any originality. My husband and I stared blankly at the TV for ten minutes, waiting for something to happen–and when the man first traveled through time, I couldn’t care less. It makes me sad when a show with a great premise doesn’t work for me…and maybe it’ll get better. But for now, I’m not sold on it and won’t be tuning in tonight. I’ll wait for the reviews of the next few episodes and maybe…maybe I’ll give it a second chance.

So now that you know what I’m dying to watch, what is everyone else looking forward to watching tonight?

This was the first time I have ever worked more than a day or two in a row on any show. While I was glad for the work, it did get monotonous. I’ve never been good at working in the same place for too long. I prefer to change it up a bit.

San Pedro is quite a drive from my place–about an hour without traffic–so getting there for a 6:15AM call time can be painful. I have to get up between 3:30 and 4. Not impossible, just not my favorite thing to do. But I headed to the set for a car call in my ‘06 Mustang GT convertible and was glad to see a few familiar faces I’d worked with on other shows. That’s always nice. I knew I’d be in good company.

For the first two days, I got stuck in holding longer than working. During the course of the shoot, I read an entire book on Medieval siege warfare.

On that first day, I caught a glimpse of the story boards. Apparently, we were working on a big car chase scene in which two, sometimes three SUVs were chasing a hamster. But not just any hamster, this was a hamster driving a hamster ball rather than running in it…I think. I mean, the hamster I saw was holding a gearshift and didn’t appear to be running.

Okay…whatever. I’ve never worked on a CG movie before. Even when I was on Spiderman II, it wasn’t a scene with Doc Oc, so the whole CG hoops to jump through on this gig were new to me. They’d shoot the action, then this additional camera thingie and these two groups of balls made from different materials. I don’t really understand it all, but in a way, witnessing it, it all made sense at the time. All the extra stuff was to help the CG people add in the hamster later.

There was also a weird go-cart-like vehicle impersonating the hamster sometimes. That was kind of neat and weird and I didn’t really understand it, but it was there and haulin’ ass up and down the hills and sure looked nifty.

On the second day, when I was trying to find my book on my chair for lunch, I got a little wigged out because the stunt drivers had commandeered the table and my stuff was all the way out of reach. Sure, I could’ve squeezed in there, but there were about 8 Jay Williams (read Driven to Distraction) clones sitting there–the best in the business–and I was just a lowly extra and didn’t have the balls to barge in on their party. Plus, I’d've just been drooling and asking silly questions the whole time anyway. I didn’t want to wreck their lunch, so I temporarily abandoned my stuff and found a spot under a tree. I know, I know…it could’ve been an awesome adventure, but I was too afraid. The testosterone was pretty deep over there and I…I…I dunno…I was kind of intimidated!

Anyway, I got to drive a little. That was nice. I enjoy driving.

The rest of my time was spent walking up and down a pretty steep hill. Because most of the shots were for stunts, though, they went by pretty quick and I rarely walked more than 20 or 30 feet during any given take. That was nice. I’ve had a few gigs where I walk almost the full length of a city block during a take.

As far as stunts go, I missed the first big one, but heard later that it didn’t go off as initially intended. The SUV went up the ramps and overshot its target. There wasn’t massive carnage or anything and it all looked great on camera, but it just wasn’t what the script called for.

I got to see it the second time a few days later, though. The SUV went up the ramps and landed on an old RV, shattering it. WooHoo! I now had more research experience for a future Hollywood Heat series scene!

Plus, there was a pretty complicated scene where an SUV starts down a hill, passes a car that gets cut off by another SUV while the first SUV swerves to avoid another SUV while yet another skids around a corner and joins the first two in pursuit of the CG hamster. Awesome stuff! The drivers came within inches of just about every other vehicle nearby. Those guys kicked ass! That scene was one of the high points for me.

The rest of the gig was: Walk up the hill. Walk down the hill. Walk up the hill. Walk down the hill. Move car to different place on hill. Walk down the hill. Walk up the hill. Wait. Walk down the hill. Walk up the hill. Move car again. Walk again. Wait again…

Okay, so Jen had watched this episode of Boomtown when it aired in 2003 and said I wasn’t in it. While I believed her, I also recalled that there were a lot of people on the call, so maybe there was a wide shot or two and using freeze-frame, I could find myself.

