Christine Clayburg


		. The Totally Unofficial Guide to Episodes featuring ME. ; )
	For those of you who have asked WHICH episodes I'm in and when ... here you go (and thanks for asking) = ) Season 3 is now available on DVD. You can also download episodes from the official site. Reruns usually appear here first as they are scheduled: Next airdates: Season 3 Episode 3:3 - A Weekend in the Country original airdate 10.8.06 Episode 3:7 - Bang (my favorite episode!) original airdate 11.5.06 Episode 3:19 - God, That's Good original airdate 4.21.07 Episode 3:22 - Into the Woods original airdate 5.6.07 And for anyone who has ever had a dream...here's a few highlights from my long journey to Wisteria Lane plus a recap of my days on the set (below). I admit to being a complete dork here several times but then I've dreamed of being on a TV set since way back when mom and dad would only let us watch was Highway to Heaven (except for the Halloween episode which was NOT OK because the Devil was in it) I had a paper route with the Atascadero News at the time so I was the first to read that the crew from Highway to Heaven would be in town to shoot a few scenes. I KNEW it was DIVINE PROVIDENCE. I must have been 12. I wrote a nice note to Michael Landon telling him about our chuch acting troupe with Dianne Greenaway I explained why I should get a shot at Hollywood and added extra stars and glitter just to be safe before folding the note into a tiny square. I looked all over town but never saw even a hint of the crew. = ) Then Steve Martin and Rick Moranis came to town to shoot My Blue Heaven when I was in high school. NOW WAS THE TIME!!! My best friend Darlene and I spent all day at Cal Poly University for the Extra's casting cattle call. Nada. We later ran into Rick Moranis at the city library (okay, actually, we stalked the loaction all week after school). He was nice and autographed our pink notebooks which we both still have...but he didn't intorduce us to any movie directors (darn). Ironically the extras casting director later came to our High School play...But still no big break. On a drama club trip to LA, while everyone else was souvenir shopping, Darlene and I befriended the caretaker at the Ambassador Hotel on wilshire Blvd . We ALMOST ALMOST ALMOST got to see Meryl Streep do a scene from Defending your LIfe. But we missed that too. By the time our chaperones let us go back to the set we RAN up to the hotel time to see all the night shooting lights go out. They were done for the night. It's probably just as well ..I think I might have died of a heart attack if I had actually met Meryl Streep. And then there was another audition as an extra on my 21st birthday that I got from sending my photos and resume in for a WB movie coming to town (and I can't even remember which one now). No dice on that one either. Time to finish that science degree and get a grown up job. So anyway...after nearly 15 more years of theater, extras work, singing in restaurants and stadiums and theaters...and endless hours of coaching and study....and day after day of long hours on live TV followed by acting classes until midnight. And play rehearsals that went 'til 11pm and an alarm clock that went off for the morning show at 2 am..... ...there I was...DRIVING on to the Universal lot...and this time I'm not on the tour tram! (can I tell you how fun it is to walk by with somewhere to go on the lot when the tourist tram goes by). PRICELESS! ; ) . Yes, that's a very short version from there to here...and there's no juicy gossip from the set (everyone is very nice and very professional...I'm sure that's how they got where they are!) NOTES FROM THE SET If was you on the set I'd want to know what it was like! So here you go... Episode 3:3 - A Weekend in the Country original airdate 10.8.06 My very first housewives episode and I'm in the very first scene in the show. I appear as "Geraldo Rivieraette" with GIANT helmet hair and interview Bree's homeless son (very short scene). I've studied acting for years. But it is very different ACTING as a reporter. When you're reporting it's your own story and your own words. When you're acting it's sort of like being someone else. But when you're reporting AND acting...well it's a little weird at first! As exciting and unreal as it is getting a phone call that you booked the highest rated show in the country (and my first TV show too) ...I will tell you there is a "weight of the world feeling" knowing that the work you do in a few moments on camera will air around the world for years to come and will be preserved on DVD for fans of the show. In addition...you realize that a production crew of probably over 100 of the best and brightest people in the industry...not to mention an entire studio is counting on you to be at your very best that day. If you have a bad day...there's no do-over. Woe to the actor who lets having their own trailer and food and nice treatment on the set go to their head. You're not MORE important than anyone..it's just that if you aren't good everyone else's work will be compromised...and you're sort of the final clearing house for everyone else's work up to that point. So you must be at your very best. Unlike in TV news you don't get to start over