Behind The Scenes of The Lab With Leo

Last week, I told you guys about a potential opportunity that came up for me to become a regular on The Lab With Leo. After the initial meeting, I was invited back by the show’s producers to view a live recording and to give me an idea of what I was getting myself into. It would also give me an opportunity to meet with the show’s other regulars and of course Leo himself.

While on set, I found out that Sean Carruthers wasn’t the only one leaving the show. Kate Abraham and current producer Matt Harris would also be leaving to head back to Toronto. In fact, it was Matt and Kate’s last day while Sean would be on for another month. Well, if they pick me, they won’t have to worry about losing me to Toronto because I love BC! I also had a chance to chat with Leo in between their breaks and we talked about Futurelooks and stuff that I’m into. For some reason I thought Leo would be taller, but I guess they can do a lot with camera angles. I also noticed that everyone was on Macs and MacBooks. I’d definitley be able to bring some much needed PC’ness to the show. After all, I can build computers fast and I’m sure that having a bit more PC content could bring more viewers to the show since it seems that only the PC users have the problems.

I dropped in around lunch time which gave me an opportunity to put to rest the “Pizza Everyday” myth that was perpetuated by John Chow. It didn’t help that they had pizza the day that I showed up. Afterall, I can’t be ruining my girlish figure. Apparently they do Sushi and other un-pizza types of food on occasion. I even saw salads for lunch that day. OK, I could live with that. Too many carbs can be bad news, but I can definitely pack a kick ass lunch instead.

In the Green Room (which isn’t green BTW), I ran into Akash Sablok from And Now You Know. He was there doing a segment on gadgets. It was at that point where I found out that they actually film more than one episode each day. In fact, each episode is carefully orchestrated to play out like a theatre production. Things would shift on set, make up would get retouched, people would change their clothes so they don’t look like they wear the same thing everyday, and they would do it all over again. What I was most impressed with was how everything was done totally unscripted and took on a very natural conversational tone. Although the questions and callers are pre-selected by Leo in advance, much of the interaction is done on the fly and I was very impressed with how he was able to answer each question without skipping a beat. I guess those years of radio and TV experience really paid off.

Hanging out during a live filming really helped me understand how the pieces fit together. It’s definitely a lot different than writing an article that can be edited as many times as you need to get it right. Although I lack the TV experience, I’ve always been really good at “Show and Tell” which the show is mainly about: to show and tell people all the latest techie stuff and what it can do for them. At this point, the show’s producers are still trying to decide whether to find one person to fill Sean’s position, have two part time people to fill Sean’s position, or to have a number of contributors that would provide content for the show. Either way, I think I’m finally ready to embrace this opportunity if and when the time comes.