Word: off-camera
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Suddenly, there he was, the only major participant in this most televised war in history who had remained off-camera. For weeks, the world had watched the nightly pyrotechnics over Baghdad, the battered allied pilots on Iraqi TV, Patriots rising to meet Scuds, the nose-camera view of smart bombs at work, the artificial twilight above the burning oil fields, top guns catapulting into the mist, even Saddam Hussein presiding over his Revolutionary Command Council. Only the frontline Iraqi soldier had stayed out of sight...
...viewers saw was remarkably close to the routine atmosphere of a normal work-week. Early in the week our journalists were probably all a little uptight, unwilling to risk spilling a favorite story idea or sounding less than omniscient. A few of our key decisions had to take place off-camera, but by the end of the week many staff members were becoming quite casual. Without waiting for the reviews, I think our debut in immersion video was considerably less exciting than a good basketball game but noticeably better than a bad day's debate in the Congress...
Throughout the brouhaha, Clay (who will star in the summer film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane) maintained his customary off-camera swagger. Commenting on Dunn's walkout, he told Entertainment Tonight, "I think she's just doing this because I am the hottest comic in the world today." Not true, but for one week he came awfully close. Alas...
...furrowed brows as well as belly laughs. Some are concerned that the on-camera spills are dangerous and might encourage reckless behavior; Di Bona and crew have rejected some clips for that reason (like one showing a toddler apparently driving a car, while a parent actually steers off-camera). Others are concerned that people may begin to stage scenes specially for the program. That would spoil the caught-in-the-act charm but would hardly be unexpected. Once you give America a chance to produce a show for you, don't be surprised if everybody wants to be a star...
Sullivan, by contrast, was always too much the glamour girl, as well as prone to gaffes both on and off the air. (An open microphone once picked up $ her off-camera reference to CBS as the "Cheap Broadcasting System.") And Norville, even without the controversy that attended her rise, seems too brittle and pushy for her gentle morning duties. She comes across as the executive secretary whom everybody in the office hates dealing with...