There are certain experiences in life that you know will become permanent memories just as they’re happening. This week, when business had me traveling to Los Angeles, I experienced one of those after meeting for dinner with 14 people involved in our much beloved Jericho. 

Before I tell you the story, I want to say that I’m fully aware of just how lucky I am to have the opportunity to communicate with, know, and visit with these people. I pinch myself every time I think of it. I wish I could have brought everyone along, but, unfortunately, that would have been impossible. Instead, I thought I’d give you the run-down on what it was like and give you the skinny on what everyone is doing.

First off, I never expected this to be as big as it was. There are a few writers, producers, and crew with whom I stay in fairly close contact. I had about six or seven solid confirmations to the dinner invitation I sent out, so I fully expected that I’d be meeting with those folks. Word began to spread,however, and what started out as a small thing blossomed into a decent reunion of sorts for cast, crew, and writer/producers.

Unfortunately, Carol Barbee and Jon Steinberg couldn’t make it, but for good reason. Both have pilots being made for a chance on the fall schedule. Carol is actually working on two shows, Three Rivers (which is her pilot) for CBS, and Beautiful Life (on the CW), which she is executive producing. Jon wrote a pilot for Fox called Human Target, which is based on a DC Comics character. I’m very excited about both shows and hope that we see them go to series.

So, I arrived at the restaurant where we’d agreed to meet, and when I get there, Erik “Dr. Booty”  Kieltyka is sitting in the bar waiting for everyone to arrive. We had a great conversation, and right away, I felt right at home. My friend Mike Loomer arrived next, greeting me with a big bear hug. It was great to see and catch up with him in person. He’s awesome. Plain and simple.

If I recall correctly, Matthew Federman, Robbie Thompson, and Stephen Scaia walked in, which was especially cool, since I’ve gotten to know and even work with them a bit over the last half year or so. Things start to get blurry after this, but I believe series co-creator Josh Schaer arrived after that, and then a few minutes later, I believe Bob Stephenson walked in. I was totally shocked at that point, since I thought the group who had arrived up until that point was pretty much going to be it. All of those guys were great. I’m not sure what was more fun — interacting with all of them or observing the excitement they exhibited when seeing each other.

I don’t recall the exact order from here, but I about fell over when one by one, Lennie James, Michael Gaston, and Kenneth Mitchell walked in the room. Lennie is a riot, and greeted me by saying “We’ve met before.” I couldn’t believe he remembered. Michael Gaston said “So, you’re Rubberpoultry? I know you.” Meeting Kenneth was great. He’s very down-to-earth and easy to talk to.

I asked Jericho fan PMary (who helped organize the bilboard project, among many many other things) if she wanted to come since she lives in the area, and she was able to make it also. It was awesome to finally meet her in person. She was kind enough to shoot the pictures posted here.

The restaurant we were in was closing early, so we decided to look for another place that was open later. A couple of people from the group went out and investigated, and after finding a place, we walked to another restaurant. Along the way, we ran into Brad Beyer. Any Jericho fan would have about flipped to see five of the cast members and several well known writer/producers and crew walking through Universal Citywalk. It was quite a sight.

On the way over, I talked with series co-creator Josh Schaer about the formation of the show. It was fascinating to hear him describe he and Jon brainstorming in Jon’s living room about what we all got hooked on. He’s got some really cool projects in the works, and I hope we get to see them on our TV screens soon.

Once we arrived at the restaurant, I sat down, and Michael Gaston sat down to my right. Next to him was Kenneth Mitchell, and across from me was Lennie James. To my left was Josh Schaer.

I spent quite a bit of time in the beginning talking to Michael Gaston. It seems I was very lucky to have him there as he lives in New York, and was just in town for the week. He is always working on something, it seems. He’s been guest starring on a show I really love called Fringe. We talked about that some and a few of the other projects he’s been working on.

Kenneth came straight over from shooting Ghost Whisperer. He’s been a regular on that show for a while now. He is playing a version of one of the main characters on the show. It seems one of the main character’s spirits jumps into his body from time to time. I haven’t watched much of GW, but I think next time it’s on, I’ll have to check it out.

