Millionaire Taping In NYC

Wednesday, I went on my annual pilgrimmage to New York City to see a taping of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Normally getting to ABC studois is uneventful. Get up at 4:15 a.m., drive down to Providence train station, take Acela to Penn Station (33rd St.), walk to ABC studio (67th St.).

Here's the thing -- now that Meredith Vieira no longer does the Today show, they open the studio for taping at 9 a.m. (It used to be 10:30 a.m.).

My train gets into Penn Station at 8:45 a.m. And actually, today it was 5 minutes late.

It's a 30-minute walk from Penn Statio to ABC.

Still, my friend Susan and I were like, "They won't really let everyone in at 9 a.m. sharp."

At 9:05 a.m. I'm at Columbus Circle (59th St.) when Susan calls.

"They're letting everybody in now. Ya gotta get here quick."

So I'm huffing it up Broadway and 60th, Broadway and 61st, Broadway and 62nd. I now realie I'm still woefully out of shape. I turn onto 67th St. (by some miracle there was no oncoming traffic) andz keep running. I get to the line and I'm sweaty and drippy and tired and I look like I'm about to pass out. The guy in line next to Susan and I thinks I'm not a contestant but a political prisoner sentenced by some ruthless dictator to play Millionaire and get all the questions right or die.

Susan managed to tolerate my sweaty self for the morning and early afternoon while we watched the taping of three shows.

Guess next year I'll have to try to find an earlier train.