Modern Family at Paleyfest Signing Report!

Tonight is the opening night of Paleyfest!  Paleyfest is an annual event that used to take place in Hollywood but is now being held at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.  The festival is meant to honor the best of the new television series, and usually has a reunion or two, but this year there isn’t a reunion to be had.  Regardless, the festival is the main financial support for the Paley Center in Beverly Hills.  Tonight is Modern Family, the new ABC comedy.  Erica and I are checking out the festival and bracing ourselves for the nights to come and the crush to meet the stars that always happens afterwards.

4:22 p.m. – Erica and I just got here!  Free parking!  Whoo hoo!  I love the free parking!  We are in line; there are only about 3 other people here.  Erica left to drop off her sister; she went to see the Annette Bening play in Westwood while we are seeing Modern Family.

4:30 p.m. – There are so many nice people in line, there are a couple ofladies who are just adorable!  I love it when you go out and you meet other people who are also out to have fun.  It makes the wait so much more bearable.

4:43 p.m. – I just emailed Erica, she’s coming back with Burger King…. Mmmmm the BK Lounge.  I know it’s not my customary Baja Fresh but still, mmmmmmm….

4:59 p.m. – I brought an 11 x 17 cast photo and my Modern Family insert I already had Jessie Tyler sign at the Matthew Broderick premiere.

5:22 p.m. – Erica is running late… sigh… my dreams of Burger King are drifting slowly away….

5:32 p.m. – One of the guys here is selling cast photos for people to sign.  Such a great idea.  I’m going to store that away for next year, lol…

5:39 p.m. – Erica just arrived with the Burger King… mmmm. We have to scarf it down but still food is food!

5:59 p.m. – Okay the doors are about to open.  Erica has a plan to rush inside.  I hate open seating especially when we don’t have the front tickets.  We were only able to get the orchestra seats for this event.  Grumble… okay, here we go…

6:01 p.m. – We’re getting our tickets scanned… Erica goes in, but the guy scanning tickets is having difficulty scanning my ticket of course.  I yell to Erica, “Leave me!  Just go, get seats.”  It’s like we’re at war or something. Lol…

6:06 p.m. – We got front row in the orchestra section, so we should be in good shape to run down and get our crap signed.  I really hope Ed O’Neil signs, but I heard he is really difficult so who knows.

6:09 p.m. – Not sure about this theatre, it looks like none of the staff know what they are doing.  Lol… Oh well… The front section is very small so there’s not going to be a lot of room to get up and gets signatures.

6:31 p.m. – The Saban Theatre is a very old art deco theatre and I have to say it’s quite beautiful inside.  It has been restored wonderfully.

6:44 p.m. – The panel is going to start in a few minutes.

7:01 p.m. – They just showed a clip of Married…With Children, the pilot episode I think.  Wow, talk about a blast from the past.  My Dad used to love this show.

7:10 p.m. – Oh and here is the same boring intro video they showed last year, and the year before that, and the year before that even… sigh…  Come on now, you’re a media company- you have to change things up!  Hello!

7:15 p.m. – The moderator is going to be Billy Bush… please kill me now… I hate, and I do mean hate Billy Bush… ugh…

7:16 p.m. – Billy Bush is talking about himself, as if we are all here to honor him and not Modern Family… ugh…

7:21 p.m. – They are going to be showing a brand new episode… That’s kind of cool!

7:49 p.m. – The panel is starting, did I mention I hate Billy Bush, and think he’s more pointless than Ryan Seacrest?  Just wondering.

7:51 p.m. – Ty Burrell just said he was sorry everyone had to look at his frankenbrow.  Lol…

7:54 p.m. – The entire cast is here, and the creators as well.  Steve Levitan just said that he’s just happy to be on the air, and successful!

8:01 p.m. – Ty Burrell just said about Sofia Vergara “We google her every day, in fact I’m googling her right now.”

8:06 p.m. – Sofia just said, she never thought she would be married to a Bundy.

8:14 p.m. – Apparently, the show shoots very short hours, which is cool.

8:22 p.m. – Eric Stonestreet just did a character transformation live on stage.

8:34 p.m. – I hate Billy Bush… ugh… and I want to give him a haircut… god he’s gross!

8:35 p.m. – Erica agrees: he’s gross!

8:43 p.m. – Ty just said that a homeless man playing a fiddle came up to him in central park and said, “Not since Fraiser has a show come on the air knowing its tone so completely.”  Too funny!

8:47 p.m. – Everyone on the cast seems to be having a genuinely good time together, which is always a nice thing to see.

9:03 p.m. – The panel just ended.  The rush has begun. Everyone storms the steps.  A security guard stands in the aisle and has the gall to say, “Let the people in the front get things signed and then they will leave and you can go in.”  Erica jumps over the seats, and the security says, “Don’t go over the seats!”  To which I say, “Then don’t block the aisle!” Duh…

9:05 p.m. – I follow Erica and jump over the seats.  I got Jessie on my cast shot, Ed O’Neil and Sofia took off right away. Sofia only signed like two autographs. Great!  Ed didn’t sign any.  The creators are signing, and the rest of the cast are signing up a storm.  I got Eric Stonestreet on my cast shot, and then I head over to get Julie Bowen.  She is so nice and hilarious!

9:15 p.m. – Security is grabbing Ty and making him leave even though he was more than happy to stay and sign.  The security are assholes actually, I’m really not happy and am quite over the whole Paley Center actually…. Ah well… I did get a few people on my insert and cast shot, but still there’s no reason why security had to chase the celebs off of the stage like that.  That really ticks me off… sigh…

Check out all of the pics from Modern Family at Paleyfest!