Just When You Thought It Couldn’t Get Any Better…IT DOES!

Today, is the halfway point in my trip that has just been incredible. Yes, I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff, but the best part is the people I’ve met! Today, the pace changes a bit and I have a little more time between events, but the intensity stays the same.

At noon, I’ll meet Rick Sheckman and some of Letterman crew at Studio 50. I couldn’t do this yesterday because it was a double tape day. You can not begin to imagine the frenetic pace behind the scenes of even one of these daily major network shows, but doing two shows in one day…now you’re talking major effort!

After that, I’ll have lunch and go back to Studio 50 for an in depth tour of one of television’s most hallowed venues with Gady Reinhold who was my guide for yesterday’s three hour tour of the CBS Broadcast Center.

At four this afternoon, I enter live television’s ground zero…NBC Studio 8H to visit with the man that has the best job in the world! John Pinto’s camera is the one on the Chapman Electra crane, and that I know of, is the only crane cam operator on the face of the planet. Around five is the dinner break and we’ll get a bite and tell stories, which I can’t wait to hear. Maybe some of the other cameramen will join us?

After that, I’m taking ‘Tonight’ cameraman Kurt Decker to dinner. I wish he could come with to dinner with John and I but Fallon is in the middle of taping then. To my surprise, both Fallon and Seth Meyers tape Fridays. Most of the shows, like Letterman, John Stewart and Colbert do two shows on Thursday for replay on Friday. Monday, I’ll be at Colbert’s studio and go to John Stewart’s show.

Tomorrow, I’m spending most of the day at The Paley Center For Media. Yesterday, Paley curator Ron Simon gave me a grand tour (pictures soon) and I can tell you that they have a very nice Ampex AVR 2 quad VTR and tons of other interesting video machines in their archive office.

Tomorrow night…well, let’s see…that would be Saturday night in New York, right? I humbled to report that I will get to experience the best of both worlds. I’m going to the dress rehearsal of ‘Saturday Night Live’, and will be able to get back to the hotel in time to see the live version at 11:30.

Dress rehearsal is a bit longer than the show because they include a few extra sketches to see how they register with the audience and the best ones get to air. The sketches that didn’t make the cut either die or get a rewrite for a chance to be seen on another episode.

On Sunday at 10, I get the full top to bottom tour of NBC. My hosts will be Dennis Degan (who came with me yesterday for the CBS tour) and Joel Spector, who started with NBC in 1965, a year before his boyhood friend and neighbor Gady Reinhold started at CBS. Gady will be joining us too.

I know you want to see pictures. I want to show them to you, but it is very difficult for me to do this on the road. I’ve taken over 400 pictures so far. I’ve tried as best I can to take notes and even bought an audio recorder to help me place things. I’ll have to wait till I get home to organize and name them.

As I have said, this is like drinking water from a firehose. I love it and am trying hard not to spill even a single drop, but there is so much to take in!

I am closing with this shot from Tuesday’s visit to ‘Tonight’. This is their great camera crew, AND the director. The tall man on the left is ‘Tonight’ director Dave Diomedi. On his left is Edward Pladdys who’s control area is under the audience seating where he controls 4 robo cameras including the two rail cameras on each side of the studio. On Diomedi’s right is Richard Carter who operates camera 5…the Merlin. My gracious host at ‘Tonight’ is Kurt Decker who is to the right of Richard and Kurt is camera 1 on the show. In red next to Kurt is Mike Cimino on camera 3, and if the name is familiar, his dad is the TD on SNL. Pat Casey is next to Mike and Pat is on camera 2. All the way on the right is camera 4 operator Bruce Dines. In just over seven weeks, these seven men have brought a very appealing and fresh new look to the way ‘Tonight’ is presented. CONGRATULATIONS on a job WELL DONE! More later! Bobby

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