Recap of our Regis & Kelly Visit

We started out early. VERY EARLY. I was up at 4am and was at the train station before 5am. I met my friend Tina on the train, she had gotten on at an earlier stop. She had 2 other friends she had invited so there were 4 of us total. We rode the train an hour and fifteen minutes into Penn station in NYC. We then caught a cab up to 67th Street and Columbus Avenue where the ABC studios are. We arrived at about 6:45am and we were about the 3rd or 4th group of people to arrive. We were told to stand in a line right against the building. There was a motorized coffee coach available to us with FREE coffee, hot chocolate, french toast, bagels, donuts, brownies, anything we wanted. ABC sure treats their guests well! It was freezing out and although I had a warm coat I decided against bringing gloves and a hat because I didn't want to tote them around NYC all day. Well, I froze....next time I'll bring them for sure. We stood in the ever growing line until about 7:30 when they opened the doors and we went through a security check similar to an airport. We then go into another line where we waited until 8:45am. The show is live and it starts at 9am so I thought we would have gone in earlier. They then opened the doors to the ground floor studio and we walked single file through a bright blue narrow twisting hallway and into the room where they tape the show. A woman was handing each of us a card with a number on it as we came in. It was not at all what I expected. The room itself was much smaller than I thought and the chairs were those small moveable metal chairs with a padded seat. Gelman, the executive producer came out and gave us a quick lesson on how to clap (twice as fast as you would normally) and cheer real loud, hoot, holler, and make lots of noise when they prompt us. They allow photography during the entire show as long as you have your flash turned off. They then brought out Regis & Kelly and the show was taping! There were about 4 cameras taping at all times and unfortunately one of the big ones was right in front of us, partially blocking my view of Regis. It was hard to pay attention to what Regis & Kelly were talking about because there was so much activity between all the cameras and the producers prompting them with cue cards, etc. They talked about current events for about 10 minutes then called a viewer at home to ask her a trivia question. She got the question right which means that she picks a number between 1-150 and the audience member that is holding that card wins the same prize as the caller. She picked 19 and I was 14! The girl sitting right in front of me! Argh! So close! She won an 8 piece Waterford Crystal Dining set. The first guest was Queen Latifah. She looked absolutely amazing. She's lost quite a bit of weight and she was more beautiful in person. She was promoting her new movie called Mad Money. The next guest was Kathering Heigl from Gray's Anatomy. During commercial breaks Regis & Kelly would come right up to the audience and talk to people, sign autographs, and take pictures with people. The producers would literally be pushing them back into their seats so they were in place before the commercial was over. Unfortunately, I never got my picture taken with either of them but I did take a picture of Tina with Kelly. It was a great experience and we had a great time. I want to see what other shows we can go see now! Rachael Ray, The View, Martha, Letterman, Conan O'Brien, or Saturday Night Live are on my list!