My day on Suddenly Susan

"Matchmaker, Matchmaker" : Air Date was January 19, 1998

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Waiting, waiting, waiting

I "won" a walk-on part on Suddenly Susan through a silent auction held at the Curtis School Fair, which is on Mullholland Drive in LA. The fair is held the second Sunday in October every year, and even though I have no kids at the school (I live out in Ventura, where public education is almost as good), I go anyway to bid on stuff. I won two walk-ons that day, the other being the disastrous Cybill walk-on. I had to get my money back on that one and for a while, it looked like I would have to get my money back on this one as well.

On the certificate I received at the fair that day, there was a contact name, Claire. I called her early the next week. She told me she would give me the walk-on details in a few days. Five days later, I called again. Claire hadn't gotten to it yet. Five calls later and two weeks after my first call, she told me to give her my name and number and the production office would call me. Great. Sounded like a brush-off. But I gave her the info. And so I waited. And waited.

Finally, nearly two months after the fair, and when I was just about to call the school to get my money back, In early December (remember, the fair was in early October), I get a call from Susan (left) in the production office for Suddenly Susan. She tells me they only got the paperwork for my walk-on a few days ago. Anyway, from the moment Susan contacted me, everything went fine. She asked me to think which week I would like to be on, and I asked her if there were any guest stars slated for next week. She said Tony Curtis was guest starring next week. I said next week would be fine. This was going to be so kewl. I would get to meet "The Boston Strangler" and the dad of Jamie Lee Curtis. She told me which gate at Warner studios to go to (Gate 7) and would call me back for the time to be there. She also told me what scene I would be in. It would be a restaurant scene, a snobby place in San Francisco.

I hung up, and went back to my computer to look for nudie pics on the Internet. The phone rang again. It was Susan. "Oh, I forgot to ask you, are you in any of the unions? We don't want to get into any kind of trouble." Uh Oh. This is what got me grounded over at Cybill. But I couldn't lie, "Yeah, I'm SAG. Will that be a problem?" "No no, matter of fact, tell the guard at the front and you'll get to park on the lot itself in the SAG parking." KEWL!

I was supposed to report to the set at noon. I got dressed up all in black, with my leather jacket, and looked pretty cool. I was all set to arrive on time. Unfortunately, due to my now ex-wife running errands and the travel time from where I lived in Oxnard to Burbank (60 miles) I arrived a half-hour late. I arrived at the studio on my motorcycle and asked the guard for my day pass. He said I couldn't park on the lot. I told him I was SAG. Didn't matter. Motorcycles are not allowed on the lot. So I had to park off-lot and walk in anyway.

Reporting to Will

I found the soundstage, and wandered in. They were already blocking the main scenes. I was supposed to report to Will Bardelli, Second Assistant Director (left). Since I didn't want to disturb the rehearsal going on, I crept up to the studio audience area (right) and looked for Will. There were a lot of people up there, and I thought they were network execs and studio people or friends of the actors. They were all dressed in suits, so I avoided them and sat down quietly. From all the shouting going on, I was able to pick Will out. Apparently the 2nd AD is responsible for all the background work, meaning the people mulling back and forth and talking in silence while the main action in going on in front. He directs the backgrounders who are regulars on the set (yeah, the same people are paid to do that every week), as well as the extras needed for one particular scene. That meant me.

Hey, I just noticed something. Take a look at the big version of the picture of Will. See the little figure to his left? Thats a inflatable doll based on the 1893 painting The Scream, by Edvard Munch.

After the director finished with the rehearsal on the main stage, he called out, "Will, set up for the restaurant scene". Will called out for the extras in the restaurant scene to come on down, and EVERYONE in the studio audience area cleared out to come down to the set. Holy cow, I thought to myself, ALL these people were just extras? And they were all in suits while I was dressed in black. Possible problem here. I followed along.

Let's Put JIM here. No! Over There!

Will started assigning people to various seats on the restaurant set, and after the third person he came to me. "I don't believe I've seen you before. What's your name?", and I said "James Gunderson". His eyes lit up, "Oh JIM! have a little trouble finding the place?" I told him about the ex taking so much time running errands, and he just rolled his eyes. He placed me at first on the right side of the set as the audience looks at it (1 on the big picture). He sat me down and told me he would give me the lowdown (he used that word) on what to do. He seated some of the other people, and the rest he told when to walk through, like going to the bathroom and whatnot. After that, he came over to me and asked me if I had ever done this before. I mentioned Murphy Brown, so he skipped the main part and told me that the couple I was seated opposite were professionals, just watch them and do what they did. After Will walked off, I asked the couple. They had no idea what they were doing.

Due to some camera stuff going on, I was moved. They relocated me to back center (2 on the big picture), to sit with the other walk-on, a delicious looking 18 year old whose name I have forgotten already. Get this: Her mom won her the part, at an equestrian event. While they were backstage later, I heard the mom tell Brooke, "When she was growing up, everyone thought she looked like Brooke Shields. This is a dream come true...!" Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. I just went there to have fun and get off work. The 18-year-old sitting next to me was a bonus.

