We Hit the Air Running

April 21-23, 2006
The debut weekend comes to a close and I am very happy. Friday night our first show aired, featuring the Southern Region and the Hard Day’s Nite Bed and Breakfast in Benton, all the George Harrison lore, The Garden of the Gods, Hidden Lake Bed and Breakfast and Blue Sky Vineyard. I had friends over to watch the show, fed them pizza and just totally loved watching them respond to what they were seeing on my 27-inch old school Samsung. We in the TV trade rarely get to see how our work goes over with the audience. Historical footnote: I once took a crew out on a Friday night during my first tenure at WTTW, waited for the right moment and knocked on doors hoping to catch some unsuspecting folks getting ready to watch Wild Chicago. It was a real kick seeing their expressions, answering the door and finding moi.

Anyway, it’s been a great week – an amazing amount of press, which I always love, plus the anticipation. We’ll see how we do in the ratings tomorrow. But that aside, I found it interesting and encouraging that I was not letting all the newspaper clippings and PR alter my brain chemistry beyond what one might consider normal. I am the first to admit I am an attention-seeking-aholic, and I have been doing my work around recovering from this malady. Seems to be paying off. Case in point, when Julia Maish, our ace PR lady at WTTW, came to the edit suite Wednesday morning with the latest edition of TimeOut Chicago in her hot little hand, I casually glanced at it and did not experience the slightest adrenaline rush at seeing my picture and a story about our debut. What pleased me was seeing that the entire page of the TV section was filled with our story. My focus was on the good of the show, less so how much attention I was getting. This is progress, folks.

So here I am at the computer, stuffed from (in reverse order of appearance) three brownies, milk, Classic Coke, sweet and sour pork with fried rice, pot stickers and wonton soup. I’ll tell you more about the Wild Chicago Illinois Road Trip eating habits later. I did go for a run yesterday, so that’s gotta excuse me just a little bit, right?

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We Hit the Air Running

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Garden of the Gods (Southern Show)

       
 
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