Urban Outsiders At Our Home

Urban Outsiders... The Commentary

2006-08-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

So here's the rundown of our episode, along with some insights on what actually happened during the shoot. Very exciting, I know. And it's even more exciting thanks to Steve Albright who did all these screen captures for us.

After a lovely teaser where I make my first appearance, followed by Matt James' show introduction, Matt discusses how he's in Echo Park to save our yard. This location where Matt crosses the street was scouted by Steve on the last day of shooting. While Matt was off doing something important, Steve took off with Rupert (producer), Bernie (director), and Ian (cameraman) to show them locals. We were all very excited that they found this and used it.

Next they did a pan down of me and Steve-- a shot which they reused many, many times in the episode. This was shot when Matt was sick, with all of the neighborhood kids out watching us. What's ironic, is that only one of our neighbors ever asked what was going on; you'd think they shot shows on our street every day.
We explain why we love Echo Park and then they showed images of downtown LA, which is really only five minutes from us. What's ironic, is that they did capture some of the old Broadway theaters, and since Steve and I are members of the LA Conservancy we appreciated the fact that they showed things we really do love about this area; I think production was just happy that they could finally use all that footage they shot, which doesn't fit with any of the other episodes.

Incidentally, Matt describes Echo Park as, "...a hip, vibrant part of LA." I knew we were on the pulse.
After our close-up couch interview where we look pretty good even without makeup, Matt says via narration, "Their funky lifestyle is reflected by their creative jobs..." CUE US MAKING COCKTAILS.
To be clear, we shot that at 10am on the day we found out that Matt was sick, and there is only pink lemonade in those sugar-rimmed glasses. Normally they never want to show you drinking on these shows so we did a "chink don't drink" action, but they chose the one take where we did look like we were drinking. Yum.

THEN CAME THE HORROR MUSIC AS THEY SHOWED OUR BACKYARD...

Because Steve and I have similar voices and we often overlap our dialogue, here is the script breakdown for what was said.

MATT'S NARRATION: Steve may be pretty hot on interiors, but outside the yard is more like a psychedelic children's nightmare, than a cool, fashionable adult hangout.
RICK: It's pink stucco, so it looks sort of like icing on a cupcake.
STEVE: Uh huh...
RICK: With purple trim...
STEVE: And then the green wall...
RICK: A green wall...
STEVE: It's really bad.
RICK: And multi-colored floor. It's just... it's not our taste. Yeah, it's a little more than slightly embarrassed.
STEVE: Yeah.
RICK: Yeah.
Laughter.

WHAT?

"It's a little more than slightly embarrassed." What does that mean, Rick?

I don't know... but what I'm now embarrassed about is that they said I was a writer and yet I spoke like that on television.
So then we come outside. Did our rundown of what we wanted, which was basically a rehash of what we said to Matt and the producer at our initial interview, and which we would repeat during our couch interview the next day.

Here is where Steve says he likes the "alien" plant (the aeonium). Then I give Matt the crazy gay eyes and say, "Can you do it?" That was improvised because we didn't know what else to say to end the interview, they liked it, so they kept it.
After the commercial break, we come back and are shown drinking cocktails again.

Then we rehash what we want in the yard, with a couple variations. We also get Matt's computer graphic and explanation.

Then Steve and I sit at our dining room table and look at the blueprint. We taped this on like day three or four, so we'd already seen the design, knew Matt was sick, and had seen some of the tiles laid and the redwood batons placed on the wall. This is probably normal for production, and possibly explains why so many home owners on Urban Outsiders are a bit stiff during this portion of the show. I have nothing to back that up-- After all, we appear quite natural in this moment, don't we?-- but we always cringe when we watch other episodes because we know how difficult it was to make this moment look good.
Please note the autographed Foxy Brown poster in the background.

Then work begins outside. This and all of the following bits were shot on Day 1 in the afternoon.

Here, Matt discusses how we save some plants to use later and, by extension, save some money. Well, the truth is that the sun that landed Matt in the hospital also fried all those plants. They died. But fortunately, Matt had ordered similar plants so it looked like we saved them on camera.
Then we ask Matt a question, which is another set up scene. If you watch closely, you'll see Steve step on a broom and the handle fly up, hitting him in the back. Fortunately, he's a professional and didn't crack on camera.

After Matt's explanation for why he wanted bigger flower beds, he holds his hands out and says, "Yeeeeaaaahhhhh Daddy!"

Um, WHAT?

We don't know. But it was funny so we laughed. And Matt is straight, so it wasn't any sort of kinky thing. I just think he and the others were having a lot of fun with us.

Now, some narration as we walk through the alley...
MATT: With the California sun beating down my neck, (Foreshadowing, anyone?) I'm glad to see our two local boys getting stuck-in. But with only this tiny access to the garden, even they're having trouble with their back alley...

I'm sorry, did he REALLY say that?

Yes, he did! I think it's a wink, wink moment because we were all having fun making naughty jokes. It was a pretty saucy episode, after all.

Anyway, then we get our tiles.
MATT: Here you go, dudes. Your tiles have arrived!
STEVE: TIIIILES! (Said like the singer from the song "Weird Science" said, "SCIENCE!")
No, we don't know why Steve did that. But this was Day 1, late afternoon, and the tiles actually arrived in the morning before Matt even showed up. So perhaps this explains Steve's expression.
MATT: And they cost a fortune, but... it's worth it (that's why we're laughing, above.)
And as we bring in the tiles, you get to see our muscles. SWEET!

We come back from commercial and once more, Matt summarizes the main plot, we see the ugly yard, and then I say the following...

RICK: You know, if we finally got the backyard fixed up, I think it would finally make our "place" into feeling like a home.

And THAT, my friends, is why I'm a writer!

(Just ignore the repetition of the word "finally" in one sentence. I wasn't allowed to edit.)

This is really Day 2, just as Matt says, though he technically got sick with sunstroke at Home Depot the night before. And yes, it did start to rain on Day 2 and they tarped the patio so they could lay our tile.
And here I am discussing the situation in a clip that will be used on all the future commercials.

You'll notice, green sweatshirt. Then you'll see someone in a green sweatshirt painting, and then me in a red shirt painting. But when Matt narrates, he says that we both painted. Well, Steve was working that day making snowglobes for Disney, but through the miracle of editing and wardrobe changes, it looks like two of us.

