PaleyFest 2009
Ever since I turned off LoudTwitter, I realize my LJ has become a bit quiet and prone to sudden bursts of text in which I either question the future or fangirl. I've been meaning to update more in short, semi-regular entries so it doesn't all pile up into one Tolstoy-long post.
This won't be that time because this past week, my sister, campjinx25, Abie, and I went to a couple of PaleyFest panels at the ArcLight in Hollywood, which happens to be a hop, skip, and a jump from my internship. Pictures, video, and non-spoilery episode comments under the cut:
Thanks to traffic, we got there about 15 minutes before the panel. It made me a little panicky because it was general seating, and I thought we were going to be at the back of the theater. As it turns out, our timing ended up being quite fortuitous because not only did we get pretty decent seats, but the guys we sat next to became our new gay BFFs. While I was in the restroom, he apparently turned to my sister and asked, "Have you been to one of these before? Do you think they'll sign shit?" I believe that was the moment my sister fell in love with him.
As we waited for the panel to start, we--naturally, given the venue--talked about TV and realized we held similar opinions. One of them (we'll call him Fabulous BFF, FBFF for short) was even an Alias fan. Chances of finding one of those is few and far between. But more about him later.
This would be Joss Whedon if my hand was steadier. As it is, this is a blurry redheaded dude.
After the intro, they started Dr. Horrible, which I thought was a little silly considering that it was safe to assume that everyone there had already seen it. It was a good refresher, though, because I hadn't seen it in a while, and there's nothing like watching something you love with a room full of others who love it just as much.
The biggest surprise, though, was that when the panel was called up to the stage, I realized that all of them had been sitting in the audience the whole time. We frakkin' watched Dr. Horrible with Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion. How awesome is that?!
(left to right) Moderator Matt Roush (TV Guide), Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Zack Whedon (writer), Jed Whedon (writer/Dead Bowie), Maurissa Tancharoen (writer/Groupie #2)
Jed and Marissa said their wedding was that Saturday. Everyone together now: awww!
The Dr. Horrible panel was ultimately Felicia Day not-really-but-kinda complaining about how nobody hires her and how studios are greedy and evil. There was the obligatory "this exists because of the Writers' Strike!" conversation, but we didn't really learn anything that wasn't already discussed to death in commentaries, articles, and featurettes.
Fillion got all of two sentences in, which is a shame because the brightest spots of the panel were whenever he opened his mouth: him saying how much joy he felt that NPH couldn't make it, his plans for S2 Dr. Horrible (a pompadour and dark pants to reflect the darkness of his soul), and his appreciation of the infamous "the hammer is my penis" line ("There are few things in life you'd want to haunt you...I want it on my headstone.").
For the record, Matt Roush is a terrible moderator. The questions weren't original, and there were far too many awkward pauses. It didn't help when they turned the mic over for audience Q&A because that's never a good idea anyway. My favorite question was that chick who asked about feminism in Dr. Horrible. Everyone around us groaned and put their heads in their hands. And, okay, my real favorite question was "What would happen if Wonderflonium is bounced?" The answer: "It's too terrible to say."
All in all, it wasn't the worst panel ever, but it also wasn't the best. The Hollywood Reporter has a much more detailed account here.
The real highlight of our night was at the end when everyone bum rushed the stage for autographs. FBFF had a box of Serenity action figures and a Buffy slayer stake that he wanted Nathan and Joss to sign. At the sight of the crowd, he faltered, but my sister and I said that if he was going to Comic-Con this year, which he said he was for the first time, he had to learn the ropes of getting pictures and autographs, so we basically shoved him to the front until Fillion got to it and signed the box. My sister, a bunch of people around us, and I literally cheered when as Fillion signed it, which earned us all a funny look from Mal Reynolds himself.
We parted with FBFF then, he to venture on to get the stake signed by Joss and us to the restrooms. As we left the building, who else did we run into out front but FBFF and his partner. He seemed to sense us because he turned around, saw us, and said, "Oh, my God, I love you guys!" to which my sister and I responded with an equally enthusiastic, "Oh, my God, we love you!"
We all got to talking, and it turned out that FBFF has his own casting company that casts all of the cracky VH1 and MTV reality shows that we love to watch get made fun of on The Soup: A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila, That's Amore!, Drag Race, Tool Academy, etc. When I told him I intern at a company down th street, he essentially offered me either an internship or a job. It all went so fast, I'm still not sure what happened other than he insisted we hang out in San Diego during Comic-Con. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him the next day. This untimately led to nothing, though, because I called him, and the bastard never called me back. In any case, it was fun meeting him.