Sure enough… But if you didn’t know where I was sitting, you never would’ve found me. Jen can pick me out of the deep background in a split second, but crowds are much more difficult.

When Neal McDonough stood to deliver his impromptu speech, he looked right at me a few times with those incredibly gorgeous blue eyes of his (I’m swooning just thinking about him and those eyes! {talk about romance hero inspiration!}). Little did I know, I’d see him again (Medical Investigation) even though I didn’t make it on camera. This next screen capture was from the turnaround during his speech. I don’t know why I look so sad.

And finally, the shot I’d forgotten about… This one is like the ones from Spiderman II, where if you’re not watching frame by frame, I’m completely lost. Even I was amazed to see myself.

It has been an eternity, it seems, since I’ve worked within 10 minutes of my house and twice in two days, I got lucky. Yesterday, I drove south. Today I drove north, but both times, I was there in about 10 minutes. I wish they were all this close!

Because the shoot was so close and gas prices have come down a little, I drove my Viper…just ’cause. I haven’t driven it much lately, so why not?

I parked. I got shuttled. I checked in. I went to wardrobe.

Okay, last night, I agonized over what to bring to this gig. Usually, casting directors specify “NO BRIGHT COLORS” and repeat that, like, ten times in the recorded message about what clothes we’re expected to bring. Well, this time, the message said, “We love bright colors.” And said it, like, ten times… But what went through my mind was, “They say they want bright colors, but do they really mean it? And do they know what they’re getting themselves into by asking me to bring bright stuff?”

So, I chose a pair of loudly tie-dyed teal/aqua pants, a teal tank top (’cause we’re having 100-degree weather), a loud teal floral over-shirt (just in case) and maroon Chuck Taylors (I oddly don’t have a teal pair yet for some reason). Then, I grabbed a loud pink/purple floral pantsuit from the late 60s, and another, less loud outfit in shades of royal blue, tossed in a few extra, random shirts just in case and figured, well, they said bright colors, so I’m gonna give ‘em bright colors.

And sure enough, I presented myself in front of the wardrobe people and, though surprised, they said, “Ummm… Great.” So, I went on my merry, tie-dyed teal way through hair and make-up.

As I came out of hair, they were loading up us extras to go get our cars because they wanted to use them in the shoot. Okay, whatever. I’m always game for car calls. I did wish I’d known this was going to turn into a car call so I could’ve brought a different car. Oh well.

But what extra drives a Viper?

Yeah, I became a little mini-celebrity because of my car. Oh well. It’s always fun. I got the car parked and they told me to stay in it.

But I couldn’t. It was already about 90 degrees outside and my Viper heats up to inferno in nothing flat. The inside is small and black, the top is black and the engine radiates heat inside, too. I kept having to get out of the car and stand next to it. At first the PAs and such thought I was trouble, but after awhile, they realized that, no, I wasn’t trying to be difficult, I was over-heating and didn’t want to pass out!

During a short period of time when I didn’t need to actually be in my car, I was sitting nearby and doing what I always do: watching everything. I like to see what people are doing and how they’re doing it. I still find it fascinating even though I’ve seen it so many times. And, well, Jen had told me to look out for Bradley Cooper because she’s got a crush on him and he’s a hottie.

And, well, I make it a point to scope out hot men, so when I saw him, I figured I’d text-message Jen just to tell her that I was about 20 feet away from him. (Which was pretty much for the record or thereabouts for all the principle actors today.) She replied about being jealous and then a little while went by and I had to go back to my car for a little bit.

While I was at my car, I looked back down, just to see the action, etc. and I wanted to do a mental recording of what I was seeing just so I could send it to Jen… Bradley was changing his shirt as he walked closer down onto the set and…well…omg…I’m drooling now just replaying the mental video. Jen wasn’t kidding when she said he’s a hottie… I have now seen him without a shirt and wouldn’t mind seeing more…a lot more!