Then there's this whole segment on pots. Very educational.

Finally, Matt returns from bedrest and tells the viewer how worried he is that we might have messed up, and that he hopes it's, "The bee's knees." How cute is that?

To be clear, when they show Matt entering our yard and he looks amazed, that was all real. This was the moment when he really did see the yard for the first time and he was blown away. One of the big excitements-- which people on the message boards have noted-- is that this is the type of yard you can only really do in California. So yes, he was super excited that his vision had turned out so well.

If you look closely though, behind Ian in the picture you'll notice that the box for our laundry is already in the yard. We lifted that over the roof on Day 4 or thereabouts, and in the episode you see Steve switch shirts mid-move. There are many reasons for them to do this-- namely in the current edit it keeps Matt more involved-- but also we used almost all of the crew people to get it in and they like to keep them as "behind the scenes" as possible.

Okay, onto the plants...
An "HGTV" style moment is where one talks in a robotic tone like Vicky, from Small Wonder while trying to behave enthusiastically on camera. We did this take a number of times because we'd been working for days, the plants had been sitting in our car port for days, this was our last day of shooting, and it was just really exhausting.

Steve's best line: "I've never had so many plants I was already completely terrified of killing."

CUE DANCE MUSIC while we carry the plants into the yard.

At this point Matt says we should have the yard finished by tomorrow. Well, not really. We did everything in one day, which will become clear by the end of the episode.

So then we come to the one moment in our episode where I make a snarky comment about helping Matt plant in the yard.

Here's the image to go along with it...
Matt puts a plant in place.
MATT: Happy there?
RICK: Oh yeah...
MATT: You can come and help me, if you like.
RICK: (with snarky disgust) We could...
STEVE: We probably should.
We laugh-- just joking-- and go to help.

So let me explain. Before the taping, we'd seen two episode of Matt's UK show, The City Gardner, and on each one they had home owners just sitting in the window watching Matt do all the work. On Day 1 we made it clear that we did NOT want to be seen like that. So the crew kept trying to catch us when we were looking out that window, and it became a big joke.

On the last day of shooting, the director finally said, "Would you get in the window and do it?"

Steve and I looked at one another and immediately realized we were getting a dream garden at a huge discount, and dammit, if they asked us to plant shirtless we'd do it at this point. So we did (um, the window, not the shirtless thing). And that's how this moment was born.

And so we planted and planted...

...and planted and planted...

...and planted some more.

Then Steve and Matt roll the laundry cover in place.

Back to Matt's narration...
There are just a few finishing touches, and this haven is just a couple of balls from finished.

And yes, he does chuckle when he says, "balls" and there's an obvious reason for that.
But that happens after he talks about the gazing balls and how they create a bit of garden whimsy.

Matt then does an explanation of the yard, what happened with it, and then we cut to night because it was now 10pm when we did the final interview. Bear in mind that we bought dinner for the crew at 8pm or so, drank some beers, and when we set up for the interview I thought it was only appropriate that we had martinis... These were loaded.

Which also explains the following dialogue.
MATT: Is [the yard] enough of a mixture for you guys?
STEVE: It's perfect.
RICK: It's got those classic elements-- blah blah blah-- modern twists-- blah blah blah-- like, we love your balls.

Um yeah... I did say it.
And as you can see, Matt laughed.

And then I said about the olive trees...

RICK: And I love even more that these are non-fruit bearing olive trees, 'cause mamma don't wanna clean it up!
Laughter. Though they did cut Steve's line: "I can't believe you just said that!" More laughter. I should have said, "Okaaaayyyyyyy!" (snap, snap, snap.)

But that was it. We finished the taping and martinis shortly after that, Matt finished his narration where he said, "...I'm now leaving Rick and Steve with a modern med haven, and I'm thrilled that they love it just as much as I do."

And we really do, too.

Thanks to the Urban Outsiders crew. You not only saved our yard, but you made our "place" into a home, and even motivated us to paint the pink cupcake house so that it matched our beautiful yard. We really couldn't be happier.

While you're waiting for Urban Outsiders commentary...

2006-08-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

...you can check out what some other people are saying about the show!

Fans of Reality TV created a rundown of the episode. It covers the basics but it's kind of fun seeing someone else write about your episode. The writer also includes these "before" and "after" shots.

ALSO... HGTV's page has detailed information on what was placed in the yard and where they purchased the various items. So if you're interested in getting anything in our yard-- except for us, because Steve and I may be cheap but we're not for sale-- you can find it at this HGTV link.

Urban Outsiders Pictures!

2006-08-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,
Steve Albright's pics. We're in Vegas, got pictures with Toni and it's pretty funny. PLUS, a very famous cartoon character.
Time to get a mani. See you!

Our Urban Outsiders Episode Premieres!

2006-08-03T06:54:00.000-07:00

Finally! And I have to say, with all the bias in the world, I think this was the best episode so far!

Okay, so I'm sure there are questions about details, what actually happened and a thing we call, "The magic of editing" but it's literally 6:15 and we have to leave in 45 minutes for LAX to get to Las Vegas. But thanks to reader Steve Albright who has the magic ability to take screen captures, we've been able to put up some highlights...

BUT WAIT! Blogger is giving me problems and I can't post any images. It just keeps loading... and loading... and loading... and now we're running late so I have to dash. Promise to get more stuff up and hopefully a commentary on the episode by early next week.

Oh, and no, the walls aren't high at all. There are small spaces between the slats so you get wind and air through them. It's very lovely.
Talk soon.
Rick

One Week Until We're On!

2006-07-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Next week you'll finally see our episode of Urban Outsiders... provided there's no change in the schedule.

But in the meantime, check out these message boards about the show! It's going to be so strange to have them talking about our yard next week!

Television Without Pity

and

Fans of Reality TV
(with photos)

Just an FYI, HGTV closed their message board for Urban Outsiders. Not sure why, but possibily because people were complaining about the show.

New Airdate on HGTV!

2006-07-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

We're slated to be on Urban Outsiders, August 2nd. Thanks for being patient!

HGTV Countdown Day 1 -- WTF?!

