NYC series no.4: The Today Show

Cyndi said she wanted to see the taping of The Today Show at Rockefeller Center, and the more I thought about it the more it sounded like a fun thing to do on Monday, our last full day in NYC, and afterward going up the elevators at 30 Rock to the observation decks and then over to MOMA, all while the day is young. I think we set the alarm for 4:30 in the morning. We took showers and got the boys up at the last moment. We might have taken the subway to Columbus Circle to transfer to an orange line to Rockefeller Center, but I think that morning we walked down to the station at 72nd and Central Park West, in front of the Dakota. We arrived in the station below Rockefeller Center and I found the exit to the concourse of shops at the level between the station and the skating rink. The boys thought this was the best metro station we'd been in. There was a Starbucks there and we ordered our usuals. Besides two kids' hot chocolates, there's a triple extra room tall Americano and a grande extra hot toffee nut latte, no whip. That's not exactly how I order them, but it's as close I can get to how my orders are repeated to me.

We went up to the lobby and out to the plaza and we could see the metal barriers set up out side the studio in the alley between 48th and 49th. We were standing at a corner when a man, who looked to be an audience regular and was already at a prime location, by himself, inside the barriers (I'll call him the VIF), gestured us over to 48th Street, where sure enough a line was forming. Fortunately, it wasn't too long. About 6:30, they let you inside the outer ring of the metal barriers, but not until they check your posters (we didn't make any) for content and pass a wand over your body. Cyndi eventually found a spot at a corner next to a spot reserved for wheelchairs, which in turn is next to the pathway Matt, Ann and Natalie use to enter the inner ring. In other words, Cyndi ended up in a prime spot along the path between the celebrity entrance and the VIF.

Meanwhile I found myself facing the studio itself, with a direct line of sight into the heart of the production area. Mostly, I could view the producers, the cameramen, a makeup artist, and Tom Brokaw and the new Meet the Press guy waiting for the segment on the debt crisis analysis. I nursed my coffee and also watched a monitor above my head. The boys took turns between Cyndi and me, with Jackson sometimes drifting further out to take in the crowd, including the large crew of police on duty.

The show is on the air at 7 sharp. There's some silly stories, one about the royal family, and a fascinating interview with a woman on the U.S. ski team who had an amazing encounter with a mother bear. If you remember that story on The Today Show, you probably saw Cyndi, Jackson and Rylee on national television.

Somewhere before the first half-hour ended, about where they probably have lots of commercials and local news and weather, I saw on my monitor a spliced shot of Cyndi and the boys on camera. And then opening the next half hour, with the theme music playing and the host's voice over saying this was Monday, August 1, there was Cyndi, Jackson and Rylee waving and beaming on camera. The cameraman had picked them out of the crowd. It seemed a natural choice to me.

The celebs probably appeared in the inner ring two or three times. (During part of the on-air time, I went to get tickets for the observation decks around the corner, where I met some other really great NBC or GE or RCA or whatever employees.) I noticed how genuinely friendly The Today Show celebs and producers were. One of the producers went to greet the VIF and gave him one of those Continental kisses. Cyndi and Jackson shook hands with the celebs as they passed by.

Much of this was coordinated by constant text messaging and telephone calls to Cyndi's family and friends so that they would watch and TiVo the show. I still haven't seen any recording, but then I saw it already. I was there. I know Cyndi's dying to see it. Lisa called me after she got back from work that day. It was already late in our day, and we were exhausted. Lisa said something like, are you in New York? Did I see Cyndi on television this morning? What's the chances you'd be in New York, at The Today Show, on camera, and that I'd be watching it at that moment? A classmate of Rylee's saw him, too, that morning.