LOST FANS......Unite!

I'm counting down to early 2009 when my favorite TV show - LOST - returns to ABC.

You won't really understand my devotion if terms like:
the others
the hatch
the oceanic 6
the Dharma initiative
Locke vs. Jack.....

don't mean anything to you.

But for LOST devotees, they mean everything. We've been watching since 2004 and will never forget the day Oceanic Flight 815 crashed into the ocean and the "survivors" came into our lives.

While the twists, turns, questions and queries about LOST are numerous, the Emmy-award winning show has a huge following. LOST devotees are a special breed who have to get used to the crazy ABC schedule and the show "going missing" for months at a time.

For instance, it won't return now until early 2009. Here's a bit of a preview:





Here are some vital websites related to LOST:
http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index
http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Main_Page


And one of my favorite characters on the show is Sayid who's played by Naveen Andrews (http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=bios#t=character&d=39847). His character is a bad @ss Iraqi soldier - who like the other mysteriously landed on the Island and his skills were extremely useful there. I've met several celebrities in my 35 years on the Earth and I'd love to add him to the list!

I didn't watch the Emmy's...and others didn't either

I spent Sunday night enjoying turkey meatballs and spaghetti, while watching re-runs of Lost.

I'd rather see the fashions online instead of spending three hours watching the whole show.

That's where I saw Heidi Klum's fab silver dress!

I flipped to the Emmy's for a second but that's all.

Guess I wasn't alone according to http://www.eonline.com/ :

No Deal for Emmy Ratings
Today 10:15 AM PDT by Joal Ryan

Reality bit for the Emmys.
If ratings estimates hold, last night's show could go down as the least-watched Emmy telecast on record.
From 8-11 p.m., the ABC telecast averaged 12.2 million, down 6 percent from last year's Nielsen-challenged affair, and on par with the record-low 12.3 million who caught the show in 1990.
This year was the fourth straight year of ratings decline for the Emmys, which last topped 20 million viewers in 2000.
Judging by the numbers, slightly more people were interested in this year's Emmy telecast than last, at least until the show started.
ABC's Jimmy Kimmel-hosted red-carpet preshow, which aired from 7-8 p.m., averaged 4.6 million viewers, up a tick from the 4.4 million Fox scored for its preshow in 2007.
Last night's show took hits from critics, and even Emmy winners, for its emphasis on reality TV as embodied by its squadron of reality TV hosts: Survivor's Jeff Probst; Project Runway's Heidi Klum; American Idol's Ryan Seacrest; Dancing with the Stars' Tom Bergeron; and Deal or No Deal's Howie Mandel.

I *Almost* Met Britney Spears

Her little sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, gave birth to a baby girl in a hospital that's about 80 miles south of Jackson.

We heard Britney had been at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center earlier in the day for the birth, but we weren't sure if she was there when our crew arrived around 3 p.m.
The town was buzzing especially in the Super D drugstore across the street from the hospital.
Security was very tight though. McComb police were patrolling the outside of the hospital. A hospital visitor told me they were checking everyone's I-D who entered the hospital and when she tried to visit a friend on the maternity floor if was even tougher.
We (16 WAPT's crew) got kicked out of a parking lot across the street from the hospital because although it said clinic it was on hospital property. But the First Baptist Church of McComb was nice enough to let us park our satellite truck in their lot so we could go live at 5 & 6 p.m.

Here's my live report from 5 p.m.: http://www.wapt.com/video/16658130/

March Appearance on THE VIEW

Sorry this took me so long to post. But I needed to find time to edit the video and upload the pics.

Monday, March 24th I was home in NY for Easter Weekend. Me, my Mom, and family friend Mrs. Dunham first tried to get in to see "Regis and Kelly." But the line was long, even for folks with tickets, let alone folks on standby.

So we took a cab a few blocks over and went to THE VIEW. Since I hadn't called ahead to ask for VIP tickets (the office was closed Good Friday and the weekend), I didn't really expect us to have much luck there either.

Since my Mom is on a cane from her two knee surgeries, she went right into THE VIEW front door and asked for a place to sit in the lobby. Security abliged. I stood in the "stand by" line at first, hoping to get seats that way. Then since it was cold I decided I wanted to sit in the lobby too. An audience coordinator wanted to know what I was doing inside, since they'd only agreed to let Mom and Mrs. Dunham inside. When I told her I worked for an ABC station and showed her my card, she said there's room for us in VIP. THANK GOODNESS. We were put at the front of the line.

While we waited in line to be allowed in the studio several ALL MY CHILDREN actors came through the lobby since both shows are in the same building. We saw Debbie Morgan who plays Angie on AMC. But the biggest treat was when Cameron Mathison stopped by. He was also another one of the nicest celebrities I've ever met. He took about 20 pictures with people waiting in the lobby:

Joyce & Cameron

Cameron & a fan

Cameron & Mrs. Dunham

Pics of the studio before the show:

(Can you tell I need to invest in a digital camera and stop using my camera phone???!!!)

The show was a day of hot topics and the gift was just their new spring mug.

But I got the chance to do the tease/promo of what's coming up in the show with Elisabeth Hasselbeck. I didn't have to chance to call back to Jackson and tell my colleagues I was going to be on. But they got a later feed of the show and ran a clip that night at 10 p.m. It includes video from my first appearance on THE VIEW in 2005:

I promise to upload the rest of the clip from 2005 later this week.

Stormy Friday and met a celebrity

Can you tell I need to get a digital camera and stop using my cell phone?


When Friday's tornado came through the Jackson area, it shook my house and dropped dime sized hail outside my windows.

Power was knocked out to the traffic signals in my neighborhood so I had a heckuva time getting to work.

A 20 minute ride -- took me two hours.

So many trees were down. On my way to work and since I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic, I snapped a few pics with my Treo and e-mailed them to the station.

Tree Removal Crew

Tree snapped

This wasn't even the worst of it. We have many more pics of damage in a sideshow on the station's website: http://www.wapt.com/slideshow/weather/15795875/detail.html

The day was packed with storm coverage and I stopped at Applebee's on the way home. Ran into a celebrity you've seen in movies, TV shows, even soap operas.

Robert Gossett of TNT's "The Closer" was at the bar with his brother, Neal. Left my Treo in the car so I added a pic of Robert I found online.

Sadly, they were in town for a relative's funeral. But they were in good spirits.

Robert told me he's the cousin of Academy Award nominated actor, Lou Gossett Jr. I encouraged him to attend the Crossroads Film Festival this weekend but he'll probably be busy visiting family. It's his first time in Mississippi.

Source: EpisodeList.com

Robert goes down in my book as a really down-to-earth celebrity. He didn't mind when I approached him or when others did either. So if you ever see him in L.A. or elsewhere know that he's a cool guy.

I'll be posting more celebrity run-ins in the future AND my latest appearance on ABC's THE VIEW when I have a little more time.