Hey everyone!
Well, even though I didn’t quite make the cut for IASW, because it is the end of
the season I do feel compelled to post here. Although with Sci-fi’s weird
schedule, Season two starts this Friday, I felt an acknowledgement was in order.
As I write to you today I think back to August of 1999. It seems weird but it
was back then that this wild, weird and wonderful journey began for me. Who
could have guessed that more than a year and a half later I’d be writing to you
on the successful wrapping of year one, and the launch of year two of Sci-fi’s
hot new show! Strange times indeed.
Even stranger is that you’ve all hung around here! When we hit the air I was
very dubious about our chances. This wasn’t a ‘high concept’ show or flashy in
anyway. Quite the opposite, this show seemed to want to be as low tech and earth
bound as you can get - a real challenge to a die hard sci-fi fan. I also knew
that the big summer movie "Hollow Man" was coming out on our heels and could
wash us away in comparison (that never seemed to happen ;-) ). All in all, I
thought we’d be done after the first 13.
And yet here we are.
And I do say ‘we’ because it was you that put us here. Of course we strive to
produce the best possible show on television and are all professionals in our
field (myself humbly removed from that judgement), but make no mistake that no
performance exists in a vacuum. Your taking so strongly to this show was noticed
by TPTB and served as concrete evidence of our success. A cyber pat on each of
your backs from us! Thank you.
But I digress. A lot.
So let’s get down to some actual business. I’d call them ‘tidbits’ but they’re
kinda all over the place this time so...
I thought ITSW was a wonderful, sensitive story with a lot of fun and action to
it. And yet something seemed to be missing. What could it have been...
Okay, here’s the deal. That fabulous writer Steve Binder failed to put me in
either of his two fabulous scripts. I had the opportunity to run into him during
the final lunch (more on that later) of the last episode and was able to beat
him, uh asking him what happened. Sheepishly he apologized and told me that he
was a big fan of the Eberts character and had included him (and even featured
him) in 6 of the 8 story ideas he pitched to the producers. Unfortunately, the
two they liked were the two ‘sans’ Eberts. It was obviously an awkward moment,
but luckily Steve and I were able to laugh about it and got along great. I’m
also told that his legs will heal quite soon from his unfortunate ‘accident’.
;-)
BTW, whoever posted that TV guide thing, thanks. I still haven’t seen it.
And so for all of you who wanted Allianora gone, well she’s gone. Idalis was a
great person and it’s too bad her character never caught on with the fans.
Vince’s recently at ING.com (I think) back sort of sums up what happened. I
think when I said earlier that the back nine episodes we’re almost a season unto
themselves, you can see what I’m talking about. Still she had a great character
arc and who knows what chrysalis has up their sleeves.
The opening sequence was filmed at Point Loma national park.
Viva La France! Any of you Hollywood Reporter readers out there might have
noticed that not only is I-Man in international syndication, but it is currently
#2 in France. That’s right, the number TWO rated show in the country of France.
And while the number one and three shows are "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Macguyver",
I remain impressed with their taste. I also heard we’re NUMBER ONE in NEW
ZEALAND! Kiwi’s for all!
We also got nominated for a Saturn Award. I can’t find any website for them but
evidently the awards are handed out June 12th. Yay team!
The last shooting day of IASW I actually showed up. The lunch on the last of a
season is always a big deal. Since it was December (Which means cold to San
diegans), lunch was held in an unused sound stage. The place was decorated with
Christmas lights and Bing Crosby crooned some X-mas ditty in the background.
Steak, Lobster and crab legs were the main course with about every other food
you can think of in between. Everyone was in a festive mood and ready to take a
break. I felt a little weird since I wasn’t in the script and had no official
status on the show. I basically got some food and sat as unobtrusively as I
could.
After a little while the line producer, Ed Ledding stood up and spoke glowingly
about the cast of I-man and crew. Next came the cast. Paul, Eddie, Shannon and
Vince all walked up and presented the crew with a gift: Jackets with the F&G
logo. The crew gave them a round of applause. One by one they said wonderful
things about the hard work the crew had done, the fun they’d had and the
anticipation of a long series run. I sat at the table and applauded.
After all the cast had spoke our Unit production Manager, Lisa Neilan stood up.
She addressed the audience and said "There’s also one person who we really need
to single out for being so wonderful to this show." I glanced around the tables
wondering about that. Was she talking about John Connor our director of
Photography, Jay
Tobias, our director, Matt Greenberg, Stu Segall?
"Mike McCafferty"
It that really made my season. I had been ‘flying under the radar’ for so long
with the various producers that I wasn’t sure if they even knew who I was. It
certainly was a wonderful gesture on her part and it was nice to feel part of
the team (officially). I stood during the applause, waved like a dork and then
sat down despite the cast wanting me to join them. For me that was enough.
And with that, the first season came to a close. I hope everyone enjoyed it as
much as I did. All in all I think we succeeded more than failed, and it leaves
us room to grow.
Well, that ends my love-fest for this week. Geez, I re-read that and I sound
like I’m on a Barbara Walters special! Hope it wasn’t too gooey, but I also
wanted you to sort of ‘be there’ at the end of season one.
And now we’re pressing on! Hang on to your hats folks! We’ve really put together
some incredible shows for you in season 2!
Thanks
Mike
