Thanks to a longtime friend who is a producer for Harpo Productions I recently had a chance to go see Oprah (the show) in Chicago. If you caught the episode with David Arquette you can look for my spiky hair in the left had corner of the screen. LOL! In a long shot of the audience you can see me in a blue shirt for a hot second. Even though I didn’t get any real national face time on TV is was an amazing experience.
Sadly I didn’t get any pictures because Harpo has strict rules on taking phones or cameras in the building. I will say the staff of almost 500 was amazing and very kind. From the front door all the way to the studios everyone was incredible. You knew you were there for a once in a lifetime experience.
As you walk in you check in on the guest list. You go through a metal detector like at a airport. Then you go up stairs with almost 200 people and wait for almost two hours to be let in the actual studio. It was fun to hear other peoples experience of how they got tickets and where they were from. Good people watching.
I was VIP thanks to my friend. My name was called and I was one of the first to walk in and take my seat. My seat was two rows right in front of Oprah and the stage. Before Oprah comes out to do a show she has a lady come out and hype up the audience. It’s kind of cool. They make everyone in the audience feel like everyone is family. At that point they tell you who the guest is going to be. The show I was actually supposed to be Michael Vick but he cancled a few days before. David Arquette was the guest the day I was there.
When Oprah came out the audience went nuts! She was very kind and funny. She never wears her shoes out on stage she puts them on or has her stage hand help her. She spent some time talking to the audience and talking about it being her last season. She did reveal that the Chicago studios of Harpo will become OWN Chicago and they will be doing tapings there for her new network there as well as at the OWN headquarters in L.A.
The taping ran long about an hour or more. Typically a show taping there is about 45 minutes or so. It was interesting to see the show live and then watch it on TV because of how they edit it together.
Because my life is and career is also in Broadcasting it was great to see how someone such as Oprah pulls off a show and reels in her guests. It was an incredible learning experience for me. She is the master at asking hard questions and managing her appearance and guests. Millions would kill for the opportunity I am blessed I had the chance.
If you want to see some of the video clips about David Arquette you can check them out here.
