This Friday we all got a brush of reality with Rosie and Team Ro. I think these behind the shows are fantastic. We all get to know and love the machine that makes it all come together. From seeing executive producer, Jenna Kostelnik-Utley, in her light up necklace to help Rosie find her on the floor to the hunt for fulfilling the Russell Brand dreams. You see Russell Brand wasn’t booked when she announced to the media that he was her first guest. I can only imagine the pressure on Team Ro to make that happen. While Rosie moved forward with her test shows the panic was evident as production assistants ran around like crazy. Everyone knew it was the start of something great!
The wardrobe emergencies were hysterical. Despite her grievances about her clothes…she always looks great! I just pray they never dress her in pleather again. Working out the timing issues were a little harder to take care of. Getting back in her groove, her 2 hour shows began to be trimmed. The game show bits became an even more difficult to navigate. Hoping to one day fulfill her dream of hosting a game show (possibly on OWN), Rosie desperately wants to include these segments. But pulling off a game show within a show isn’t easy. I loved how Lisa Erspamer played along with the game – she was very impressive!
Constantly working to get the set right – desk, no desk…curtains, half curtain…positioning and sets. It was all coming together, but as the premiere loomed everyone’s had to have been nervous. Rosie then began talking about the authenticity of the show. Having a moment and not redoing it to make it producer perfect. It was important to her that it was real but she knew the realistic way to accomplish that was taping live…and with a few why nots from Lisa Erspamer, the magic happened and the panic began. Being that they haven’t been able to actually stick to an hour show, they all must have been going crazy!!!
Russell Brand continued to captivate Rosie on all levels. Luckily Team Ro pulled it off! The coordination was a nightmare for the team. It’s not easy pulling off Chicago times with LA guests. Literally arriving within moments to taping – LIVE I remind you – there must have been a defibrillator in house. Once he hit the building, everyone began to breathe again.
The premiere went off without a hitch. I remember watching that night. I was just as excited as everyone else. “Even if we suck, it’s still fun” Rosie announced. Well they didn’t suck and it was hella fun! The premiere reminded me of a great football game or an Olympic performance when everything just came together perfectly making magic. It was an incredible moment in time watching Rosie complete her first show for Oprah’s new network. What we didn’t originally get to see was Rosie’s reaction to the close of the premiere show. With tears in her eyes and Oprah by her side she commented on the show and Oprah. “Very few people get a second shot at something like this and have the second shot be even bigger than the first shot in the shadow of that woman is the hugest honor I could ever imagine.” OWN, thank you for sharing this behind the scenes – I loved it!
Check out more behind the scene clips of Oprah making her appearance on the show and Russell Brand working the crowd here!