Drop Dead Diva: Virtual Tour & Poll (Part 1)

So, truth time: I love, love, love Drop Dead Diva. Why? Well, because like most Ugly Bettys of the world, it totally appeals to the underdog portion of my personality that wants cotton confectionary fun, yet with a bit of intelligence while offering the vicarious parade of male eye candy. And, with Betty exiting stage right, Diva now takes center rink. So, of course, I leapt at the opportunity to sit in on Drop Dead Diva’s ‘virtual’ tour of their set with guardian angel Fred (Ben Feldman) as our Dante-like guide into these various circles. So, below find items I glimpsed in the tour, fun facts, and random bits of kitchen sink-like information.

First up, the virtual tour showed us a peek into:

• Deb’s apartment
• The outdoor spaces surrounding her apartment
• The Kraft Services table (tons of coffee, apple, cereal, donuts)
• The very impressive courtroom and its less impressive greenroom
• A live film rehearsal (Ben actually had to whisper)
• The ‘Video Village,’ the director/producer video screening room

All I know about Drop Dead Diva I learned from Fred:

• The show is filmed in Peach Tree City, Georgia
• All of the cast now lives in the area during filming
• The stage is built on an old airplane hanger
• The entire cast uses Deb’s bedroom as a greenroom for naps, etc. in between takes
• Ben Feldman loves the cloth horse in Deb’s house
• Ben makes a wine (I believe)
• None of the filmed food is real (which is typical on most sets)
• They use various lights and reflectors to mirror sunlight (ditto what I said above)
• The kitchen table is where the women typically go to cry in the show

So, here’s the rest of the kitchen sink:

• The tour featured a mini-Margaret Cho/Ben Feldman comedy hour while Ben pointed out Stacey’s exercise machine and why she’s always on it:  “She’s a model and she has to stay hot.”
• Deb’s apartment is huge. I always thought it was too expensive for an on-again, off-again model to afford; but, after the tour (which revealed it as 2x larger), I’d almost say it’s too big for Deb. Then, again, she owns a Porsche.
• The outdoor spaces surrounding her apartment are awesome, even if artificial (and not all too frequently used in shots, according to Ben).
• The Virtual Experience: I love the idea of a virtual tour because it takes advantage of contemporary technologies. Skype/web conference software is so prolific, I was intrigued that Drop Dead Diva decided to take advantage of a version of it (which is smart considering today’s economy). Admittedly, I thought there would be more bells and whistles with ribbons swinging from the rafters. I thought they’d have a glossier version than what’s in use today with a more stylized ‘pink’ interface; but, I wonder if more shows will take advantage of it — which I’m not averse to. There were a lot of echoes, static and lost sound in the live video cast, but even so, I enjoyed it.

We were supposed to have a live interview at the end of the tour, but couldn’t due to cast scheduling conflicts. So, we sent our questions on to the rep who forwarded them to the cast. When the video comes through I’ll post that as well. However, Drop Dead Diva Premieres Sunday, June 6 at 9 pm et/pt on Lifetime. Don’t let the network fool you, it’s good stuff.

Since CC Deb has done an awesome job getting Sophie’s Choice like polls up (no, I can’t choose who looks best in a suit or who’s the better con-man. They all do/are!), I’ll ask, if you were in Deb’s position and considering the number of hot men in her life who would you choose for your flavor of the week?

Clacked by An Nicholson
on Jun 03, 2010 @ 08:53 EST5EDT