Anyway, I was always pretty far from the action, but essentially the scene had Sandra Bullock running alongside a van, with Thomas Hayden Church as passenger. The woman was awesome. In hundred-degree heat, she ran alongside that van for about 12 hours and never seemed grumpy about it. She rocks! I’d already thought she might be a pretty cool chick, but I hadn’t worked with her. Now, she’s just plain and simply awesome in my world. And I hope I look as good as she does when I get to be her age. She’s amazing.

As I fried in the heat, I put myself in her shoes…well go-go boots today. Yeah, she’s got guys to give her a ride, air-conditioned cars and tents and trailers, etc. But darn it all, what she did was hard work today. She had to 1) Run in those go-go boots. 2) Act. 3) Do it for 12 hours. 4) Do it in hundred-degree weather…in the sun the whole time. 5) Keep it fresh in every take.

I dunno about anybody else, but I think I would’ve had a meltdown were I in the same predicament. So, for now, Sandra Bullock is my new hero!

Eventually, I did get to drive through frame. I always enjoy driving on set, but everything kept getting confusing because sometimes they’d have us drive forward and then back up and sometimes they wanted us to do a U-turn and then get back in line the way we’d started. I preferred to back up, but more so, I preferred that they’d all had us do the same thing no matter what they chose. Oh well.

I do think I was either the only one or one of very few people in a stick-shift car. As I said earlier, if I’d've known it was going to turn into a car call, I would’ve brought a different car. I’m actually also surprised they let me use it. It didn’t really ‘go’ with the rest of the cars, but whatever.

I rarely got out of first gear, but what was most annoying is that the whole set was on a hill, so there I was, trying not to let the car roll downhill before going forward or in reverse. I enjoyed the challenge, but still wished I’d brought an automatic. The one saving grace, was air-conditioning. Even though I couldn’t let the car idle for long, while the cameras were rolling, I had the a/c on and got to cool off a little bit. I just didn’t want to overheat the car, too.

For a long, hot day, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. I mean, I’ve been on longer, hotter days and this wasn’t near so bad. I don’t want to do a lot of these, but once in awhile, I’m totally game for it. Between the male eye candy and the acquisition of a new female hero, not a bad day overall…

This was the shortest drive I’ve had in a very long time. My call time was 6:30AM and I left at 6:10. It was a little later than I’d shot for, but I knew I’d still make it in time and that was the main thing.

I parked. I got shuttled. I couldn’t find holding. I found holding. I went to wardrobe.

Okay, the last show I was on, Henry Poole Is Here, I was supposed to wear business clothes. Over the weekend, I’d forgotten to do laundry. Last night, I realized that if I didn’t do laundry, I wouldn’t have anything clean to wear for this gig, so I threw in a load.

And that was the outfit wardrobe wanted me in. I did a few mental cartwheels because the rest of my stuff really didn’t work for the look of their show.

This was the first day of filming for this pilot and I gotta say that it really didn’t feel like the first day. Everyone wasn’t perfectly in tune with each other yet, but if I hadn’t been told, I never would’ve known that this was day one. It was waaaaaay smooth.

I played a ‘public defender’ in an office setting. And for a change, I had some reasonably difficult crosses that depended heavily on timing. This wasn’t background pinball and we pretty much all had to take our own cues once we walked into the office set. I futzed with paperwork and even watered plants. The challenge was great, too, in order to be in the correct spot, doing the right cross at the right time. My performance was flawed on a few takes, but not so bad that I got yelled at for it. Personally, I think I did pretty well with what I had to work with.

And either I was really, really hungry or catering was great. I don’t feel qualified to comment because my stomach was growling, but the chicken, potatoes au gratin and steak I had were super-duper yummy. I mean, like, I wish I had the recipe for the chicken and potatoes. The steak…well…my hubby knows his way around beef and grill. It was a really great lunch…which ended my day there.

Yeah, another somewhat short day. If this pilot actually airs, I’ll likely be in it. I counter-crossed Mark-Paul Gosselaar a few times.

I’m running a couple weeks late posting about Lisa’s and my Comic Con experiences, but I hope you’ll still enjoy our wrap up of our Comic Con 2007 adventures.