2006-07-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

I had a hard time sleeping last night because I was super excited about our episode of Urban Outsiders premiering today. Steve's been anxious for the last few days but I've been on TV a couple times-- including this TV Land special to the right where I talked about Wonder Woman...

I was pretty chill until now, but last night it was so bad that I got hungry again, obsessed about being hungry, had to find something to eat, and then tried to sleep again; by 2am I was out cold, but it wasn't easy.

Then this morning I woke up, saw a friend on IM and sent him a note about the show. And as I went to the HGTV website to send him a link to our episode I found this:
Schedule...
Our Summary...

We're not listed! They have he "Urban Spa" episode listed as tonight (and again in August, FYI) and then when you go to our summary there's no air date at all!

Okay, now when I did the above-mentioned TV Land special the website airdates were all wrong, so I'm not totally freaking out. And HGTV has flipped around our times before on the website. And TV Guide and TIVO have specifically mentioned our episode title for tonight-- not sure if they are currently. So this could just be some new production assistant getting confused because we were the fourth taped but they want us first aired-- who knows?

But I still have to ask... WTF?! We have family coming over tonight! We bought cheese! I made pesto (which we're serving with a lovely penne pasta and grilled chicken)! We're making caprese salad! We got everything for a lovely Italian antipasto platter including olives, marinated artichoke hearts, marinated mushrooms, roasted bell peppers, wine... WE BOUGHT BREAD! (said with dramatic flair). It's just really annoying.

So I guess we won't know anything until 6:30pm tonight-- 9:30 for you east coasters because we get your east coast feed. If nothing else, we'll have a lovely cocktail party, celebrate Steve's brother getting a major design job before graduating college, and watch Fashion House commercials... But it would really be nice to toast the garden so if you know anyone at HGTV make a call, would you?

Thanks. Cheers.

HGTV Countdown Day 2 & A Fashion House Commercial!

2006-07-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

In just two days (Got that? TWO days!) our episode of Urban Outsiders is scheduled to premiere on HGTV. We're just having family over that night because Steve and I are working too much to organize a big party. We're also gone the next two weekends so maybe at the end of the month we'll have a shindig to celebrate.

PLEASE NOTE: There will be no Words of the Week this week because of the show, the commentary to follow, and the fact that we'll be in San Francisco this weekend at a wedding (which should also provide PRIME blogging material!). But next week's word will be Twocan. Ponder the possibilities...

BIG FASHION HOUSE NEWS!

I love YouTube, especially because two people have posted the Fashion House commercials. For those of you newbies, that's the show I'm working on for the fledgling MyNetworkTV. Check it out:
First you have Bo Derek looking fabulous...
Then you have Morgan Fairchild looking fabulous!

SLAP!

And the logos...
Watch the whole trailer at this link. It's fun, bitchy, and a perfect slice of what's to come. As I get more info that I'm allowed to post, I'll do it.

Wonderful Weekend and HGTV Countdown Day 3!

2006-07-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is Shannon of the famous LA blogging site Sha In LA. As often happens with bloggers in general and same-city bloggers in particular, Shannon and I have mutual friends. We learned this when Steve was cruising LA blogs and saw pictures of our friends Eric and Phil on her blog at the lovely downtown wine bar 626 Reserve. So I started going to her blog, she went to mine, and after Eric and Phil had their loft-warming downtown this Saturday the two of us finally met.

Fortunately, Shannon is a real blogger and brings her camera with her, so I stole these from her site.
Here she is with me...
And here is Lisa-- my boxing coach and friend-- Steve and myself at 626 Reserve where we had yummy dinner.

The cool thing about LA right now is how downtown is finally being redeveloped but Eric and Phil are on the early end, so you can still go down and find parking, discover new bars, and feel like you're on the inside track for what will be popular in 5+ years. Plus, with Steve and I living in Echo Park, we're only five minutes from downtown so we can visit and yet still have a backyard.

And speaking of backyards....

Urban Outsiders Premiere Watch 2006!

We're on this Wednesday, July 12, 9:30pm or 6:30 depending on your provider. Check listings.

And then we saw Elvis!

No joke, there we were... at a birthday party for Anthony and Karianne's baby. British Elvis showed up. I'd post a picture but I have an aversion to thin British Elvises (Elvisi? What is the plural of Elvis?). And since their baby is only a year old, I think this had more to do with dad than child. But let me just say one thing: I NEVER want to hear Anthony call me a geek again just because I like Battlestar Gallactica because good SciFi trumps dead singing drunks any day. That's all I'm sayin'.

HGTV Airs Our First Commercial!

2006-07-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

We finally got to see a small glimpse of our yard on TV with the new commercials for HGTV's Urban Outsiders. They have a really short one where you see Matt and a worker planting an olive tree, but the longer one really features our place.

Here's the announcer: From New York to LA, Matt James is on a mission. He's got a passion for turning impossible places... (insert this image of our backyard...)
(followed by Matt in this image saying, "Sheesh!")
Announcer: ...into lush spaces. (insert an image of someone else's yard.

Now, this IS Matt in our yard... but you'll notice the wood battens are up on the wall, so this is actually when he first saw the work done after being laid up for a couple days.

But here he is trying to wheel things through our tiny alley.
And here's the exciting logo!
Okay, so when is our episode?

Well, the dates have changed again! And once again, WE'RE THE PREMIERE EPISODE. (Okay, I'm done getting excited about this because it could change again. But our friend Jerry called this afternoon excited about seeing our yard on TV. Fun!)

We'll keep you updated as the show goes on, and once it does premiere then we'll really put up some other photos to showcase the yard.

We're Still on HGTV... but when?

2006-06-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

Urban Outsiders is now listed on the HGTV website's main page so there's no need to search. But when you go to THIS LINK for the show itself, it lists The Urban Spa as the first episode.

But if you look at our episode it still lists us as the first episode....

AND THEN... if you go to the episode guide it lists us as episode 104, which is fine because we were the 4th shot so this makes sense from a production perspective that this would be our number. But then if you click through we're still listed as the first episode and in various places listed as episode 101.
So we have no idea what's happening. Bottom line, we'll be on in July... Hopefully. Stay tuned.

