Creating Television, a freshmen Explorations class taught by seniors Jason Wang and Mike Glassman, met in the wee hours of the morning and headed to New York, NY in mid-November. The enthusiastic group hoped to gain an insider's view of what goes on behind the scenes of several popular television shows, such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Dateline, and The $treet.
Glassman and Wang's hands-on class format strives to offer freshmen a taste of the media in light of the school's lack of similar academic programs. "There is no communications major, and no TV major [at Tufts]," Glassman said.
Recently, the class has been working on a cumulative project that began as news program and wound up becoming a live variety program broadcast on Tufts University Television (TUTV). "[The students] write some papers, but the main point is projects," Wang said.
Freshman Blair Lerner explained the class structure. "The first half of the semester was about nonfiction television, and the second half was mostly about fiction programs," Lerner said.
Wang and Glassman hoped to demonstrate both of these aspects during their time in Manhattan. They came up with the idea of the trip two weeks into the semester. "We had talked about the TV industry all semester, and wanted find a way to show [the students] what really went on," Glassman said.
The trip, funded in part by the Experimental College, the class fund, and the students, necessitated early rising. The group left at 6 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in a rental van in order to arrive in New York by 11 a.m. After a brief stop at Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the class traveled to NBC's Dateline studios in Rockefeller Center to meet with Tufts graduate Neal Shapiro (LA '80), the show's executive producer.
Shapiro introduced the class to some of the writers and others affiliated with the show, including correspondent Bob McKeown. One of McKeown's sons, Rob McKeown (LA '98), recently graduated from Tufts, so he seemed glad to host the group. First, he explained exactly what his position as a correspondent entails: he writes the scripts and does the interviews as the on-camera personality.
McKeown then showed the class one of his current projects about rising ticket prices due to ticket brokers. The students found McKeown to be friendly and personable - not a stuck-up TV personality in the least. "[He] was friendly, and I felt... comfortable with him," freshman Jordan Booth said.
After meeting with McKeown, the students had the chance to talk with Dateline anchor Stone Philips. Although a receptionist at the studio told the group that Philips would probably only have a couple minutes to chat, he stuck around for a while. "We were surprised. He talked with us for at least a half-hour," Wang said.
The students were glad to have the opportunity to talk with such a recognizable media personality. They were able to see beneath the news anchor to the person within. "Stone was really smart. Smarter than he seems on TV," said Booth.
Lerner agreed. "I liked talking to Stone Philips. He's really intelligent - he's got a definite presence," she said.
After Dateline, the class took the subway to Chelsea to see The $treet, Fox's new Wall Street-themed program.
"At The $treet, we got a full tour of the whole set. We walked through the holding room where all the actors who were waiting for their scenes were sitting and playing cards... We met with everyone, from the prop guy to the costumers to the writers - we heard about it all first hand," freshman Stacy Ulrich said. The group was also able to speak briefly with The $treet actor Tom Everett Scott, who also starred in the film That Thing You Do.
It was pure luck that the show was being filmed on the day of the class trip. "We got to see, step-by-step, everything that went on," Lerner said. Wang and Glassman were glad to take their students to places other than newsrooms. "I think [the students] probably watch something like The $treet more often then they watch Dateline," Wang said.
So, how did two Tufts seniors gain access to all these studios? Actually, Tufts graduates were happy to host fellow Jumbos. Wang recently worked an internship with Artist Television Group (ATG), which produces The $treet, which he secured through ATG President and Tufts graduate Eric Tannenbaum (LA '85). From there, it was a piece of cake to reserve a tour of the set. The students were also able to tour Dateline because Shapiro was eager to host a group from his alma mater.
Wang is excited that so many Tufts graduates end up in the media field. "They come out of the woodwork every year," he said, referring to the large number of Tufts grads that wind up making a name for themselves in film or television.
The students seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves on the trip. "Taking the class has been one of the best decisions I've made. It's one great experience after another," freshman Andy Valen said. "Mike and Jason are really excellent teachers. We're learning and having fun doing it."
