Just in case you had any doubts. I dispise and am repulsed by roaches. For some unknown reason my fear of them is pretty intense. Sharks don’t scare me and neither do most bugs, but roaches obviously make me scream like a little girl. There’s no way I could survive those reality show where they pour roaches on a person or make them eat them. I would seriously be left with nightmares if I was surrounded by those vile creatures.
On that note, please have happy and safe Halloween!
The answer here.
One of the reasons I took some time off from work a few weeks ago was to prepare for the Gridiron Show, the annual fundraiser for the Hawai`i chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. We don’t do any publicity for it, but over the years, it has gathered a rabidly loyal following. As a result, the show has sold out weeks ahead of time, and people end up lining up around Diamond Head Theatre for just to get tickets to the dress rehearsal.
The Gridiron has a long history; it’s named after the Gridiron Club in Washington, where every year since the late 1880’s, the journalists in the nation’s capitol have roasted the high and mighty (including many presidents, but not Grover Cleveland, who refused to attend). In Hawai`i, the Honolulu Press Club began the show in 1952. It petered out, along with the Press Club, in the 1980’s, but was revived in 1998 by the SPJ and the Public Relations Society of America’s local chapter. By 2000, it was an all-SPJ affair, with the writing and performing by various members of the local media, and the funding going toward paid internships.
The Gridiron show itself is a collection of no-holds-barred satire of local news and newsmakers. Case in point: This year, former KITV 4 anchor Dan Cooke reprised his continuing role as Gov. Linda Lingle, this time in a red, white and blue spangled bathing suit, which John Heckathorn showed in his “What the Heck?” column in last Sunday’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Yes, Gov. Lingle attended the show, along with Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann. I play him, on stilts. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be, but apparently he loves it. If you look closely at the photo above, I’m wearing the stilts, which boosts my height to six feet, ten inches — three inches taller than the mayor. Hannemann looked at me, and said, “I finally have someone to look up to.”
Doing the show is like being in a parallel universe, where the media and the people they cover can share a laugh (in fact, most reports are that politicos and other movers and shakers who attend are sometimes disappointed when they aren’t one of the Gridiron’s targets). I guess its one way to make sure none of us really take ourselves too seriously.
Ben.
ben@kitv.com
Last week’s appearance with Celebrity Chef Ming Tsai was a real treat for us and for our viewers. Ming cooked and chatted with us for the entire show and our producers said our phones were ringing off the hook when he came on. It was truly amazing to see a Master Chef, accomplished restaurant owner and tv star at work. I hope he comes back to Hawai’i again, especially since I’m completely lost in the kitchen and cooking department.
aloha,
Mahealani
mahea@kitv.com
This morning, I suffered a huge spill while Dan and I challenged Hawai’i Olympian Bryan Clay on this morning’s show. It looked like my face planted itself into the cement and my feet flew up. However, I’m doing fine. No major injuries except for my ego. In my competitive spirit, I wanted to give the “mini-decathlon” my best shot even though I knew I’d lose to one of Hawai’i best athletes and Dan, who’s training for the marathon. I guess everyone knews that despite my years of dance training, I’m actually very clumsy. The video is on our website front page under video.
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/index.html
We were also excited to have ABC’s Supernanny, Jo Frost, on our air since she’s in town filming a local family. She saw my huge spill during the sports challenge and actually put Dan on the naughty step during our interview and reprimanded him since I alleged that he tripped me. Turns out, Dan showed the slow motion video of my fall to the Supernanny and she found out I was fibbing about Dan intentionally tripping me so I got put on the naughty step. The funny things that happen during un-scripted television. To see the interview… you can see the interview on our morning show mini site soon.
Mahalo to Bryan Clay and Jo Frost for being such wonderful sports. We had so much fun with both of you.
aloha,
Mahealani
mrichardson@thehawaiichannel.com
I must admit that as a journalist we can be a bit crusty, but working on Sunday and being the only television station for information throughout the day and to offer live streaming video on the website made me very proud and happy to be a part of KITV. I live for breaking news and wall to wall coverage during really big events. I thrive off of it and the adrenaline keeps you going when you are on three hours of sleep.
We had round 2 today on our morning show with the two smaller earthquakes so that was another jolt with live phone interviews from the mainland.
Thank you so much to all those people who wrote their thanks to our morning show and to my old friends who wrote to me after seeing us on CNN throughout the day. Thanks to the people who gave us food and drinks.