Although Comic Con officially starts on Wednesday’s preview night, with the first full day of events on Thursday, neither Lisa nor I were able to attend until Friday. We decided kind of last minute on going and luckily we were still able to get a pass to attend the events. Comic Con increases in popularity every year, and if we’d waited another week to buy our tickets, we would have ended up just reading about Comic Con on the web and wishing we’d been able to go.

Since Lisa and I don’t live close to each other, we both drove separately to San Diego. Our plan was to meet up at our hotel around noonish and catch the trolley to the convention center to arrive by 1 or so, so we could catch all the afternoon’s events. But what are plans for but to be tossed out the non-moving car window? Lisa’s non-moving car window. Not because her car wasn’t working, but because the 5 freeway resembled a 100 mile long parking lot. I was lucky. I only hit traffic once on the 15 fwy the entire two plus hour drive to San Diego, and it only slowed me down for about five minutes. I got to our hotel, checked us in, called Lisa to let her know I’d arrived, then crashed on the bed and pulled out Crazy Cool by Tara Janzen (side note: a really, really good book and series by Tara Janzen. If you haven’t read it, you should.) I had no idea I’d be able to almost finish the book before Lisa arrived. By then it was around 2:30 and both Lisa and I were starving. We talked to the front desk clerk and learned about an awesome Thai restaurant right around the corner. And boy oh boy it was awesome. The best Thai food I’ve ever had. I’ll be hitting that place up again next time I get down to San Diego. Now, belly’s full of the awesomey goodness of Thai food, Lisa and I headed to the trolley station for the next stage of our adventure. It was around 4pm and we figured we’d be able to get to the convention center by 4:30, get registered and at least get to walk around the vendor’s room for a couple hours.

HA!

Friday night, San Diego’s trolley was just about as packed as the 5 freeway. Standing room only–and we’re talking standing-room, I-know-way-too-much-about-how-everyone-around-me-smells, and-it-ain’t-pretty-since-it’s-over-one-hundred-degrees-outside. Crammed in like sticky rice in a rice steamer at a sushi restaurant, Lisa and I made our journey to the convention center. We had to change trolleys twice, which was fun to try to maneuver out the door between all the bodies. It was a Twister game gone very wrong. But no one can say we’re not dedicated (although I’m not sure what we’re dedicated to–our craziness?), because several stepped-on toes and a few body gropes later, we arrived at the con. I’ve never been so happy to see people dressed in freakishly outrageous costumes in my life. Surprise, surprise, check-in was a breeze…because everyone else had arrived eons before us! With only an hour or so left of that day’s con, we flipped open the huge schedule of events to see if there was anything happening that night that we didn’t want to miss. And there it was, the bright light on the day’s events, Kevin Smith was speaking in Hall H…on the exact opposite side of the convention center from where we were currently stationed. So Lisa and I haul our tired and sweaty asses across what felt like all of San Diego, and when we get to the hall we see a line that leads out the door. Security points outside and says we can find the end of the line outside. In Tijuana. Which is pretty much where we ended up walking to. At this point, Lisa and I were giggling at ourselves and our day. It took us ten minutes to walk from the Hall to where the line ended. We figured at that point we weren’t going to get inside to see Kevin Smith, but we’d walked that far so into the line we got, because our only other choice was to walk back…so we might as well do it in line with thousands of other people. A half hour later, we were back inside and only a few feet from the entrance doors to the hall. Yes! We were going to get to see Kevin Smith…

And then security closed the doors. Lisa and I were numbers 10 and 11 in line. So close, yet so far away. As we were getting ready to pack up and go, the head of the security for that venue said that once they were done showing whatever it was Kevin Smith was showing on the big screens and the lights came back on (she didn’t actually know because Kevin Smith does whatever Kevin Smith does and no one on staff actually knew what he was there promoting), they’d be able to get us in. So we were back to waiting again. About another half hour passed, we hear cheering from inside the hall, the lights come on and we get to go inside. Yay!!!!

