Diary of a Production Assistant – Part 1
“Are you of the Hebrew persuasion?” Dick Clark to me in 2001.
Why yes Dick, I am a Hebrew. For many, that means settling into a life of being a doctor, lawyer or accountant. Having an aversion to both blood and math, I decided upon the law. Seven years of schooling later, I was a practicing attorney. Four years later, things took a sharp right turn.
In 1995, I decided to leave the practice of law and start my career in the Entertainment industry. I gave up an office with a window, a secretary who was indispensable and a nice salary to become a production assistant, PA for short, on the brand new daytime talkshow, Carnie!. Yes, Carnie!, with the exclamation point, hosted by none other than Carnie Wilson, no exclamation point, of Wilson Philips fame. 1995 saw daytime talk explode with eight new shows starting, including ones with Gabrielle Carteris, Charles Perez, Danny Bonaduce and Tempestt Bledsoe. It was a rough and tumble year, everyone bloody and bruised, which I think can be best summed up by the NY Times who wrote this:
“Carnie,” featuring Carnie Wilson, is expected to be canceled before next season even though it is the most popular of the new shows, with a 2.1 average rating.
The fact that they didn’t use the exclamation point was a precursor of what was to come. We were in fact cancelled after that first year, replaced in a retooled version of the show which was to be hosted by someone name Rosie O’Donnell.
But before that cancellation there were some crazy times, insane times, not to be believed times. Following is a list of badly misspelled notes from the first few weeks of working on the show.
From Bubbles the stripper to picking up a guest at the hospital to having another PA beat up while he was trying to guard some guests, the stories behind these stories are even more insane. Next up the cast of characters both before and behind the camera.
#carnie #daytimetalk #rosie #ellen #rantingsfromthebrink #1995 #insangucafe
