Times Square 2000 - TV Crews

As I mention elsewhere, the entertainment in Times Square was really for the benefit of folks sitting at home in front of the television.   This is the stage area, which they should have put 10 blocks away for the entertainment of the people who couldn't see the time ball - that way they could have allowed more people in to a position where they could have seen the ball!

Right in front of the stage, you can see a TV cameraman at the end of a long boom, filming the entertainment.

Here's the reason that the stage was right at the front - the TV crew platform.   The stage was between this platform and the New York Times building, allowing the TV cameras stationed here to get a good shot of both.

I was close to the TV platform, so it was mildly interesting to watch them at work.   This reporter's about to be filmed with the timeball in the background.

Other news crews on the platform appealed directly to the crowds standing below them, and we didn't disappoint, cheering and whooping it up to the amusement of the people on the platform.

And of course, where would American television be without their helicopters?   On this night, being a pilot of one of these things must have been about the most tedious job in the city, because they mostly just hung in one spot for an hour or more.

This camera crew came down our way, they seemed to be French speaking, perhaps they were from Canada.

Oh my God, here's my moment of fame and glory!

As we approached The Hour, who should mount the TV platform but New York's mayor Giuliani! 

I know you're not very intelligent, so I've even taken the liberty of marking him with a blue arrow, so you can recognize him.

Actually, if your humble narrator had just been a bit quicker with his reactions and his camera, you could have had a photo of his face instead of the back of his head, as he climbed the previous flight of stairs.