Finally Getting To Be On TV

      Well, it finally happened, my episode of Justice with Judge Mablean aired yesterday. I had been waiting a while. I’m sure I must have told you, but in case not, here’s a little recap: Back in the beginning of June, I went up to LA and was cast in an episode of Justice with Judge Mablean. It was pretty fun. I had no idea who she was. While we were waiting for our turn to perform, another actor looked her up on his phone, so we were able to get a feel for what we were in for. I had tried to look her up before I left, but I was having trouble. It worked perfectly for my scene partner, and we both seemed glad to get a little research done. My scene partner had never done any acting before, not even improv. Which is basically what the whole show is about, you have to improvise, there are no “lines,” you just get a basic story line, and then use your imagination. My scene partner, not having much experience, was not getting the gist. They told us if he didn’t get on board, we’d get bumped. We got it together. While filming, I thought I messed up. The judge seemed to get mad at me, there was a lot of back and forth, which is what they told us they wanted. The judge stormed out, then came back in to yell at me some more. I thought I fucked up. My scene partner didn’t really interact that much, so I didn’t think it was his “fault.” Then our producers came out, and they were excited. They said it was one of the best scenes they ever had. They said getting her to come back out was like striking gold. They did a very good job at making us feel like we nailed it. I relaxed. As we were leaving, they gave us some paperwork, and told us that it should be airing in 6-8 weeks. Well, that was back in the beginning of June, 20 weeks ago!

     I know the process takes time, and any time I hear 6-8 weeks, I automatically assume it’ll be 8. So, I thought I’d see something close to the beginning of August. They told us not to contact them, and they gave us some websites that we could look on to find our episode. I’ve been checking 3 times a week since July! At first, like I said, I thought they were just dragging. I don’t know if the writer strike affected them. All I knew was that they weren’t putting out any new episodes. Then, around the middle of September, they put out some new episodes. And one of the episodes coming out just happened to be the case that was filmed just before mine. I was excited! I figured if an episode shot the same day as mine was airing, mine had to be soon. But I kept waiting, and kept checking the site. I started to get discouraged. I thought maybe I had screwed up. Maybe we didn’t do that good. Maybe my scene partner hadn’t interacted enough. Maybe it didn’t make sense. I don’t know, all kinds of things were running through my head. I kept checking the site, but I started to get bummed, and started to really feel like it wasn’t going to see the light of day. Then, all of a sudden, last week, I saw it! My episode was on the list! I was going to get to see it! I was finally going to be on TV! I even checked my TV guide to verify, and it was on that list too! I let my friends and family know. It came on yesterday at 6 am, 11 am, and 6 pm. I watched all of them. I wasn’t going to watch the one at 6 am, but my wife wanted to see it before work, so we got up early to watch. It’s weird seeing yourself on TV, most people are never filmed with those cameras.

     People are often surprised at how they sound when recorded: “Do I really sound like that?” I think the same kind of thing happens when your filmed for TV. You couldn’t tell I was wearing make-up, but I knew. I know I don’t look like that on the reg. It’s funny because on the day we shot, I did forget I was wearing make-up. Then, when I got home, and went into the restroom, and saw myself in the mirror, I was reminded. I did look different. But watching the show yesterday, you would not have known, and anyone who watched it would not know that I generally have a red hue. Shocker: I thought I did great! I spoke well, it seemed like I knew what I was talking about. I gave a lot of emotion. I thought it went great. Although, there are a couple of things worth mentioning: 1) I think the show itself is kind of stupid. When I did my little research, and then watching the show 3 times yesterday, it’s a dumb show. I found myself sitting there wondering who would want to watch this? Especially since it’s on a channel with all shows like that! There is enough draw for this type of entertainment that they have a whole channel!? I don’t get it. I had fun doing it, but I do not see the purpose of those types of shows. Even when I got the story synopsis, I thought the case was stupid. 2) They cut out a lot! I suppose they know their audience better than I do. We filmed straight through for 12 minutes. On the day of the shoot, they made it seem like that was amazing. In real life, on the TV, with the commercials, they probably only used 6 minutes. You couldn’t tell watching it. It seemed well done. I was just surprised at how tame they kept it. They didn’t use any of the parts that I thought made the episode special. Oh well, I’m not their audience.