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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Warming up to the idea of another TV press tour
If you find yourself in one of those situations where you're going to have to work right through the weekend, here's pretty much the best way to get it started: with a toward-the-positive temperature swing of about 75 degrees.
That's right, TV pals, Friday was moving day, of a very temporary sort, as ol' CouchBoy completed another of his twice-yearly migrations to southern California for the winter edition of the U.S. networks' semi-annual press tour. And in making the YWG-to-DEN-to-BUR (Winnipeg-to-Denver-to-Burbank) flight, I experienced a temperature shift (in the Fahrenheit scale employed by folks down hereabouts) from about -15 degrees to 70-ish degrees on the comfier end of the scale.
Stepping off the plane at Bob Hope Airport made working the weekend rather more palatable. And then -- wonder of wonders -- having my luggage arrive WITH me, which is so seldom the case in my often-confounding travels, was an added bonus. After that, it was simply a matter of rolling up my sleeves (having sleeves at all being optional in sunny Pasadena) and getting down to the business of assessing the mid-season TV business, which is what we members of the Television Critics Association -- 150 or so print and online critics and reporters who make the trek down here twice each year -- will spend the next 11 days doing.
Quick sidenote: Friday's journey also offered an up-close glimpse at what travel is like under the new security restrictions imposed since that nasty underpants-bomber fiasco on Christmas Day. Quite frankly, it wasn't all that bad -- the security-screening process in Winnipeg, which usually takes no more than a few minutes, took much more than an hour as lined-up passengers waited their turn to be wanded and (occasionally) patted down and had their very-limited carry-on items thoroughly scrutinized (by the way, if you want to see REAL stress in the already skittish security area, stand behind the parents of two toddlers when the adorable four-ish-year-old boy decides it's time to shout out the words of a favourite game, and they turn out to be "Rock .... paper .... scissors .... DYNAMITE!!!"; yep, that was some urgent shushing, all right). Once in Denver, however, and through the into-the-U.S. "international" portion of the flight, it didn't seem like there had been much change in security at all -- domestic-traveling American folks were carrying much larger, very-full backpacks and briefcases onto flights, and business seemed very much to be close to as usual.
My arrival in Pasadena didn't happen in time to allow me to take part in a couple of set visits -- to the studios where ABC's FlashForward and NBC's Community are shot -- but I was able to check in, unpack and get slightly organized before stopping in at a CBS-organized cocktail party featuring the cast of its surprisingly top-rated drama, NCIS -- including Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette and others, along with current guest star Robert Wagner, who looked suitably dashing in navy-blue business attire.
Mostly, though, the event was a press-tour-eve opportunity to renew acquaintances with TV-critic colleagues, who are, for most of us, sort of like a second family -- we spend between four and six weeks each year with each other, and if you add up all the press tours, it turns out that we've spent years -- literally -- living under the same hotel roof.
Stay tuned.
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About Brad Oswald
Way back when Brad Oswald was TV-inclined little kid, his exasperated mother used to say things like, "Would you PLEASE turn that thing off and go OUTSIDE and play? If you insist on watching that IDIOT box day after day after day, you will NEVER amount to ANYTHING in this world!"
Well, go figure.
Brad joined the Free Press in 1987 and has spent most of the last two decades getting paid to watch the television as the paper’s resident TV critic. In addition to previewing and reviewing all the latest prime-time shows and covering the local TV industry, he also usually spends a few weeks per year in L.A., interviewing TV stars and attending Big Phony Hollywood Parties.
Brad also writes about comedy and other assorted entertainment topics, and has been known to wander onto local stages try out his own standup material as part of an ongoing quest to satisfy his deep-rooted need for affirmation. He was the winner of Rumor’s Comedy Club’s first Funniest Person With a Day Job contest.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Brad grew up in St. Vital, attended Dakota Collegiate and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba before enrolling in Red River College’s Creative Communications program. He played rugby for more than 20 years, which, quite frankly, amounts to a whole lot of blows to the unprotected noggin.
Despite that, during his two-decades-plus at the Free Press, he has accumulated a wealth of knowledge about television and other pop-culture topics, and would certainly not be the worst person to pick for your trivia-contest team.
For some reason, he firmly believes his Mom really would be proud of all this.
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