The scene revolved around David Strickland and Nestor Carbonell. The resident food critic has quit, and the two are vying for the position. Their boss tells them to both go to this restraunt and the one who writes the better review gets the job. Well, it degrades into a food fight. Apparently we were in a sub-plot scene while the main stuff was going on with Brooke Shields and Tony Curtis.

Wardrobe

After running through the restaurant scene, we were sent to wardrobe. Almost everyone was fine with the suits and outfits they were wearing, except me of course. They looked at me and asked if I would wear that to an exclusive restaurant. I said, "Yes I would". They didnt like it, and gave me a tie and sport jacket to wear for the scene. Then we broke for lunch.

The Set

So I ate lunch over at the commissary, then wandered back to look at the set. There are a lot of similarities between the sets of Murphy Brown and Suddenly Susan. It makes sense, since the executive producers, Gary Dontzig and Steven Peterman, were both from Murphy Brown. Both sets have elevators, (I didn't get to come out of it like I did on Murphy Brown), and both sets are of a main office(left) and an apartment (right). Suddenly Susan's is more elaborate, with multi levels, and stairs which supposedly lead somewhere. They have a backdrop of the bay in the window of the main office. Behind the backdrop is a refrigerator where cola is and everyone is munching out at one time or another. They turn it off when filming.

This is a view of the back of Susan's apartment.

Cool Stuff on the Set

If you look at the bay through the window of the main office, you may notice that the water seems to shimmer. You may think that this is some kinda high tech thingie doinging this special effect. Well, here's a closeup of the backdrop (left). The effect is created with strips of tape. Thats it. Strips of tape.

Also, they have several covers of their magazine, Gate, up on the wall in the back of the office. One of the covers has Andre Agassi (right). As you may or may not know, Brooke Shields married Andre Agassi back on April 19, 1997 after a two year engagement. I wonder if he gets residuals for the appearance.

As usual, I got a picture of myself sitting at the main lead's desk. One of the other extra's took this picture. Soon after, a big Hector Elizondo lookalike told the two of us to get off the set. He was Mike Kelly: the 1st AD. I told him that I wasn't an extra but a walk-on. He said "Oh", and I had the run of the place, but the other extra had to go backstage where the chairs for the extras were. Later, when the studio audience starting to arrive, Mike came over and said everyone had to remain backstage. So I did.

This is something cool that I saw attached to the wall behind Judd Nelson's desk.

Anti Stress Kit

1. Place on firm surface
2. Follow instructions in circle
3. Repeat until you are unstressed or become unconscious

The Stars

So guess who that is to the left. Go on, guess who. NO, NOT THE GUY WITH THE BAD HAIR! The gal! Yep, I got a picture with the star of the series, Brooke Shields. That is something I didn't manage to achieve when I hung around the Murphy Brown set. And you know something? For someone who graduated with honors from Princeton University in 1987 with a degree in French literature, she seemed really goofy. Brooke Shields was munching on something when they called her name for the pre-show appearence. She had to drop everything and run out.

Judd Nelson plays Jack Richmond, the brother of the guy Susan dumped at the alter. Don't you think he's gained a little weight since The Breakfast Club"? NOT ME! HIM! The guy on the left!

David Strickland is on the left, and Nestor Carbonell is on the right. They play Todd Stites and Luis Rivera respectively. Tell me that Strickland doesn't look like Chris O' Donnell, or that Carbonell doesn't look like Siegfried and Roy" squished together.

Note: David Strickland died March 22, 1999 from an apparent suicide at the age of 28. He was found hanged by a bed sheet in his Las Vegas motel room.

Did I Get to See Tony Curtis?

They were already promoting Tony Curtis appearance over at NBC:

Legendary Oscar-nominated actor Tony Curtis ("The Defiant Ones") guest-stars on NBC's Suddenly Susan on Monday, Jan. 19 (8-8:30 p.m. ET). He portrays a wealthy and dashing gentleman who has a slight personality quirk. In the episode "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," when Susan (Brooke Shields) meets a sporting goods store magnate (guest star Tony Curtis) who is handsome and over 65, she sets him up with Nana (Barbara Barrie), but the relationship turns into a drag a la Curtis' famous role in "Some Like It Hot."

I never met him. He wasn't even there that day. They filmed his stuff the day before, without a studio audience. They played his scenes back to the audience Friday night to record the laugh soundtrack. They told me this was not an ordinary show, and the guy would not tell me why they did it this way to a guy with a notepad. They explained it to the audience as El Nino and scheduling conflicts. But you know what? It was clear that night, the night before, when they were filming his scenes, it was downpouring. So something wasn't right. My suspicion? I think Mr. Curtis was afraid to perform in front of a live audience. But, like I said, thats just my opinion.

Postscript

I received a a package in the mail containing an autographed script of the show I was in ("A Kiss is Just Amiss"). How sweet.