The day before, I got an e-mail from the Paley Center saying that there would be a special performance by Jim Dooley (the show's composer) and a small orchestra before the screening, so my sister, Abie, and I got there a little earlier.
We exited the parking garage only to walk into some children's event, complete with life-sized Curious George and mouse from If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. I'm not gonna lie: all those unexpected children and poor, sweltering people in costumes freaked me out a little. We made our way through to find a fair-sized line already forming, so my trooper of a sister waited outside in the sweltering heat while Abie and I went to get food.
By the time Abie and I came back, the line had grown significantly, and the sun only got brighter. A half an hour that felt like so much longer later, we were finally let in. Because we were near the front of the line, we were able to get really good seats although I still don't know why we didn't sit on the other side of the theater, where we knew the actors and such sat. But whatever. In any case, Jim Dooley and the band were already performing some jaunty little tunes.
Jim Dooley (I've been told he's the awesome guy on clarinet) and the small orchestra performing some of the PD score
At one point, Chi McBride came in, unnoticed by mostly everyone. Soon enough, though, everyone's "OMG, Emerson is here!" titterings were flowing through the theater. Ellen Greene came in a few minutes before the screening. It was just a mass of hugs and greetings among the PD people on that side of the theater. It was really sweet to see, actually.
At the beginning of every panel, they play a small clip of something semi-related to the show being celebrated that day. Dr. Horrible had some cartoon clip of Superman and the Super Friends. PD had a clip of Wonderfalls where Aaron (played by Lee Pace, of course) was talking to the therapist about his sister talking to a cow creamer. It was as appropriate of a clip as you can get to play regarding PD.
Before the episodes, Bryan Fuller said a few words--most notably that the comics are definitely a go--and brought up some of the people who were present.
Chi McBride, Ellen Greene, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Bryan Fuller
I missed the beginning of Chi McBride's speech where he says that pissed off fans could pay a little visit to ABC. There's a small tissue warning on Ellen Greene's part because she got a bit teary, which made a whole bunch of other people teary.
Two episodes were screened first (more on those later). Intermission was signaled by Bryan Fuller standing up and announcing, "Five minute bathroom break!"
Before the last episode, they awesomely raffled off a few props including the bee key from the bee episode (I'd kill for that damn key), the "MOTHER" license plate from 'The Norweigans,' a menu from The Pie Hole, a stack of Jim Dooley-signed soundtracks, and a few others from the unaired episodes. Let's not dwell on my pain of not winning anything. Moving on...
Then there was that last episode, which was amazing and painful at the same time: amazing because it's PD and amazing is implied, painful because every moment that passed meant that we were getting closer to the end.
Of course, the episode ended to a long standing ovation, followed by a bum rush to Bryan Fuller. I expected to be ushered outside by the theater staff, but that surprisingly didn't really happen. Bryan Fuller took the time to both cheerily greet and hug people he knew and talk to fans. It was surprising how gracious he was with everyone.
The small herd of fans gathered in the section of the theater with all of the PD crew, writers, and actors, most of whom hadn't yet seen these episodes, either. Next to us was a teary Ellen Greene, who chatted with some fans and half-announced that we should all watch Heroes the next day because she was in it. Also nearby were Wilson Cruz (who was in the finale, 'Kerplunk'), Christine Adams (Simone on PD/Cathica from S1 Doctor Who/that one chick who liked that obligatory awkward guy on Lie to Me/the actress who I totally and awkwardly fangirled out in front of mostly because Bryan Fuller wasn't available for me to squee to), and Sam Pancake (the assistant in the upcoming ep 'Window Dressed To Kill'/the waiter from Kitchen Confidential).
And about those episodes: in short, they were fantastic, solid episodes that were as good, if not better, than those we've already seen and surprisingly not Ned/Chuck-centric. Instead, Olive, Emerson, and the aunts got their own turns in the spotlight. It's amazing how much character development is covered over three episodes. Essentially, all of the main characters are significantly changed by the finale. That ending was definitely a game-changer, to say the least. A much more eloquent and equally spoiler-free description of the themes developed in the episodes can be found here.
On a completely shallow note, there was this one shot in the finale with everyone walking in slow motion and Ned with sunglasses. He looked over his shoulder, still in slow motion with the sunglasses, and hot damn. I swear half the room gasped. I need a screen cap of that, like, yesterday.