Come to find out, we missed the showing of the pilot for Reaper, a new CW show starting in the fall. But we got to listen to Kevin Smith for over an hour, which was highly amusing. This is the second time Lisa and I have watched one of his panels at Comic Con. The man doesn’t know a dirty word or phrase he won’t spit out at least a couple dozen times during every chat. Unfortunately, the photos I took didn’t turn out. I had the zoom on too high because we were seated about a mile from him (okay, I’m slightly exaggerating…but only slightly). Kevin was hilarious and self-deprecating as always, and Lisa and I spent an hour laughing until our sides hurt. When it was over, we crawled back to the trolley, smashed ourselves into the crowd and made it back to our hotel, where we promptly fell asleep in preparation for the craziness we knew would ensue on Saturday–the busiest day at Comic Con. More to come…

I left way early. It was Friday, so I’d assumed there’d be a lot of traffic, but since my call time was 2PM, that was the sweet spot when there’s almost zero traffic from my place all the way to downtown LA. Whoops! Oh well. I drove as slow as I could and still ended up 45 minutes early. But not so early that nothing was set up when I got there. That happens sometimes. But not this time.

After finding the Little Girls’ room on the honey wagon, I settled in to the holding area, ie. catering in this case, and tried to enjoy the stinky, urine smell that seems to be everywhere in downtown LA. Thankfully, there was a nice breeze. Once me and the few other extras moved away from the brick wall on one side, the air was a little easier to breathe.

Because I don’t work too often, I don’t generally see people I know, but this time was different. A buddy of mine, Aaron, was working, so I knew I’d be talking to him the entire length of the gig. Not bad. He’s a hoot and a hottie…

I was supposed to be a ‘young professional pedestrian’. So, I was wearing some business clothes, but of course, they weren’t quite business enough. Then, it was part of the look of the scene that they wanted only dark gray suits, but all I had were beige and a dark green one that they really didn’t want to put me in, but there was nothing else on the truck that was small enough to fit me (a growing and very annoying problem because nobody makes business clothes for kids, so consequently I can’t buy new business stuff, I have to either get custom clothes or wear ones that are a few years old from thrift stores.), so I did end up in my dark green suit, but they gave me some different shoes to wear. No big deal.

As I went back to holding, that’s when I saw him…Luke Wilson. OMG, I’d never really thought he was hot before, but good golly gracious me, I’ve changed my mind about him! I didn’t freak out or anything. He was in the black SUV, ready to go to the set. And he’s hot.

I continued to holding and was asked what car I had and if the production could use it in the next scene. Sure. But they wanted me to move it from the lot I’d parked in, to the one they were going to shoot in. Not really a big deal…

Except that the half-block walk to get my car while wearing wardrobe’s shoes–no socks–had created a tiny, bleeding blister on my left heel. Oh joy. As soon as I got in my car, I put my socks and shoes back on, moved the car and then carried wardrobe’s shoes back to base camp and asked for the Medic so I could get a few band-aids. I didn’t care that I’d gotten a blister, it was more that I hadn’t worked yet and it was going to be my job to do a bunch of walking–which meant, yeah, OUUUUWWWWCH for the blister I already had plus a strong likelihood for new ones.

During the car-moving expedition, the rest of the extras were herded up and taken to the set to work. Me and the other car guy (coincidentally Aaron) were held back in case they needed us separately. So, of course, we got caught up on the last year or so since we’d seen each other. That was nice.

Then, it was time to break for lunch. Yum. I was starving for some reason, so lunch tasted that much better. For the record, ‘lunch’ just means the meal break we get in the middle of the day’s shooting. I’ve eaten ‘lunch’ at midnight before… This time, lunch was some time a little past 4.

After lunch, one of the costumers had been sitting behind Aaron and I. She leaned over and asked if we possibly had any other non-business clothes with us because the look of the scene had changed from business to downscale or at least casual. Well, I had nothing non-business, but I did have a look that was more toward casual. So, back to my car I went, changed and then headed to the wardrobe trailer to give back the shoes–Yay!–and they gave me a really cute sweater to cover my too-businessy shirt. Great.

