PASADENA, Calif. -- Readers always ask me what stars I've met and I never have a good answer. I talk to actors frequently at press tour, but they don't always make an impression. Maybe that's because I have little interest in celebrities, who are often too guarded to be very interesting. I include series stars in stories because readers are more interested in, say, Simon Baker (star of "The Mentalist") than Bruno Heller (creator of "The Mentalist"), but often someone like Heller can speak much more to the show, its future plots and its characters than any actor can. Sometimes actors are quite articulate and worthwhile to interview, but generally speaking, I'd rather interview a semi-anonymous showrunner.
Similarly, people are interested in press tour, how it works and what the parties are like. For those who are interested, I offer this party roundup:
BBC America
Location: Langham Huntington Hotel, Viennese Terrace.
Theme: A cocktail party with the stars of assorted BBC America series, including David Tennant ("Dr. Who") and the cast of "Being Human." I chatted with Russell Tovey, who plays the werewolf on "Human." Nice guy. Funny, too.
Food Network
Location: A private Pasadena home.
Theme: Food stations with a contestant on "The Next Iron Chef" at each one preparing a dish. I interviewed Brian Boitano, who stars in the upcoming series "What Would Brian Boitano Make?"
AMC
Location: Langham Huntington Hotel, Viennese Terrace.
Theme: "Mad Men" cocktail party. This event was the only opportunity on tour to get access to "Mad Men" stars and executive producer Matt Weiner. Most of the cast was in a holding area beneath the terrace when the party began, so I went down there to begin interviews for a column that ran July 31. I know I'm not doing a great job describing the food but that's only because I tend to be so busy working these parties -- and that's what they're for, one-on-one interview opportunities for journalists -- that I don't pay much attention to what I'm eating. Also, after more than a week in the hotel, all the food starts to seem the same because, well, it mostly is.
TCA Awards
Location: Langham Huntington Hotel, Lobby Lounge.
Theme: celebrating the winners of the 2009 Television Critics Association Awards, which I already blogged about. I remember a chocolate fountain at the after-party and Rice Krispie treats to dip in the fountain. But I spent a lot of time interviewing Jane Espenson, a veteran writer of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Gilmore Girls," "Dollhouse" and showrunner of the upcoming "Caprica."
CBS/The CW/Showtime
Location: The Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
Theme: A beautiful location outside a museum of art and antiquities that we could tour but I was too busy interviewing Edie Falco and Merritt Wever of "Nurse Jackie," Simon Baker of "The Mentalist" and assorted cast members and producers from "Three Rivers." The party was over-crowded and once the sun went down, despite special lighting, it became difficult to recognize people (I stepped on the foot of the actor who plays the husband on "Medium"). Food-wise, I remember it took a long time for buffets to open, then I got caught up in work and by the time I got around to getting any food, they'd run out of mashed potatoes at the mashed potato bar. But I was buoyed by delicious chocolate mousse and chocolate cupcakes.
NBC-Universal (NBC, Bravo, Oxygen, USA, Syfy)
Location: Langham Huntington Hotel, Horseshoe Garden.
Theme: The peacock's press tour 2009 party was held in what I refer to as the hotel's backyard. Interestingly, Kathy Griffin seemed to be the biggest draw of the party, probably because speaking bluntly is her schtick and after a week of spin, that's refreshing. I interviewed NBC entertainment chief Angela Bromstad, "White Collar" star Matt Bomer, Griffin and former Pittsburgher Ming-Na, star of the upcoming "Stargate Universe." Food was the usual hotel fare.
Fox
Location: Langham Huntington Hotel, Horseshoe Garden.
Theme: Fox erected big tents in the hotel's backyard with white comfy couches beneath some of them. Food stations included a raw bar (shrimp, of course) and beef-on-stick in another area. Never got around to getting a drink; too busy doing interviews. Chatted with "24" actress Cherry Jones, who was eager to talk about Pittsburgh, a city she seems to have genuine affection for. Also talked to "24" producers Howard Gordon and David Fury, who is always more forthcoming than most TV producers. I also interviewed Hugh Laurie, star of "House," and had a good chat with Graham Yost, executive producer of FX's "Lawman," which filmed in Pittsburgh earlier this year. I also had a conversation with Brendan Hines ("Lie to Me"), whose mother, Mary, is president of Pittsburgh's Carlow College.
Warner Bros.
Location: Outside the Steven J. Ross Theater on the Warner Bros. lot
Theme: Warner Bros. often produces more TV series than any other Hollywood studio, so the studio stepped up to put on panels for two series not paneled on network days (NBC's "Southland" and CBS's "The New Adventures of Old Christine") and a Web series on TheWB.com ("The Lake," premiering online Monday). Not all of the stars promised showed up and some left early (Ben McKenzie, we hardly knew ye), but I did get some interviews in with the executive producers of "Christine" and "The Lake" and with Scott Wolf, who stars in the ABC remake of "V." Also, an L.A. version of Pittsburgh's Goodie Truck -- Cool Haus -- was parked out front offering dessert.
ABC
Location: Langham Huntington Hotel
Theme:
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The swan song party of the summer 2009 press tour
packed the Viennese Ballroom and Terrace with ABC stars, their personal
publicists and assorted hangers-on. The last press conference, on "V," ended at
about 5:50 p.m. and I wanted to get a blog post up and e-mail the link to a few
fan sites that might be likely to post the link, a key way to drive traffic to
post-gazette.com (it worked). I also had a few follow-up interviews with "V" producers to
conduct, so by the time I got to the party - after ditching my hefty laptop bag
with a hotel bellman - it was close to 6:30 p.m. Super Shuttle was coming to
pick me up at 7:40. So I had to hustle to a) find the people I wanted to
interview and b) get my questions answered. The party was pretty packed but ABC
did a smart thing I don't recall other networks doing: They had employees
stationed around the perimeter wearing lighted necklaces and on walkie-talkie
so they could help journalists locate stars or producers. It was a smart system
that was necessary for such a packed environment (next time they'd be smart to tell us in advance that such a system is in place). In short order I managed to
get quick interviews with Steven Levitan ("Modern Family" executive producer),
Dana Delany ("Desperate Housewives"), Bill Lawrence ("Scrubs" and "Cougartown"
executive producer), Morena Baccarin ("V") and ABC entertainment president
Stephen McPherson. I also managed to gulp down some dinner, hug TV critic
friends goodbye and dash for the Super Shuttle and the red-eye back to the east
coast. Now the really hard part begins: Writing all the articles I've conducted
interviews for.
***
A couple of press tour oddities:
-- This is the second press tour in a row that a plane has gone into the Hudson River in New York. In January, it was Capt. Sully's miraculous emergency landing. No happy ending this time as a small plane and tourist helicopter collided.
-- The official theme of press tour was the Black Eyed Peas song "I Got a Feeling." CBS is using it in fall promos but that didn't stop just about every other broadcast network from playing the song between press tour panels.
Posted
Aug 09 2009, 11:59 AM
by
Rob Owen