Meeting the Cast of Parenthood!!!!

Last night I had the last minute opportunity to go to a “Meet the Cast” Panel for the TV Show Parenthood at the Academy of Television Arts and Science Building.  I’m soo glad I did!! I follow the show on Facebook and I saw this post yesterday afternoon:

If you are in or around Los Angeles,  please join us for “An Evening with the Cast and Producers of ‘Parenthood’”

ATAS panel at the Leonard Goldenson Theatre TONIGHT! RSVP: 818-840-2250.

OMG! I couldn’t believe it. It was too close not to go…So I RSVP’d!!! I didn’t know what to expect but I surprisingly got emotional right away. I truly love this show!!! 

Parenthood is a TV show on NBC based on the original 1989 movie made by Ron Howard about different families and the different situations they all have. I honestly don’t remember seeing much of the movie, but I remember I was intrigued when I saw the first commercial for this show because one of the story lines they were showing was about a family who was dealing with a son with High Functioning Aspergers Syndrome. Bingo…my kind of show!

For those of you that don’t know, my middle son, Danny, is High Functioning Asperber’s too!  So this show means a lot to me as they have done such a great job providing awareness to this disorder, and I have been watching religiously for 2 seasons. 

This show just has beautiful writing and has an incredible way to portray real life situations is such true form with the perfect balance of drama and a touch of comedy with perfect timing.  This show can make you cry one minute, and then have you laughing the next. The cast is amazing and includes Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls), Craig T. Nelson (Coach), Dax Shepard (Punk'd) and many more well known actors.  

All their story lines are relatable to me in one way or another and have impacted my life in many ways, and it was obvious that it has done the same with soo many others who were there yesterday to show their support for the show.

They started off with the screening of the Season Finale that had aired on April 19th, and of course it made me cry all over again. Then they brought out the panel of actors, the director and one of the main writers.   

 
Right off the top, they were all making us laugh. They are just very funny people and they interact deliciously together. 

                                                                                                         The moderator was Jason Ritter, who has also been a guest star on the show.
Jason Ritter took turns asking the individual actors some questions, and then they opened it up to the audience. They took about 5-6 main questions all ranging from compliments to technical questions and wondering what direction the show will be taking next season.

As soon as it was over, I saw that some of the actors were sticking around on stage talking to people, and so I made my way down quickly and pushed myself to the front (oops, did I do that) to catch them since I was too shy to say anything out loud earlier.

The first person I went up to was Monica Potter, who plays Kristina Braverman, the mother of the Asperger’s son named Max.  I LOVE her character and I love the way she plays this mom. I relate to her soo much, and I told her that I cry with her, I laugh with her, celebrate and suffer with her through Max's experiences as I go through the same emotions she does a lot of the times. I don’t always agree with her, but I feel like I can always relate to her character as an Aspy parent.  She appreciated everything I had to say and I started to tell her that the episode that has impacted me the most was the one where they are forced to tell Max about his Aspergers syndrome even when they didn't feel ready to. As parents of an Aspy child, Jerry and I have not crossed that bridge yet either, but after seeing this episode it has given us the courage and guidance to do just that with our Danny. 

 

We are waiting until the summer time to sit down with him, but that episode helped us decide to take that important step in helping Danny understand who he is.  It was a touching moment for me as I saw her welling up in tears as I told her this, and kept telling me how important it was for her to hear this. She even asked me to talk to the producer, Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights), next and tell him so he can see the impact it was having. She asked me for a hug and I said, “Thank you for being Kristina,” and she responded saying “ Thank you for letting me be Kristina.”   

OMG!! Sooo sweet!! She was gracious enough to take 2 pictures with me (one was over exposed, the other two dark...oh well) and signed my agenda for me.  It was a very special moment for me!! 

So next I went to visit Jason Katims and spoke to him, and told him the same story and he was also very gracious. His son is also Asperger’s and the child who the character Max is based on.  I told him this story line meant more to me because I knew the stories are based on somebody's true life experiences like my own.

I also saw Erika Christensen (Julia Braverman-Graham). I met and spoke with Lauren Graham (Sarah Braverman) for a few seconds, and as I was walking out to leave was pleasantly surprised to meet with the fantastic little boy who plays Max, Max Burkholder.  Who BTW, does NOT have Asperger's but is soo dead on at his role that he has people convinced he does!! A great compliment in my book. I met his mother as well, who was soo nice and appreciated my compliments of her son, and I got to take a picture with him.  His character’s case of Aspergers is a slight different/severe than Danny’s but I see a lot of Danny in this portrayal of an Aspergers child, and the very similar situations that have come up for parents like Jerry and I.  I hold Max’s character very close to my heart.

I had little conversations on the way out with others that were there, and coincidentally enough most were parents of Aspy children. Only to confirm how much of an impact this show is making on parents of special needs children out there. 

So I left on such a high!!! I am only that much more enamored of this show and its cast members as they showed and proved to me just how much they love playing the characters they play. They truly expressed how much they care about representing their characters as true to form as possible. You can’t ask for more out of such a great show!

I can’t wait for season 3 and I hope that you’ll check it out and make it one of your favorite shows to watch. It is on NBC on Tuesday Nights at 9pm. You can catch up by watching full episodes here or on www.hulu.com.

 Have a wonderful weekend everybody and thank you for stopping by!!

From my corner to yours....

Much love and smiles,