Nate Berkus Taping
Katie Yesterday our episode of Nate Berkus aired so I decided I would talk about it in a bit more details…
At 1pm we were checked in and given numbered tickets. The numbers meant nothing, it was just a way to count us so that the staff knew when to cut off the line. We were # 8 and 9.
Then we got our purses checked, got wanded, and went down 2 sets of stairs. There were 2 holding rooms – N and B. The first group through was in room B, but room N was actually seated first. (N for Nate and B for Berkus)
Days of Our Lives was on in the holding room, and we got to see pretty much the entire episode, as well as some of Real Housewives of Atlanta. Then we were told we’d be brought into the studio. We went through the other holding room and then were crammed into an elevator.
Then it was time to enter the studio! Most of the good seats were already taken and that’s when we were put in the side corner. There’s the seats right up in front, stadium seating in the back and then benches on the side. They are really not comfortable seats either.
Dena Blizzard came out to warm us up – she is great. I left loving her more than Nate lol. She went through a bit about how the taping worked and then we had to record reaction shots. I am SO not an actress because I can not laugh as if something is completely hilarious if nothing was said or done. At all. But I tried.
Then Nate came out and did Q&A; with the audience – he answered 3 questions. Then he came out for the open of the show and we gave him a standing ovation and had to act all excited as if it was the first time we saw Nate. (Reverse these parts and get genuine really excited reactions lol)
The first segment was about LonnyMagazine and a couple of people who redid their apartments in NYC on a budget and made them look cool. Then there were the top 5 decorating items under $50. Which had to be filmed a few times…
Then they did a segment about how the runway and home fashion are coming together and things you see on the runway also work in your home – flowers, nautical themes and military.
Then he surprised a fan of the show by offering advice on her kitchen and he said in exchange for the clock she had on the wall, he’d send the stuff she needed to re-do it.
He did some promos for a contest going on in Nevada. It seemed like he was reading forever and at the end he went something like pffffttt because it was just SO much to say at once and it was like he never took a breath. Then he told them go to to a website, which was mentioning “Reno” as in, Reno, NV but he pronounced it as if it was short for “Renovation” and then was like “ohhhhhh” and had to do it again.
Nate also didn’t seem to be too big of a fan of his sweater and asked if anyone saw SNL and said he needed baby spanx. He said he was a the taping of SNL and had laughed so hard at that he was crying. I barely remember it from SNL so I guess it didn’t strike me as funny lol
The next segment was in front of us – and was about a fan who re-decorated her house. She was there and was a really big fan and when there was technical difficulties they went and sat down and she said something like “I can’t stop looking at you, you are so handsome” lol The audio for her clip wasn’t playing in the studio, so they skipped that and filmed the end of the show- where we once again gave Nate a standing ovation.
Then they re-did the house proud segment with sound so we could see the clip. We were told at first they’d be doing 7 segments, but then Nate waved and left and that was it! (When the show aired they showed him redoing the house of a couple. The wife had given the husband a kidney because he needed a transplant. Kind of ironic that we WEREN’T there for that being taped because my mom gave my dad a kidney when he needed a transplant and we for sure would have made that known!)
Honestly I wasn’t all that impressed with it – and I usually LOVE that type of stuff. Seeing the equipment and behind the scenes and all that. But it did help me cross off part of a life list item to see all the shows they film in NYC. (Something I will probably never ever complete as they are constantly changing what is filming there!)
We also didn’t get any sort of giveaway, which I kind of expected, but it was disappointing to come home and watch an episode on TV the next day where he gave everyone in the audience $200 🙁 I’ve also been getting emails asking me to come back almost every day he films now. If he starts giving things away, even if it isn’t anything too major or expensive, then people might be more inclined to see a taping! (And if the ones they were giving me tickets too weren’t all at 8:15, I’d go back! But that is far too early of a train for me and I like my sleep!)
Our episode aired 2 weeks to the day after we went to the taping, but it might have just been a coincidence.