Behind the scenes of the MARTHA season five premiere

September 16, 2009

Behind the scenes of the MARTHA season five premiere

As many of you know, last Monday was the first show of the fifth season of MARTHA and I want to thank you all for watching. I know how much you like viewing behind-the-scenes, so here's a blog about that. Please enjoy these photos and let me know what you think of this new season. And, by the way, Francesca and Sharkey have also blogged about this same topic on The Daily Wag.

: Driving to the television studio along the West Side Highway, you pass by many billboards, including one with me on it!

: Andrea Mason – garden expert/stylist – giving these beautiful ferns a little misting before the show. Andrea keeps all the plants in the TV greenhouse in really good shape.

: One of the studio teleprompters – I try to follow it, but I also like to speak to the audience directly.

: Jackie Blais – audience supervisor – on the move. You may recall her segment last spring when she taught us how to dye Easter eggs using old silk ties.

: The color bars and show stamp – Look at that! Season 5 – Show 1 – We’re off and running!

: Nikki Elkins – TV Chef and Stylist – busy at the prep kitchen computer entering recipes onto my Web site.

: Nora Singley – TV Chef – prepping ‘Everything but the Kitchen Sink’ cookies. The recipe is on my Web site.

: A scene from the control room with only minutes to air time – This is such an intense place.

: Very colorful heirloom tomatoes and a very colorful audience

: Anduin Haven – Art Director TV – she’s been very busy coming up with great craft ideas for the show.

: Peter Killeen – Supervising Producer – he looks very relaxed after the summer hiatus.

: The art Department busy at work – this area of the studio is always so much fun. You may recognize the duck project from yesterday’s show.

: A very cordial audience as I enter for the first show of the season

: Lights, camera, action!

: Joey Meade – Stage Manager – excited for the new season

: After my fun and busy summer, it was a great feeling to be back on set. Sharkey thought so, too.

: This is my friend, Jim Klinko, from Furniture on Consignment in Westport, CT. www.fine2consign.com Jim comes to the first show of every season and Francesca remembered him.

: A camera-mounted teleprompter – as you can see, I am introducing celebrated Chef Daniel Humm, although his name appears as Hoomm, for correct pronunciation.

: This is called the show rundown. Each segment is carefully timed, but sometimes, things don’t go according to plan.

: Joey Kola – my warm up artist – he’s as energetic as he was on day one, season one.

: The audience always goes nuts when Joey hands out the give-aways.

: Of course, my freshly laid eggs from the chickens.

: Chef Humm and me after his segment. This chicken is to die for. Unfortunately, we ran out of time while he was demonstrating his delicious beet salad.