And the answer is...

I don't know.

Now the question - "When is my episode of That's Clever! going to air?" It's been so long since the filming that I often forget that it ever happened.

Traveling back through my time machine to the evening of November 17, 2006. We had just come in from an evening out and I was checking e-mails. I had one that had in the Subject line "HGTV Inquiry (seeking FL artists). Well, I was frozen, as if I had just gazed upon Medusa. After I was able to breathe and had read and re-read the e-mail that was sent from one of the Segment Producers that worked for Weller-Grossman production company, I yelled out to my husband, "you're not going to believe this!" I read the e-mail to him, which was an invitation to apply for a spot on the show That's Clever! I asked him what he thought. We both agreed that I should go for it. So I immediately put together my application. Now mind you, this original e-mail came to me from out of the blue. Even the producer couldn't remember how she found me, but it was through a search on the internet.

Well, after submitting the application and photos, I went through a phone interview with the producer. On December 11, 2006 I received an e-mail letting me know that the "pitch" was approved by HGTV. The green light was given to set up the shoot. Now the way that the production company works filming, they visit a city and set up 18 shoots for the time that they're in town. Each day there are two shoots. It's basically a blitz.

After the approval, I had to put together a Steps/Materials Form and sign all sorts of releases. Once both tasks were accomplished on January 6, 2007 I received my list of Step Outs. The step outs are basically a list of the steps in completing the piece with a listing of pieces that need to be made ahead of time. Since they don't shoot in real time, ie. having to wait for the clay to dry, waiting for the kiln to fire, etc., kind of like a cooking show, I had to make a lot of things ahead of time. This was very time consuming. I basically had to make 8 versions of the piece and because of drying and firing times, had to start in December right after the pitch was approved, prior to receiving my list of Step Outs.

Once the production team came to town I had a prep meeting where the producer and director visited to take a look at my studio space, approve wardrobe selections, and gave me directions in how to prep things for the shoot. Basically I had to clean my studio space, cleaner than it has ever been or ever will be again. My shoot was scheduled for January 27, 2007 at 8:00 am. There was a crew of 4, a lighting/camera guy, a sound guy, the director/camera guy and the producer.

Getting ready for the shoot was grueling, but the actual shoot day was arduously grueling. It's amazing how much work you have to go through to come up with 7 minutes on air. The director fed me lines and as the day went on I came down with brain freeze and he had to feed me 4 words at a time. I had a tiny hope that I might not come off looking too crazy. All hopes are gone. My brain freeze caused me to also make some mistakes that I won't reveal prior to the show airing. Just let me say that a well trained eye in sequencing should be on the lookout for slight variations. They were at our house for over six hours. At one point my husband poked his head out and said that I might want to take 5 and have something to eat. Thank God for my darling husband!

My segment was assigned a number. It's 460. This means that I'm in the 400 series of shows. Now, keep in mind that my shoot date was in January, 2007. HGTV has still not aired any of the 400 series of shows. They do still list That's Clever! as an active show, they're just not airing any episodes now. So that's the skinny. I keep forgetting about it, and every so often someone asks me - " So what's up with HGTV?" I guess that's my question too. So what's up with HGTV?

My take-away from this whole experience has been an incredible admiration for anyone that does TV or movies as a career. How people can actually do this for extended periods without melting down is amazing to me and to be able to make it appear effortless is the true miracle. I don't expect to be nominated for a Grammy, and if the show gets cancelled prior to airing, that might not be a bad thing. If or when the show does air, please be kind and remember that I'm not an actor, I'm a potter.