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At The Taping of Julie Bowen's Pilot (by 'M') About a month ago I found out I'd be going to Los Angeles because a friend of mine was taping a pilot for her new show. Then after finding out that Julie Bowen's new show was also taping in the same time frame, I decided that I'd go if I had the chance. I got contacted by "C" from the SV.com board who told me that she would likely be going to the show with a couple of other site members, and invited me to meet up with them. So that's just what I did. I met "C" on the previous Saturday, then we met up on Tuesday April 20th, for the 7:30PM taping at CBS studios. It actually is an NBC show, but they use various studios that are available. Julie's taping was a pilot which means that the show has been approved only for the one episode and still has to get picked up once the episode is completed, and after editing, filming, etc. It is sent to focus groups which ultimately decide its fate. So the show still may or may not be on the fall schedule this year, but it was great getting to see the taping regardless. Julie was phenomenal as always and absolutely hilarious in the new show called "The Friendlys" . She plays a super b*tch named "Susie Friendly" and that's a nice way of describing her character. The ironic joke with the name is that "The Friendlys" are anything but friendly. But she is hilarious in the show and it's really twisted in terms of the humor, but I think it will definitely make it if they tone it down a little. It is definitely a 9-9:30PM show. The dog "Bruiser" from Legally Blonde plays Ana Gasteyer's dog in the show and he wears a different outfit in every scene. It's too funny. Dave Foley plays her brother in the show and they kind of have a competition going about the family business because he's kind of dim when it comes to running it, and even though "Susie" claims she doesn't want any part of it, she kind of takes it upon herself to save the business after their father's death. I'm not going to give away much because I want everyone to be surprised, but it definitely is a departure from Carol Vessey, is all I have to say. And she has great chemistry with Foley and Gasteyer. They were so funny to watch between takes when they were goofing off. And there are some Andy Warhol-ish childhood photos all over the set of Julie when she was a little girl. And it definitely is a real childhood photo because her mother and sister confirmed it, as they both were sitting in front of us. They were very friendly and talked to us at various times between takes, and when Julie had a free moment she'd come over to talk with them. By the way, her sister who was sitting by us is an interior designer who appears on "Clean Sweep" on TLC. We asked her questions about that show as well. It was really interesting and nice of both of them to answer our questions. At one point in the beginning, the warm up guy was talking to me and he mentioned my Ed hat. He said it was a good thing I didn't fly out there just for that because it would be stalker-ish LOL (Luckily I was in the area at the right time for my friend Caroline Rhea's taping on the previous Friday, so it all worked out).Then when Julie walked across the stage she noticed my hat and said something like "Oh the show!" and waved but she had to talk to someone. The warm up guy was having people do silly things to win prizes like a 'Susie bar' (Candy bars with Julie's character's name on them, and with her childhood picture) and scripts, etc. I wish I could have won one, but oh well. But it was funny because this cosmetic surgeon guy stood up and said "I would do anything for my wife to meet her idol Julie Bowen because she's a huge "Ed" fan and loves Carol Vessey", so this guy did some kind of kinky dance to the song "I'm Too Sexy" and Julie was cracking up watching him. Then they brought his wife down from the audience and Julie said something like "Well I have news for you. Carol Vessey is dead!!" and everyone laughed and then she looked at me because they were right where we were sitting and said "Oh and look at you in your Ed hat!" I said something like "Hey I still have the torch going" and everyone laughed. It was really funny. 'Uglyduckly' won a Susie bar because she did an impression of an aerobics instructor and a bullfrog. It was neat to see one of the bars up close. They even had nutrition labels. Those prop people are amazing. At one point in a conversation with her sister I asked her if she knew if Julie saw our Variety Magazine ad. She said she didn't know about it so I gave her the background of about how we raised money, etc. and she thought it was all so sweet and said she didn't know if Julie knew about it, but would tell her about it for sure. Then at one point in-between takes there was a pretty long break, so Julie came over to talk to her family. I was trying to focus elsewhere because I didn't want to appear as if I was eavesdropping on their conversation. Then all of a sudden Julie says to me, "Are you being nice to my family?" And everyone turned to look at me and laughed. It didn't register right away that she was talking to me. Then I said something like "Yeah I'm being nice" or something like that. Then her sister asked her right then and there if she saw our Variety ad and she said something like "Oh yes I did and we all loved it! It meant a lot to us." Then she kind of looked at me and asked me if I was from Stuckeyville.com and I said I was. She asked my screenname and when I told her she said she definitely knew who I was because she remembered me saying nice things all the time. She told me that they always read our posts about them. I told her that half the time people didn't believe that the cast members read the boards, but she said "Well, we always read it". Then she asked all of us what our screennames were and she seemed so touched that we were all there to support her and thought it was neat that we all kind of 'met' through the site message boards. I managed to tell her how much I loved how Carol had changed since the beginning of the season and she kind of put her hand on her heart and said "Thank you so much", and seemed really touched by it. Then she had to go back to filming. It was a short conversation, but we managed to talk about a lot in a short amount of time. She could tell that our group was really into the show and I think it meant a lot to her that we came to support her. I haven't heard many stories about what Julie is like when she meets fans and what-not, but the few I've heard have all been wonderful and I didn't think we'd really get to talk to her like we did, but I think that we kind of lucked out, being seated behind her family and all. They are extremely nice and fun people and it was great talking with them. You could see the closeness that Julie has with them and it was really cute watching them interact. After the filming was over, we were going to see if we could hang back and talk to Julie again, but we had to get out of there because security was ushering people out. So we basically just said goodbye to her family before we left and got out of the studio. Honestly, when I decided to go to this taping, I didn't expect to meet Julie or her family. I just wore my "Ed" hat because I thought it'd be nice if Julie knew that she had some Ed-heads in the audience to support her in her new endeavor. It was great watching her 'live' and up-close, and getting to see the comedic talent that she truly is. A lot of cool things have happened to me on this trip to LA, but meeting Julie is definitely high on the list! I really think this show has a chance to be a huge hit. It's nothing like what's on TV right now. It doesn't have to do with a 'will they or won't they' thing, or anything like that. I can picture it on the fall schedule, in my opinion. A big thank you to Julie Bowen and her wonderful family. Julie, it was great meeting you and best of luck with "The Friendlys". You are amazing and thanks so much for the time you took to talk with us! A big Thank You to "EdVessey", "Uglyduckly", and her roommate (I'm sorry I forgot your name I'm so bad!) for contacting me so we could go to the show together! It definitely was a unique experience and I'm so glad that I went ! (Webmaster's note: Thanks to 'M' for sharing her wonderful experience.) Update: Unfortunately, "The Friendlys" was not picked up for the 2004 fall season. |
