Good Afternoon Maldives!

Working with a producer nicknamed Sophie, Gary taped a rehearsal show for a new program modeled after "Good Morning America!" Only this one will be on at 2 pm because no one wants to come to work early enough to put on a morning show. In fact, the crew for this show came in a few hours late. The one-hour taping was scheduled for 1:30 pm but wasn't finished until after 6 pm. Here's a look at the control room.You have to appreciate the magnitude of what Gary is teaching here: going from 1950's television to 2008 in ONE DAY. He had to teach everything, from segment producing to blocking the shots in the studio.

One creative segment used Heena's news package on the filthy fish market and then brought in our favorite chef from the Palm Deck (see earlier post: Restaurant Review) to show how to prepare fresh fish safely for your family.

Problem: the mikes for the live band didn't get hooked up to the audio board, and the band only knew one song, so after their musical segment, they couldn't "play us out."
I had an opportunity to coach the hosts and they did an excellent job of driving the show. Munaz has the potential to be the Maldivian Matt Lauer and had a nice rapport with the female host, Sauda.

Waseem was a little skeptical about injecting some personality into the news segment, but he looked as if he has been doing this all his life. Chris Cuomo should be worried. Here's Waseem at the news monitor on the set. The set is just a prototype. If they decide to do the show on a regular basis they would build a more attractive one, I hope.

TVM has all the technical toys necessary to do this type of a show and some very talented people on both sides of the camera. The question is whether they have the work ethic to do it daily.