Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Kevin Marousek read the first L.A. diary, wherein I referenced the new Renaissance Hotel where the semi-annual TV critics’ tour, of which I am not a part, is taking place this week. Kevin writes, "The Hollywood Highland complex, including the hotel and Kodak Theater, is designed after the gates of Babylon under the reign of King Nebudchadnezzar. During his reign, over 30,000 Jews passed through identical towers to be executed. Just another example of how Hollywood doesn’t put much thought into what it does. For the complete story, pick up a copy of Kevin Murphy’s (formerly of Mystery Science Theater 3000) book, A Year At The Movies.

"Also, nobody has done a story on how they modified Grauman’s Chinese Theater, a supposed L.A. historical landmark. There used to be a ticket booth in front of the theater, connected to the theater by a large, green roof. Apparently, though the theater was historic, the ticket booth wasn’t. So they took it down, as well as the roof. The same could also be said for the Hollywood Bowl, which has been removed and is in the process of being rebuilt from the ground up. The Bowl might not have been the original (as I recall, the one they just took down was built in the early 1920s), but a building that has existed in southern California for 80 years is about as historic as it gets. Nevertheless, they tore it down to build a modern beast of a bowl, complete with speakers under the grass and crap like that."

I was about the only journalist covering TV who didn’t interview Jimmy Kimmel this week. However, I did pay a visit to the El Capitan Theater, triangulated across from both Grauman’s and the Renaissance, where Kimmel’s producers were scrambling to assemble guest lists for next week’s test shows as well as the Super Bowl premiere. From the sixth-floor office of his showrunner, Daniel Kellison, I peered down on the street. "It’s like doing a show in Times Square," Daniel observed, and I had to agree. The El Capitan is an enormous venue — it seats over 2,000 — but it would seem if there’s one problem Jimmy won’t have, it’s getting a crowd to come in and watch a TV show for free at 9 in the evening.

This is the view facing south from the deck of Yahoo Entertainment’s offices in Santa Monica. I was paying a visit to Jed Rosenzweig — longtime reader and YE’s director of production — and he said, "Would you like to see the ’Buffy’ set?"

It’s always interesting to see how much scenery can be compressed into such a small space. I’m not the show’s hugest fan but perhaps the details here will be easily identifiable by buffs of, uh, "Buffy."

A day to recuperate and take in that 80-degree sunshine, then off to Utah and five days of Sundance. I’ll file reports from there, too.