Day 1 -- Tuesday, April 16

It's just a bunch of goofy guys. And a girl. And a midget. We had our official table-read today. ABC executives of all shapes and sizes filled the 60 or so seats in Conference Room A/B. Casting, publicity, development, wardrobe, design, catering -- we had them all. And we had them all laughing. For a first pass at this thing, it was a smashing success. As long as we haven't peaked, this show could turn out quite well. After the table-read, the three producers came down the table thanking each one of us. As the first one reached my co-star, Paul, Paul inquired, "Well, that was better than yesterday, huh?" Producer #1 assured him that it was and moved on. Producer #2 was next. He shook Paul's hand and thanked him for his fine work. "Well, it was better than yesterday, right?" was his reply. Producer #2 also confirmed that it was. Finally, Producer #3 made his way to us and thanked Paul. I should have said it along with him but I couldn't believe it was possible. "Better than yesterday?" Yes, Paul, better than yesterday.

The writers moved away leaving Paul and me standing there gazing out over the sea of television people. We were off on a journey to try to create a television show for America. All of us had come together to do our own little part. I turned to Paul. His gaze met mine. I think we were both struck by the enormity of the task. I smiled at him and he spoke the words that would lead us on our charge to glory: "Well, I'd say it was better than yesterday."

We broke for lunch after the read-through and reconvened on the set. There's something magical about seeing a set you've only imagined for the past 30 days. The enormity. The attention to detail. If done right, it's breath-taking, and this one was done right.

Rehearsal was fun. We only took a stab at the first two scenes, just a little something to whet the whistle. The real work would begin tomorrow. For now, it was enough to have survived lift-off. Our only goal now would be to come back here again tomorrow and make it, if possible, "better than today."

Go on to Day 2.

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