Charlotte to be featured on The Tonight Show

[uptownliving]

I was out having some drinks with friends last night at Liaisons and ran into "Ross the Intern" from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Ends up Jay has flown him to Charlotte to film a segment about NASCAR. If you didn't already know, Ross is a regular "correspondent" for Jay Leno. He is openly gay and VERY flamboyent. A really nice and funny guy. He had lots of good things to say about Charlotte. He posted some nice stuff in his blog as well. Expect the segment to air sometime next week.

Ross' Blog on Charlotte: http://blog.nbc.com/ross_blog/

[nowensone]

I was out having some drinks with friends last night at Liaisons and ran into "Ross the Intern" from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Ends up Jay has flown him to Charlotte to film a segment about NASCAR. If you didn't already know, Ross is a regular "correspondent" for Jay Leno. He is openly gay and VERY flamboyent. A really nice and funny guy. He had lots of good things to say about Charlotte. He posted some nice stuff in his blog as well. Expect the segment to air sometime next week.

Ross' Blog on Charlotte: http://blog.nbc.com/ross_blog/

That's great he has good things to say, but with the theme being NASCAR, I don't have warm fuzzies about how we will be portrayed... It is easy in that industry to recognize the falacies of what is portrayed but to do so anyway because it gets ratings. You didn't happen to talk to him about this, did you?

[uptownliving]

Well they did take him to Hooters for lunch...so expect some stereotypical jokes there...but its really the producers that do all the editing and not Ross...he didn't have anything to say as to how his segment will turn out. They are still in Charlotte filming.

[AuLukey]

That's great he has good things to say, but with the theme being NASCAR, I don't have warm fuzzies about how we will be portrayed... It is easy in that industry to recognize the falacies of what is portrayed but to do so anyway because it gets ratings. You didn't happen to talk to him about this, did you?

I agree although so far he seems to feel NC is beautiful, hopefully that gets portrayed on the show as well. If they strolled around uptown, nobody must've recognized him because I never heard a thing about it. Cities don't normally get pointed out too much in their presentations from him. I saw one sometime this week when he went to the Chargers-Steelers game to tailgate, San Diego never got pointed out. I doubt we'll be seeing our skyline on TV.

[voyager12]

I know any publicity is supposed to be good publicity but the whole point of these segments is to poke fun. We will most likely be portrayed as hicks although a surprise would be nice. I hope he leaves Liasons out of it I go there too, but its hardly a friendly representation of Charlotte's "gays". I wonder if Ross will go to Takeover tonight. ...

[nowensone]

^ Right, agreed, Jay Leno is typically poking fun at everything in his show. If he goes on location somewhere in his skits, even the hometown streets , it is usually to point out how stupid people are. Normally I am laughing and agreeing, but I would cringe if he, or the intern, is walking around the speedway interviewing race car enthusiasts about the events of the Boston Tea Party or the Geneva Accords. Or if Duluth is a city or how one speaks with a sore swollen "tooth"...

And I am not insulting NASCAR fans, by the way, just how I can see this being protrayed. Not being negative here, but how often does Jay Leno do advertising and PR instead of comedy and satire?

[graydog]

NBC has a huge investment in NASCAR. The Chase for the Cup is in progress and it's televised on NBC/TNT. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a way to promo the series and drive up their viewership numbers. If it pokes fun at anything it'll probably be the blog dude.