Live on NBC

"We're live in 20 seconds!!"

That's what we heard as we rushed into the studio where the live filming of America's Got Talent, Week 8, Night 1 was taking place. With only 15 more seconds left, the stage crew hollered at Jeremy and me to get to our seats.

A few weeks before, I found the show on hulu.com (since we don't have real TV) and soon became an avid viewer. When I found out that the finals would be filmed in Hollywood, I went online to get tickets. They were free! All we had to do was show up no later than 4:00 pm and wear "hip" clothing (yes, that was in the instructions, mentioning that we could get turned away if our wardrobe wasn't cool enough).

Not sure if our clothes were up to par, we panicked when we were still on the highway at 4:30. LA traffic sucks. When we finally got to the studio, we were shocked that they still let us in, but it was standing room only. I guess they figured our clothes were more of the second-class type.

As we were led into the studio, a stage manager kept waving her arms for us to come up closer to the stage. The director counted down from 10 over the loud speaker as we climbed over bodies in the center isle to our new places. Before we new it, the show was in full swing and we were watching it from the VIP balcony with a family that was related to one of the producers!

Above: Train is playing on stage. Judges Sharon Osborne, Howie Mandel and the other guy on the right. Me and Jeremy are smack dab in the middle of the screen. Can you see our silhouettes on the center of the lowest balcony?

Below: A cheer squad performing. My head is just to the right of the cheer leader's bum and shoulder. Jeremy is to the right of me, directly under that blue light in the balcony room.

We could see everything perfectly--the performers, the judge's faces, the cameras, even the words on the teleprompter screens for the host. We could also see how that danger guy did his stupid tricks (he shouldn't have made it to the next round), the tech crew prepare for each number, and the make-up consultants assist Sharon Osborne and Howie Mandel during commercial breaks. The only annoying part of the show was the fidgety kids next to us who did not seem to realize the magnificence of where we were seated! (that's rich kids for you).

After the show, they told us to stick around for the pre-filming of the next night's feature. The band Train would be playing for us, and we would be on another night of NBC TV!!

The whole experience was awesome. I was really intrigued how the "theatre" was just a bunch of platforms hanging from metal lattices in a giant room. How amazing that they can turn a giant empty room into an auditorium, or city, or school, or outdoor set! Hollywood is pretty cool like that.

Feeling famous after the show, we decided to do what famous people do. We went to the Grove. (it's a really fancy mall that actors shop at). We pretended to be rich by eating at Magianno's Grill (luckily, we had gift cards) and then played Train during our car ride home!