It's rough being a mommy blogger. As a 50 something guy, it's even harder. For example at a recent media event for the launch of Universal Kids new show "Get Out of My Room", I was in the company of two dozen women bloggers and a handful of PR and media execs, all women, except for one, Jerry Brown. Jerry is the Co-Host of the new show and thankfully, the event planners were thoughtful enough to seat the only two gentlemen in the room next to each other. Over dinner I learned a lot about Jerry's path to this point.
My curiosity was piqued and I wanted to know, how does one become the Co-Host and lead carpenter of a home design show for kids? Jerry's story starts like many aspiring actors drawn to the bright lights and big city of New York. He was raised in Maryland and in order to pursue his dream, he moved to NY to attend drama school at New York University. After graduation, the going was rough, as just about any actor can attest. To pay the bills, Jerry worked a variety of gigs, including as a carpenter, often on sets for plays and TV shows.
After more than half a decade of this, his luck began to turn and various acting and modeling gigs began to percolate. What was the secret? "Cutting off my dreadlocks", Jerry told me. I was incredulous, "That's all it took?" I asked. And he shared how once he had a more mainstream look, he found an agent, got more gigs and eventually got a call from the producers of "Get Out of My Room". A decade of hard work has brought Jerry "overnight success", and he's the real deal.
As we chatted, they previewed a couple of upcoming episodes of the show for us. The premise is pretty cool, two kids who currently share a room are now getting their own rooms, and each sibling designs the room for the other. Jerry, and Co-Host Claire Zinnecker take each child's vision and turn it into reality. Sports and video game themes rule for the boys, while unicorns were prevalent for the girls.
To shoot and make the show, Jerry and crew have been doing two episodes per week, for two weeks on, one week off since January. I asked him the best part and the worst. The best part he said was really getting to know the kids and families. They basically live with them for a week while shooting, and seeing the reactions of the kids was touching every time. The worst part? Keeping all the names straight, especially the girls names, there was a slew of Emily's, Amilie's, Amelia's, Amy's, and Emilia's, and the kids were not bashful. "That's not my name!" they'd shriek if he slipped up. Though even with the hectic schedule they did all manage to make some real connections.
Having renovated my own home from top to bottom, I appreciated the work that Jerry and crew put in each week. The show is what you'd expect from the home-makeover genre, with a lot more of the punchy edits, fast zooming shots, and silly faces from Jerry and Claire (mostly Jerry). I think that kids in 5-10 age range will love the show as they've been exposed to the DIY and home makeover experience on TV already and this is a show just for them. And of all the things we adults could be subjected to on kids TV, this has to be up there as the best option for co-viewing.
Get Out of My Room premieres June 11th at 6PM est on Universal Kids Network.
