Dabbling In Network Television

June 8, 2011

As many of you know, the 1st degree murder case on which I’ve been working for 18 months was resolved by plea.  Sentencing is set for mid-July.  48-Hours, 20/20, and Dateline all expressed interest in doing a show about the case.  We finally settled on Dateline because their show is not quite as sensationalized.

Today was an interview with me.  We did it at an old (beautifully refurbished) hotel in downtown Albuquerque.  I have never spent two hours with a man that carried a compact and powdered his chin, nose, and forehead during every break.  He didn’t want to look shiny.  No one asked me if I was worried about looking shiny (actually I was more worried about the ten pounds the camera was adding to the 70 I need to lose).  They were late — but I was on time.  The net result was a parking ticket for which they’ve agreed to pay.  I think the interview would have gone better if a couple of the dogs had been there.  Inca could have sat up and begged and Nola could have leaped from chair/lap to chair/lap.  Inca sheds all the time and the compact-man would have been nuts with red Cardi hair all over the pant legs of his suit.

Of course, he asked some not nice questions about my client — I think I handled them with grace and aplomb.  I said not a single bad word during the entire 2-1/2 hours.  You would have been proud.

I’ll post a note when I have the date and time for airing.  I won’t watch it, but you all can tell me how it was.


9 Comments

  1. Lani says:

    That’s cool, Penni! You’ll have to let us know when it’s going to air. I’ll DVR-it.

  2. carolyn says:

    We don’t usually watch the program, but that’s one we won’t miss 🙂

  3. Susan says:

    I will want to watch it too. I agree, having the dogs would have made it more fun. You could have been like the queen (G)

  4. Cheryl says:

    Ooooh, I know a TV star now! Oooooh, I’m gonna tell Chase tonight. He’ll be so impressed! Seriously, though, I’m sure you handled it beautifully. It would have been great fun to sic Nola on the not-shiny man’s suit!

  5. Holly says:

    WOW Penni. I am sure you handled the interview brilliantly. Looking forward to watching it.

  6. Builder Mama says:

    Hee hee, I have this vision of a guy with sprayed-stiff hair dabbing his face with a powder puff. I’m sure you did a fantastic job, I’ll be anxiously waiting to watch it! (I love those shows…just call me drama queen!)

    • myeye says:

      Since this was not to be daytime television, I did not run my hands through his hair — but yes, he was carefully coiffed. There were people all over the room — silently doing everything from bringing us bottles of water, to attaching little microphones to our lapels, to doing sound checks and white checks. Very distracting.

  7. Jean from NM says:

    But did they buy you lunch? Probably not, huh. And they didn’t even offer you a compact. Hmmm. Are you going to tell who “compact man” is, or do we have to wait until air time?

  8. I’ve never spent two minutes with a man who was powdering his nose (or anything else, for that matter…..).

    [snicker — agreeing with Builder Mama that the guy’s hair was, no doubt, a sprayed-into-one-piece helmet]

    🙂

    Television is very weird, and getting weirder (hd? “requiring” airbrush makeup application? really? weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird.)

    I’m sure you were great.

    🙂