My Anderson Cooper Experience - Part 1

I have many things to be blessed about in my life. This has come to me especially with the life changes I have made in the past year – I count them with the tremendous support of my family and friends. I could not imagine without my life without them and particularly the past year. They loved me and supported me when I was at a very low point and soul searching part of my life. I refer to this as my “quarter life crisis.” I’m sure this isn’t the first time I have referenced that and won’t be my last either.

The past few months have been such a whirlwind of experiences for me – I found out that I’m going to be an auntie for the first time, I took my first trip to South America and Brazil and a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of winning tickets to see Anderson Cooper’s new talk show, Anderson, tape in New York City.

It was September 1^st (not a bad way to start the month off, right?) when my mom, a very close & dear family friend and I woke up at 3:30am to arrive at the bus terminal for a 5:20am trip. We arrived around 7:30 at the Time Warner Center building where Anderson’s talk show is. We were told by a not so friendly security guard that we could not get in line until 9:00am – that is when they would escort all the attendees in the elevators to the studio. So we decided to pick up some bagels and caffeine at Dunkin’ Donuts. We walked back to Columbus Circle to the Time Warner Building and ate our breakfast in Whole Foods which was located at the bottom of the Time Warner Center building. Isn’t it amazing what they house in one NYC building? By that time it was about 8:30 so we decided to head back upstairs and wait in the line. We walked around the corner from the escalators and I was quite annoyed to see that a line was now formed and we were put at the back of the line. We patiently waited as the line moved forward and in about 5 minutes we were upstairs going through a checkpoint to verify our identity and guests go through security and then wait in another line until they would take us into the studio. They handed out release forms since we might be captured on camera and we also got cards in case we wanted to “Ask Anderson” anything. We made our way into the studio and were placed in the 3^rd row on the left hand side, we had a clear view of the production view and of the off stage happenings. We even had a couple of very nice “queens” (as they called themselves) in front of us.

The first taping was about 2 hours long and was about a pair of conjoined twins. The show has not aired yet and will not air this week so I don’t want to spoil anything for the Anderson watchers out there.  I will say I wasn’t sure what to expect about this topic and was preparing myself to be bored. But I was proven wrong; the story was very compelling and not just from an emotional standpoint but a medical one as well. Dr. Sanjay Gupta shared some medical miracles, discoveries and facts that were not about conjoined twins but about this topic in the medical field. I found myself tearing up and respecting the young mother so much because of the way she handles their lives and how she carries herself. You could see in her eyes that she lived for her daughters and did not seem to care what ours thought about her or her daughters situation – and by watching the show you will see that people have had said some pretty hurtful things. At the end of the taping, we were invited back to a 2^nd one that afternoon since a taping from last week was postponed due to Hurricane Irene’s presence on the east coast. There was very little debate between us about whether or not we wanted to go. Yes, we decided to do some fun NYC touristy things in the afternoon but ultimately decided to go back for Anderson’s second taping which left us with about 40 minutes for lunch & to get back in the line again.

The 2^nd taping we saw I believe will be spilt into 2 episodes. The first half being about a young girl who was living in very poor living conditions with having no contact with the outside world until the age of 8 years old. This story is so disturbing, raw and tells the story of the human race at its worst. I do not want to give much of the story away but we were given a free book which details this young lady’s story after she was adopted by a very loving family. The second half of the taping told another story of two young women you were abandoned as babies by their birth mothers. Pretty much the whole audience was brought to tears during this half and once again gives you a second thought about the human race. This episode will be airing on Wednesday. If we are on we will be in the back row under the ‘ANDERSON’ sign.

Anderson has always been an incredible interviewer, which is why, I’ve continued to be a fan of his over the years – all the way back in the days of Channel One to The Mole and now currently on CNN. His interview style continues to dig at the truth instead of the mainstream ideals of journalism and bias. When I heard he was having a talk show I had mixed feelings. I wanted him to be the replacement for Regis Philbin of Regis & Kelly, but ultimately I’ve always been an Anderson fan so why wouldn’t I like it? I also was not sure of the format – would it be an Ellen style talk show or more like Oprah? It seems to me that his style is Anderson. He will have a variety of life topics, human interest pieces and celebrity appearances but he will do it in his own silver foxy AC way!

I still have a hard time believing I was so lucky to win 3 tickets to these tapings and have such an awesome day with the Anderson team. It was also a very different experience to be in the audience instead of being the cameras or around the host table which I experienced in college during my tv production classes, electives and clubs. But Saturday I got even more exciting news – about a month ago before I was selected to win the Anderson taping tickets they were holding a contest on Facebook to win a trip to see an Anderson taping that would include airfare and accommodations for two people. I received the call on Saturday that I was selected to win!!! I still am in disbelief that not only did I get to see 2 tapings of the show but now I will be able to meet Anderson, his team and go backstage. My biggest challenge now is decide which lucky friend or relative will get to go with me? Stay tuned for my ‘Anderson experience’ which will definitely be oh-so-blog-worthy!!

Disclaimer: I am no way affiliated with Anderson Cooper, CNN, Anderson or Warner Brothers. I am just a huge fan of Anderson Cooper that attended two tapings of his new talk show which premiered today. Please check www.andersoncooper.com for your local listings.