....And Boy Is She Ever Glad She Did....
My apologies for the 'cut and paste job' to anyone who follows me here who also follows me at Pro-boards. I had no desire to type this out twice.
Arrived at The Grove at approximately 7:15 and found the place more or less deserted. Spoke to some maintence people trying to get an idea of where the taping would take place and how crowded these things generally got. They were very helpful and pointed me to a general area where the taping usually occurred. Grabbed a coffee and made myself comfy. I was surprised that the place remained pretty quiet, even around 9:00 a.m. when I saw the first of the 'official' types wheeling carts with what was obviously lighting and camera gear. Got a feel for how the tiny stage was going to be oriented and plopped myself down on a low wall a little ways back but directly in front of the stage. At about 9:20, Cote arrived. My jaw hit the ground so hard, I'm certain those back East heard the thud. She was absoluely stunning in a short, royal blue
dress. Her hair was pulled all the way over to one side and was in a low pony tail. She arrived with about 3 or 4 other people and was quickly ushered into one of the nearby restaurants, probably to give her a quiet place to sit and rest before her taping. It was right about this time that my morning took a hard left and entered the realm of the surreal. I was approached by a woman holding a clipboard who introduced herself as from the show. She proceeded to ask me a few questions including whether I was a fan of Cote's. When I said yes (quite exuberantly), she then said she would see to it that I got to ask Cote a question during the taping.
Everything from that point forward is a blur. None of this played out the way I was anticipating. I expected to be a ways away from the stage and to ask a question from a mike out
in the audience. They literally shot the entire segment with Mario and Cote literally a foot in front of me. I'm equal parts jubilant and mortified as I'm fairly certain you can see me between the two of them through the entire segment. When the time came for questions, I literally stepped up on the stage and got handed the mike. I was standing less than a foot away from Cote, asking her a question,listening to her answer with my hands shaking so badly that I'm certain you will see the mike moving around all over the place. The lady who had given me this opportunity had asked me if I had a question I wanted to ask. She offered me a prepared question if I didn't have one. I ended up using my own, though it took harnessing every available non-worthless braincell I had left. Though my question was not original (what do you love most about playing Ziva David?) I prefaced it by telling her that Ziva and her portrayal of Ziva were the number one reason I watched the show. She smiled and thanked me.
So, if you want to see a grinning idiot enjoying a bad hair day on national television, check out the episode when it airs. They had told me at the taping that the episode would air that night, but I recorded it, and it wasn't the one. I'm not certain at this point when it airs. I hope to have some warning as I will definitely need a few drinks before I watch.
Arrived at The Grove at approximately 7:15 and found the place more or less deserted. Spoke to some maintence people trying to get an idea of where the taping would take place and how crowded these things generally got. They were very helpful and pointed me to a general area where the taping usually occurred. Grabbed a coffee and made myself comfy. I was surprised that the place remained pretty quiet, even around 9:00 a.m. when I saw the first of the 'official' types wheeling carts with what was obviously lighting and camera gear. Got a feel for how the tiny stage was going to be oriented and plopped myself down on a low wall a little ways back but directly in front of the stage. At about 9:20, Cote arrived. My jaw hit the ground so hard, I'm certain those back East heard the thud. She was absoluely stunning in a short, royal blue
dress. Her hair was pulled all the way over to one side and was in a low pony tail. She arrived with about 3 or 4 other people and was quickly ushered into one of the nearby restaurants, probably to give her a quiet place to sit and rest before her taping. It was right about this time that my morning took a hard left and entered the realm of the surreal. I was approached by a woman holding a clipboard who introduced herself as from the show. She proceeded to ask me a few questions including whether I was a fan of Cote's. When I said yes (quite exuberantly), she then said she would see to it that I got to ask Cote a question during the taping.
Everything from that point forward is a blur. None of this played out the way I was anticipating. I expected to be a ways away from the stage and to ask a question from a mike out
in the audience. They literally shot the entire segment with Mario and Cote literally a foot in front of me. I'm equal parts jubilant and mortified as I'm fairly certain you can see me between the two of them through the entire segment. When the time came for questions, I literally stepped up on the stage and got handed the mike. I was standing less than a foot away from Cote, asking her a question,listening to her answer with my hands shaking so badly that I'm certain you will see the mike moving around all over the place. The lady who had given me this opportunity had asked me if I had a question I wanted to ask. She offered me a prepared question if I didn't have one. I ended up using my own, though it took harnessing every available non-worthless braincell I had left. Though my question was not original (what do you love most about playing Ziva David?) I prefaced it by telling her that Ziva and her portrayal of Ziva were the number one reason I watched the show. She smiled and thanked me.
So, if you want to see a grinning idiot enjoying a bad hair day on national television, check out the episode when it airs. They had told me at the taping that the episode would air that night, but I recorded it, and it wasn't the one. I'm not certain at this point when it airs. I hope to have some warning as I will definitely need a few drinks before I watch.