I went to the million dollar password auditions this week. They held the auditions at the Kaufman Astoria studios, which was great for me because I live in Astoria and its walking distance for me. It was a nice day warm, high of 53F, spring-like day which made it a nice day for walking.
I got there and walked through the main entrance, signed in with security, got my visitors sticker pass and then sat down where there was already a group of 12 people sitting in the chairs and rehearsing, so to speak.
I'm sure some of you may know how this game works, but just in case you don't here it is...
Basically one person (the giver) has a word given to them. They absorb the word then start to give clues to their partner (the receiver) so they guess the word.
For example, let's say the word is "BLING". The "giver" would say Jewelry. The "receiver" would reply "necklace". Not the word. So the "giver" would give another clue, "Ghetto"....then suddenly it pops into the receivers mind and out he/she iterates "BLING"!!!!!!! Yes! You got the PASSWORD! Yeah whatever.
Back to the audition process..... we were told to be there by noon and of course with my experience doing any kind of auditions, they never start at the time mentioned. An hour and a half later, the Lady comes out and walks around to collect our paper work. Shortly after wards we all get called into another room.
This is where this young PA joins the Woman to explain this game and how it works. The guy is going down a huge list of things not to say for example you cannot use contractions, abbreviations, acronyms, initials, etc. So this basically leaves you with not much to work with.
After that being said and done, the PA breaks the room up into two teams to practice playing the game. Let me tell you that was difficult enough having one side of the room yelling out clues and the other side throwing out possible answers to guess the word. It was a mess.
A few rounds of that and everyone in the room were even more nervous about the game then before they even entered. Then the actual process of auditioning was happening as the Woman came around to take digital shots of all of us. Another girl knocks on the door, comes into the room and starts calling people to come in to the actual audition. The nerves were really kicking in now.
While I was sitting in that room, to my surprise, one of my fellow background friends, Juan, came into the room with such great news. Apparently he went in to audition at 11:00 am and just got out and said that the producer said he liked him and to practice and come back in April to re-audition! OK Great!!! I was thinking, maybe I do have a chance at this. There was my sign of hope.
Well that hope was soon shattered when it was my turn to audition. I was called to go in with this young kid by the name of Michael. He was probably barely 20 years old, also an actor and does stage. He was a very bright, handsome young kid. We got along great and introduced us to each other even before we go into the room.
In fact we practiced with words for about an hour before we auditioned. Since we were one of the last ones to go into the auditioning room, the PA even gave us more tips to help us out. SO you would think that we would have the advantage here. Not so much.
Michael and I enter the room. It is a very small room. In fact it was actually a laundry room. The washer and the dryer in the back was a dead giveaway. This "room" is probably used to do laundry to wash clothes that get dirty on other sets in the Kaufman Astoria Studios. Since they film Sesame Street at this studio, maybe they have used this room to wash "Oscar the grouch" when his mouth gets a little too dirty!
That was the basic set-up. A simple collapsible table, one producer, who was so young that he just barely got out of puberty, and a heavy set girl, who was friendly and just probably just got her masters degree in public relations. The producer kid told us what he was looking for and the girl set up the camera and asked us our names.
Individually we had to go in front of the camera, state our name, where we are from, and something unusual about us. Typical audition stuff as they want to get something unusual about ourselves because that equals ratings. I told them my name and age and said “I can breathe with my mouth open!” Quickly after that they get Michael and I to stand by each other and to do a "Speed Round" of the game. Fine, let's do it.
I start the game off as the "giver". The word that is given to me is "BUNNY". Simple right?? Not so much. I start giving the clue to the young man. I say "Rabbit", "Easter"...then I say "Bugs".......I really thought he would get it, instead he says "ANTS"!!!!! I am like NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I can kind of get why he said Ants, and perhaps he was just too young to know that I meant Bugs Bunny???
The they "Switch" it around and he gives me the clues. So he starts out with "Liquid", I respond Water. Then he gives Chicken, so I say "SOUP"... Time is out. The password was "GRAVY?""" Exactly. Why did he not say Thanksgiving, Turkey, sauce, something like that?? Yup, so that was my audition. That was that. I really can’t blame Michael, he is young and there is a lot of pressure to audition for this.
I guess it wasn't a total waste because the girl told us that we both look "GREAT" on camera and she loves our energy. Yippee, does this mean I get the home version of the game??? I guess not. Oh and we can both come back and audition in April. Thanks but I think I will pass ;)
I tell you why this show is not going to work. For one thing, I'm not going to be on it! Seriously, I think this show barely lasted in the 70's and to bring it back is a mistake. The only staying power in a show like this is probably the fact that they have celebrities on it. Otherwise, it's really hard being under all that pressure to come up with a word in 2 seconds on the clock. The turn-over for a show like this is huge.
I was in the audience on the actual taping of the show this past Tuesday and nobody was even close to winning the million. The most money winnings anyone got was ten-thousand. That's nothing for a show like this.
Having Regis Philbin as a host also makes it more appealing to viewers, though this is no "Who wants to be a millionaire". That had to be one of the best game shows ever!
Oh well, so much for winning big, maybe I will get lucky and win at the raffle of giveaways they have for being in the audience. Better than nothing, I guess.
It just feels like another failed attempt to try and succeed at something.
SIGH! CA :(