HGTV's Urban Outsiders a.k.a. The City Gardener Air Dates!

2006-06-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Our new best friend in the whole world is Stephen Albright who sent me a link to this page: It's the broadcast dates for HGTV's show Urban Outsiders, the U.S. version of The City Gardner that will be shown on HGTV. For those of you not following along, this is the program that redid our backyard and friend Stephen followed the blog as it was happening.

Super excited about this page, because if you follow the link what you'll see is that as of this moment... Steve and I are the premiere episode on July 12th! That's amazing! They actually shot us 4th, but for one reason or another they've decided to use us first; probably Matt's illness creating drama or us being super sexy and funny, or all of the above. Who can say?

We haven't seen any commercials on the air yet, and actually it's really difficult to find this page; how friend Stephen was able to do it mystifies me. But if we're the first episode and the program airs in two weeks, there should be some commercials popping up soon, perhaps over the July 4th weekend? We'll keep an eye out.

On a side note, I keep clicking back to the HGTV page every half hour to make sure that we're still listed as the first show.

At the moment there isn't a lot of info out there on the new show, so I've gotten a lot of letters about it from a few City Gardner fans, as well as from Caliopie Georgiadis, a homeowner in Brooklyn who is getting her "prison yard" worked on this week.

So working as an information resource-- because we loves to entertain, but we also loves to educate as well-- you can read the summary of Urban Outsiders on this HGTV page.

Likewise, here's info on Matt James, the host of the show.

People can also e-mail me with questions, and I'm compiling the entire journey on our Urban Outsiders blog.

Post HGTV: Random Urban Outsiders Notes

2006-06-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

I did a search of myself on Google yesterday-- shut up, you know you all do it, too-- and decided to see if there was any new information on the HGTV show Urban Outsiders. These are the folks who redid our backyard, and I think I may even start a third little blog where I can collect all of those old entries.

Anyway, you can find the Mondo Rick-o blog if you do a Google search on HGTV and the show title. But then I also came across an article with this pic on it. Um, yeah, that's a pic Steve took that I posted on this blog. Crazy!

Two Four is the production company that shot Urban Outsiders for HGTV, and the crew knew about my blog so I have to assume that one of the producers decided to lift a pic for their press release. But it's still pretty crazy.

You can also find this message board on the HGTV website where they talk about the show a little bit. Here the show is listed as premiering July 12th at 9:30pm. No telling when our particular episode will run, but we did get a letter from the production saying that they would be contacting us soon with further information. Very excited.

Post HGTV: The long-term effects on our house

2006-05-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

My hands hurt today. They've been hurting since we stopped painting on Sunday night.

After HGTV came out with the Urban Outsiders crew to transform our backyard into an oasis of love, it became apparent that Steve and I were putting up with a very unnecessary color for our house. Yes, the pink cupcake house is lovely, but since Steve and I get enough pink in our daily lives (you can read into that however you'd like) we got the bright idea on Sunday to use the four extra gallons of paint left over from our backyard to repaint the house.

It's actually an exciting transformation. Though it's tough to see in these photos-- Why is it that our cream color looks so much like our former pink color?-- we're now painting the entire house Mediterranean Cream to match the backyard. In this pic with Steve you can see the line on the right side where the carport is half cream and half pink. (Which, again, if you have a dirty mind at 6:15am like me, is something you can read into if you'd like.) We'll need to buy three more gallons for this weekend but we should be finished by Sunday.
I have a blister on my hand but that's okay because I think we would have just lived with our pink house for quite a while, especially now that the back is finished and we can basically ignore it; you put up with a lot of things when you work all week and then want to relax on the weekend. But that can drag you down, I think, because you never quite feel your house is at the place you'd like it to be, so the fact that we got motivated because of this show to do something is a great thing.

As soon as we have more done, I'll post them.

Post HGTV: My Sister and HGTV

2006-04-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

No, my family doesn't have a knack for getting on the HGTV network. In fact, up until last week I didn't even know my middle sister, Joanne, watched it. But she was very excited about Steve's and my taping for Urban Outsiders and then sent out an e-mail about her recent backyard project...

When you think day off, don't you have visions of reclining somewhere and doing nothing? HMMMM

Well, I got a fountain for the garden for my birthday. It did not come with labor - not even the gift giver (OK, especially not the gift giver - Brianne- her teenage daughter.) offered to install it.

So, that's how I spent my day off today. What did I learn -

1. The people on HGTV have all the cool tools that your average person doesn't have and isn't going to buy for one project.

2. The people on HGTV make things look much easier than they really are.

3. It's much easier to hire [someone to have] it done and be the idea man/woman.

4. The average two hour project takes only two hours if you don't have to make three trips to Lowes...

5. One project will lead to three more -

a. Once the fountain was in, I realized how much the garden needed to be weeded.

b. Once the fountain was in the area around it looked bland and needed river rocks (trip 1 to Lowes)

c. The area around the fountain is bigger than it appears (trip 2 to Lowes)

d. The rocks were nice, but needed some color (trip 3 to Lowes)

6. A 12" level will not tell you if two things 24" apart are level.

7. Once stepping stones are in place, they should be left there. I don't care if they sink into the ground and get covered by mud. Just leave them. You didn't need to step there anyway!
So, I started at about 9am and it is now 4:30. It is done. Attached are the pictures (the frogs were already part of the landscaping).

Post HGTV: Our Cranky Nose-Blowing Neighbor

2006-04-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

During the course of production we had a run-in with our next door neighbor. He's an older Mexican guy-- probably in his 60s-- with an avocado shaped body and a bulbous nose that's always red; kind of like Santa Clause but without any of the jolly. He's the guy who places his trash cans in the driveway so that no one can make a 3-point turn on our narrow street using his property, and he frequently yells at the neighborhood kids for being too loud. He also blows that rosey nosey so loudly that at any odd hour and we can hear it in our house.

We'd been doing fine in terms of run-ins with him, but on the last day of shooting one of the landscapers parked his car in front of Hornblower's place and he yelled at the guy. Now I didn't understand it at all-- and I do know quite a few Spanish swear words so I figured it was lots of anger without too many slurs-- so I apologized. He just looked at me like I was a side-dish he didn't order and then tromped back into his house, slamming the screen door behind him.

