TV Tapings

I've been to a couple tapings of TV shows this week:

Sunday, I attended "The Actor's Studio" interview of Ralph Fiennes. The whole show took about three hours to tape, a bit of an ordeal as Fiennes is not particularly extroverted (or funny). And it doesn't help that he's still somewhat young (a year younger than me!) and has frankly catapulted to fame pretty early in his career. Interesting anecdotes of the making of "Schindler's List", "Spider", "Constant Gardner", and others. He seemed nervous and uncomfortable on stage, very much still an English schoolboy with, alas, no role to play. Of course, when he does play a role (and I saw him on Broadway in Hamlet), he's great. I guess I'll have to see him in the latest Harry Potter film now.

Also, I was in the audience for a taping of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

If you've ever been to a talk-show or game-show taping, you know it is a pretty grueling affair. You are constantly being hounded to applaud, laugh, smile, applaud, whoop-it-up, etc. By the end of the hour or so, you're exhausted.

Kristen had gotten me the ticket to go attend the show. I was able to fill out the trial trivia test and .... I passed! That got me a one-on-one interview with one of the production assistants. Clearly, they're looking for some fascinating anecdotes and perky contestants. If they need someone who's out-of-work and has written a boring book, I'm in!! On the other hand, I'm sure I would choke on one of their first easy questions -- it does not look easy to sit in that chair and play the game well.

I'll let you know.

UPDATE: 'Millionaire' has declined to offer me a spot on their show. Two theories for this: first, during the personal audition, I did not come off as sufficiently "perky" nor did I have funny-ha-ha stories to tell. Or, second, they were too scared that I'd cost them $1,000,000.  Perhaps both??? Oh well.