As for the ending ending--and without giving anything away--I, for one, loved it. Was it manufactured in post-production? Clearly. Did it tie up all loose ends? Of course not. It did, however, offer as much closure as one could possibly hope. Knowing the circumstances surrounding it, it was actually pretty perfect. And this is coming from someone who hates open-ended finales. This won't mean anything until you've seen the finale, but never underestimate the power of a good narration, kids.
But back to our narration: eventually, the staff herded us to the lobby for autographs. We were seriously like a flock of sheep following Bryan Fuller as he hugged pretty much everyone ever on the way out. It was actually quite amusing. When we got to the lobby, we all more or less formed a line with my sister, Abie, and I as the fifth or so group to the front.
Amazingly, Bryan Fuller took the time to have full-out conversations with each person, genuinely thanking them for coming out and answering whatever questions they had. It was an extremely sweet gesture. At one point, someone commented that it was really nice of him to take the time to talk to everyone, and he said it was the least he could do when we took the time to come out. Oh, how I adore this man.
What kind of stung, though was that pretty much everyone in front of us asked what was next for the show. Did you try this network? How about that one? Why didn't you do this? Bryan's answer: "It was such an ABC-branded show that no other network wanted it." I wanted to shush all of them who asked him those questions because 1) he's probably answered it ad nauseum for months and 2) whatever someone suggests, he's probably already thought two steps ahead and tried it out. The show is his baby. Of course he tried everything he could. I can't imagine having to keep explaining that no, there's nothing that can be done to save something you put your heart and soul into. Not to mention that this was the third frakkin' show in a row that got this same treatment from the network. Gah.
Anyway, at one point, he borrowed my Sharpie to sign someone's DVD and half-forgot he was still holding it. When he realized it, he interrupted himself mid-sentence, gave me the gay hand on the arm, and said sweetly, "Oh, this is your pen! I'm so sorry!" (I told my sister and Abie, "I got the gay hand on the arm. That's it. I'm done. Forget the picture. I could go home happy now.") The few people in front of me had crappy green Sharpies, so I said he could keep it till he got to me. Over to the side, I heard my sister hiss, "Sell [the marker] on eBay!"
As we waited, I told Abie and my sister to give me something good to say to him that wasn't fangirly or too strong (e.g. "Seriously, you saved Heroes. The rest of it sucks.") My sister's unhelpful suggestion: "I want to have your gay babies." Thus, that inappropriate seed was planted in my head but thankfully kept there.
Finally, it was our turn. I'm pretty sure I rambled something fangirly and mildly embarassing about loving PD and the ending. Alls I remember is saying, "I'm a fan of all your shows. I loved Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me." Suddenly, I felt a head on my shoulder and heard Abie add, "We all did." I'm pretty sure my sister added a cheery "Yeah," too. He looked genuinely touched and appreciative and thanked us for coming out for the event.
As he signed my DVD (he even asked if I wanted it personalized, bless his heart, but I didn't want to take up any more of his time and said it wasn't necessary), my sister added that we saw them at Comic-Con, even sat through two comic book panels to get into the PD panel. He said excitedly, "Oh, my God, wasn't Kristen Chenoweth singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' amazing? Completely worth it. And that room was so small, wasn't it?" I added lamely, "Yeah, a lot of people couldn't get in." ZOMG, we totally had a moment with Bryan Fuller.
He was signing Abie's program, so I decided to go for broke and said, "By the way, your episode of Heroes this season was the best one. The rest of them...not so much. Don't tell the other writers." He just excitedly said, "Oh, wait till you see next season!"
My sister asked if it was okay to take a picture with him. Just as cheerily as he said everything else, he said, "Of course!" and put his arms around us for a picture.
He even crouched down because he's quite tall and we're quite short.
Before we left, I said, "I can't wait to see what you do next." He responded with a cheery, "Wait till you see what's coming up. We have some exciting things coming up the pipeline." *sigh* I love him.
And then we went to see 17 Again. Fantastic cast, great acting, terrible movie. There were more plot holes than actual plot. Yet, I enjoyed it to no end. That Efron is magical.
Before I go, I'm going to blatantly pimp the last three episodes of Pushing Daisies airing for three weeks starting Saturday, May 30 at 10 PM. Watch them, learn them, love them. Then, throw various sharp objects at ABC for canceling this amazing show.
Also, CONGRATS TO campjinx25 FOR PASSING HER DRIVING TEST! Watch out, drivers. This one's kind of a loose canon on the road. Seriously. Avoid the LA area of possible. Or fly to your destination instead. Hell, even horseback riding is probably safer. Molecular transport...?
