ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210057
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BOSTON
SOURCE: NANCY RABINOWITZ ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
On cue, Ken Taylor delivers his line for the promo: ``Are you becoming your mom?'' ``On the next `Real Life,' '' adds co-host Lu Hanessian.
They repeat the lines over and over and over, Hanessian seated on a stool and leaning on a 1950s-style luncheon counter, Taylor standing behind it. A miniature jukebox is perched next to them on the counter.
Between takes, a makeup artist touches up Taylor's already powdered face.
Finally - finally - it's a wrap.
``That read was like buttah,'' Hanessian squeals with delight. ``Like Land O'Lakes!''
The set of ``Real Life'' resembles a hip loft, with exposed brick walls, a red London-style telephone booth, Oriental rugs and wacky things on the walls like an upside down unicycle and a pink electric guitar. An NBC peacock is mounted on a back wall.
The news magazine show, which airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on WSLS-TV, deals with a wide range of topics, including movies, medicine, sex, relationships and entertainment.
Sex therapist Terri Hamilton gives tips on life and love and Tanya Hart updates celebrity gossip from Los Angeles, while Jeanne Beker of VH-1 reports on fashion from Toronto and gossip columnist Lisa G. dishes the dirt from New York City.
Taylor and Hanessian - both young and hip-appearing - mirror the show's target audience.
Taylor, in a red shirt and gray suit, remains on the set to continue taping, while Hanessian strides off, decked out in a black pants suit, to prepare for her next segment.
A stage manager tells Taylor which camera to look at as a director talks in her ear through a headset.
``They're hearing a whole other world in their headsets,'' Taylor joked while being shunted back and forth between cameras. ``Work with me, people. This is the reason they call it choreography.''
Before joining ``Real Life,'' Hanessian was the host of ``Have a Heart,'' a live daily talk show on NBC's America's Talking network. Taylor was the co-anchor of WNBC's ``Weekend Today in New York,'' and also was a host and anchor on VH-1, the music video channel.
Once the promo is done, they begin taping the 50th episode of the show, which debuted in March and is produced in the studios of WHDH-TV in the heart of downtown Boston.
Taped three days before the scheduled air date, ``Real Life'' currently is being picked up by about 147 NBC affiliates nationwide (check local listings), and is averaging about a 1.1 rating, said Diane Passarelli, a network publicist in Los Angeles.
The show is done in Boston largely because Sunbeam Productions, which produces the show, is based there, but it also has correspondents working out of bureaus in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Miami and Philadelphia.
The producers of ``Real Life'' don't mind taking their cameras out to the streets for the out-of-the-ordinary or informal polls on topics such as whether men or women make better drivers or whether tragedies like plane crashes are fate.
``We try to target issues that are important, that feel good, that are emotionally stimulating,'' publicist Gena Fox said. ``We target a variety of stories that don't necessarily get as much air time as they should.
``They really kind of explore the human spirit, the element of goodness. What we really want to do is show the other side of stories.''
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB