My Top 5 Moments as a producer on WGN Morning News
(in no particular order)
Steve & Garry "Reunite"...
On television, that is. 6 minutes of their quick wit and classic chemistry. Whether they ever really get back together, who knows? I do know that they are still funny as hell together...and separately, of course.
The Return of Wizzo !
After many, many years and many, many requests - Marshall Brodien agreed to come on the show as Wizzo and dooty dooty on us and pulled out Robin's bra out of nowhere as a trick. I'm sure she still has a hot flash thinking about it.
Batman Returns
We built an entire show around the original caped crusader - complete with him scaling down the wall with Larry for his big entrance. Comedians Mike Toomey and Matt Kissane did a surprise walk on as Batman and Robin. Mike does a dead on Adam West and gave him a certificate from Gotham City to congratulate him on doing such a nice job.
Spelling Bee
Legendary Broadcaster Bill Kurtis hosts a spelling bee with our team vs. Roseanne Tellez - CBS 2, Art Norman - NBC 5, James Ward - Retired ABC 7 Restaurant Critic, Corey McPherrin - Fox Chicago, Linda MacLennan - former CBS 2 anchor. Gathering all of those folks from the competing stations and getting them to be here to potentially look like idiots for not knowing how to spell took a lot of balls on their part. (hey, it's a blog. I can say balls here. I think. Oh, Linda MacLennan does not have balls.)
Billy Corgan & Dennis DeYoung
Smashing Pumpkins frontman and former Styx frontman singing "We Three Kings" for no other reason other than I asked them if they would as a gift to Chicago, their fans, and our viewers for the holidays. Amazingly, they agreed to do it. They didn't rehearse until just before they performed it live. What started as an idea to spoof Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing the "Little Drummer Boy" became a traditional segment on our show at Christmastime. This year I am hoping to get another Chicago born rocker, Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon and ??? If you have a suggestion, send it to me, jahoover@tribune.com
Comments
Great job Jeff, number six would be Steve Lightning and Speedoman
Posted by: Matt | September 27, 2007 11:05 AM
how balls: you stole paul's dirty word of the day.
Posted by: nancy | September 27, 2007 1:24 PM
Can you post the video clips of the other 4 favorite moments
Posted by: Dennis | September 28, 2007 7:24 AM
I loved all of these shows for different reasons. Each were shining moments in their particular genre. I will remember them all, but the one that stands out for me was "We Three Kings". It was truely beautiful.
Posted by: ChristineChristine | September 30, 2007 9:08 PM