free stuff weekend

One of the great things about living in LA -- if you have the patience for waiting in lines and then waiting in seats for things that never start on time -- is the opportunity to see television show tapings or attend panels with celebrities hocking their movies and television shows/specials for free. And this weekend, I did both!

Saturday morning, I got up WAY TOO early and headed to Hollywood for the taping of the May 8th episode of Katie Couric's show, Katie. The daytime talk show normally tapes in New York City, but this weekend Katie took over Jimmy Kimmel's studio to tape a week of shows in three days. The taping we attended (their first of two on Saturday) required us to be in line at 7:30am for our priority seating... which then took place around 8:30. The taping then started around 9:15 and taped totally out of order until around 10:45 with guests will.i.am (who taped first due to his performance, but will appear last when it airs) and Zooey Deschanel. 

I love Zooey so it was fun to see her talking about New Girl, her band She & Him, and her awesome website for young girls, HelloGiggles.com. (And as it turns out, I'll see her again tonight when I attend FOX's New Girl finale screening and panel at the TV Academy.) 

As for will.i.am, after the Black Eyed Peas opened for U2 on the U2360 tour, I feel like I've seen enough of him and his bandmates to last a lifetime. (Not a BEP fan. Sorry.) But it was interesting to hear him chat with Katie about his philanthropic work to get kids interested in science and technology. I had no idea he was doing that and have a newfound respect for the guy... even if he is the person responsible for "I Gotta Feeling."

And I am now able to verify that when TV hosts say "And everyone in our studio audience is going home with a copy of _____'s new [cd/book/whatever] ______ " they are actually telling the truth! I left the show with a copy of the new She & Him Volume 3 cd, and will.i.am's new #Willpower cd... one of which I will actually listen to. 

Then on Sunday night, I headed to Westwood's Wadsworth Theatre for an official TV Academy event: An Evening with Michael Buble'. Michael, his manager and the executive producers of his 2012 holiday special are hoping for an Emmy nomination, so they came to schmooze and entertain Academy voters (hi... that's me and some of my TV biz friends :). The panel was interesting, especially hearing how they used technology to allow Michael to sing with Bing Crosby (via a clip of Bing's holiday special from the '70s). But the best part of the night was getting a free three-song concert from the adorable Mr. Buble. He's just so fun in concert. I never cared about him till a friend dragged me to see him in concert four or five years ago. Now I heart him :) 

Oh, and to top it off, we got a free copy of his brand new cd To Be Loved as we exited the theatre... at the same time his bodyguards were trying to get Michael to his car. Yes, a mob scene ensued. But I was not part of it.... which isn't to say a certain friend of mine who really loves Michael Buble was not ;)