We were all changed and then herded one building over on the sidewalk, to the set. Luke Wilson was going to be looking in the window of a pawn shop. I never did learn what he was looking at, but whatever the moment was, he was very, very, very sad. Just looking at him, I felt his pain. It was awesome.

Background pinball was the game of the evening. Start in a line at one side and wait for the PA to cue you to walk across to the other side. Get back in line and wait to be cued to go back through. Sometimes, with a partner, but I always ended up by myself. Whenever that happens, I walk through slowly once and then come back fast or vice-versa to change it up. Yeah, I’m still wearing the same clothes, but hopefully the finish product won’t look like I’m aimlessly going back and forth if both of my crosses end up in it.

Well, roundabout the third take or so, Luke walked right in my path. It was either run into him or cross between him and the camera. I had to make an executive decision. I chose to cross between him and the camera. I didn’t get yelled at for it, but we were all instructed not to do that on the next take. I don’t think I was the only one who made the same choice.

He did it again and I missed him by about a quarter inch. I really enjoyed being that close to him. Can you tell my opinion of him changed? I dunno… I’ve just got this thing for Luke Wilson now! He’s freakin’ hot now! I wanted to jump him!

Anyway, the next few takes, our paths didn’t cross quite the same so I missed that closeness. Eventually, we were told that if he comes close to us, go ahead and run into him, but keep going. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear that until it was too late. Darnit. What I wouldn’t've given to be able to run into him!!!!!

But the good news is that when this movie comes out, there’s a teeny, tiny chance one of my crosses might be in it. Or maybe an elbow or a knee or something. Anything, please. I soooo want Luke Wilson now!

They decided not to use my car after all and then decided not to use me, either, the rest of the shoot, so I was wrapped. Short day for me, but certainly a great one. The crew on this show was great, too. Especially the PA handling us extras. She told us the whole plot of the script plus the scenes we’d be shooting and where they fell into the story. And wasn’t afraid to theorize with us about how long we might be there.

I gotta say that this is one of those areas that scores major points with us extras. We like to know about the show, why we’re there, what we’re doing and approximately how long we’ll be there, even in terms of ‘you’re only here for these scenes, not these other ones’. We honestly don’t need to know, ‘you’ll get out of here around midnight.’ We understand how shooting goes. If we’re in the martini shot, then we know we’ll be on that set at least 12 hours and we’ll count through the other set-ups until that martini shot without lament.

Or at least I don’t lament. I block out about fourteen hours from call time as ‘unavailable’. If I get out early, I call myself ‘off the grid’ and either stop for a cup of tea, take the long way home, whatever I feel like doing with the extra time I unexpectedly have on my hands. It’s like a mini-vacation because I’m not expected to be anywhere. Although, half the time, I do just go straight home…

That’s what I did after this show, too. I got out around 8PM or so and just drove home. I did, however, take the 101 instead of the 5 just so I could drive through Hollywood. I hadn’t done that in awhile and it felt pretty good. I smiled all the way home.

And BTW–Luke Wilson is freakin’ hot!!!! I don’t even know what it is about him. He just shot up my hotness-meter somehow. I wasn’t expecting to come away from this shoot having an all-out thing for him, either. Strange, but nice… I love it when that happens.

I don’t remember exactly which day this one happened on and unfortunately, I’m not somewhere that I can look it up. (I love modern technology and newfound mobility because of it!) However, when I do find it, I’ll move this to that date and all will be well. Until then, assume it’s late July or early August of 2004 or was it 2005? My Hollywood career is such a blur because I only get to work a day or two on tons of shows and it gets hard to keep a good mental timeline.

Newsflash: Jen just informed me that it was the first show of their last season. Episode 130. It aired September 30th, 2005. So, this must’ve taken place around July 30, 2005.

I was a stand-in on Malcolm in the Middle. It was the first episode of their last season. What tripped me out the most about this shoot was that I was standing in for Malcolm…yeah, Frankie Muniz. I couldn’t believe it, either.

It started off rather normal. I got to the location (this was the Burning Man episode and they were shooting pretty far out of town), got my voucher and headed to the set. The crew was awesome, introducing themselves to me, helping me along. They’d been doing the show forever and were already in tune with each other. I was playing catch-up. Plus, I’d only been a stand-in a few times prior. It’s a whole lot different than being an extra.

