Juliet's Journal
American Idol Rewind!
March 28, 2008
March 28, 2008
Hi Blogsters!
Make sure you check out all the behind the scenes (BTS) video blogs from my recent trip to Hollywood; you’ll soon see BTS of American Idol (I’ll tell you more about that in a sec) as well as BTS of How I Met Your Mother, the hit CBS sitcom starring Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segal.
But first…
So my trip to LA was actually supposed to be: Fly out on Monday after the show, arrive in LA Monday night, shoot BTS at American Idol on Tuesday and take the red eye back to NYC just in time to arrive for Wednesday’s show.
However, we had some late-breaking developments (news that we had set access to How I Met Your Mother) so we ended up shooting that on Wednesday, and I flew back late Wednesday night/early Thursday.
Idol was simply AMAZING. You’ll see my interviews with Simon, Randy, Paula and Ryan next week on The Morning Show! Before I forget, I want to say thanks to our publicists, Jill and Jen. I knew Jill years ago when we worked together at the Billboard Music Awards. She had just started working for Fox publicity, I think. I’d run into her once or twice over the years, but it’s been a while. I was thrilled to find out we’d be working with her during our Idol shoot. First, she doesn’t look a day older than she did back in 1999. I wanted to slap her, actually. She’s like a little doll. Jen, a Syracuse grad, is also great. I kept accusing her of lying because she was the lookout for Ryan and Paula and kept saying “They’re coming…oh, wait, no they’re not”. All in good fun. She was awesome and I can’t wait to work with both of them again for the finale.
Anyway, we arrived at about 2 p.m., and immediately set up in one of the Idol rehearsal rooms — I think the room is used by some of the music folks (the keyboard kinda gave it away). Our first interview was Ryan, who came in to the room pretending to be on the cellphone with Simon. Of course I started yelling things at the phone like “Simon, WHO?” hardy har har. Ryan is truly one of the most talented people in this business, and arguably the most talented host of our generation. He’s always ‘on’, but I don’t feel like it’s an act. You have to be an energetic person to do the kinds of things, keep the kind of schedule he does.
Paula came in next… She’s so little and cute, and I don’t say that in a patronizing way. She’s really just an adorable girl, who’s clearly been through a lot. She opens up to people, and that sometimes I think comes back to haunt her. But honestly, that’s a style I’m all too familiar with, and it’s hard to change when it’s part of our character.
Paula has a bunch of Chihuahuas, and as many of you know, I have one as well, Gomez. He’s very manly, and she expressed interest in getting one of her girls and Gomey “together”, if you know what I mean, wink wink. Can you imagine? I’d be so scared Gomez would misbehave. What am I even talking about?
Randy was next – he’s exactly the way he is on-air, in person. I mean, what you see on Idol is who he is. Every other word is “dawg”, he’s always cracking out the “whaaat”’s; he’s really friendly to everyone. Actually, that’s true with all four: They always stop and acknowledge the crew and producers, the makeup and hair folks. I don’t feel they do it in a contrived way; I honestly think they’re all sincere people who’ve been in this business a long time and are past the diva routines.
Which brings me to Simon. Everything you think about him being the mean, snarly guy, throw that right out the window. He’s charming, funny, but he knows he has a role to play, and he plays it. He also is clearly not the type to sugarcoat, which I appreciate. I asked him to critique our show, though he quickly changed subjects… not sure how I feel about THAT, haha.
Tune in (here, I mean) next week for more behind the scenes dirt on what it’s like to actually be in the Idol theater during a Tuesday night show — who the roaming cameras like to hover around, what the judges really do during the commercial breaks, what celebs you DIDN’T see in the crowd, and what the performers really sound like. It’s a hell of a lot different than what it sounds like coming thru our tv’s, I’ll tell you that!
Also, keep an eye out for BTS scoop on How I Met Your Mother. What Idol is Neil Patrick Harris rooting for? What Jason Segal does in his spare time on the set… And why he thought I was married?!?!?
Have a great weekend!
