Linda Stasi

New York Post Television Critic Linda Stasi.
McGraw Hill Building in Mid-Town.
A morning larded with an extra-half an hour Post 9-11 security.
I.D. checking;
Bag searching;
Picture taking;
Security calls up to get an instant voice mail.
Do journalists ever answer their phone?
Seems like no.
They retrieve messages;
Make sure it’s someone they’re willing, wanting to talk to.
So we wait…
Waiting…
Shifting weight while waiting.
Another call upstairs.
No avail.
Then, just as I’m about to sit on the tripod case – right in the middle of the lobby, right in front of the security desk – a call back.
The escort is to arrive, shortly.
Sticky-backed bar-coded passes handed out to each of us.
Adhere it to my jeaned-thigh.
The lugging of production bulk: tripod, new camera (dvx100a), reflector, boom pole etc…
And Linda Stasi...
Funeral black outfit.
Happy smile.
She has the perfect mix of authority and joviality.
And she’s gracious.
And so accommodating.
More accommodating than the newsroom seems to reciprocate to her, actually:
She’s seated in her carved out corner of the hive of reporters.
And it is vast.
The sprawling room is heaped with news stories, bundled and junked everywhere.
Has this place ever been as clean as it once was on the day it opened?
Will it ever again be as clean as it once was?
The things people won’t throw away, fearing to one day need it.
Often we forget that we actually have it at our disposal in the first place.
I’m afraid that that is exactly what is going to happen to all this footage.
We’re shooting so much.
Each interview has taken an entire dv tape.
Sometimes we slap in a second.
Hours upon hours of footage we’ll eventually have.
Bill Marsilli asked, “What are you going to do with all of it?”
Perry’s answer: “Perhaps two documentaries. One on television production, and the other, maybe, a doc about pitching.” What?
Since when were we doing this?
Not that I mind, but…
But, I do see what he means.
I’m just shocked to hear those words come from him.
Anyway…
Linda Stasi is a conundrum.
Not only does she seemingly love Reality TV, but, clearly, she also hates it.
A perfect mix, which may sound odd, but by my estimation, she was a very honest interview.