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When we arrived at the Spelling office building we took the elevator up to Ms. Hampton’s office where we were going to meet up with Theodore Sonfianrdes, the publicist for “7th Heaven.” Theo is another old friend of ours, I’ve talked to him many times on the phone and it seems like I’ve known him forever. He’s the type of young man you can’t help but like and I will always be grateful for the way he’s treated Viewers Voice. When we got off the elevator the receptionist was no where to be seen, which was unusual since security is so tight in the building. We took a seat and waited. I didn’t want Theo to think we were late for our meeting so I called him and informed him where we were. He came directly over to where we were and apologized for the inconvenience. I guess the receptionist was on a break.
Ms. Hampton was waiting for us in her office and gave us a very warm reception. While we waited for the video cameras to be set up we talked a little about her family. She informed us she adopted another child. We then presented her with our Viewers Voice Founders Award and did a little interview. The presentation and interview will be in a future column.
Afterwards we chatted a little more and she presented us with some “7th Heaven” caps. She told us to have a good time on the set where the rest of our members were waiting for us. We then left and got into our cars and headed over to the “7th Heaven” studio which is located in a different area of Los Angeles.
Our members were anxiously awaiting our arrival; Theo also joined us to give our group a personal tour. This was my fourth trip to the set but it’s always fun and exciting each time. The cast and crew are always so warm and friendly.
The award was going to be presented in the Camden’s living room and we all waited there for Mr. Collins to enter. As usual when he arrived he gave everybody a special welcome and I even managed to get a hug and a kiss; made my day. We chatted for a short time and I told him I heard that Stephen Collins & The Seventh Band was singing at 14 Below, a small bar in Santa Monica, on Saturday night and said we were thinking of going over to hear him. To my surprise he was thrilled to hear we were coming and was going to call his agent and get us some free passes. That’s the kind of man he is and that’s why he’s so loved by his fans. I will give full details of the performance in my next column.
Presenting Stephen with the award is always my honor and he is always so appreciative of receiving it, because it is from the viewers.
Barry recently recovered from a bout with cancer, but is now cancer free and looks great. He has become very good friends with Mr. Collins and they enjoy teasing each other. Barry also has become one of “7th Heaven’s” writers.
We finished up on the set of “7th Heaven” by visiting the Camden’s backyard and took some group photos. They then presented the rest of our members with “7th Heaven” caps and we left to go to the David Kelly Studios to visit the set of “The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire.” It’s always a pleasure and an honor to visit the set of “7th Heaven” and I’m sure we will be back.
I previously reported on our visit to the set of “The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire” because they were endangering of being canceled. I deeply regret to say they have been canceled and it’s a shame to lose another excellent drama without giving it a chance to pick up an audience.
Friday ended up with some of our members going over to a taping of “Friends” and the rest going over to a taping of “That 70’s Show.” Tapings are always fun to go too, but my husband Jim and another board member, Deb Perkins and I stayed back at the hotel. We’ve been to so many tapings and they take forever to do, we decide to stay back and relax. My daughter Deb also decided to join us because she was just plain pooped from all the set visits. The “Friends” taping took around 6 hours and “That 70’s Show” took around four hours; that’s a lot of seating and the majority of the time is in between takes of scenes.
My next column will be of our trip to Hollywood and going to Stephen Collin’s performance at 14 Below. Until then let your voice be heard.
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On
Friday the last business day of our fun filled trip to California was a busy
one. We started out at 11:00 a.m. going into Los Angeles to the offices of Aaron
Spelling to present the Viewers Voice Founders Award to Brenda Hampton,
executive producer and creator of “7th Heaven.” I was especially
looking forward to meeting Ms. Hampton again; she is one of the nicest ladies
I’ve met in television.
We
were on the set this time for a special reason to present Stephen Collins with
the Viewers Voice Award for Favorite Actor in a Primetime Drama. He wasn’t
working that day but came in especially for us. This is the fourth time that Mr.
Collins has won our award and certainly deserves it. He is not usually
recognized by the television industry for his role as Rev. Eric Camden and
that’s probably because it’s a family show and family shows don’t get a lot of
recognition. It’s a good thing that the viewers can have a voice on what an
excellent job he does portraying the Reverend.
After
spending a good deal of time talking to Mr. Collins, we went on a tour of the
sets. We were surprised to see a new set was added; in a hospital for an arc
featuring Barry Watson, back again as oldest son. Matt. Barry was doing a scene
with Rachael Blanchard (Matt’s wife, Roxanne) and guest star Dennis Boutsikaris
(“Taken”). During a break Barry came over to talk to us and wanted to know what
the occasion was for our visit. We told him to present Stephen with an award.
Barry jokingly said, “What’s he getting an award for?”