Sunday, March 9th, 2008, 2:04 pm
The America's Got Talent taping in Dallas, TX was really cool. Overall everything turned out well. First day's talent was either really good, or REALLY bad. The second day was somewhat in the middle so it was hard to give the organizers the kind of reaction they were looking for. All the judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Ozborne, and Piers Morgan were really good sports, even when some sections of the crowd started yelling "Get off the stage" before an act had begun, or yelled "Vegas! Vegas!" when an act clearly was not all that good.
The main person I thought was PHENOMENAL was Ian, the man who kept the audience enthusiastic about being there. He told some really cool jokes, and just did his best to help keep the audience entertained. Anyone who's done a television shooting in CA or NY can tell you that that doesn't always happen. Sometimes you are expected to sit around for hours quietly until the taping begins.
My other thing that I was very impressed with was that when Ian said he was going to give out something, he backed it up. On the second day of taping in the morning, he said they were going to give out T-shirts, and he did. Also, he asked us if he gave out chocolates (a common candy in England) would it help things. At the time, I think he was joking, and didn't give any candy out at that time. On the second taping of that day, many of us returned, and during breaks, some people in the audience asked him about the chocolate. He looked a bit annoyed about the questioning, and ignored the comment at other times. I was thinking that he probably just said it jokingly, and didn't mean for it to be taken seriously. HOWEVER, towards the end of that second taping, he actually got a big bag of candy for us and had the bag passed around the audience. I thought that was VERY classy. One of the main things I HATE about when a TV show comes to Dallas from another state is they do not understand how to market to Texas. Bottom line, WE DO NOT LIKE TO BE TEASED! If you make an outrageous comment like "I'll be around to pass out a million dollar checks in a moment", most people here know they are kidding. However, if someone says "Would anyone like some snacks?" or "How about we pass out some bottles of water?" Unless you say you're joking we tend to take you seriously. If you offer to give something that is feasible, then we expect you to follow through.
Not too long, a singer was doing a morning show in Dallas. A line of people had been given wrist bands to get an autograph. In all probability, the people were selected at random to receive the wrist bands on a first come, first serve basis until they ran out of wrist bands. When we asked one of the staff about it, she said that they had won a radio contest, but didn't know which radio station. Not to mention there was no signage ANYWHERE that would lead anyone to believe that a radio station was involved. Instead of telling us what was really happening, she told us that those in line had to get their autographs first since they won the "radio contest", BUT if we hanged around, and off to the side we might be able to get an autograph afterwards. She did not mean a word she said, but she said it thinking that after awhile we would get tired, and go away. We hung out, and waited patiently, but the singer's staff had no intention of allowing any of us to get an autograph. They even got a police officer to stand guard close by, and the staff gave us angry looks, and said angry words in our direction. It was totally understandable if they only wanted to give out autographs to a select few. This is Texas. We understand that. Had the staff person told the truth, and just said only those in line were getting an autograph, then the rest of us would have left well enough alone and went on our way, instead of embarrassing ourselves by standing around when we shouldn't have been. What the staff person did may work in New York, but it DOES NOT work in Texas.
Like I said, with Ian, even though he was joking he still came through with the candy which I thought spoke volumes about his integrity and character, and in Texas that goes a long way. Especially if you want people to come to another television taping of a particular show.
Tags: casting, audition, taping, dallas
