Becoming a TV Star

The latest in the continuing series of our vacaction.........

We spent Thursday in L.A. While there, we went to the world's largest linear freak show as I called it. Everyone else calls it Venice Beach. Actually, it was a little more tame than what I expcected and I thought there would be more people working out at Muscle Beach. We walked along the Oceanfront Walk, checking out the condos, shops, street performers and mostly, the food.

After making our way back through downtown L.A., we drove down Rodeo Drive so my daughter could take pictures of the stores there. Unfortunately, there were no celebrity sightings.

We made our way over toward the "Hollywood" sign and drove up Beachwood Avenue to get a good look at it (and some good pictures, too). This was just a short little trip but every tourist has to see the sign!

We had made plans to meet some friends of ours on Hollywood Boulevard for dinner and arrived there about an hour before our meeting time. We had parked in a mall parking garage and really didn't know where we were headed when we saw some light indicating that we were obviously headed in the right direction - outside! We were on the second floor so I was a bit surprised to find that it opened into an open-air courtyard. Right in the center was a big glass box. As soon as we saw it my daughter, Libby, recognized that it was from the TLC show "Ten Years Younger". While looking at the box a cameraman came by and asked if we wanted to be in the audience. My wife and daughter said yes so we walked the stars for a while and then returned at about 5:00. There were people from TLC there asking people to be in the audience. My wife, Karen, my son, Brad and Libby decided to do so and they were asked to fill out a waiver to be included in the show. My oldest son, Kyle, and I decided to just watch from a convenient bench so we were in charge of holding purses and cameras.

As the taping for the show got closer, the TLC people realized that they didn't have enough people for the audience so a lady walked up to Kyle and I and asked if we would please fill in the back. They pulled up some tables for us to stand on so it looked like everybody was on risers.

Now, if you don't know the premise of the show, here's the quick synopsis: TLC finds a person and puts them in a big glass box while they have passer-bys guess the age of the person. In this case, the person was named George and we weren't around when they did this part of the filming. Anyway, they took George away and gave him a makeover and then revealed the "new and improved" George to his family. It's the big reveal that we were a part of. During the course of the makeover, George never gets to see himself (wink, wink) so when he comes out from behind a curtain, there's a big mirror that he walks up to and looks at himself.

As George looks at himself in the mirror, I realize that the cameraman is behind George and is pointing the camera at the mirror. Kyle and I happened to be in a direct line behind the camera. Karen, Brad and Libby were on the front row behind the family and the "Glam Squad" so I'm pretty sure they'll be seen when the show airs.

As for Kyle and I.........well, I don't know if we'll be seen on the show or not but if you happen to see this show and the makeover is done on a guy named George, look for me in the top row of the audience. I shouldn't be hard to find - I'll be the guy with the purse!