Well, I am back from NYC. Why was I there? My best friend won this contest. She invited me along to be her “guest” on the expenses-paid trip to New York. It was the perfect trip for the two of us, who have shared a love of pop culture (and a love of MTV) that dates back to when MTV only showed videos.
Click "More" for my description of my visit to TRL.
I flew from Columbus, OH to Baltimore on Tuesday morning, and hopped Amtrak to Philadelphia, where I met up with my friend (Alisa, known to me as “Al,” and how I will refer to her from here on). We got on another train (free! Business class!) and were picked up by a sedan outside of Penn Station. We were taken to our hotel, the Doubletree Suites Times Square, where we met Eileen and Kylie, our contacts from the promotional company that ran the contest and our camp counselors of a sort for the next few days.
Our suite was spacious and nice without being intimidating, and was situated on the fortieth floor of the hotel. We had a fabulous view of Times Square and MTV studios. After some sightseeing and eating, we made an early night of it and Al got up early the next morning for a stint with MTV wardrobe. I headed over to MTV around noon to take my place in the audience for Total Request Live (TRL).
At 24, I’m almost twice as old as a typical TRL viewer. The guests for the day were Hilary Duff and Kelly Clarkson. Hilary Duff is, as I understand it, the star of a program on Nickelodeon (Lizzie McGuire, I believe) and is fifteen years old. Kelly Clarkson was the winner of the first American Idol competition. Jessica Simpson also made a brief appearance, but since she haunted me throughout my time in NYC, I'll say more about her later. The TRL experience was interesting. First, one waits in line outside for an indeterminate period of time. I, fortunately, avoided this through my semi-VIP status. Then, once you enter MTV, you go through a security checkpoint. Finally, you wait in line, two by two, in a cramped, hot, hallway. While standing in this line, the two preternaturally blonde and beautiful women who appear to be in charge of the whole production (or, at least in charge of crowd control and audience behavior) seek out enthusiastic types to do “shout outs” on the show. These consist of viewers saying things like, “I love this Christina Aguilera video! It makes me feel so full of energy! I’d like to say hello to all of my friends in Omaha, and my boyfriend Jared! I love you! Wooooooooooo!” The preternaturally blonde and beautiful women (PBBW) then have the shouter-outers practice what they will say and how they will hold the microphone. Once all of the shouter-outers were chosen, we were led into the TRL studio.
Which is…the size of my thumb. It doesn’t look especially large on television, but, believe me, it is teeny tiny. The audience sits on metal bleachers (MTV, sparing no expense). Contrary to my expectations, we were given very few instructions. Our role was simple: sit, applaud, scream, and “woooo!”
Alone, because Al was still somewhere back in the bowels of MTV getting dressed, I felt pretty ridiculous, but did my best “wooo”s that I could muster and tried to blend in. I was glad that I wore a t-shirt and jeans – I think I probably didn’t look 24, but I surely looked older than everyone in the room, including the VJs.
Kelly Clarkson seemed to be honestly, truly, genuinely nice. She was friendly and amiable to those clamoring for her attention, and was poised without it seeming forced on camera. Hilary Duff seemed, well, 15. She’s younger than the Olsen twins. That’s all I have to say about her.
We screamed, and woo-ed, and clapped, all under the watchful instruction of the PBBW. I tried my best not to be obscured by the four foot ten inch woman next to me, who kept climbing on the bleachers to get closer to Kelly Clarkson. She was admonished twice by crew members.
Finally, Al and her two co-trivia contest winners made their brief on-camera appearance. Right after that, the show was over, and we were all hastily escorted out of the studios. I received a free Hilary Duff CD which I’ve given to one of my teenaged cousins. I also received a “MTV moon man” key chain, which I will keep for myself. I am going to do my best to not have to be forcefully compelled to “woo!” again for quite a while. I think I was on camera once or twice, right over Kelly Clarkson's left shoulder.
Stay tuned for more from my three days with MTV.
heehee. i throughly enjoyed your description of the practice "shout outs." and to think i missed all that!!!
Posted by: "al" on September 4, 2003 07:18 PM