Dr. L & K's Trip To The Ellen Show!

Hey Gang,
we had fun at the Ellen Show, it was worth all the finagling to get into the audience (last time we wound up in the Riff Raff Room -- so close, yet so far:) ). Ellen and her staff were really nice, and she seems to genuinely like/respect her fans. Some interesting stuff we observed:

Some of you guys may know this, but Ellen tapes her show a day ahead. So while this show aired today (Friday) it really took place Thursday (3/11) just before Ellen drove over to Idol, where the Top 12 were revealed live. If you watch the episode, there were lots of little tricks so she could fake the time delay: she didn't mention the Idol contestants that got booted by name with us on her show (because it hadn't happened yet!). That part was inserted later. Also, this lucky girl in the audience

had just found out she was going to the Idol Top 12 Red Carpet LATER THAT NIGHT; but the way it was edited, it appeared she was "remembering" what a great time it was!

Probably the most interesting thing we learned was how little time Ellen has to GET to Idol after taping her show. We were sitting there, watching Ellen tell us goodbye, good show, etc., @ 3:35 PM. Idol went LIVE from the West Coast @ 5:00 PM, and there Ellen was, sitting next to Randy & Kara, in a complete change of clothes. The Ellen Show is taped at Warner Brothers in Burbank, and Idol is taped at CBS Television City (luckily, not @ the Fox lot -- that might be impossible to guarantee "on time" given the window b/w shows).

Anybody who has driven across Los Angeles in the late afternoon knows this can be a daunting task. There's not a hell of a lot of time to prep for Idol, I would imagine. Something to think about next time Ellen is sitting there telling every other contestant they're "adorable" -- she's probably half-conscious :)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and we're going back in May!

-- K