For those of you that missed it the first go round...
Here's my appearance last year playing piano on "The Price is Right!"
I do a lot of waving at the camera...
I do a lot of waving at the camera...
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Happy holidays!
It's been five years since my friends I released this, but I think it still holds up...
It's still one of my favorite things that I've done with my friends. Happy holidays, everybody!
It's still one of my favorite things that I've done with my friends. Happy holidays, everybody!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
I have a game on the Wii!
Well, in the continuing saga of things I'd never think would happen to me...I discovered that my pricing game "1/2 Off," is one of the games featured on the latest edition of "The Price is Right" for the Wii and the PC.
This week, I finally had a chance to play the game...Here's the video of my attempt to win $10,000 in fake cash!
I wonder how I'll fare when I play "Press Your Luck!"
This week, I finally had a chance to play the game...Here's the video of my attempt to win $10,000 in fake cash!
I wonder how I'll fare when I play "Press Your Luck!"
Friday, August 14, 2009
HOUSEHUSBANDS OF HOLLYWOOD (our latest new show) debuts SATURDAY!
So, a really big show for us at Fox Reality Channel premieres TOMORROW (Saturday). You may have already heard about it in the press...
HOUSEHUSBANDS OF HOLLYWOOD!
The show follows five men who are stay-at-home husbands. They take care of their families and homes while their wives bring home the bacon. We have a strong cast that includes some familiar faces such as Tempestt Bledsoe ("The Cosby Show"), Darryl Bell ("A Different World"), Jillian Reynolds (Good Day L.A., FOX NFL, and "Skating with Celebrities"), and former LA Dodger Billy Ashley.
Here's a preview:
And check this link out to learn more about how we cast the show:
The big show premieres on FOX REALITY CHANNEL on SATURDAY night at 9p (eastern) / 8p (central) .
If you don't get our channel...you can still see the show! You can catch the show now on hulu.com or download it on iTunes.
Please spread the word about this one...Hope you enjoy and show and please let me know what you think!
HOUSEHUSBANDS OF HOLLYWOOD!
The show follows five men who are stay-at-home husbands. They take care of their families and homes while their wives bring home the bacon. We have a strong cast that includes some familiar faces such as Tempestt Bledsoe ("The Cosby Show"), Darryl Bell ("A Different World"), Jillian Reynolds (Good Day L.A., FOX NFL, and "Skating with Celebrities"), and former LA Dodger Billy Ashley.
Here's a preview:
And check this link out to learn more about how we cast the show:
The big show premieres on FOX REALITY CHANNEL on SATURDAY night at 9p (eastern) / 8p (central) .
If you don't get our channel...you can still see the show! You can catch the show now on hulu.com or download it on iTunes.
Please spread the word about this one...Hope you enjoy and show and please let me know what you think!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
June 30, 1999
Ten years ago today, a new chapter began in my life. I moved to Los Angeles!
In the days leading up to today, I've reflected back on what's happened in my life over the past ten years and needless to say, a lot has happened.
I initially was supposed to arrive in Los Angeles, June 29th 1999. I had flown out to L.A. from Boston but my flight in Boston was delayed causing me to miss a connecting flight in Denver. I ended up spending the night in Denver learning about the wonders of television in the Mountain time zone...I particularly remember seeing "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" at a weird time slot.
I finally arrived at LAX the next day and it was quite a bumpy first few months. I was living out here in bleak apartment in North Hollywood and went to bed at night sleeping on an air mattress. My first job was as a page at CBS making $8 an hour...sometimes getting barely 20 hours of work a week. I was renting a Mazda 323 that had to have been at least 10 years old. But I soldiered through and around Labor Day of that year, things took a big turn...
That was when Bob Boden (whom I had met the summer before while I was out here on an internship) gave me a call and asked if I could take some time off from my page duties to help out as a production assistant for this game show he was developing at dick clark productions.
This led to me calling up a producer he was working with named Jeff Mirkin. Jeff asked me to come in the day after Labor Day to get started on work on this new project. Long story short...I gave it all I got and this led to Bob and Jeff giving me my first big television gig as a writer on the game show "Greed."
In the quick Reader's Digest version of things, after "Greed" got canceled, Jeff brought me over to Pearson which eventually became FremantleMedia and that led me to meeting David Lyle (the then-president of FremantleMedia). It was a great five years and I got to work with titles like "Whammy!," "Match Game," "Password," "Now You See It," "Card Sharks," and the crown jewel of them all..."The Price is Right." Then, about four years ago, David and Bob (who had by then moved to Fox Reality Channel) called me and asked me if I wanted to come over and join their team as an exec at the new channel. And that, my friends, is where I've been ever since!
There are tons of details I've left out between now and then that I'll reminisce about in a series of blogs over the next several days, but boy...it's been quite the journey so far. There have been a lot of people who have taken chances on me over the past decade and to them, I give a BIG thanks.
