Show Blog: A Day At Access (May 10, 2006)

#1: (7:00 AM) — If there’s any delay in producing today’s show, we can probably trace it all the way back to about 6 AM, which is when the ?Today? show aired its piece on men quoting movie lines. That?s what the focal point in Rob?s office was as I walked in – at least until whomever the show booked to talk in-studio about why it all goes on started yammering dryly about something, and then somehow our attention and discussion turned to words that are verboten on Access Hollywood. I think maybe the guy said “hottie” or something like that, and that set everyone off on a tangent about words like “hottie” and “hunk” and “hubby” and other entertainment-news-speak words that we try not to lean on.Anyhow…I?m already taking good-natured heat for my Blog-reporting skills after one day of doing this. The boss has dubbed me ‘Jimmy Olsen’ and makes it a point to tell everyone who comes in the office now that what happens is on the record. I thought my little notepad was indication enough.The pre-screening chatter this morning was mostly about last night’s ?Idol.? Apparently, Elliot came on strong. I wouldn’t know for sure because I?m one of the dozen people in the U.S. who doesn’t watch the show, but Rob and Ryan?s recap was convincing enough. There was also a little early morning buzz on David Blaine?s aquatic failure and Britney?s pregnancy announcement on Letterman last night – which, thanks to Access producer / man-in-the-know Michael, we were prepared for before it happened. In fact, thanks to a tip from one of Michael?s contacts, we had the only crew outside the Ed Sullivan Theater as Britney arrived to confirm the news that we already broke a few weeks ago.As for the pieces screened – looks like we’re in good shape as of 630 AM. Buddy?s piece on perverted justice – the group that helps ?Dateline? catch sexual predators on the Internet – was really interesting and more than a little unsettling; Bryant?s prom piece – focused on Paula Abdul, her date, her dress and what appears to be her old nose – was a riot. Turns out Paula?s date turned up for his interview clutching a reel of old 8 mm footage of the event, and the sight of an 18-year-old Paula trying out her best pre-Laker girl moves was a huge hit. The only problem now is that our music clearance department is making noise about the music they were dancing to being too expensive to clear. So depending on how generous Rob is feeling today, you’ll either hear the original audio or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Finally, we saw Courtney?s fashion fix all about striped clothing as a rising trend. It never ceases to amaze me how she finds all that footage to use as an example for whatever happens to be gaining popularity. So please make sure to keep in mind just how hard Courtney probably worked when you’re enjoying that 55 seconds of stellar striped clothing footage tonight. It probably took her 6 hours to find it all.#2: (8:30 AM) — It’s been kind of tough to get started writing the show today and for that, I blame Buddy, the man producing today’s piece on “Perverted Justice.” Mostly because he came into Rob’s office with clips from tonight’s ?Dateline NBC? from which we all couldn’t turn away. Ten uninterrupted minutes of alleged sexual predators getting busted as they eat chocolate chip cookies and try to think of excuses for why they’re sitting there waiting for what they think is a 14-year-old girl. We can only get a few of these clips on our show tonight, but I think I just made an appointment to catch the rest when it airs at 9.And now Kim, the show’s director, is on my case for not having written the ?Hellos? yet, especially since Nancy has to leave early today.Thanks, alleged Internet perverts. It’s bad enough you’ve screwed up your own lives. Now you’re messing with the operation of Access Hollywood – and that’s not going to fly.#3: (3:18 PM) — It’s amazing how fast things ease up around here once the show hits the satellite. You can actually feel it in the air. Once 1:00 PM rolls around, everyone in the trailer kind of gets to enjoy our version of a siesta, as we all semi-stop what we’re doing to watch what got accomplished that day.Today was undoubtedly headlined by the Paula Abdul footage — followed closely by Tony Potts’ story on ?Perverted Justice.? Tomorrow, if I had to guess what’s going to be doing the heavy lifting for us… well, there are a lot of people waiting with baited breath for our premiere of the ?Miami Vice? trailer, and we’ve got good exclusive stuff with Patrick Dempsey, so… stay tuned.– Mat Baxt