Remember the New York trip? Well, this wandering webmaster was at it again, but for this years trip I managed to take a whole bunch of friends along too! Emboldened by the fun of meeting one Internet friend in New York, the AOL Nannyfans gang often talked of someday all being able to get together in person. We never thought it would happen, being spread all over the country, from New England to Florida to Texas to California and all points in between. The rallying cry was "Next year in LA!" but nobody said it with much conviction.

Thank you Barb :-) Let me introduce myself first: I am Sabine, the only European of the group and a multifunctional being at Belgian TV in my everyday life. Together with ten American Nanny fans, I took my spring holiday in Los Angeles this year. In contrast to most of my fellow Nannyfans, I decided to stay 10 days in total. Would have been pretty silly to spend 24 hours on a plane and only 50-something hours in town... Plus: this schedule gave me the chance to attend two Nanny tapings AND the Nanny-honouring event at the Museum for Television and Radio. Luckily, Steph was able to join me from day 1, or I'd have felt pretty lonely in Big Town LA...

I am sitting in the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, waiting for my connecting flight to LA. And I am getting nervous. I am about to fly to an unknown town, and meet with a bunch of people I've never seen in my life. Eleven women, ages ranging between 25 and 45, all with different occupations. At least, that's what the zillions of e-mails said... Eleven women, who took the dive in the unknown, convinced mothers, boyfriends, husbands, kids, bosses and colleagues we had to do this. But what if those people turn out to be completely different from what their mails suggested? Or worse: what if I arrive in LA all alone, and ten Americans have a good laugh with a naive European? I try not to give in to that little devil nagging my thoughts, but it's a difficult fight.

I arrive at the hotel in Culver City, and the first thing I notice, is that our VCR that Steph has arranged for has not arrived. (After I noticed that the hotel is very nice, and the staff extremely helpful.) As soon as Steph got there, the first thing I asked about was that VCR.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" "The VCR isn't there, is it?" Believe me: if you have 11 Nanny fans gathering, a VCR is pretty vital... Especially when one of the Nanny fans lives in a country where viewers are still waiting for season 5 to arrive! Sabine made it CRYSTAL clear how much she wanted to see the engagement episode before the taping, so even though it was late, I figured I'd call the rental store, what did we have to loose?

OH to have pics of Sabine jumping on the bed when they said the VCR would be there sometime that night! PRICELESS!!!

There is only time to watch one episode before tomorrow's taping, and I figured The Engagement would be the obvious choice to bring me up to date. When I plug in the tape, expectations run high... Thirty seconds later, I press the 'stop' button. Holy smoke - this is going WAY too fast!

Imagine: my last view upon the show was a closed curtain around a hospital bed, and now I am suddenly flooded with "Fran" and "Max" all over the place, kisses, "I love you"... HELP - I can't follow! Later in the episode, when Fran descends the stairs, ready for the dinner at the Rainbow Room, I am confused again. Who is this guy descending the stairs with Fran, camcorder in hand? Wait, that's Brighton!? Gosh, Benjamin Salisbury sure got a growth spurt the past year!

Of course the jetlag only allows me 2.5 hours of sleep. And no matter what I try - pressing my eyes closed, covering my head with the pillow, hiding under the covers - sleep eludes me. Sigh... I'll just have to try holding on as long as possible. I only hope I can keep my eyes open during the taping!

After lunch at the hotel, Steph and I decide not to take any chances and head for the Culver Studio's already. Of course, we end up there way too early - our hotel being only ten minutes away from The Place To Be.

Ah yes, the studio. As I put money in the meter, I hear these two women talking about a taping, so I ask "What show?" "Mad About You" (MAY in the future). "You?" "The Nanny." She turns to the other, "Why didn't you get us those tickets?" Somehow, I felt proud.

