Travicity
12-07-2010, 12:29 AM
A&E is now listing the wrestling-themed episode of Strange Days with Bob Saget for 11 PM Eastern tomorrow, so be sure to check your DVRs and recorders if you want to tape the episode.
The series, which sees Saget "submerged" into different underground cultures, debuted last week. The wrestling connection to the series was Angela Solis, who had worked as a line producer on the MTV Wrestling Society X pilot taping and was now working on the Saget series.
The original plan for the series, according to longtime wrestling TV producer Kevin Kleinrock, was to bring Saget to Mexico for a Lucha Libre themed episode.
"They brought in Masked Republic (Ruben Zamora and myself) on to coordinate the episode. It was originally supposed to be shot over a few days in Mexico with Bob attending various events and visiting gyms and schools down there. The network ended up killing the idea of actually traveling to Mexico, so the concept shifted and it became more focused on wrestling in the United States."
At that point, the series filmed footage with a Southern California backyard promotion, a Lucha event in Los Angeles and SoCal Pro Wrestling in San Diego. At that point, the episode's premise then morphed into Saget joining a group of independent talents trying to make their name (including Luke Hawx, Christina Von Eerie, Jason Redondo, Johnny Yuma, Erik Watts and Extreme Loco) heading to Phoenix, Arizona to tryout for a spot on that weekend's Dragon Gate USA events.
WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper, who was in town that weekend for Wrestlemania 26, was brought in to interact with Saget and the independent talents. The Saget production filmed everything at the DGUSA event, including backstage footage and even footage of DGUSA management running the show.
"It was odd going around with a camera in my face all the time, especially since I never wanted to be in front of a camera, but it was fun, " said Gabe Sapolsky of DGUSA. "The coolest part was seeing Bob Saget's attitude change during the course of filming. He started out kinda sarcastic and even a little demeaning towards wrestling, but as he dived more into it he saw a lot of similarities to coming up in the comedy world and you can tell he gained a respect for it and those involved and it really showed. It was cool to see that and be a part of it. I'm curious to see if that comes across in the show."
What actually is included in the series has become one of the more talked about topics among those that spent time with the production as the series, originally slated for one hour episodes, was eventually cut back to a half hour time slot, which in reality means
only about 22 minutes.
One thing for certain is that Dragon Gate will be featured in some form, as Saget has mentioned them in several media appearances, including The View and Access Hollywood.
PWI
The series, which sees Saget "submerged" into different underground cultures, debuted last week. The wrestling connection to the series was Angela Solis, who had worked as a line producer on the MTV Wrestling Society X pilot taping and was now working on the Saget series.
The original plan for the series, according to longtime wrestling TV producer Kevin Kleinrock, was to bring Saget to Mexico for a Lucha Libre themed episode.
"They brought in Masked Republic (Ruben Zamora and myself) on to coordinate the episode. It was originally supposed to be shot over a few days in Mexico with Bob attending various events and visiting gyms and schools down there. The network ended up killing the idea of actually traveling to Mexico, so the concept shifted and it became more focused on wrestling in the United States."
At that point, the series filmed footage with a Southern California backyard promotion, a Lucha event in Los Angeles and SoCal Pro Wrestling in San Diego. At that point, the episode's premise then morphed into Saget joining a group of independent talents trying to make their name (including Luke Hawx, Christina Von Eerie, Jason Redondo, Johnny Yuma, Erik Watts and Extreme Loco) heading to Phoenix, Arizona to tryout for a spot on that weekend's Dragon Gate USA events.
WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper, who was in town that weekend for Wrestlemania 26, was brought in to interact with Saget and the independent talents. The Saget production filmed everything at the DGUSA event, including backstage footage and even footage of DGUSA management running the show.
"It was odd going around with a camera in my face all the time, especially since I never wanted to be in front of a camera, but it was fun, " said Gabe Sapolsky of DGUSA. "The coolest part was seeing Bob Saget's attitude change during the course of filming. He started out kinda sarcastic and even a little demeaning towards wrestling, but as he dived more into it he saw a lot of similarities to coming up in the comedy world and you can tell he gained a respect for it and those involved and it really showed. It was cool to see that and be a part of it. I'm curious to see if that comes across in the show."
What actually is included in the series has become one of the more talked about topics among those that spent time with the production as the series, originally slated for one hour episodes, was eventually cut back to a half hour time slot, which in reality means
only about 22 minutes.
One thing for certain is that Dragon Gate will be featured in some form, as Saget has mentioned them in several media appearances, including The View and Access Hollywood.
PWI