When I graduated from college ten years ago, I NEVER thought that I would write for a prime-time network game show, bring back one of my all-time favorite game shows from the 80s, create a game for "The Price is Right," meet many of the celebrities and producers that I admired growing up, launch a cable channel, oversee a five-day-a-week reality newsmagazine show, develop and help create a new awards show, act as a network exec on up to five shows at a time, and (probably most important of all) still have time to make all the wonderful friends I've made throughout the years!
I think this Randy Newman song says it all...
When my friends from high school or college ask me how life's been in L.A., I tell them that it's been a blast. At my recent college reunion, many people told me, "You know...YOU'RE the one that actually knew what he was going to do from day one at college and actually did it!"
And you know what? That's actually quite right, but it doesn't always happen that way. I know I'm an extremely lucky person. And because of this, I'm very grateful for all that has happened and I never take anything for granted!
L.A., you've truly has become home for me...To my friends, colleagues, and mentors...thank you for making this first decade in Los Angeles so wonderful. Here's hoping that the next decade brings just as much (if not more) joy and happiness!
In the days leading up to today, I've reflected back on what's happened in my life over the past ten years and needless to say, a lot has happened.
I initially was supposed to arrive in Los Angeles, June 29th 1999. I had flown out to L.A. from Boston but my flight in Boston was delayed causing me to miss a connecting flight in Denver. I ended up spending the night in Denver learning about the wonders of television in the Mountain time zone...I particularly remember seeing "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" at a weird time slot.
I finally arrived at LAX the next day and it was quite a bumpy first few months. I was living out here in bleak apartment in North Hollywood and went to bed at night sleeping on an air mattress. My first job was as a page at CBS making $8 an hour...sometimes getting barely 20 hours of work a week. I was renting a Mazda 323 that had to have been at least 10 years old. But I soldiered through and around Labor Day of that year, things took a big turn...
That was when Bob Boden (whom I had met the summer before while I was out here on an internship) gave me a call and asked if I could take some time off from my page duties to help out as a production assistant for this game show he was developing at dick clark productions.
This led to me calling up a producer he was working with named Jeff Mirkin. Jeff asked me to come in the day after Labor Day to get started on work on this new project. Long story short...I gave it all I got and this led to Bob and Jeff giving me my first big television gig as a writer on the game show "Greed."
In the quick Reader's Digest version of things, after "Greed" got canceled, Jeff brought me over to Pearson which eventually became FremantleMedia and that led me to meeting David Lyle (the then-president of FremantleMedia). It was a great five years and I got to work with titles like "Whammy!," "Match Game," "Password," "Now You See It," "Card Sharks," and the crown jewel of them all..."The Price is Right." Then, about four years ago, David and Bob (who had by then moved to Fox Reality Channel) called me and asked me if I wanted to come over and join their team as an exec at the new channel. And that, my friends, is where I've been ever since!
There are tons of details I've left out between now and then that I'll reminisce about in a series of blogs over the next several days, but boy...it's been quite the journey so far. There have been a lot of people who have taken chances on me over the past decade and to them, I give a BIG thanks.
When I graduated from college ten years ago, I NEVER thought that I would write for a prime-time network game show, bring back one of my all-time favorite game shows from the 80s, create a game for "The Price is Right," meet many of the celebrities and producers that I admired growing up, launch a cable channel, oversee a five-day-a-week reality newsmagazine show, develop and help create a new awards show, act as a network exec on up to five shows at a time, and (probably most important of all) still have time to make all the wonderful friends I've made throughout the years!
I think this Randy Newman song says it all...
When my friends from high school or college ask me how life's been in L.A., I tell them that it's been a blast. At my recent college reunion, many people told me, "You know...YOU'RE the one that actually knew what he was going to do from day one at college and actually did it!"
And you know what? That's actually quite right, but it doesn't always happen that way. I know I'm an extremely lucky person. And because of this, I'm very grateful for all that has happened and I never take anything for granted!
L.A., you've truly has become home for me...To my friends, colleagues, and mentors...thank you for making this first decade in Los Angeles so wonderful. Here's hoping that the next decade brings just as much (if not more) joy and happiness!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
MI on MJ
Geez...it's been a weird week. On one hand...a very successful week at work with a great show wrapping up production...but on the other hand...lots of bad news to digest.
One that totally came out of the blue...Michael Jackson's death...After the shock of hearing that he died, I got to thinking and realized how much he was part of my life.
As a child of the 80s, one couldn't sneeze without hearing Michael Jackson on the radio. I was addicted to MTV very early in the network's run and as a result got really hooked on Michael Jackson's music. I remember being SO mesmerized by the light-up sidewalk that Michael would dance on in the video to "Billie Jean." "Beat It" was one of those brilliant songs that had a hook you couldn't shake out of your head no matter what. And the video for "Thriller..." Heh...I'll confess that the video freaked the hell out of me...to the point where I didn't watch MTV for years.
