TV: Behind the Scenes

Sari with Julie Bowen ABCs Modern Family, Kate White Editor Cosmo.

I was on The O’Reilly Factor tonight. Bill was on vacation, and Laura Ingraham was the guest host. We were supposed to talk about the increase in the birth rate among people of all ages, including teens and twentysomethings. However, instead Laura only asked me about abstinence ed funding and Planned Parenthood. She’s always interesting to work with, because her questions and comments can be surprising. At least I had the chance to remind her audience that most Americans want comprehensive sexuality education to be in schools for their children and teens.

My appearance yesterday, as seen from the control room …

For years, I’ve gotten e-mails (and in the ‘90s, letters!) asking me about my shoes. Sometimes the e-mails are written by guys with foot fetishes; mostly they are from women, as in the cute e-mail I got today:

Message:  Dear Sari, I am writing a paper about alcohol abuse during spring break, and I watched you in an online video talking to Katie Couric about this. I think you made a good point about how parents underestimate the behavior that their college-age-children may have when they are drunk, because they haven’t ever seen them drunk. By the way, I am really writing to ask you: Who made those shoes? I think they might look good with something I am going to wear to a wedding next weekend. I would like to get them if you can tell me who they are by. I know you must be busy, but please write back to let me know about the shoes. I have to get my paper done, but all I can think about is those shoes. Thank you, from one shoe lover to another.
My reply: Betsey Johnson. Good luck with your paper. 

For anyone who wants to see the video, here’s the link. You can see the tell-tale Betsey Johnson hot pink soles. At the very end of the segment, Katie Couric says to me, “Very nice shoes.” http://www.truveo.com/More-girls-going-wild-during-spring-break/id/2652156457

Incidentally, I interviewed Betsey Johnson and her daughter Lulu years ago when I worked for WCBS News – a profile piece focusing on their relationship. We shot it at their offices and showroom which is an amazingly gorgeous explosion of color and textures, with lots of pink and feathers. I love her sexy, whimsical, and (sometimes) over-the-top stuff, and having the opportunity to see it in the context of where it is created made me love Betsey and Lulu even more. 

Posted by Dr. Sari Locker

Here’s my ‘behind the scenes’ report – and photos — from my appearance on NBC’s Baby Borrowers’ Town Hall Meeting, which will air Wednesday, August 6, at 9 pm. The objective of the show was to discuss the ethics of The Baby Borrowers, reunite the cast, as well as unpack some of the issues about the show. That’s where I came in.

I was on in one segment — the third segment of the show — about how the media impacts teens’ attitudes about sex. As NBC reporter Josh Mankiewicz pointed out in the taped package that preceded our segment, news venues usually want to take the easy way out by blaming teen pregnancy on Jamie Lynn Spears and Juno.  It was great to be part of a segment that was intended to debunk the myth that JLS affected teens’ sex choices. (For more of my thoughts on this topic, read my article about “America’s Glamorization of Pregnant Sixteen Year Olds.”) 

The segment was hosted by Hode Kotbe, and also appearing in the segment was the executive producer of The Baby Borrowers. I appeared along side the delightful Paula Froelich best known as the Page Six gossip columnist, and the extraordinary Sarah Brown, the CEO of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. They were excellent, and I was honored to share the stage with them.

The “stage” by the way, was actually Conan O’Brien’s stage, since we filmed this show in the Late Night with Conan O’Brien studio, 6A. (It was my third time there. The first time was when I was on Conan’s show. The second, I was at NBC appearing on another show, and I was invited to sit in on a closed rehearsal/pre-taping of Conan’s show. Very cool: He strummed his guitar between takes.) When we taped the Baby Borrowers’ show, Conan was not around, of course, but all of the costumes that his cast members wear for skits and the suits that the band members wear were hanging on rolling racks lining the hallway. I saw one of the “Baby Borrowers” attempting to put on the Late Night ape suit! Didn’t snap a photo of that, but here are pix of some of the “cast” of NBC’s Baby Borrowers’ Town Hall Meeting.

Dr. Sari Locker with Paula Froelich, Page Six columnist

with Morgan, “Baby Borrower”

with “Baby Lenders”

with Hode Kotb

Posted by Dr. Sari Locker