again the next day. ; ) Anyway back to the set...After years of reporting It's very different saying someone else's words to the camera (no matter how well written they are). In TV news it's usually just you and your photographer or a few floor crew guys behind the camera. On a TV show there about 80 people behind the camera and tons of equipment...and oh-yeah...choreoagraphed extras and cars in the background who have to start over if you mess up your lines....no pressure. In addition you're acting for one camera while talking to another camera and trying to make it all realistic and believable. Often the situations you see in films/TV don't really exist in the news world. It makes a big difference when you are reporting as to whether you are "live" or "fronting a package" or just doing an "on camera interview" to get a good sound byte. Most people in Hollywood don't know this, and usually in TV/Films an audience wouldn't either...but the imaginary situation did throw ME for a loop! In addition to me being nervous about the imaginary situation (and my first day on the set) there was a chunk of script that was to be used for voiceover. Thinking like a reporter it just never occurred to me memorize the voiceover part (we usually track this back at the station after doing an interview or for some stories we just read this off-camera while video is rolling)...but on the set they wanted it ALL to camera 'just in case'. Suffice to say I'll never make that mistake again! Director Wendy Stanzler was very nice and helpful and helped me get it all done well in the end. I was sure they'd never call again after I couldn't get my lines right the first time...but in just a few weeks they did! Episode 3:7 - Bang original airdate 11.5.06 This is my FAVORITE episode (and not just cause I'm in it the most and my voiceover was also used for the promo ). It's SUCH a great story and it is one of the highest rated episodes of the season I also got to meet the writers during my days on the set. After my first take on the first day Director Larry Shaw asked me to ad-lib and so I did my usual news thing and they loved it. They laughed out loud! I just about died. Joe Keenan, (who was also a writer for Frasier and Cheers), took some of my ad-libbing in the scene and then re-worked a lot of the "newsy stuff" I say everyday at work into the scene. It was very very cool and hard to believe! After that I felt pretty comfortable. Everyone on the crew is so nice. I enjoyed hanging out with the audio guys and "glam squad ) (Makeup crew) between takes. The first day of shooting only Teri Hatcher and I had lines so it was her and I with movie star chairs. (No way) She was very nice....especially considering the Paparazzi staked out the location with those giant telephoto cameras and kept them trained on her all day. I liked her just fine but I wish I'd known about her book "Burnt Toast" I'm an ever bigger fan after reading it. When this episode aired I got calls (one time zone at a time) from my news friends across the country. They all gave me a bad time for running across the yellow tape at the end of the episode (which real reporters don't do). I must say, being a pretend reporter is much more fun! ; ) I've been on TV for many years, but it is a very different experience to have your work airing across one time zone at a time on a show that so many people love. Episode 3:19 - God, That's Good (original airdate 4.19.07) Another hilarious episode and probably my funniest line yet. I get to yell and ask if Eva Longoria is a prostitute in the scene (she is very nice and even prettier and tiner in person by the way). Back home in Minneapolis everyone thought that line was about the funniest thing ever. John Hines played that line over the air again the next day on KTLK -FM during our morning weather chat. Larry Shaw also directed this episode. I know I keep saying the crew is so nice...but really..when I came on the set they all remembered me for my last episode shot almost half a year ago. I was so surprised! On some of the commercials I've done the director barely even talks to you and when they do they often aren't very friendly....and good luck if you flub a line (which I always seem to do)! Working on this set, should have been the most intimidating experience yet...and it was in a way but only because everyone is SO GOOD. But they were all kind, gracious and very professional. A good reminder that no matter what you hear about Hollywood truly successful people are usually all of these things. Episode 3:22 - Into the Woods (original airdate 5.6.07) A super short appearance in a couple of scenes while covering election results. This was actually my first scene to be shot on the Universal Lot. I had auditioned there but all the other scenes I'd been in were "on location". Pretty unforgettable being on one of the stages I drove by on a tourist tram in high school. I even ran into Mark Burnett in the commissary. This episode was directed by David Grossman and like everyone else on the crew..he is so nice. Before shooting my little scene we mostly talked about Ice Fishing! = ) That's all for now.... thanks for tuning in! Here's to many years of scandal and LOTS of BREAKING NEWS on Wisteria Lane. ; )