Day three, late nights and early mornings, we were starting to get a little tired. But we rolled out of bed to head for Rockefeller Center (photo at the top) to see if we could catch The Today Show and then line up for our NBC Studio Tour. (Thanks to sister-in-law Susan who did much of the organizing and planning for this trip--you rock!)
We missed The Today Show as they stopped filming early because it was a Saturday, but that was okay. We had plenty of time then to shop at the NBC store, where you can buy things like a talking bobble-head of Michael Scott from The Office, a t-shirt for Psych that reads, "Psychics do it in the future" and a BSG mug that quite simply states, "FRAK."
I would have loved to buy all of the above but instead settled for a small keychain for my sister who collects such things. Not much suitcase room, even less money!
The studio tour was really neat. We saw where they film the nightly news with Brian Williams. And it was a working studio. Behind the glass a few feet away, a reporter/anchor named Alex something (somebody want to help me out with her last name?) was giving a report on MSNBC.
We also saw the Saturday Night Live set, which actually didn't look like much. They had equipment and boxes all over the places for the Olympics. The show, obviously, is on hiatus until fall.
My favorite was the Conan O'Brien set. It was SO tiny. I know television uses all kinds of illusions and tricks, but this was ridiculously small compared to the cavernous space you feel like you see on screen every night. For those who watch the show, let me say this…the distance between Conan and Max, the drummer, is like five feet, maybe even less. Like I would be worried that Conan, during an enthusiastic arm wave, might knock into the drum set. That's how close they are.
But because they use individual reaction shots, Conan by himself and then Max or vice versa, it makes them seem very far apart. Same thing with the distance from the point where Conan does his monologue to the desk. Maybe ten feet apart. Twenty might be pushing it. And yet if you watch the show, you know it seems to take him a long time to get over there. Just another illusion, folks.
The set furniture is also really small, to match the scale of the set. Our tour guides, the adorably named Margo and Carly, said standard living room furniture would look huge. So, beware of anyone who looks tall on the show! They're probably not. I also wonder if this is part of what's behind the running joke about Conan being freakishly tall, as he frequently mentions on the show. I'm sure he is tall. I'm even more sure he looks gigantic because of the set.
Also, the set itself is curved, no hard angles. That's so you won't have any depth perception and be able to tell exactly how small the studio is. Interesting, right?
After the tour, we headed to the Carnegie Deli, only to find a huge line and a menu that included too many mentions of "tongue" for us to be comfortable eating there. So, instead we went to Lindy's. It was horribly expensive, but I must admit that I liked my sandwich and Greg's soup was really good. For the money, though, Junior's was better. (Trump Tower, we would discover later, offered a three course meal--appetizer, main course and dessert--for $22. Donald, I have new respect for you, offering decently priced food in New York City.)
We decided then to brave the walk to Central Park (photo at the top). It was so cool. It make sense that you would have to have something like this for all the dogs, kids and frisbee players that must live in the area. Still, it was a bit odd to see so many people staking out little patches of ground with their blankets and accoutrements. It sort of looks like what you'd see before a fireworks display on the 4th, only no fireworks.
That was, I think, my favorite part, walking all the way to the park. Of course, then we had to walk alllllll the way back. Even in my comfy chucks, my feet were hurting aplenty by the time we made it, but it was worth it. After this, we had the wedding, but I'm going to save that for my next, and probably last NY trip-related post. :)
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