This won't be that time because this past week, my sister, campjinx25, Abie, and I went to a couple of PaleyFest panels at the ArcLight in Hollywood, which happens to be a hop, skip, and a jump from my internship. Pictures, video, and non-spoilery episode comments under the cut:
Thanks to traffic, we got there about 15 minutes before the panel. It made me a little panicky because it was general seating, and I thought we were going to be at the back of the theater. As it turns out, our timing ended up being quite fortuitous because not only did we get pretty decent seats, but the guys we sat next to became our new gay BFFs. While I was in the restroom, he apparently turned to my sister and asked, "Have you been to one of these before? Do you think they'll sign shit?" I believe that was the moment my sister fell in love with him.
As we waited for the panel to start, we--naturally, given the venue--talked about TV and realized we held similar opinions. One of them (we'll call him Fabulous BFF, FBFF for short) was even an Alias fan. Chances of finding one of those is few and far between. But more about him later.
This would be Joss Whedon if my hand was steadier. As it is, this is a blurry redheaded dude.
After the intro, they started Dr. Horrible, which I thought was a little silly considering that it was safe to assume that everyone there had already seen it. It was a good refresher, though, because I hadn't seen it in a while, and there's nothing like watching something you love with a room full of others who love it just as much.
The biggest surprise, though, was that when the panel was called up to the stage, I realized that all of them had been sitting in the audience the whole time. We frakkin' watched Dr. Horrible with Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion. How awesome is that?!
(left to right) Moderator Matt Roush (TV Guide), Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Zack Whedon (writer), Jed Whedon (writer/Dead Bowie), Maurissa Tancharoen (writer/Groupie #2)
Jed and Marissa said their wedding was that Saturday. Everyone together now: awww!
The Dr. Horrible panel was ultimately Felicia Day not-really-but-kinda complaining about how nobody hires her and how studios are greedy and evil. There was the obligatory "this exists because of the Writers' Strike!" conversation, but we didn't really learn anything that wasn't already discussed to death in commentaries, articles, and featurettes.
Fillion got all of two sentences in, which is a shame because the brightest spots of the panel were whenever he opened his mouth: him saying how much joy he felt that NPH couldn't make it, his plans for S2 Dr. Horrible (a pompadour and dark pants to reflect the darkness of his soul), and his appreciation of the infamous "the hammer is my penis" line ("There are few things in life you'd want to haunt you...I want it on my headstone.").
For the record, Matt Roush is a terrible moderator. The questions weren't original, and there were far too many awkward pauses. It didn't help when they turned the mic over for audience Q&A because that's never a good idea anyway. My favorite question was that chick who asked about feminism in Dr. Horrible. Everyone around us groaned and put their heads in their hands. And, okay, my real favorite question was "What would happen if Wonderflonium is bounced?" The answer: "It's too terrible to say."
All in all, it wasn't the worst panel ever, but it also wasn't the best. The Hollywood Reporter has a much more detailed account here.
The real highlight of our night was at the end when everyone bum rushed the stage for autographs. FBFF had a box of Serenity action figures and a Buffy slayer stake that he wanted Nathan and Joss to sign. At the sight of the crowd, he faltered, but my sister and I said that if he was going to Comic-Con this year, which he said he was for the first time, he had to learn the ropes of getting pictures and autographs, so we basically shoved him to the front until Fillion got to it and signed the box. My sister, a bunch of people around us, and I literally cheered when as Fillion signed it, which earned us all a funny look from Mal Reynolds himself.
We parted with FBFF then, he to venture on to get the stake signed by Joss and us to the restrooms. As we left the building, who else did we run into out front but FBFF and his partner. He seemed to sense us because he turned around, saw us, and said, "Oh, my God, I love you guys!" to which my sister and I responded with an equally enthusiastic, "Oh, my God, we love you!"
We all got to talking, and it turned out that FBFF has his own casting company that casts all of the cracky VH1 and MTV reality shows that we love to watch get made fun of on The Soup: A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila, That's Amore!, Drag Race, Tool Academy, etc. When I told him I intern at a company down th street, he essentially offered me either an internship or a job. It all went so fast, I'm still not sure what happened other than he insisted we hang out in San Diego during Comic-Con. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him the next day. This untimately led to nothing, though, because I called him, and the bastard never called me back. In any case, it was fun meeting him.