Mind you, our neighbors on the other side were very nice and let both the construction team cut the wood slats in their yard, and the production team to set up lights there as well. Very nice people. The husband is a busboy at The Magic Castle. We love them.

So Steve and I tried bringing gifts to both neighbors--a thank you to one and a peace offering to the nose-blower. Here's how the second one went.

Steve and I walk up to the door holding a beautiful potted plant from Whole Foods Market. I knock as Steve stands a few feet behind me in case our Horny has a gun. We wait for thirty-seconds. Door opens just slightly.
HORN BLOWER: Grrr.
ME: Hi. We wanted to thank you for putting up with all the construction.
HORN BLOWER: Okay.
He starts to shut the door. I hold out plant.
ME: For you? Para ti?
HORN BLOWER: Grrr.

He did open the screen door and took the plant, but he didn't thank us. We quickly left. It was annoying, but I figure we tried. Oh well. Maybe we'll yell at him the next time he blows his nose at three in the morning.

Post HGTV: A Little Sadness...

2006-04-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic of our friend Jerry, Steve's brother Jeff, and Steve enjoying our new garden. It's a happy scene because-- as I am well aware-- this is a very happy time for Steve and I.

But when you go through something like like having your yard redone for very little money, and you feel like you've won the backyard lottery, you can experience a post-event sadness. It's like when I used to work on youth group retreats, or even now when I attend a big comic-convention weekend or go on a fun trip where I meet new people and have this Amazing time. The period expends a ton of energy, involves loads of emotions, and then you're suddenly thrust back into your normal life and it's like... What? Did that just all happen? And you keep thinking about the event and talking about it with others, trying to convey the highs you experienced but never quite being able to recreate that macial "something" that was more feeling than concrete event.

For example, the crew from our shoot was made up of guys our age so every day we'd spend time talking about great restaurants or clubs they should go to in LA. Then the next day they'd report in on where they went, that they loved it, and it was a fun little ritual. They asked how Steve and I met, how he became an animator, what my telenovela was about, and I heard about their girlfriends back in the UK. It was just fun. So the other day Steve and I were talking about how we missed them. They were like these friends of ours who weren't technically our friends, but for those seven days I would certainly have been there for them the same way as I would for any of my other guy and girlfriends.

It's strange. I liken this melancholy sensation to when I've worked on film productions-- or even when I was in high school drama class-- you do these intense short-term projects, become very close, swear you'll be friends forever and then you go back to your world. And again, you feel that little bit of sadness...

Don't get me wrong, it's kind of a sweet feeling. And the only way to experience it is to share in a truly wonderful moment. Steve and I have had that through HGTV-- which Steve is now called "How Gay Television"-- and thus I'm grateful. It's a sadness that makes me reflect on my life, and think about how blessed I am to be here, now, in Los Angeles, and living an amazing life with Steve by my side.

HGTV - Day 7 - The Blog of Revelation

2006-04-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

It's finally done! The big reveal!

But to fully prep you for those changes... let's take a moment to reflect on the "Before," shall we?
And who could forget...?In honor of the Black Eyed Peas, as well as our British crew who loved singing their songs, join Steve and I in a little ditty... "Our dumps! Our dumps! Our lovely lady dumps! Check it out!"

Thankfully, everyone showed up for work yesterday-- early-- and designer/host Matt James returned from being sick to help us finish the garden. When he left, the only thing that had been worked on was clearing out and building the planter box. Here he is, seeing the space for the first time. Trust me, this was snapped at an off time but he was really thrilled with the space. According to Matt and the film crew, they had never done a cool space like this and were very excited.
Needless to say, so were Steve and I...

Meanwhile, Chuck Carr of Carr Landscape Management-- who does a ton of work for the HGTV shows-- came in with his team to get everything finished up: tiles, bar removal, light installation, LOTS of painting (even though we thought we'd done a lot ourselves), cleaning up, etc. Here's Chuck cutting the bars off the windows.

Later in the day, while Steve took young Bernie (director) and Ian (the infamous cameraman-- I don't know why we gave everyone titles, BTW) on a location scout for Matt's show introduction that would feature downtown LA in the background, our friend Saydi stopped by with her baby Hannha (So yes, that would be "Saydi with a baby!"; say it out loud and it makes sense.) Saydi is the person who first introduced us to watching The City Gardner, Matt's U.K. show, so it was only fitting to get her in a photo with Matt.

Then the plants came in...
They even got planted...
And the backyard was transformed.

Mind you, by 8:00pm Steve and I ordered dinner for the crew and dug out the cold beers, then we started the interviews and blazed through them-- which is why when you watch the episode in July you'll realize we did a night-time reveal. Thank God our yard is so beautiful because it made for an absolutely lucious reveal and final interview. (And thanks to Megsbian who stopped by and took the only picture we have with Matt James.)

But let's take a moment and reflect on the amazing things a beer or two will do to get the words flowing. I mean, sure, we had two cameras rolling, but we only had to go through the interview twice, basically, and that was a real accomplishment. (Whether it really had to do with a director who was too tired/tipsy to care anymore while he filmed us on top of our roof, remains to be seen...)

Here is a shot of Matt when he does his final segment, talking to Bernie, Phil, and Ian on the roof of our house (see what you can achieve even when you can't afford an expensive crane shot?)

We finished around 11:oopm. Steve and I then sat in our new backyard and looked around, amazed by the transformation and wondering how we got so lucky. We still think it's the house.
But as Matt James described the house as a "Modern Med" design (short for Modern Mediterranean, ya see), we both realized our backyard has been transformed from being the butt of the pink cupcake house into Club Med.

Forget the bars, kids, the parties are at our house this summer. (We'll have daytime photos soon, but we both have to go to work now.)

Okay, nothing to report

2006-04-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

They finished the wood, some of the grouting, and that's it. Tomorrow is killer bootcamp day, and depending on how much work we have to do, Steve and I should be taking pics and perhaps even posting as we go along.

On the upside, I wrote the last two episodes of Secret Obsessions. SUPER GOOD! I'm really excited. Now it's on to a flashback episode I have to handle and rewrite hell. Joy.

