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I arrived early, determined to take in at least one panel during my weekend. I got in line for Chuck, which was the first event of the day in the cavernous, yet not as large as Hall H, Ballroom 20. I found myself weaving through the line under a big tent, rather content over seeing the massive crowd behind me. Then I saw the massive crowd in front of me. I took pictures, but every tent you see down the balcony represents weaving lines of fans. Then, the line goes that entire length outside. Here I was in the middle, confident I’d get in, but where would my seat be? Thank heavens I was already booked for the press room after this event.
In front of me
Behind me
There were plenty of Chuck devotees with their ties, white shirts with “Buy More” and messenger bags, but my favorite was the guy right behind me. He agreed to be photographed only after I told him the name of my website. Since he’d never heard of it, he wasn’t worried that it would be in massive circulation. I didn’t have any proof he was wrong.
The line eventually moved, and I then wound through that massive amount of line roping that spanned the entire length of the balcony, and then inside that whole length. It took forever, and I’m still wondering how long it felt for all the people behind me. Yes, perspective like that is required in these maddening events.
I did get in and took a seat on the right hand side about 1/3 down from the front of the room. Not bad seats. No, I couldn’t see too clearly, but again, 2/3 of the room was doing worse than me. No one around me was in a talkative mood. I guess the long wait in line sucked the life right out of them.
The panel got started in spectacular fashion, with a video of season two highlights. There were plenty. Of course it had to end with that HUGE tagline that capped that fantastic finale, “I know Kung Fu.” Then, we see a clip of one month later in Josh Schwartz’s (co-creator) office. The other creator Chris Fedak is in there with him, and so is a bearded Zachary Levi. Josh and Chris are calmly talking about Zach’s future plans, none of which seem to involve season three. Zach is freaking out, but Josh calmly takes the call that he perceived to be the cancellation announcement.
He stoically responds to the word, and tells them “If you change your minds let me know.” He then announces they’ve been picked up. Zach goes wild in celebration, they smile, he leaves, and then Chris Fedak starts freaking out. Apparently, “I know Kung Fu” was a fun way to close out the series, and they’ve got nothing. How are they going to continue with that? Chris of course is cursing out Josh for failing on his promise that there wouldn’t be another season. If anyone thinks that this is serious BTW, you are definitely watching the wrong show.
Josh calmly announces he’s got something, and turns to the couches where Jeff and Lester are sitting. He asks them if they’re ready, and next thing we know Jeffster takes the stage! Jeff has his keytar, and Lester breaks into their rendition of “Fat Bottomed Girls.” The crowd goes nuts, and then the rest of the cast comes on stage and starts singing along. This video is on Youtube in many forms, so I highly suggest checking this out. It was a great moment.
The panel itself was fun but tame, since they really don’t have any spoilers to share. The Subway thing is “TBD” and anytime a good idea was presented, like a musical episode, Chris started writing that down. The cast had a great time, so did we, and after 45 minutes it was all over. Onto the press room!
That was a circus. This press room I actually had to check in with someone. I was on the list, and got my seat at a table in the back. Which promptly got Josh Schwartz as the first guest. I loved hearing what he had to say, until these two people ruined it by asking for Gossip Girl spoilers. That ended up wasting a minute or two of our short time. Turns out we got a turn with everyone, except Sarah Lancaster and Chris Fedak. Yes, we got to converse with all the show’s stars. I got really great interviews out of that, and now have to find time to transcribe them all.
My huge thrill of the panel though, which I wrote about on The Winchester Family Business, was meeting Robert Duncan McNeill, who was in the corner not getting any attention at all. He was Tom Paris on Star Trek Voyager before going into a successful TV producing and directing career. He’s now the Supervising Producer on Chuck. He directed Supernatural’s “Skin,” so I took a few minutes while waiting for Chuck talent to introduce myself as a huge fan of his work and getting a few sound bites about directing “Skin.” He was super nice and let me take pictures.
When that panel ended, I went downstairs to meet two fellow Supernatural bloggers. We were exhausted, and the day was young. It was a nice way to share information though, and just talk in general about what it’s like to be tiny fish in this big media pond. It’s really not all that bad. Things aren’t good for those big fish right now. Yeah, my day job is Database Analyst, but it pays well and will be there tomorrow. People in the media can’t say that these days.
Chuck ended up being the only panel I attended. I did the Fringe press room next, and got at a table where I met some fantastic bloggers. One did Supernatural coverage for her site, so we had plenty to talk about. The Fringe cast were delightful, all of them. Even the two show runners and two writers we got to speak to were very nice and willing to share spoilers that I’ll write about later. The only person we didn’t get to speak to was John Noble because time ran out.
After that, in which I have about six more interviews to transcribe, I went onto the Vampire Diaries press room. That turned out really well. Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec were really great and had some fantastic information to share about their unique approach to their vampire story. They also answered my question about their prime slot on The CW. Since they don’t have a lead in, the network is really going to have to promote the show. The idea came up about touting is as “hot brothers” night. I’m all for that!
The cast was exhausted, for all three hadn’t slept in two days. They filmed until 6:00 the previous evening and then flew directly to San Diego. They looked good, but you could tell they were really tired. Still, they seem to be excited about their new project and walked the walk and talked the talk very well. Ian Somerhandler let it slip he’s coming back to Lost too for an appearance or two, which upset the publicist a little. She didn’t want us talking about Lost. She had a point. I came out of that with six more interviews to transcribe and a big curiosity about the show.
After that I went to go to the Vampire Diaries panel, but the line was ridiculous. More tent weaving outside and this one went way beyond that. The room isn’t that big compared to Hall H or Ballroom 20. Apparently, Mythbusters was after that and that’s what all those fans were there for. I was going to attend that as well, but the hurricane impulse kicked in, and I was gone.
Oh, but it turns out the best story of the day happened while sitting at the bar at the Hard Rock! I noticed when I got there they had a prop sitting out, Wonder Woman’s red and white boots. So cool I thought. So, imagine what happens when Wonder Woman comes into the restaurant. She was ecstatic. Boots and Superhero reunited! Of course, being the crack journalist that I am, I got a picture of all this and a story to share. Wonder Woman was more than happy to permit me to chronicle her joy on this site.
I didn’t sleep much Saturday night, for I knew the big event, the one I came to San Diego for, was happening the next day. I would get to meet Eric Kripke, Sera Gamble, and Ben Edlund. I’ve met Jim Beaver and Misha Collins before, but I was excited to see them again. Nope, I was going into that thing fueled on pure adrenaline. Plus there would be five new interviews to transcribe.