The day before, I got an e-mail from the Paley Center saying that there would be a special performance by Jim Dooley (the show's composer) and a small orchestra before the screening, so my sister, Abie, and I got there a little earlier.
We exited the parking garage only to walk into some children's event, complete with life-sized Curious George and mouse from If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. I'm not gonna lie: all those unexpected children and poor, sweltering people in costumes freaked me out a little. We made our way through to find a fair-sized line already forming, so my trooper of a sister waited outside in the sweltering heat while Abie and I went to get food.
By the time Abie and I came back, the line had grown significantly, and the sun only got brighter. A half an hour that felt like so much longer later, we were finally let in. Because we were near the front of the line, we were able to get really good seats although I still don't know why we didn't sit on the other side of the theater, where we knew the actors and such sat. But whatever. In any case, Jim Dooley and the band were already performing some jaunty little tunes.
Jim Dooley (I've been told he's the awesome guy on clarinet) and the small orchestra performing some of the PD score
At one point, Chi McBride came in, unnoticed by mostly everyone. Soon enough, though, everyone's "OMG, Emerson is here!" titterings were flowing through the theater. Ellen Greene came in a few minutes before the screening. It was just a mass of hugs and greetings among the PD people on that side of the theater. It was really sweet to see, actually.
At the beginning of every panel, they play a small clip of something semi-related to the show being celebrated that day. Dr. Horrible had some cartoon clip of Superman and the Super Friends. PD had a clip of Wonderfalls where Aaron (played by Lee Pace, of course) was talking to the therapist about his sister talking to a cow creamer. It was as appropriate of a clip as you can get to play regarding PD.
Before the episodes, Bryan Fuller said a few words--most notably that the comics are definitely a go--and brought up some of the people who were present.
Chi McBride, Ellen Greene, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Bryan Fuller
I missed the beginning of Chi McBride's speech where he says that pissed off fans could pay a little visit to ABC. There's a small tissue warning on Ellen Greene's part because she got a bit teary, which made a whole bunch of other people teary.
Two episodes were screened first (more on those later). Intermission was signaled by Bryan Fuller standing up and announcing, "Five minute bathroom break!"
Before the last episode, they awesomely raffled off a few props including the bee key from the bee episode (I'd kill for that damn key), the "MOTHER" license plate from 'The Norweigans,' a menu from The Pie Hole, a stack of Jim Dooley-signed soundtracks, and a few others from the unaired episodes. Let's not dwell on my pain of not winning anything. Moving on...
Then there was that last episode, which was amazing and painful at the same time: amazing because it's PD and amazing is implied, painful because every moment that passed meant that we were getting closer to the end.
Of course, the episode ended to a long standing ovation, followed by a bum rush to Bryan Fuller. I expected to be ushered outside by the theater staff, but that surprisingly didn't really happen. Bryan Fuller took the time to both cheerily greet and hug people he knew and talk to fans. It was surprising how gracious he was with everyone.
The small herd of fans gathered in the section of the theater with all of the PD crew, writers, and actors, most of whom hadn't yet seen these episodes, either. Next to us was a teary Ellen Greene, who chatted with some fans and half-announced that we should all watch Heroes the next day because she was in it. Also nearby were Wilson Cruz (who was in the finale, 'Kerplunk'), Christine Adams (Simone on PD/Cathica from S1 Doctor Who/that one chick who liked that obligatory awkward guy on Lie to Me/the actress who I totally and awkwardly fangirled out in front of mostly because Bryan Fuller wasn't available for me to squee to), and Sam Pancake (the assistant in the upcoming ep 'Window Dressed To Kill'/the waiter from Kitchen Confidential).
And about those episodes: in short, they were fantastic, solid episodes that were as good, if not better, than those we've already seen and surprisingly not Ned/Chuck-centric. Instead, Olive, Emerson, and the aunts got their own turns in the spotlight. It's amazing how much character development is covered over three episodes. Essentially, all of the main characters are significantly changed by the finale. That ending was definitely a game-changer, to say the least. A much more eloquent and equally spoiler-free description of the themes developed in the episodes can be found here.
On a completely shallow note, there was this one shot in the finale with everyone walking in slow motion and Ned with sunglasses. He looked over his shoulder, still in slow motion with the sunglasses, and hot damn. I swear half the room gasped. I need a screen cap of that, like, yesterday.
