Marisha
Tuesday, 27 Sept 2011 my sister and I went to the taping of I Hate My Teenage Daughter, co-starring Eric Sheffer Stevens. We had so much fun. Neither of us had been to anything like this before, but would love to go again. While waiting, we met two fellow Eric/Reid fans and we sat together. We were lucky enough to get seats front row, center! Yay us! They showed us the pilot episode before taping started so we could get to know the show and characters
It was interesting watching the actors perform their scenes. Sometimes they’d redo a scene exactly the same, or they’d change a word or line, sometimes they’d move the actors into a new position. Occasionally the boom operator, who was positioned in front or near us most of the night would talk to us & explain what was going on, as when they filmed the empty set for still shots.
Everyone was very professional during filming, yet didn’t take themselves too seriously when an occasional mistake or forgotten line occurred. They all laughed with and at each other. The cast seemed to be enjoying themselves. There was a lot of teasing going on between the actors. One funny moment happened when Eric walked into the scene, smiled and turned around and walked right back out the door. He’d forgotten his line.
The warm-up guy was fun and kept the crowd engaged. At one point the crowd was singing (loudly) “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Living on a Prayer” this seemed to amuse the cast and crew greatly.
I learnt that Eric can juggle small fruit lol. He’s rather quite good at it.
There was popcorn on the set for the actors to eat during the scenes, so yes Eric’s character was eating (he even ate it during the times they weren’t filming) His character was either eating or drinking coffee through most of the scenes.
My favorite Eric moment I hope the camera caught was after sitting on the couch next to his daughter “Sophie”, “Matt” reached an arm around her, pulling her into a small hug and kissed the top of her head. Aww! Such a dad thing to do! So real and freaking cute! Sadly, it was in the background when two other characters were chatting, so I’m not sure it was filmed. Fingers crossed!
After filming ended, the four of us waited while the rest of the audience were filing out. Kevin Rahm came over to see a couple of fans and then stopped to see us. He was very personable, outgoing and charming. Earlier he’d been laughing and interacting with the crowd. You could tell that he’s dealt with fans before (I’m assuming this is from his time on Desperate Housewives and their excited fans), he was very at ease with everyone.
We were hoping to get Eric’s attention. Luckily, Kristi Lauren, who plays his daughter, Sophie, saw us waiting at the railing and pointed at Eric in question. Nodding yes, I pointed back at her and him & said “Both of you.” She smiled and let him know that we were there for him, then they both came over to speak with us!
Eric seemed genuinely shocked that we were there for HIM and not one of the “bigger name” actors on the show. He was so kind and gracious. Just so normal – nothing “Hollywood” or ego about him. Very down-to-earth and unassuming. He was a bit more reserved than Kevin had been, I think he’s still shocked that HE even has fans. He thanked us for coming!
I told him that my sister and I had gone to the screening in NYC for Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty, he was once again surprised. I complimented his and Jenny’s performances, told him we thought that the movie was great (it is!) and he was appreciative. He mentioned that he still hadn’t seen it yet. I’m sure he was thinking we were crazy to have now traveled to both coasts for his work (oh yes the miles I’ve logged for him lol!).
I got bold and asked for an autograph (again he seemed surprised that anyone would want that from him). He was so nice about doing so. He asked my name, then was surprised about the spelling and pronunciation (it’s kinda different) and we chatted about my name (squee!) and how confusing it was for other people. He was so sweet. After meeting him, and experiencing what a kind, nice guy he really is, I am an even bigger fan. He does appreciate his fans! He wasn’t required to come speak to us, but he did and that will always mean something to me. I am Eric fan forever! (not that I wasn’t before)
When the other two ladies mentioned that they’d been at the pilot, he told us that they had had to re-shoot a lot of the scenes from the pilot, changing some things. I noticed that in this episode “Matt” was not as much of a “slacker” or “loser” nor as “out-of-it” as he was in the pilot. He is still in a band, and it’s very much a part of the character but not too much so. His character was more “with-it”. His lines had more thought and intelligence behind them now. He had some funny lines, even a few serious ones. His humor was more observant and a bit sarcastic. “Where are our beautiful daughters?” asking about the missing teens. I like the small changes that I noticed.
Kristi was very nice. She is quite the happy, cheerful person. It was nice to talk to her for a moment also.
It was so cool to see Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham) from Happy Days in the row behind us and a few seats over. I loved that show growing up so I kinda fan-gurled! Though I did wonder how many of the young people in the crowd actually knew who she was.
Also before filming started, Zachary Levi (Chuck and Tangled) spent about 30min hanging out and visiting with the crew members.
