Hi everyone,
I'm enclosing a screen shot of GMTV's page that shows their TV highlights. I'm #2! Plus I'm listed under their Today page as a top story, just under (of course!) the Queen's birthday celebration. Her Majesty is 83 today.
Also, check out this link:
http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=467
This woman, Sue Jameson, took me under her wing and was so kind and so lovely. She did a lot to assure that I was comfortable and happy. It was so good to have a friend there. We traded emails -- she'd like to know how I do. And, frankly, I'd like to know how she's doing. A very sweet lady.
So, here's how it all went down.
I went to work Monday morning and by that time had a train as I'd already spoken with the producer and had a go. Started dealing with basic work stuff, my mission was to make sure that it would be almost as if I wasn't going to be gone at all. I managed to do that, and I doubt the intern had much to do later on on Monday. I also went in and told my boss, I think she was not quite understanding what I was doing. Then I headed out at noon, only telling my colleagues I was going to NYC to visit my inlaws. Heh, well, that's not 100% true of course.
RP met me at South Station and saw me off. The train was lightly populated and I didn't have a seatmate until Stamford. It was on time, which was helpful. Got to the inlaws' at, I think, around 4, 5 PM, something like that. Quickly settled in to get the clothes and props ready and order dinner. Plus I had plenty of voice mails to answer. Once we were done eating, I asked my father in law to wake me at 10 PM. Hence I got about 3 hours of rest although most of that was not spent sleeping. Sue had suggested that, she said people who did not do that tended to really fade by 2 AM.
I had a snack and was ready to go at midnight; the car service was expected at 12:30. Well, it didn't show! After five minutes of waiting, I called Sue. She determined that the car service's computer was allegedly down and they'd lost all their reservations. Hence she came and got me in a cab, and promised to take care of the return trip while I was on. She also told me, while we were in the cab, that she was expecting some major diva editor from Marie Claire magazine. The diva had already insisted on $1,000 for her own personal makeup lady. The New York office had balked, but the London office ended up having to pony up for that. The diva and her entourage were expected at 5 AM. I told Sue, well, maybe the makeup lady is expensive because she works fast.
We got to the studio and it's located at the Thompson Reuters Building at 3 Times Square. The building where the big ball is dropped on New Year's Eve is right across the street. The place was mainly deserted, which makes sense, given the hour. We were greeted by Larry the engineer. Then the phone rang, and it was David Mason in London, wondering where we were. He had just called RP at home (woke up poor RP), asking where I was as I'd be on in 10 minutes. Eek! Sue then grabbed the phone and told David, "I'll talk to you, she's got to do makeup!" I was doing my own makeup and hair. I work a lot cheaper than the Marie Claire gal.
The room where I was filmed was tiny and mainly black. There was a director's chair on a platform and a small box in front of it to put your feet so that they wouldn't dangle. Then they got me wired up. I got an earpiece in my left ear and the microphone had to go under my dress and be clipped to the side. Sue put it under my dress (so I guess I ended up knowing her pretty well, har har) and everything got plugged in. Then they left me alone in the room and closed the door, I assume to get technical stuff done in the control room. I learned later that a part of that was putting my before picture up.
I waited and then heard a voice in my ear, "Hello, this is Robbie in London, can you hear me? Can you tell me the pronunciation of your surname?" I told him, he said I sounded fine and told me the names of the people who'd be talking to me. Then there was music and suddenly I was talking to Penny Smith and her guest. They asked me some questions and the slant was definitely about the side effects. Which is fine, I have nothing to hide. That interview is the link that Walter gave (thanks, Walter! And thanks, Izzie!). The other interviews don't seem to be up yet. After I was done, Robbie's voice was back in my ear and he said, "Are you sure you've never done this before?"
The second segment wasn't too long after the first one, less than a half hour later or so it seemed to me. That time I talked to Kate Garroway, and was able to show my old Red Sox jersey so you can see how much I've lost. I think talking to her was a little more difficult than it was to talk to Penny but I think in general I did the best with that segment.
Once that one was done, there was over an hour to go to the third and final bit. I grabbed my snack and so did Sue, and then Larry gave me a tour and showed me all of the equipment. They are connected with Reuters so there's a news feed coming in. We looked at footage of the perp walk of the teenaged Somali pirate, and also some silly footage of a goat seen in some restaurant, I think somewhere in South America. To which I said, "Their meat is REALLY fresh." Larry is from Mass. so we also talked about the Red Sox. He mentions he's often bored during these things and goes online. I told him to go to Able2know and showed him the site.
By this time, Sue was tired (she had a cold), told me she'd normally hug me but didn't want me to get her cold. She went home so it was just Larry and me. He showed me some more feed footage and then it was time to go back on. This time, I spoke with Lorraine Kelly and their resident health expert, Dr. Hilary Jones (who is a man). I think I did the worst in this segment as it was getting close to 4 AM and I was very tired. But Dr. H. did say that he thought I looked really good already. I think they had a hard time believing I still have 55 pounds to go. On that segment there was also a woman who had tried alli and it hadn't worked out for her. Unfortunately I didn't catch her name.
Then it was time to go. Larry got me to the car service and I was whisked off, by limo, to the inlaws' apartment. By the time I got in, it was after 4 AM. I immediately got into bed. My father in law got me up at 8. I hadn't slept all that much.
My train was at noon so I had breakfast and lounged around until about 10:15, then left for Penn Station. When I got there, the cabbie had to let me off across the street. There was some guy collecting charity, asked me and I said to him, "I don't have any free hands." I was carrying all of my stuff, of course. He said, "That's okay, baby girl, I'll catch you when you do." Ha, so I guess I'm Baby Girl now. Better than being Big Mama.
The train was on time and I ended up sitting near a guy named Edward Ellington. As in the Duke's nephew. See:
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7608018/a/Thank+You+Uncle+Edward.htm The guy looks just like the album cover, although now he's probably close to 60.
I got home a few hours ago, and have been answering emails and of course composing this one. I also sent a thank you note to everyone at GMTV and asked if they'd pass along a message to the woman who had tried alli and it hadn't worked for her. I just wanted her to know that this is not easy to do, and offered my support.
And now here we are. Tonight is a triumphant dinner at the local Thai place. Surprisingly, I've stayed within my calorie range both days. Tomorrow I'll go back to the gym, too, so probably tomorrow night I'll finally get a full night's sleep.
After all, a diva needs her beauty rest.
- tho the DVDrecorder does NTSC too)...
