My Shameless Selfie on the set of “The View”
About two months before I went to NYC, I requested tickets to go see The View through their website. About 3 weeks before we left, I received an email stating that they switched ticketing services and led me to the new site that launched that day. I immediately rushed to the site and got myself tickets. I was so excited…I GET TO SEE THE VIEW!
Well, the day finally came. Wednesday, July 16th, 8am, I was in line on W 66th Street at the ABC building. After waiting outside for about an hour, they let us into the lobby/holding area after the least safe bag check I’ve ever experienced. I’ve had stricter restrictions during a movie preview at a local cinema. Anyway, we stayed in the holding area for another hour, then we were finally escorted into the studio in small groups after an elevator ride 2 floors up.
The set is just as bright and shiny as it looks on TV, though it is smaller in person. The small nature of it was neat, however, as you were super close to the ladies. If I reached out far enough, I could’ve touched Whoopi. I sat in the back row of floor seats closest to Whoopi and Jenny. A nice surprise were the free snacks we received as we sat down, a bottle of apple juice and a large bag of Bold Chex Mix. Tom, the warm-up guy, was hilarious, getting everyone happy and peppy, the prime attitudes needed for an on camera audience. (Side note, we sat next to someone who Tom flat out yelled at privately and it was crazy. It was kind of amazing)
A minute before the show, they started the multi-color lights and playing music, making us all stand up and dance. With no real warning, Whoopi, Sherri, Jenny, and guest host Sarah Haines from GMA came out and sat at the table. Hot Topics began and seeing the seamlessness between the behind the scenes people and the co-hosts was super cool. After they would go to commercial (as it was a live show), the co-hosts would start answering audience questions and beginning a report with us. All of them seemed genuinely kind and fun, keeping us laughing even through the commercials.
Leann Rimes and Eddie Cibrian were the guests that day, but, here’s some behind the scenes scoop, she seemed SUPER nervous. After that happy segment, it went into a really sad segment about an awful adoption situation. The couple who lost their daughter was there and their tears resonated throughout the audience. Luckily, The View always ends with something happy, so they went to an “in-the-round” performance from Leann’s new album. Once again she seemed very nervous, but at that point, a lot of the audience seemed nervous too! They pulled us out of our seats at lightning speed and set us up surrounding Mrs. Rimes as she sang a dance mix of “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” and with that being one of my favorite songs, I was dancing like such a nerd.
Yes, I took a screen shot of the back of my head.
As we left, we all received copies of the album and headed back down the elevator towards NYC. It was a super cool experience to not only see all of the co-hosts live, but also to see how the machine that is The View works on a day to day basis, especially in a live format.
For those curious, 1iota has tickets for The View, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Chew, all for free. So if you are ever in the NYC or LA area, be sure to pick up the free tickets and enjoy the fun of a TV taping!
Stay tuned for a tour of the NYC Disney Store!