We walk up to the guard, talk a bit. He tells us where we're supposed to wait, and that people usually don't start queuing for The Nanny before 4 PM. Oh. So what are we gonna do the next two hours then? We can't really go somewhere else in the mean time. It's my first day driving in this town, and I'd rather not get lost. After all, we heard only the first 15 people in line are sure to get inside at the taping. And we sure haven't come all this way to return empty-handed!

Back over at the guard, we get the rundown of we're in for a wait. I ask if there's a place to get a drink...store, anything. "No...but we are having a prop sale". We're there, it's there...WHY NOT! Once I saw we got cool visitor passes, I was most definitely happy over the choice to attend.

So, we walk up to a warehouse looking building and voila, props! I saw this cute (for lack of a better word) Beverly Hills sign that off hand I said, "Oh, I want that". "Gee, Steph, somehow, I don't think that will fit on the plane".

Then, Sabine sees this huge street sign with various signs off of it. "Now, that is a sign I could take home." "Gee, Sabine, somehow, I don't think that will fit on the plane." Later, we went back and took pics by our respective signs (although, Sabine's was already sold, so she had no problem resisting that initial temptation).

Says who? I still grieve over it... It would have looked mighty fine in my office :-)

Eventually we head back for the gates, hand in our visitor passes (and regret this heavily). Some of the women in the Mad About You line have bought a chair at the prop sale for $1. Smart thinking, when you consider the fact that we'll have to wait for many more hours! Our side of the gates has a nice leaning wall though.

Our side of the gate remains suspiciously empty. So we stay with the MAY women and chat and chat and chat. More and more people arrive and queue up at their side of the entrance. We're still all alone... Wondering what that could mean...

And then suddenly, shortly after 4 PM, ten Nanny people arrive within 30 seconds! Thank God we didn't leave our spot... It doesn't take long before our line also grows, and the women from Audiences Unlimited show up. Counting. I get number 1, Steph number 2. And no way I am going to move one single step away now. The six New Yorkers behind us ask the AU women if they can fill them in on the story. Steph and I raise our eyebrows. Turns out these people haven't seen a single episode. What on earth are they doing here then? "Is that her real voice?" and more inside questions follow. Even the AU women are surprised. It's a little painful to know that these six will get inside, while dozens of more interested people queuing up behind them most probably won't...

We long for a drink, but we won't drink for long. And frankly, I could really use a restroom. Whilst waiting, we get to know the AU women better. They're very nice. Telling about their job, how bad they feel when they have to send so many waiting people away. "I feel like a bouncer", one of them says. "But that's reality, only so many people can come in..." When they hear about the way we met, over the internet, they are really surprised.

"And you came all the way from Belgium to holiday in an unknown town with ten strangers?"

"Well, yes..."

"Isn't that scary?"

"A little. But then I like meeting new people and exploring new towns!"

The one AU woman has an AOL account and even she was SHOCKED at it all. My fave was it all starting:

"How did you meet?" "E-mail."

"How did you organize it?" "E-mail."

"How do you talk to each other?" "E-mail."

Oh, the AU people were incredibly friendly They keep taking people from both lines for restroom breaks, but Sabine wasn't budging! She was determined to say the least!!! So, we just chat with them, since they were standing in front of us...and us being first in line.

The hands of my watch indicate 5-something PM. There's a lot of talking up and down over the walkie-talkies. Clearly something is bound to happen. We are again asked if we want to make use of the restroom. And although my body screams a loud "YES!" in reply, my head nods no. Suppose they get the order to bring the first 10 people in, just when I am paying a visit to the loo?

Finally, near 5:30 PM, we get the final go. In a single file, we march down to the studio. In front of an open door, which bears the sign "WARNING ! This Door Should Be Closed At All Times!", we are stopped. X-ray scan, checking my handbag, "Follow me!" I climb up some stairs, Steph is immediately behind me. Upon the landing, a look to my left reveals a good hundred seats. Most of them are already filled with VIPs. 107 of them to be exact... Only 14 of the waiting people outside of the gates are allowed to join their Presence.

Further down, we see the sets for the dining room, the office, the living room. We are led to the right, then the woman hesitates. She spots two seats at the left now.