In the summer of 1983, my family took a road trip from South Florida all the way up to San Francisco. As we traversed thousands of miles, I sat in the back of my parents' green Ford station wagon with my new Walkman listening to a cassette of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." The melodies of "PYT," "Wanna Be Startin' Something," "Human Nature," and "The Girl is Mine" became ingrained in my mind. I don't know that cassette ended up but it got a lot of wear and tear that summer...
As I grew up, I will admit that Michael Jackson became the punchline for a lot of hack jokes I wrote in a brief attempt at stand-up comedy. During the Harvard freshman talent show, a joke I did about his "You Are Not Alone" video gave me a reputation in the first few weeks of freshman year of being "that guy who did the Michael Jackson" joke. Even a few weeks ago at my ten-year reunion, somebody recounted hearing me tell that joke. Go figure...
Then. something interesting happened several years ago...His trio of albums that he did with Quincy Jones were remastered and re-released. Naturally, I bought them and it was then that I re-discovered how great these albums ("Off the Wall," "Thriller," and "Bad") are. It was then that I really looked past all the bizarre tabloid gossip and gained a greater respect for Michael Jackson as this music icon.
This especially happened as I listened to "Thriller" from beginning to end...probably the first time I had done so since that long car trip in the summer of 1983. In a way, it took me back to that simpler time when my biggest worry was if I had enough tokens to play Pac-Man and Dig-Dug at the Chuck E. Cheese.
A month ago, my friend Ken took me to the "American Idol" finale and there was a rumor going around that Michael Jackson was going to make an appearance. Even though it was a rumor, I had that twing of excitement brewing in my stomach...could I actually to finally have a chance to see the King of Pop live?!? Alas, it never happened...and it never will.
Fortunately, we have his music and videos to remember him by...here are a few MJ faves of mine that aren't as well-known as some of the bigger hits...
"We Are Here to Change the World" from "Captain EO," my favorite of the Disney theme park 3D movies
This is the full version of "Smooth Criminal." This always reminds me of the awesome Sega Genesis game "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker."
One of my ALL-TIME favorites..."Can You Feel It," this is the one that should have been a bigger hit than it was originally. I used this song as to warm up the crowds at the college game show I hosted
R.I.P. Michael Jackson, you'll be missed but not forgotten!
One that totally came out of the blue...Michael Jackson's death...After the shock of hearing that he died, I got to thinking and realized how much he was part of my life.
As a child of the 80s, one couldn't sneeze without hearing Michael Jackson on the radio. I was addicted to MTV very early in the network's run and as a result got really hooked on Michael Jackson's music. I remember being SO mesmerized by the light-up sidewalk that Michael would dance on in the video to "Billie Jean." "Beat It" was one of those brilliant songs that had a hook you couldn't shake out of your head no matter what. And the video for "Thriller..." Heh...I'll confess that the video freaked the hell out of me...to the point where I didn't watch MTV for years.
In the summer of 1983, my family took a road trip from South Florida all the way up to San Francisco. As we traversed thousands of miles, I sat in the back of my parents' green Ford station wagon with my new Walkman listening to a cassette of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." The melodies of "PYT," "Wanna Be Startin' Something," "Human Nature," and "The Girl is Mine" became ingrained in my mind. I don't know that cassette ended up but it got a lot of wear and tear that summer...
As I grew up, I will admit that Michael Jackson became the punchline for a lot of hack jokes I wrote in a brief attempt at stand-up comedy. During the Harvard freshman talent show, a joke I did about his "You Are Not Alone" video gave me a reputation in the first few weeks of freshman year of being "that guy who did the Michael Jackson" joke. Even a few weeks ago at my ten-year reunion, somebody recounted hearing me tell that joke. Go figure...
Then. something interesting happened several years ago...His trio of albums that he did with Quincy Jones were remastered and re-released. Naturally, I bought them and it was then that I re-discovered how great these albums ("Off the Wall," "Thriller," and "Bad") are. It was then that I really looked past all the bizarre tabloid gossip and gained a greater respect for Michael Jackson as this music icon.
This especially happened as I listened to "Thriller" from beginning to end...probably the first time I had done so since that long car trip in the summer of 1983. In a way, it took me back to that simpler time when my biggest worry was if I had enough tokens to play Pac-Man and Dig-Dug at the Chuck E. Cheese.
A month ago, my friend Ken took me to the "American Idol" finale and there was a rumor going around that Michael Jackson was going to make an appearance. Even though it was a rumor, I had that twing of excitement brewing in my stomach...could I actually to finally have a chance to see the King of Pop live?!? Alas, it never happened...and it never will.
Fortunately, we have his music and videos to remember him by...here are a few MJ faves of mine that aren't as well-known as some of the bigger hits...
"We Are Here to Change the World" from "Captain EO," my favorite of the Disney theme park 3D movies
This is the full version of "Smooth Criminal." This always reminds me of the awesome Sega Genesis game "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker."
One of my ALL-TIME favorites..."Can You Feel It," this is the one that should have been a bigger hit than it was originally. I used this song as to warm up the crowds at the college game show I hosted
R.I.P. Michael Jackson, you'll be missed but not forgotten!