HGTV Day 6 - The Penultimate Chapter

2006-04-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Ever since I learned the word "penultimate" in forth grade I've wanted to use it in a sentence, but I never think of it until it's too late; you know, it's like I hit the "ultimate" whatever and then you can't really go back, now can you?

Fortunately, I was desperate for a title and this one came to me at 3am. A lot of writing stuff has been coming to me at the wee hours of the morning. I think it's the stress keeping me from sleeping. But that's all beside the point.

Nothing really happened on the house yesterday. Steve painted the back planter wall but the construction people didn't come out. The show's reveal is scheduled for tomorrow so all the major work should finish up today.

This meant that yesterday and today are being spent in my home office writing the final two episodes of Secret Obsessions. There will, of course, be rewrites but I'm almost done. I have one other episode as well, a flashback sort of deal, but I need to meet with the other adapters so I'm saving that up for Thursday/Friday when I can be back in the office and meet with them.

Finally gotten a chance to hit the gym again yesterday, and I can go again today so I've got to run. We'll have more photos come tomorrow.

HGTV - Day 5 - A Day of Rest

2006-04-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

...For everyone on the crew. For Steve and I, we needed to paint more of the house while I took some time to write. Here's a pic of me from my old office at Fox, channeling good TV so that I can write the last three episodes of our fall telenovela series that has absolutely nothing to do with our HGTV appearance.

Thanks to Allen at Paramount for this fun addition to my wardrobe! Steve and I have a matching set of these boxy denim outfits, but when we go out he's thinking of busting out his Madonna "Vogue" tour jacket.

More work on the house tomorrow, after the Easter holiday. Supposedly the weather will remain as perfect as it is today.

HGTV - Day 4 - Back In Action

2006-04-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Matt James from City Gardener (or as the US version will be called Urban Outsiders) is still out of action but the contractors and crew were hard at work as the rain cleared up and we began work on Day 4.

Steve and I woke up again at 6am so that we could finish painting the walls cream; we'd painted yesterday, but the rain created streaks on those surfaces so we had to patch everything up. Here's Steve observing work from our bedroom window.
Here's our carpenter, Paul, putting in the cedar slats on the wall. Notice how he's balancing on one board to do the job because the tiles below him (laid out by Henry, the guy on the left) are still wet. But at least you can get an idea of how that wall is going to look now.

Here's Ian, the camera man, after he stepped on one of those wet tiles and and it squished out of place. He was kind enough to fix it.

With Matt away, our very busy crew hung out quite a bit. Here's Phil (sound), Bernie (director) and Ian the notorious cameraman.

For an interesting visual twist, Ian and Bernie got up on the roof. Here they are about to shoot us. They discovered this when the contractor, Bernie, and myself had to lower something from the front of the house into the backyard via the roof. I'll keep you in suspense as to what that was for the actual show.

More interviews with Steve and I also happened today. Tomorrow everyone is taking off. It was supposed to be our "reveal" day but with Matt out that's not going to happen. We think Wednesday will be the day now, but I'll keep you posted.

Happy Easter y'all. Jesus loves you and so do I.

HGTV - Day 3 - Tragedy!

2006-04-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, not really... But it sounded awfully dramatic, didn't it?

Even the most blessed of houses run out of luck at some point, and that's what happened today. Matt James, our host and designer from The City Gardener in the UK, suffered heat exhaustion yesterday and so he was out of the mix . While the work continues, he won't be here to oversee it. Likewise, it will push our "reveal" day a bit because that's the day Steve and I will carry in the plants, help put them in the ground, and then do our wrap up. No idea yet as to when that will happen.

But it will create built-in drama for the episode... though Steve and I aren't that worried. I can't wait to see how "dramatic" this all becomes once the episode airs.

See the green dot where the freeways merge in this satellite photo? That's our house, and that's the rain storm from Northern California that is currently crashing onto our house.

Mind you, today was the day that we were supposed to paint the walls and have the tiles put in. Fortunately, there is a production taking place so the workers put up a blue tarp.

Here I am painting our pink, purple, and green walls a lovely shade of Mediterranean cream. (Though it did end up streaking in certain areas when the rain really poured.)
And here is Luis, our tile man, working through the rain to get half of our tiles laid out.
Steve worked at the office today, then when he came home they interviewed us on our thoughts regarding the progress. All good.

Tomorrow they will shoot me "working" from home. And us painting again. And the wood slats go up on the walls as well as the completion of the tile floors.

But the big exciting news??? We get to sleep until 7am tomorrow morning! And there ain't nothing tragic about that!

HGTV - Day 2 - The Great Cover Up!

2006-04-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

When the crew came yesterday they warned us that on days 2 and 3 it looks like nothing really happens even though they have done a lot of work. I didn't take an end of day shot since today it's just ended now at 8pm and the light is gone, but I'll do it first thing in the morning.

Today, though, the guys did our "fancy" interview; we wore collared shirts. They then shot us living our real lives in our real environment; we made martinis.
In terms of the yard, the guys built the cedar wood cover that will hide this lovely washer unit, which up until now has been the only "water feature" in our yard. The cover looks fantastic and it will match the cedar paneling that will disguise the back and side walls as well. They then built in the planters, and that's what the guys were working on until now.

Here's a pic of the guys building our box.

In theory, we're painting tomorrow and the tiles are going in. We'll see. I'm becoming very Zen about this, since tomorrow we're supposed to have thunder storms. Mind you, today it was 75-80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

Send up a prayer that it all holds...

HGTV's Urban Outsiders a.k.a. The City Gardener Day 1

2006-04-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

God loves our house. The weather turned out to be 75-degrees, clear and sunny on our first day, which was crucial because it's when host Matt James interviews us for what we want in our backyard...
Here's Matt doing a wrap up of the first day's work.

Besides the interviews and initial ground breaking, we also dealt with every delivery in the history of mankind happening on our small street. To get an idea of the size, the city has posted "No Parking" signs on both sides of the dead-end road because you can only fit two car widths in most places. If an emergency vehicle needed to get through-- like a fire engine-- it would fill up the entire street and not be able to turn around to exit.