"You wanna sit here or there?"

Oy - think quick, think quick! Okay, so the right gives us only a good view upon the living room, and reveals a little bit of the office. The left side on the other hand, offers a clear view upon the dining room and the office, and shows still a reasonable part of most of the living room. Now, since the best scenes are likely to be office or dining room.....

"Over there," I reply promptly - and we wouldn't regret this choice!

The audience is separated from the set by sturdy iron bars. Above those, several monitors show us their black, lifeless faces. And over our heads, there are rows of microphones. To our left and right, red curtains block our view upon the wings. We can't see anything of the kitchen, nor of the extra sets. At the last centre row, a band is rehearsing. On the battered chairs lie black and white copies of a signed cast picture and pink leaflets with a short introduction to show and cast. I find it odd to read about 'Ms. Drescher' and 'Mr. Davis', while the others are much more personally addressed as Charles, Lauren, Renée, Benjamin...

Down in front of the iron bars, there's a narrow pathway for the cameras. Behind the cameras, three huge panels with "The Nanny" logo painted on them, blocking our view of most of the set. I tell Steph that these panels are undoubtedly meant for the six New Yorkers who still don't seem to know what taping they are actually attending.

We, on the other hand, know only too well, and scan the whole place. I think it very strange that 40-50 people, including quite a lot of kids, were standing down on the set already. Steph wonders with me. No way they could all have something sensible to do. Then - who are they? And what are they doing there? It would remain a mystery for the rest of the night...

We spot Peter. A little later, Benjamin. Then Charles. Then Daniel. Would Lauren be there? Suddenly, the lights dim and the monitors come to life. The beginning of "Hurricane Fran" comes up. Makes sense. After all, this is a clip show, thus capturing something of how the different characters are related to one another. Knowledge that quite some part of the audience seems to lack...

We enjoy watching "Hurricane Fran". There's such an awful lot of great jokes in that one. Clearly, we're not the only ones who think so. So yes, this is a great opener to warm up the audience. Then, Peter comes up. Dressed in a very American way: a Gucci white suit and a bluish silk shirt. He grabs a mike and welcomes us. Says we're gonna watch a great show (what else can the man say?), we're gonna have to laugh a lot, and they record our laughter to use it on the mastertape. The best laugh will get a T-shirt, he promises. He explains about half of the scenes will happen in the wings, so "we all came down to watch a live taping, only to see it on TV". We can ask questions in between scenes, and halfway the taping, we'll get Ding Dongs to save us from starvation. I have no idea what Ding Dongs are, but I do get it's food alright.

Then Peter introduces the cast. One by one, they appear from behind the "The Nanny" panels, waving, smiling, clapping. Fran, Chester in her arms, is the last one to appear. She grabs the mike and welcomes us to the show. Then, she announces "We have some great guest stars tonight-- Whoopi Goldberg and Ray Charles. And Peter makes his directing debut tonight!" Lots of applause. "The script of tonight's show is written by Frank Lombardi!". Yeah! Alright! Come on, come on, let's roll!

And only then I realize that I didn't pay that much needed visit to the restroom. Oh my - and this is a comedy show...

Once Peter heard "we're ready", it was time to shoot. Me, I was still trying to process it all. I was actually sitting in Culver City about to watch an episode being filmed. I've barely been out of my county, let alone the state! This trip was one enormous event for me. Given that, I am surprised I remember much of the taping.

People start getting in their place for the first scene, while the technical aspects are taken care of. I just chuckled to myself over the woman tugging on CS' clothes. I mean, she just walked up and started futzing about. Then, touch ups to make-up went along the same lines. Have to have everything looking "perfect" after all!

Charles preps for a scene very seriously. Fran's over taking pictures or whatever and he's pacing, reciting lines. Daniel is also going over his lines. Now Fran, on the other hand, is chatting to this person and that, holding Chester the entire time. It's funny to see the actors act all so differently before they actually jump into the action of acting.

