VIEWERS VOICE TV

At our Viewers Voice Conference last October we went over to a taping of “According to Jim” (Tuesday, 7:30-8:00 P.M., EST) an ABC primetime half-hour comedy. We usually go to a taping on the Friday night of our conference, but this year we were going over to present awards to Jim Belushi and Courtney Thorne Smith for Favorite actor and actress in a primetime half hour comedy.

At a taping of a TV show you have to be there at least an hour before if you have V.I.P. seats, otherwise you have to wait at least an hour in line before being seated and then another hour before the show and sometimes if the series is very popular you don’t get in at all. Viewers Voice members are always very grateful to the studios for considering us to be important enough to be V.I.P.’s and we always get excellent seating in the front rows.

After being seated the studio usually shows a previous episode so all the audience is familiar with what the series is about. Then a comedian, trying to make it in the business, enters and warms up the people with a lot of individual audience participation. A very funny man; Mark Sweet was our audience coordinator for the evening. He was better than most audience coordinators because he didn’t go out of his ways to involve people who didn’t want to participate.

After warming up the audience and getting everyone ready to laugh up a storm for the taped canned laughter on the show; Mark introduces the cast. This particular night we got to hear Jim Belushi and Larry Joe Campbell, who plays Andy on the show, perform a little Blues before they started taping. Also we were informed that Chris Elliot (“Home Alone”) was the guest for tonight’s show. That made our younger members really excited.

The first scene started with about four or so re-takes. As tapings go “According to Jim” moves considerably fast and we were out of the studio by 10:00 P.M... There have been tapings that we went too where we didn’t get out of the building until after midnight. Half way through the show they also gave us a drink and a snack.       

If you have never watched “According to Jim” you really should make a point of tuning it in some Tuesday night to this fun family comedy. This particular episode was called “Father Disfigure” and Chris Elliot played a new preacher at Cheryl (Thorne-Smith) and Jim’s church that holds a grudge against Jim for a childhood dodge-ball incident. This is the second season for the show and it’s holding it’s own in the ratings.

Jim (Belushi) is a loving family man, the All-American guy, devoted to his wife, Cheryl and his three kids. He has it all, but he still sometimes wrestles with the former wild teenager lying within. While supporting his family as a contactor in a design firm with his younger, architect brother-in-law, Andy, Jim still finds time to pursue his other passion, playing Chicago Blues with his six-man garage band.

Jim’s wife Cheryl (Thorne-Smith) is smart and sophisticated and loves her husband for his sense of humor and his strong sense of self. She loves him in spite of his frequent selfish and childish antics which, although at times annoying, challenge her to be playful as well. She is champagne and strawberries to Jim’s beer nuts and bratwurst – but they’re in love. The series really is well done and well worth your time to watch.

 When I called on the set of “According to Jim” to ask if we could present the Viewers Voice Awards to Jim and Courtney they said, we could do it right after their taping of  the show was over. I had no problem with that but what I didn’t know was that they would ask us to do it in front of the live audience. Chris the publicist of the series informed me about a half hour before the taping ended that we’d make the presentation before the live audience.  One of my strong points is not getting in front of a large group of people and talking, so this scared me to no end. When I got down on stage I was actually shaking and not really sure how I managed to get the words out when I presented the award to Mr. Belushi. I recruited my vice president Tommy Lowery to make the presentation to Ms. Thorne-Smith. I really don’t think I would have survived spiting out the words for a second presentation.

Belushi was very gracious in accepting and said; “We accept this with great honor and we appreciate your support and every one in your membership, it means a lot to us. This is the first thing I ever won in my whole life.”

Courtney then asked to say a few words; “I have won something before. I was the most improved badminton player, but this means so much more. Thank you so much.”

After barely making it through the presentation our whole group was asked to come down and meet the cast and have a few photos taken. Knowing what a big Chicago Bears fan Belushi is, I was tempted to ask him how he enjoyed the Bear, Packer game the Sunday we came out to the conference. The Pack beat the stuffing’s out of his Bears. It was a nationally televised game and we watched it at the hotel restraint. I remembered a previous episode where Jim takes his daughter to a Packer, Bear game and ends up fighting with a cheese head. So I thought better of saying anything just to be nice and also avoiding rubbing it in.

After the taping we walked out to the parking lot with Courtney and she was such a nice lady and could have been mistaken for another Viewers Voice member. It was an unexpected stressful night at one point but we all had a good time.

In my next column is the interview with Breezy, the dog who plays Portho’s on “The Enterprise.”  The interview is actually with his trainer, but he had some interesting things to say about animal actors, especially Breezy. Until then let your voice be heard.