Here's a pic of me looking at only three of the trucks that arrived outside.
This is no joke: It started with our tiles arriving, then the trash recycling truck, then the trash vegitation truck, then more tiles, then the wood delivery, then Office Depot with my new file cabinet and office supplies, then UPS with our Madonna tickets, then the cement mixer and pump machine (or something like that) for our neighbors across the street who are building a patio that none of us knew about, then the stucco workers for our neighbors down the block who are redoing their backyard that none of us knew about, then the regular trash truck, and finally our contractor and his crew. But no drama. It all flowed very smoothly because, as I said, God loves this house.
Here's the crew filming Matt with his plans. We know some of those designs, not all, but we're super excited anyway.

Tomorrow we paint the walls. Friday it may rain and Saturday could have scattered showers, but since this house is blessed I don't think there will be any problems at all.

Oh my God...

2006-04-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

They're here!
R

Backyard Weather Watch - Day 1 - Too Late Now...

2006-04-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

According to my new favorite website, LATimes.com, it's supposed to rain on Friday and perhaps Saturday. But really, here's the deal...

At this point, it's too late to get flustered about the weather. Steve and I just have to focus on the things we can control. For example:
--Clothing choices. What can we wear that's tight enough to show off our bodies and yet not so tight that we look like the poster boys for the Gay Mafia (and there is one, you know, we're just not in it).
--Grooming. Because nothing says "classy with a K" than having a close up of your nose hairs on TV.
--Facials. Because I look tireder than a $2 hooker in the middle of Mardis Gras from all this work and that is completely unacceptable when I'm on camera.
--Tidy Up. Or more precisely, have Loyda make a cameo to neaten up so that the house smells like fresh housekeeper for when the crew arrives tomorrow.

So that's our deal at the moment.

Also, for you friends out there, the producers told us as of last week that we didn't need people to come help and there may not be an actual big reveal other than to just Steve and myself. So I apologize in advance if you don't see yourself on the show... Of course, we also have a full contractor crew who will be playing our friends so at least we'll look loved during the demolition portion of our show.

But the real insane thing is that starting tomorrow we shall begin to have our new yard.

Woo hoo!

Backyard Weather Watch - Day 2 - The Brighter Side...

2006-04-10T06:14:00.000-07:00

Looking at the weather started getting Steve and I depressed, but being obsessive, we couldn't stop doing it each morning. So instead of going to Yahoo for weather I thought I'd check out LATimes.com. Guess what?

Okay, it may be a blurry image (don't ask me why) but now it looks like the weather will actually be nicer through the weekend. You see, I don't care if it's accurate or not, I just like positive news.

So now I am no longer looking at Yahoo for my information. Too negative. Besides, Yahoo Maps got us so frickin' lost trying to get to Cirque du Soliel on Saturday that I hate them now. (I do have this theory that they get paid by cities to send people through the most economically depressed areas so that you'll stop, ask directions at a convenience store, and then buy a coke or something just to be polite. But that's my whole conspiracy theory thing kicking in so I'll move on now.)

Yesterday, Steve's dad came by the house with some fried chicken from Pollo Campero. Steve and I first stumbled on the chain a couple years ago when one opened in LA and we saw lines of Latino families winding down the block trying to get in. Most recently it's been featured on the Food Network show "The Secret Life of..." and that was enough to make Kurt hungry.

All I have to say is: YUMMY!

The chain was founded in 1971 in Guatemala and now it's a leading restaurant chain from Latin America. This is their big push in the US, and they're so popular because the crisp breading that encases those juicy pieces of meat has a somewhat spicier taste that is so good! Of course, it ruined our diet for about 10 minutes, but let's face it: our TV diet has been pretty weak as it is.

Seriously, you'll notice I stopped posting pictures of our healthful lunches, now didn't I?

Thank God we're not going to be shirtless and in jockstraps while working on the yard. That would've been flabby and tacky.

Backyard Weather Watch - Day 3 - Heading Into a Zit Storm

2006-04-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

I'll save you the (relatively useless) weather chart:

Wed: showers
Thur: light showers
Fri: rain/thunder/lightening
Sat: partially cloudy
Sun: rain

But the big news? Last night, Steve and I went to Cirque du Soliel's touring show Quidam, which just so happened to be the same weekend as the Long Beach Grand Prix; other than traffic, there was no conflict. The show was marvelous-- though parking at the Queen Mary sucked prune twinkies so we will never see a show in that same location again-- and it was by far one of the funniest ones I've seen to date. But during one performance, as I gasped at some marvelous feet and threw my hands up to my face... I felt a pimple emerging on my bulbous nose. And another on the side.

I began patting down my face during the show like an epileptic but that's all I've found... for now. Perhaps the bad lighting from rain will make me look blemish free and young. One can always look for the bright side of things, you know.

So I'm going to e-mail the producers now and see what the plan is. I'm betting we just go for it and lay down some towels in the office leading to our bathroom so the crew can pee without messing up our floor. But I'll keep you posted.

Backyard Weather Watch - Day 4 - The Great Flood!

2006-04-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

"Oh my God!" Steve yelled, startling me awake from a very deep sleep. "The entire kitchen is flooded!"

I stumbled out of bed in my skivvies and staggered into the kitchen to see him crouched down trying to mop up the floor with paper towels and our kitchen rug. Steve sleeps in the buff, just so you get the visual. It was 8am, and I immediately looked to see if our living room drapes were open and offering our neighbors a free show. They weren't.

I opened our sink cabinet but the water wasn't coming from there.

"It looks like it's coming from the refrigerator," Steve said. Then he realized he was naked. "I'm going to put clothes on..." He walked back into the bedroom. I opened the refrigerator door to pull it out so that I could see what was wrong, praying that we didn't have a new appliance purchase in our future.

That's when I realized that the inside of our refrigerator was full of water. It seems the washers on our 12-year-old Britta water filter are no longer working and the whole thing leaked throughout the night. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued mopping up.
We are scheduled for load in and first day of shooting on Wednesday. Oh fun! Now the rain is getting closer! But today is bright and sunny, and instead of enjoying the outdoors, I'm going to be writing restaurant reviews for Metrosource.

Extended forecast...
Yesterday I climbed on the roof and pulled a lot of the loquats off our tree. They are small, yellow fruit and our tree produces them in abundance. They're also yummy and juicy, a combination of apricot/apple flavors. I think we might be able to make a nice slushy out of them, perfect for a blended vodka drink. I can't wait for summer and cocktails in our new yard.