Between takes, Peter usually answers questions, and someone asked about Fran's attire (everywhere we went, this came up...and I groaned more and more). Just then, Peter says, "Would you look at this dress?" as Fran walks over. She's wearing a dress with candy bars all over it. I could swear I've seen that before! She took the mike and asked us what we thought of it. I sensed a joke with Sylvia and food coming up!

For the next scene, we're in the kitchen and it's "look at the monitor" to see anything. They run through it and I noticed some lines that were either flubbed or could have done better. Sure enough, "from the top". And Ben nailed his lines on that second take!

For the next scene they disappear into the wings, and thus we are forced to turn our attention towards the row of monitors again, because the real action is taking place behind the curtains. Which is, if you ask me, a real shame, because the final line is so darn funny, that Steph is very close to becoming the first casualty of a Nanny taping... She is laughing so hard, she almost slides off her chair. And she just can't stop. Whenever I think she's finally over it, there she goes again. And pulls me with her into a waterfall of laughter. Oh my...

I'm in massive pain since I couldn't stop laughing and Sabine finally turns to me, "Steph, you're really trying to win that t-shirt, aren't you?" Needless to say, that didn't help me.

Sabine proclaimed steel-faced, "You know, I never did use that restroom..." We were that engrossed once we got in...that both of us forgot about it completely. I'm telling you she must have some major biofeedback control, 'cause she stuck it out the entire taping. I think the both of us were on Cloud 900 this night!

By this point, sitting in front of the dining room was getting to me. I have missed the dining room scenes in the last two years. Seems like everybody always eats in the kitchen now--no more breakfasts in the dining room that used to allow Fran to impart her wisdom on the entire group and always screamed "family". Earlier, I got all excited thinking something was going to be shot in there, but that was not to be. So, sitting there having Peter constantly ask if we had questions, I finally got up my nerve to ask a question.

I figured at the very least I'd have his attention for ten seconds. I wanted to be careful how I worded my question as well. So, if I remember correctly, it went...

"How come you haven't utilized the dining room in scenes the last two years?"

Before Peter could say word one, a woman says "They have too used the dining room". Thank heavens Peter started talking, 'cause I would have probably had a nice little debate with her on the matter (and this from some folks that were intrigued by Chester, is that her real voice, and saw practically no episodes).

At first, Peter reacted the same way, so I chimed in about the montage in "From Flushing With Love". I don't think he heard me though. Finally though, he turns to his left and asks someone "Why don't we use the dining room anymore?" He comes back with "Roseanne Scene". I had to hold in my mockery on that count and keep it polite. So, I start saying that I like those scenes and have missed them gravely. He finally admits that they haven't really used the dining room of late (I wanted so badly to turn around and rub it in the face of this woman). Then, he adds rather sarcastically (but I imagine some truth in there as well), "Too many people..and chairs". Even the two scenes we did get this season weren't along the lines I'm talking. I hope with this "family" portrayal taking effect more and more that I get those scenes back!!!

As for who got the T-shirt and cap...it wasn't no laughing contest. Boo! Peter played "guess a number between 1 and 100." I guess he didn't feel comfortable with trivia since the audience was full of VIPs who (by what questions were asked) didn't know much about the show.

Also, we got introduced to the stand-ins for Fran and Charles (I couldn't tell you their names for all the money in the world). Those two are married in real life...awwwww. :)

By now, Peter is reassuring us we'd be out of here shortly...and before 9PM no less. Sabine and I would rather stay all night...we were having way too much fun. Plus, the episode was well written (READ: makes sense and is funny with some seriousness when necessary-- nothing was out of place).

Peter was talking to Charles (I imagine about the upcoming final scene) sitting on the front of the desk while Charles sat in the chair. They were talking a good couple of minutes. Peter left and that leaves Charles to his lonesome. Next thing I know a woman comes in and just runs her hand through the left, top side of his hair just ONCE. I died laughing. I turned to Sabine (hoping she was looking that way at that time), and she gives an ice-cold "Yes, I think we would have noticed that ONE hair out of place...she made oh such a difference."