Lennie is playing a NY lawyer in a new pilot written by Jericho writer Frank Military. Lennie is freaking hilarious. One funny moment of the night happened when everyone but him had gotten their food. He was getting more and more frustrated as everyone had their plates delivered. After asking the waiter several times if his food was coming, I said, “I can’t help but picture you as Hawkins, snapping that guy’s neck right now.” He laughed and then one-upped me, saying, “No, if I were Hawkins right now, he would have just fallen to the ground, and you would have never seen me move.” Everyone started laughing, and then he said, “Picture me sitting in the kitchen with the entire wait and kitchen staff passed out on the ground, with me sitting in the middle eating a burger” (or something to that effect).  It was a riot.

I made my way to the middle of the table at one point and got to talk to Matt Federman and Steve Scaia. They’re writing for a show called “Warehouse 13″ on Sci-fi. The show features a secret warehouse where supernatural objects are stored. They’ve also got a feature in the works and are awaiting word on a pilot they’ve written. I’ve read the script, and it’s an incredible show. Keep your fingers crossed!

On a strange but true personal note… I learned that Steve and I had likely been at the same place at the same time more than once. Steve and I grew up about 45 minutes away from each other, and we both graduated the same year. It also happens that we were both in marching band, and he remembered coming to the band competition that our school hosted each year. We definitely were both there, and may have even competed at several other competitions over the years. Small world, I guess.

Robbie Thompson has become a great friend over the last year via phone and e-mail, so I was really looking forward to meeting him. He wrote one of my favorite episodes of Jericho (A.K.A). Right now, he is working with Jon Steinberg on “Human Target” and has other things in development. Later this year, he has a series coming out on the Web called “Ark.” I was fortunate enough to work on some of the visuals, as well as the logo for the show. It’s a really cool project, and I can’t wait to see it finished.

My pal Mike Loomer has been working on The Jonas Brothers’ show and is somehow still sane! Next month, he’ll go back to work on Raising the Bar, which is a legal drama starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Jane Kaczmarek. Unfortunately, with such a large group, I didn’t get a chance to talk to him as much as I’d hoped. 

If I recall correctly, Dr. Booty told me he was working on The Cleaner. That guy is a total party and was lots of fun to be around.

I made my way over to Bob Stephenson, and he told me that he’s starring in a new pilot, but I don’t think I ever caught the name of it. He’s a very approachable, extremely nice guy. Everyone was talking to him about all of his commercials. It was funny to hear them rib him about them.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was being able to thank Brad Beyer in person for doing the voice-over for our commercial. Brad is just as you’d expect him. Really nice, and extremely approachable. He is also very humble. He thanked me (and, in turn, all of us) for everything we’ve done for the show.

About two-thirds of the way through dinner, Dan Shotz showed up. He’s very busy, so the fact that he made it was awesome. Unfortunately, Karim, who was planning to be there, didn’t make it.

Dan is such a welcoming guy. He has always made me felt comfortable in person over the phone and via e-mail with whatever situation is at play. The rest of the group was razzing him a bit about the movie, and he commented that they definitely want to make it happen. I told him that their comments get everyone fired up. He acknowledged that and said they truly were working on it.

I was about to talk with him about Wondercon, but we got interrupted. I never got to return to the subject, but he told me to come by his office to visit and see what’s left of the main street sets, so I thought we might be able to talk about it then. Unfortunately, when I arrived he was out to lunch, so we didn’t get to talk. Of course, now I can confirm that it was indeed the comic book they were referring to. 

Dan’s assistant knew I was coming by, so I was able to wander around the sets (which are a combination of Jericho and Swingtown). There is still enough there for it to still feel like our small Kansas town. It’s amazing how much smaller it looks in person.

And I know everyone is wondering….where was Skeet? Apparently, he entertained the idea of coming, but ended up tending to his kids since it was near bedtime.

All in all, it was about exactly as you’d imagine it to be. Everyone was very friendly, and they all have great stories to tell. You could see the chemistry of the cast/crew/writers/producers from the start. They truly enjoy each other’s company, and as I mentioned, most of them keep in touch. I really hope that they have the chance to work on Jericho again. I know they’d like to.

It sounded like some of them are planning on coming to the Welcome Home to Jericho event, which is great news for fans. I wish I could make it, but, unfortunately, business has me tied up that weekend. A great time will be had by all.

Signing off for now! Enjoy the set pics below…

-Rubberpoultry