Of course, since I was standing in for the lead, I worked between every take. They’d set up the camera and show me where my mark was, do their lighting, get it all framed up and then I’d step out. Frankie stepped in, did the scene and we were on to the next. I got pretty good at being ahead of the game, but it was far from easy. I did receive a lot of coaching from the stand-in for the father. He was very helpful…very, very helpful and I hope I get to work with him again some day. I think he’d been on Malcolm since either the beginning or darn close to it and had been standing in for years before that, too.

I was on this show for two days. Both were hot, but also fun and I learned a lot.

I got to talking to Bobby Porter, the Stunt Coordinator on the show. He gave me his card after I told him about Driven to Distraction and how we might have a few questions about how specific stunts are done and even the ingredients for a typical Safety Meeting that is done before every stunt. I learned a lot of interesting stuff from him, too.

That’s mostly what this gig was about for me: learning.

At some point toward the end of the shoot, I found myself in a conversation with one of the guys in the Art Department. I don’t recall if he was a set decorator or just one of the set-up/take-down crew. It’s been too long to remember for sure what he did on the show, but the one thing he gave me was his email address because he’d taken a few action shots of me while I was standing in.

Since I was never on camera during the episode, all I have are these photographs of my time on Malcolm in the Middle.

These next two are from the latter part of the shoot and they’re one of the things I love about Hollywood: any frame taken out of context gets kinda funny sometimes! Pardon me while I toot my own horn…

The other girl with a horn was also a regular stand-in on the show. She was really nice and also helped me along.

Okay, now for the big, crazy shot. This one’s my favorite because it really illustrates what goes on during filming. I even got to go for a ride several times on that whole contraption!

Learning, learning, and more learning! All in a two day shoot on Malcolm in the Middle!

After reading my last post about my first time at stunt driving school, it kind of reminded me about the time I was on a Strong Medicine, the TV show and then a few years later, a pilot called Crazy. I was booked as a hooker, but that was the absolute least of my worries. Y’know how sometimes, you just aren’t at your best. You wish you were, but somehow, things just aren’t turning out quite right. Well, my first stunt driving class was a lot like my gig on Strong Medicine. Check ‘em out if you have a second. I’m not sure I’m over the embarrassment yet, but I consider laughter to be the best therapy.

Still wondering what the title of this post has to do with anything? Well, read about how, for once, everything came together–because of the rain–and I finally figured out how to get out of my own way, lock it up, flip it around and slide it on in! Yes, I’m talking about my third shot at stunt driving school!!!!

I love cars. I really do. I’ve had lots of car-related experiences since my daily driver is a ‘68 Mustang fastback that I’ve had since 1993. What can I say? She’s a dude-magnet. She also has a mind of her own.

So, when Jen and I were brainstorming about characters and stories, it was natural for me to bring up the fact that our next Hollywood Heat Series book should have something to do with cars and stunts. And I offered up this one time when I was in my Mustang and there was this hot-looking guy with a ‘67-’68 TransAm broken down on Burbank Boulevard next to Woodley Park. I stopped to offer help… And now Driven to Distraction has a Chapter One inspired by what I wished would’ve happened instead of the boring reality of, “No, it’s okay. My car’s fine now, but thanks anyway.”

Plus, during my second time on Starsky & Hutch, I kept calling Jen on my cell phone and couldn’t stress enough how incredibly awesome it was that I’d gotten considered to be a precision driver for those two days. It was a life-altering event for me! She and I knew we had to put at least a little of all this in a book. (There are actually several Tales that inspired scenes, bits, etc.)

I’d always dreamt of taking a stunt driving class, but it took my wonderful husband to make that dream come true by getting me a gift certificate.

Well… Things didn’t turn out as marvelous as I’d hoped.

Click here to read the story. And let me apologize in advance for it’s sort of haphazardness. I assure you, it’ll get clearer and start to make more sense eventually.

There’s more than one installment to my past stunt driving experiences and there will certainly be plenty more posted here in the future.