Animal Advocates

Preparation

Yesterday was my big day, my first TV appearance. How to prepare?! I don’t know much about TV but there’s nothing like a nice swim in the pool to prepare for just about anything. So that’s what I did. Felt pretty good too and got me nice an cool before the long drive up to College Station and Texas A&M University’s KAMU-TV.

Sheldon was in my seat

My friend Elizabeth, her daughter Clarissa, Sheldon, Melly and I all went to the taping. We rode in Elizabeth’s van, which was nice and big with plenty of room for everyone…except they forgot about a seat for Sheldon and he ended up taking mine. Actually, we shared. I got on his lap so I could see out the window.

Long drive, long nose

It’s a long drive up to College Station and not that comfortable on Sheldon’s lap so part of the time I sat on the floor. I ate a whole tub of lettuce and a bunch of treats too.

That all sounds nice but I am leaving out the part about how I am afraid of cars and driving and how I do not like to leave home. They had the air conditioning on in the car but I was still sweating up a storm. I mean that. When I shook, I got everyone all wet. Melly gave me a little ice water but I didn’t drink much. To tell the truth, I was scared nearly to death even though I was surrounded by friends who didn’t seem upset at all. Still, they are humans and humans are notoriously oblivious to danger.

On the KAMU Set

You can see me and Melly getting settled in on the set. Clarissa is positioning my bed. It looks like a living room in a home but it’s not. It only has two walls and the rest is just a big room full of cameras and lights and junk. The walls of the set have books on them but I don’t think anyone ever reads them, they are just props. I wonder what they will use for props when ebooks finish displacing physical books? A single ebook reader isn’t going to take up much wall space.

During the taping

I refused to come out of my bed during the taping. I think I look good in it. Plus I wanted to distance myself from Melly who was saying some pretty dumb things. The woman with dark hair on the couch with her is Brenda Bridges, she does the Animal Advocates segment. The person in the chair next to me is Sharon Colson, she is the host of Brazos Valley Magazine, which is the name of the show.

Mostly everyone seemed nice and very interested in me and how cute I am. I wouldn’t do any tricks or anything and I refused to make any of my cute noises and mostly I just lay around like a lump on a log because I was so scared, but still I was pretty darned cute. Melly forgot to put my Super Gari medallion on me or I might have had the self-confidence to sit on the little rug.

You might notice that Melly is wearing a t-shirt with Caplin Rous on her. That was given to her by one of my Facebook fans, Sarah Resnick Homer. It’s a pretty nice shirt but maybe she shouldn’t have worn it on TV. Or that skirt. Actually, if I do this much, I might have to get a new handler with more film presence.

One thing that really bugged me was that Sharon Colson started talking about how they eat capybaras in South America. That is not something I like to think about and it was hard enough for me just sitting there shaking and sweating and being afraid without her bringing that up. Then she went a step too far! She asked Melly what capybaras taste like! Can you imagine? I would have bitten her if I hadn’t been so afraid. For once I was proud of Melly because she let Sharon Colson know that question was out of line and she refused to answer it. I am sure Melly doesn’t know what capybaras taste like but it was better not to give the question any answer than to say even that. I am almost mad enough not to watch myself on TV.

Me and Clarissa with Arthur and a puppy

As we left the studio, Clarissa and I decided to get our picture taken with Arthur. Arthur is an aardvark cartoon character. He’s not real but he’s still kind-of cute.

If you’d like to watch, here is the info on the show that they gave us:

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KAMU-TV (PBS) broadcasts locally on HD Channel 12,
Suddenlink Cable Ch. 4 and 700 and streams video as it is broadcast 24/7/365

Your interview airdates for “BRAZOS VALLEY MAGAZINE” are: June 16th, 18th, and 19 th, 2011

“BRAZOS VALLEY MAGAZINE” airs locally each Thursday evening at 8 PM and repeats the following Saturday at 6PM and Sunday afteroon at 5PM CENTRAL TIME.

Collegues, family, and friends can now watch you when you are a guest on “BRAZONS VALLEY MAGAZINE” no matter where they live! The programs are NOT archived. KAMU-TV streams (boradcasts) live 24/7/35. You must watch on the Web at the same time and date as the broadcast listed above as your airdates (remember: CENTRAL TIME) to see your interview. Otherwise, viewers will see whatever is airing at the time they click in.

Watch KAMU-TV streaming video at http://kamu.tamu.edu

Log in from a computer to the site above. On the top left, in the strip across the page under the heading, click “Watch Now.” When the streaming window opens, click in the middle of the page where it says “Watch KAMU in Standard Definition.”