Backyard Weather Watch - Day 5 & supply run

2006-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is the five-day forecast leading up to our taping on HGTV's new show Urban Outsiders (I guess they didn't think The City Gardener would resonate with US Audiences or something. Or maybe there was a legal issue... who can say? But the press link tells about the show.)
So look at today's weather. While it says partly cloudy, it's actually very sunny right now. Crisp and clear with a wonderful view of the Craftsman homes in the hills and downtown skyline in the distance. So maybe they're not entirely accurate. But...

Here's the 6-10-day forecast:
THIS IS CALIFORNIA! Could someone please tell God to stop the rain! Lord!

At least it looks to be sunny for the final "reveal" day, which is also Easter. Hallelulia!

Steve came home Wednesday and there was a note saying a lumber company tried delivering the wood for our backyard remodel. The plastic tarp used to cover the wood had been left, as had some packing wood and the invoice, but nothing else. Steve panicked.

Now Steve will freely admit that he doesn't do well in a crisis-- that's my territory-- though I have no doubt he can rise to the occasion like when I got dehydrated in Las Vegas from too much drinking. But what if the mountains of wood had been stolen? What if they just ditched it when they saw our house was pink. WHAT WAS GOING ON????

He called the lumber company and the guy had no idea who he was or what was going on. It was like Steve was speaking Greek; which wouldn't have been helpful because the man was Hispanic.

I e-mailed the producers from work and by the time I came home the crisis was answered: the delivery came a week early and the workers called the producers when no one was here to pay for the wood. They had to take it back to wherever they came from. Probably Anaheim. By Disneyland.

Let's pray that this is the only crisis we have to deal with.

Backyard Weather Watch - Day 6

2006-04-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

California is known for its good weather. In fact, after a number of heavy rains today is bright, sunny, and the skies are clean and clear. All looks good, right?

Well, now that we have HGTV coming to redo our backyard, it's becoming the wettest winter EVER. So like all the story-starved news stations in LA I'm starting.... Weather Watch!

The crew is scheduled to arrive next Wednesday, April 12th. As you'll see above, it's supposed to rain. Granted, that's the day they do load in, interviews with Steve and I in our nice, warm house, and start work. And yes, I know 10-day forecasts can't be trusted. But yeah... we're worried.

Let's hope some sort of front or whatever it is passes through and changes that.

TV diet is going well... until Colet, a producer on the telenovela, handed me a box of mini Ritz crackers in peanut butter. She wanted me to remove them from her office because she had been eating them all, and I have such strong will power.

The entire box is now empty.

Made low-fat, low-carb sloppy Joe's for dinner. We ate them inside bell pepper shells so as to avoid the buns/bread. Cheese was sprinkled on top. We didn't take photos because we ate them too quickly. For lunch I now have a salad, leftover Sloppy Joe meat and cheese, one cheese stick, and one fiber cake muffin; no, I don't really need the extra fiber but I worship anything resembling a bread product.

Time to go boxing.

Our Annoying TV Diet

2006-03-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

Last night I woke up hungry.

This isn't such a deal for Steve; having fought both obesity and anorexia in high school, his whole eating thing is out of whack. I'm used to him waking up at four in the morning and eating half a protein bar before going back to bed. But not me.

Steve and I make our lunches because it's cheaper and easier to eat healthy when you brown-bag it, and we tend to eat very well...

Okay, it don't look like much. But this is one of my typical daily diets.

banana snack, go to the gym, breakfast of egg whites and Canadian bacon (which in Canada, they just call "ham"), a salad with roasted chicken for lunch, two snacks-- string cheese and protein bar, and then something lovely for dinner. Tonight, for example, we're having low-fat/low-carb meatloaf with roasted veggies.

This is normally plenty of food, but on Sunday we had a drink (or 10) and ate a bunch of fried foods: onion rings, chicken fingers, French fries, taquitos. Yum. Needless to say, my stomach is all screwed up, I wasn't hungry most of yesterday, and last night I woke up starving. Ate the other half of Steve's protein bar at 3am. That's romance.

But now, as I sit at the office enjoying my salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, goat cheese, some basil leaves and chicken breast in a lovely balsamic vinaigrette , I think about something very significant: Anorexic people are weird. Especially those twins who keep getting on all the entertainment shows like they have a special talent. Not eating is not a talent.

You know what's also weird? People on vanity diets. But since I'm on one myself, and fighting for a set of abs by the time HGTV arrives at our house, I refuse to place judgment.

I must run. A sprig of basil just fell on the office floor and I can't waste one calorie.

Rick and Steve to be on HGTV!

2006-03-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

Ever since Steve and I bought our house we thought about trying to get on HGTV for a home improvement. But then we did a lot of the interior stuff ourselves since it was the only way we could live/work here with any amount of sanity.
The backyard, however, was another story.

As you can see, the colors are wild, everything is a bit wacky and while we knew we could slap down some paint we really don't know anything about which plants go well in certain locations, how to care for them, or how to fix the yard to take care of certain eye sores such as our lovely laundry unit or views of our neighbor's houses and phone wires.

Enter Matt James, The City Gardner.

The City Gardner is a show from the United Kingdom and it has a huge following. Designer Matt James comes into small urban spaces and helps the owners renovate your garden into a fantastic usable space. It's shown late on HGTV but they're going to shoot a season of episodes in the United States, and since our yard is really an extension of our house it seemed like the perfect show for us to be a part of.

And last week, we were accepted.

Steve and I kept this all really quiet because we didn't want to jinx anything, but Matt and the producer, Rupert, came out a couple weeks ago and then last week we got the call where everyone approved us. So in three weeks they will be at our little pink cupcake house, redo the yard with the help of us and our friends, and then it will premiere on HGTV at some point this year.

Depending on the confidentiality agreement we might not really be allowed to journal about the whole process, but if so I'll keep the blog updated on everything. But either way it's going to be a super cool experience and we can't wait!

And just FYI, we started out TV diet yesterday. I mean, really, the camera adds 10-pounds and the last thing we need is people watching us on the tube and wondering just how many cameras we had filming us. Yuck!