So, we chuckled over that and both decided we wouldn't like acting for that very part...We'd most definitely have to get used to people just walking up and touching us.

So, the band in playing and I'm a little more at ease. Charles was even more at ease, 'cause he remained seated rehearsing his lines a bit. He fiddled with the papers on the desk (I imagine) for something to do while we waited to start. He had a pen in his hand which lead me to a thought. I know if I was in that same situation, I would start tapping the pen to the music from the band. As I start to see him tapping the pen, I chuckled a bit. Sure enough though, he was going along with the music. He even did a grand finale on the edge of the desk.

Time to shoot.... the last scene of the night :-( :-( We are by no means ready to leave the premises.

I still don't get it. The playback is over, the monitors turn black, and Steph rushes towards the exit. Huh? I shout her name, and again. But she goes on, oblivious. What is she heading for ? I thought I was the one with the restroom emergency here? I'd planned on hanging around a little. You never know if there's a chance for a picture or so. But seeing her running out, what else can I do but follow her? Who knows where else she might end up looking for me...

So I walk out, with one last look down upon the set, then head down the steps. Ask directions for the restrooms. And as I walk out of the door, and head for the washing sinks, I suddenly notice that the girl who's washing her hands just left of me, is no one else than Madeline. I continue without a stir, when she suddenly turns her head and stares at me for two-three seconds straight. I still have no clue what that was about...

On my way out, she rushes past me and dashes off to a trailer. Only then I spot the trailers standing next to the studio. Strange... I hadn't noticed them at all on our way in? Oh well, not that it matters. Steph and out walk through Gate 3, into the chilly night.

The next one of the group to arrive in LA was Abby, she picks up the story on Monday, the day before the Paley Museum event.

I settled in to the wonderful hotel -- perfect location, clean, excellent service, good food, and mere yards from a shopping mall, then grabbed my trusty map and headed out to scout out all the important locations -- the Museum of Television and Radio, the Nanny studios, and, of course, the beach!

I thought LA was really great. The drivers were quick and smart, the traffic lights mere seconds in duration, and the streets were clearly marked with huge signs. The whole atmosphere was friendly and exciting. Palm trees all over the place and... not one, not two, but THREE classical music stations (my personal barometer for measuring class and culture)!

Next, it was time to scout out the neighborhoods -- namely Fran's, Daniel's, and Charlie's. Malibu (Fran's) is incredible -- amazing homes on mountainsides overlooking the ocean, some built right on the beach. Brentwood (Daniel's) was equally stunning -- beautiful green mountainsides and sprawling mansions. I also drove through parts of Hollywood, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills, each hamlet more unique and posh than the next. I thought it was interesting to note that alongside all this ritz was also an awful lot of cheese; but it was kitchsy-fun cheese... like port wine cheddar.

That night I met Sabine and Steph at the hotel and we immediately hit it off, spouting Nannyisms and catching up on the taping they had seen last Friday.

Then we decided that we needed to eat an exquisite dinner. So, off to Santa Monica (Charlie's neck of the woods)! This was more of an ocean-side residential/shopping district -- exquisite shops and some of the best seafood I've ever had. And, oh the sunsets! A beautiful place to live. We ate and talked for nearly three hours, then decided to head "home".

But before going home, we take a stroll on the beach. There, in the dark, the sound of the tide rolling on the shore, with our feet in the sand and our heads in the starry night, we talk. We solve all the problems with the ratings for the show, thus ensuring a sixth season. And along the line, we develop a good part of the storyline for that sixth season. Then we move over to topics as university, education, art, culture, politics. By the end of the night, we have solved at least half of this planet's problems. These are the nights where friendship bonds are forged. These are the nights that should last forever. With our feet in the sand and our thoughts reaching out for the universe.

I sleep well, that night.

Go On to Part Two of Our Excellent LA Adventure
The Paley Museum Event and Taping Number Two