Fancy that... An article about MTV's "Fanatic"

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Nov 20, 2098 Source: Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA) Inquirer Submitted By: Thanks to Torie Bosch (bsbkaos@hotmail.com) for sending this in. Torie has a Fan Fic page at http://bsbfanfic.musicpage.com Written by Jennifer Weiner Fancy that. Blinking in the Southern California sunshine, movie star Ben Stiller is face-to-face with his biggest fan - a 20ish guy named Seth Beeler. "You don't know how much this means to me, man," the shave-headed fan says sincerely, as Stiller smiles a bit nervously. "I work in the food-packing industry, and every day before I go to work, I watch one of your movies." Normally, such extreme devotion would be confined to a worshipful Web site, or a concert, convention, or conversatoins with very good, very tight-lipped friends who'd be loath to blab about your thing for Hanson. But MTV's Fanatic - catch it at 10:30 PM Mondays - takes fan fulfillment to a new level in a highly watchable half-hour. The formula's simple: Find a big star (think Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lenny Kravitz, Jewel). Find said star's number one fan (don't think Kahty Bates in Misery). Take appropriate steps to ensure that fan is not nuts. Then ship fan out to meet and ask the star 10 questions, and let the tape roll. Fanatic is the brainchild of MTV exectuvies, and it's now the baby of Ed Connelly, 33, who is a former longtime executive at The Ricki Lake Show. Connelly says Fanatic is "less about the stars than the real people having their dreams come true." But producers have to be careful to find the right kind of people - especially when offering up major hunks and heartthrobs, from the Spice Girls to Cindy Crawford and the Backstreet Boys. "If they're just going to meet 'em and scream, forget it," Connelly says. About half of Fanatic's stars come from the music world, with the other half being actors, models, even professional wrestlers such as Stone Cold Steve Austin. Musicians are an obvious choice - this is, after all, mTV. There's lots of "your song got me through a really hard time" - which means that Connelly and Co have to make sure that the hard time's over and done with. So how does a fan get on Fanatic? First, producers have to like the video you send or the Web site you rune nough to pick you from the thousands of aspirants. Associate producers narrow the list of candidates to 10. Producers then call "witnesses" - friends or family members - to ask just how devoted the fan is. A senior producer spends 45 minutes on the phone with the devotee. And the star's management gets the final say-so. "We run fans by the management three days ahead of time, and if they know the fan's name" - and if, for example, the fan's a noted stalker, or a little too devoted, "we abort," Connelly says. Film crews follow the fan for 24 hours before the event, and film and meeting. So, far, the producers have had to call off only one segment mid-interview, and that one featured the Backstreet Boys. "The fan had this major crush," Connelly said, "And it just didn't feel right." But mos of the time, fne fans and stars get along just fine. Stars are much more willing to open up to a fan than to a journalist, Connelly said. Which means that Bruce Willis' fan had access to Willis the day that his breakup was making the headlines (Of course, it doesn't hurt that MTV gets to cull the questions before hand, so taht nothing offensive will make it past the fan's lips.) Does it pay off for the worshipful? You bet. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler gave his fan a space suit. The Van Halen guys had their fan up onstage. Bryan Adams had his fan over to his house. And Stiller and his food-packing devotee, Beeler? "He flew to the fan to a movie premier on his own dime, and gave him his home phone number." Beelder has since moved from Omaha, Neb., to Los Angeles. And Connelly's hard at work lining up a second season of Fanatic. His own drem celebrities? "Oprah, Madonna . . . and Chelsea Clinton would be amazing. We'd nver get her, of course." Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: markus http://imrdsoacha.gov.co/silvitra-120mg-qrms Submitted by: johnanz http://imrdsoacha.gov.co/silvitra-120mg-qrms Submitted by: https://royalcbd.com/washington-dc/ f11uP3 Really enjoyed this blog article.Thanks Again. Much obliged. Submitted by: cbd washington dc 1bDHuH You need to be a part of a contest for one of the highest Submitted by: Just Someone the Bryan Adams FANatic is my cousin! I wish I would have known.. I'ma huge BA fan myself, since the 80's. I wasn't into MTV by 1998 (had adulting to do..working 60 hrs/.week ). I think I would have died had I put MTV on and saw my cousin! Sadly we don't talk (He lives on the west coast, me on the east) so I'll never talk to him about it. Must have been damned awesome tho. 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