Oh yeah… and thanks to Comedy Central and the Daily Show for showing our blooper when someone from our building came on the intercom to say that a bathroom was open during our live broadcast on CNN. You know you’ve made it big when you end up as part of Jon Stewarts jokes.
aloha,
Mahealani
mrichardson@thehawaiichannel.com
It’s 6:30 pm as I write this, nearly 12 hours after a lot of us here were rudely awakened by an earthquake off the Waikoloa area of the Big Island. The quake knocked out power across Oahu, but nearly the entire station showed up to work anyway, trying to get information. It was difficult, since a lot of the phone lines were down for a while, and things were definitely complicated by the fact that no one could see us on TV on Oahu — unless they were watching CNN, which carried KITV live for much of the day. Chalk that up to the fact that this quake happened on a Sunday, which is typically a slow news day, and a 6.6 magnitude earthquake is a strong one, no matter what day of the week. We also were on our website, which had live, streaming video of our coverage. Ironically, this meant that people outside the state had better access to what was happening here. It also resulted in e-mail coming in from all over, including some from viewers (via CNN) in California; Cleveland, Ohio; upstate New York; and Arizona.
Fortunately, word is that there are no serious injuries or fatalities, and the damage isn’t widespread. Hope that you were able to get through the quake’s aftermath (especially having no power) in good shape.
Aloha,
Ben.
ben@kitv.com
At the “Lost: Season 3″ Premiere, we also got to meet the new people joining the cast this season. It’s funny… at the red carpet event we were all like, “Who’s that?” and “What’s her name?” Well, here they are…
You’ve already seen Elizabeth Mitchell (left) in the first two episodes of “Lost” as Juliet.
She’s a veteran of both television and film. On the small screen, she’s most known for her run on the hospital drama “E.R.” On the silver screen, her credits include “Frequency” and “The Santa Clause 2.”
She really is as beautiful in person as she is on the show. Like her character Juliet, she is warm and comforting. She carries herself with elegance and yet you can’t take your eyes off her. And that smile is priceless. Too bad she can’t smile more often in the show as an “Other.”
She’s a great counterpart to Michael Emerson, who plays Benjamin Linus (a.k.a. Henry Gale). He’s cold, caluculating and downright creepy, which is the opposite of what Juliet is.
Here are a couple of people you haven’t seen yet:
Rodrigo Santoro (above) is an accomplished Brazilian television actor who’s making the leap to a worldwide audience on “Lost.”
When I first saw him, I immediately thought “Brazilian Sawyer.” Although he really looks nothing like Josh Holloway (“Sawyer”), he has the kind of presence I know the women will like.
Evidently, he turned down a chance to work on the ABC show “Alias,” which was also created by “Lost” executive producer J.J. Abrams.
I can already hear the women swooning…
And last but not least, I introduce you to Kiele Sanchez (left). She first appeared on MTV’s “Wanna Be a VJ” contest in 2000. Although Sanchez didn’t win, she landed some roles on television including the WB drama “Related.”
Although she has relatively little acting experience, I trust the producers to know what they’re doing. Evangeline Lilly (“Kate”) actually had LESS acting experience than Sanchez and she turned out fine.
Santoro and Sanchez will only be recurring characters on Season 3. Mitchell is officially a main cast member.
Now, from time to time, I will blog about “Lost” and what’s going on in the season and other “Lost” goodies.
So, I leave you now with my favorite “Lost” YouTube video. It’s called “Lost Rhapsody.” Yes, some people really DO have too much time on their hands. So, put down that Diet Coke can and put away that bowl of saimin or else it’ll all come shooting out of your nose…
Clayton Wakida
KITV 4 Island Television This Morning Producer
cwakida@kitv.com
Every viewer is important to us… even the ones who fall asleep.
Thanks to Tracy Miyahara and Poodaloo the Cat.
aloha,
Mahealani
mahea@kitv.com
We had a story this morning about deep-fried Coke being sold at the North Carolina State Fair. Basically, the popular soft drink is mixed with funnel cake batter and cooked in hot oil, resulting in a mass of doughy strands (it looks like curly fries). The stands are put in a cup and sprinkled with powdered sugar and doused with Coke syrup.
You can hear the arteries hardening just thinking about it.
The story, however, spawned a discussion with our viewers about other odd foods, especially food Elvis Presley ate. One of them is the peanut butter and banana sandwich. None of us had had one, but a viewer e-mailed us:
Don’t knock it until you have tried it. I grew up in Mississippi and was raised on Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches. They are wonderful! You should give it a try.
She also suggested bananas with mayo (I like bananas and mayo, but I’m skeptical about combining the two — no offense). And one of our guests mentioned deep-fried pickles. I’ll have to think about that one as well.
By the way, feel free to drop us a line about strange foods or anything else you see on the newscast at morningmail@thehawaiichannel.com.
Ben.
ben@kitv.com