As for the ending ending--and without giving anything away--I, for one, loved it. Was it manufactured in post-production? Clearly. Did it tie up all loose ends? Of course not. It did, however, offer as much closure as one could possibly hope. Knowing the circumstances surrounding it, it was actually pretty perfect. And this is coming from someone who hates open-ended finales. This won't mean anything until you've seen the finale, but never underestimate the power of a good narration, kids.
But back to our narration: eventually, the staff herded us to the lobby for autographs. We were seriously like a flock of sheep following Bryan Fuller as he hugged pretty much everyone ever on the way out. It was actually quite amusing. When we got to the lobby, we all more or less formed a line with my sister, Abie, and I as the fifth or so group to the front.
Amazingly, Bryan Fuller took the time to have full-out conversations with each person, genuinely thanking them for coming out and answering whatever questions they had. It was an extremely sweet gesture. At one point, someone commented that it was really nice of him to take the time to talk to everyone, and he said it was the least he could do when we took the time to come out. Oh, how I adore this man.
What kind of stung, though was that pretty much everyone in front of us asked what was next for the show. Did you try this network? How about that one? Why didn't you do this? Bryan's answer: "It was such an ABC-branded show that no other network wanted it." I wanted to shush all of them who asked him those questions because 1) he's probably answered it ad nauseum for months and 2) whatever someone suggests, he's probably already thought two steps ahead and tried it out. The show is his baby. Of course he tried everything he could. I can't imagine having to keep explaining that no, there's nothing that can be done to save something you put your heart and soul into. Not to mention that this was the third frakkin' show in a row that got this same treatment from the network. Gah.
Anyway, at one point, he borrowed my Sharpie to sign someone's DVD and half-forgot he was still holding it. When he realized it, he interrupted himself mid-sentence, gave me the gay hand on the arm, and said sweetly, "Oh, this is your pen! I'm so sorry!" (I told my sister and Abie, "I got the gay hand on the arm. That's it. I'm done. Forget the picture. I could go home happy now.") The few people in front of me had crappy green Sharpies, so I said he could keep it till he got to me. Over to the side, I heard my sister hiss, "Sell [the marker] on eBay!"
As we waited, I told Abie and my sister to give me something good to say to him that wasn't fangirly or too strong (e.g. "Seriously, you saved Heroes. The rest of it sucks.") My sister's unhelpful suggestion: "I want to have your gay babies." Thus, that inappropriate seed was planted in my head but thankfully kept there.
Finally, it was our turn. I'm pretty sure I rambled something fangirly and mildly embarassing about loving PD and the ending. Alls I remember is saying, "I'm a fan of all your shows. I loved Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me." Suddenly, I felt a head on my shoulder and heard Abie add, "We all did." I'm pretty sure my sister added a cheery "Yeah," too. He looked genuinely touched and appreciative and thanked us for coming out for the event.
As he signed my DVD (he even asked if I wanted it personalized, bless his heart, but I didn't want to take up any more of his time and said it wasn't necessary), my sister added that we saw them at Comic-Con, even sat through two comic book panels to get into the PD panel. He said excitedly, "Oh, my God, wasn't Kristen Chenoweth singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' amazing? Completely worth it. And that room was so small, wasn't it?" I added lamely, "Yeah, a lot of people couldn't get in." ZOMG, we totally had a moment with Bryan Fuller.
He was signing Abie's program, so I decided to go for broke and said, "By the way, your episode of Heroes this season was the best one. The rest of them...not so much. Don't tell the other writers." He just excitedly said, "Oh, wait till you see next season!"
My sister asked if it was okay to take a picture with him. Just as cheerily as he said everything else, he said, "Of course!" and put his arms around us for a picture.
He even crouched down because he's quite tall and we're quite short.
Before we left, I said, "I can't wait to see what you do next." He responded with a cheery, "Wait till you see what's coming up. We have some exciting things coming up the pipeline." *sigh* I love him.
And then we went to see 17 Again. Fantastic cast, great acting, terrible movie. There were more plot holes than actual plot. Yet, I enjoyed it to no end. That Efron is magical.
Before I go, I'm going to blatantly pimp the last three episodes of Pushing Daisies airing for three weeks starting Saturday, May 30 at 10 PM. Watch them, learn them, love them. Then, throw various sharp objects at ABC for canceling this amazing show.
Also, CONGRATS TO campjinx25 FOR PASSING HER DRIVING TEST! Watch out, drivers. This one's kind of a loose canon on the road. Seriously. Avoid the LA area of possible. Or fly to your destination instead. Hell, even horseback riding is probably safer. Molecular transport...?