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"For those of us obsessed with TV, there&amp;#x27;s no &amp;#x27;club&amp;#x27; more elite or prestigious than the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a.k.a, The Emmys. And aside from winning an Emmy statue itself, just as impressive is an invite into the ATAS Hall of Fame, now in it&amp;#x27;s 21st first year of honoring the very best in television (Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Hope, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Katie Couric, just to name a few).Although I probably will never win an Emmy (although let&amp;#x27;s never say never--it&amp;#x27;s still my ultimate career goal), I am fortunate enough to be a member of the Academy of Television Arts &amp;amp; Sciences. It&amp;#x27;s the membership that I am most proud of since it honors the very performers and shows that inspired me to go into this business in the first place. So, it was not unusual that I was going to be attending ATAS&amp;#x27; Hall of Fame Gala last Thursday night at the swank Beverly Hills Hotel. What was unusual is what transpired during the red carpet and throughout the ceremony--specifically what now has my parents taking a last minute trip from St. Louis to Los Angeles this week. But first, let&amp;#x27;s talk about some of the exceptional honorees. Although I Love Lucy was way before most of us were even born, I think it&amp;#x27;s safe to say we all love Lucy thanks to countless reruns. So it was a definite thrill to interview Doris Singleton, who played Lucy&amp;#x27;s frenemy &amp;quot;Carolyn Appleby,&amp;quot; on the hit show. Doris was in attendance to honor her friend and former co-star, Vivian Vance (&amp;quot;Ethel&amp;quot;), who passed away years ago. Now 92, Doris looks downright fantastic, and was a delight to talk to. When I asked Doris about her favorite episode, she told me it was the one &amp;quot;that involved Vivian and me--the Harpo Marx episode--that was very funny and I loved it!&amp;quot; Doris is on the right. And here is Doris now! Speaking of frenemy&amp;#x27;s, Kathryn Joosten&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;Mrs. McCluskey&amp;quot; on Desperate Housewives hasn&amp;#x27;t always been BFFs with the likes of Susan, Bree, Gabby, and Lynette. But in real life, Joosten couldn&amp;#x27;t be more awesome. When I first became an ATAS member, Joosten wrote me a welcome note, and even included her phone number if I should need anything! I didn&amp;#x27;t call, but I did write her back to say thank you. Joosten told me that, &amp;quot;the only person that ever called was Angelina Jolie&amp;#x27;s father, Jon Voight, and he left me a voicemail saying, &amp;#x27;I can&amp;#x27;t believe you put your phone number on there!&amp;#x27;&amp;quot; Now I feel guilty--I should have called! I enjoyed speaking with one of the evening&amp;#x27;s HOF recipients, Jonathan Murray, co-creator of The Real World, Road Rules, Project Runway, and many others. In fact, Murray is a Mizzou (University of Missouri) alum along with Linda Bell Blue, the executive producer of Entertainment Tonight (although who can forget the most famous Mizzou alum, Brad Pitt--or when I got Pitt to talk Mizzou basketball!). I wanted to know what advice Murray had for students starting off in the business, because for those of us that have been through it, it&amp;#x27;s certainly not an easy road. What Murray said is actually quite true, and I think especially helpful: &amp;quot;I think students need to slow down, breathe deeply and just take it slowly. Because the one thing I see about the current generation of students is that they&amp;amp;#8217;re raring to go, as in, &amp;amp;#8216;I&amp;amp;#8217;m ready to produce the show now!&amp;amp;#8217;, and no, you need to P.A. first, and work your way up. That&amp;amp;#8217;s what I did. I started at a small station in Green Bay, WI in the news, worked my way up into different markets, and really learned the business before I ever had the audacity to come up with a show like The Real World.&amp;quot; Hear that, kids? Meanwhile, back when I was in high school, I would babysit on Saturday nights, and in my attempt to improve my Spanish, I would watch Don Francisco&amp;#x27;s variety show, Sabado Gigante! on Univision. For the record, I didn&amp;#x27;t learn much Spanish, but I did learn that people in South America have some great costumes, amazing sets, and are all good looking. So talk about coming full circle that one of the honorees in the Hall of Fame was Don Francisco himself (real name: Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld). When I told Francisco my story, he tried to make me speak Spanish to him. My response? &amp;quot;Well, aside from hola, adios, and un poco here and there, the only other thing I know is to ask where is el bano (the bathroom).&amp;quot; You know, the important things. By the way, one more interesting tidbit about Francisco: his parents were German/Jewish immigrants who fled to Chile to escape Nazi persecution. Francisco wrote a documentary about his Holocaust survivor parents called, Witness of Silence. But on a lighter note, the most fun part of the evening came when the entire cast of CBS&amp;#x27;s hit sitcom, Mike &amp;amp; Molly, showed up to honor honoree Chuck Lorre (producer/writer/former boss of Charlie Sheen, etc.). I have been interviewing Melissa McCarthy pretty regularly on the red carpet since the Emmys last year, and it has to be said that she is truly one of the nicest people in this business. Even when she was battling laryngitis (twice!), she still stopped to talk to Glamour. Every. Single. Time. Class act, my friends. Melissa and I talked about how happy we were that Jim Rash and Nat Faxon won Oscars this year for writing The Descendants. We all studied at the Groundlings, and to see one of our own get up there to accept an Oscan (an OSCAR people!), was beyond thrilling. Melissa recounted the moment it happened. &amp;quot;How crazy was that?! When Jim and Nat won, I grabbed Jim so inappropriately and so hard while he was trying to get up on stage to get his Oscar. I was crying and just shaking him, and I think at one point, he was like, &amp;amp;#8216;Melissa, let me go!&amp;amp;#8217; I just lost my mind. I was screaming in his face, &amp;amp;#8216;Oh my god, you won an Oscar!!! We were all crying! It was so amazing!&amp;quot; Well said! But here&amp;#x27;s where the real fun started. You see, later this week (Thursday night to be exact), the Television Academy will be honoring the cast and crew of Mike &amp;amp; Molly with a special evening at the Academy. These are always super fun events where Academy members get a chance to mingle with their favorite performers, and hear all about how the show came together. Aside from the fact that I&amp;#x27;ll be inside for the panel, I&amp;#x27;ll also be on the red carpet for Glamour. And because I get to bring a plus 1, I&amp;#x27;ve been trying to convince my Dad for weeks to come out to LA and join me. My parents and I love Mike &amp;amp; Molly, but my Dad&amp;#x27;s love and respect of the show is on another level altogether. So I figured, not only would he get to see his favorite stars up close, but he could also see his daughter in action on the red carpet. Sounds easy, right? Well, not so much. Since my Dad is a bankruptcy lawyer and in charge of his own firm, it&amp;#x27;s not so easy for him to get away. And, because he is a bankruptcy lawyer (and sees people recklessly spending money everyday), he thinks any airfare over $300 to LA from St. Louis is crazy. Third, because my Dad is not a fan of Los Angeles (I know, I know), he likes it so much better when I fly home instead. Plus, that way we can go to Cardinals games. So, bottom line: getting him to LA for &amp;quot;An Evening with the Cast of Mike &amp;amp; Molly&amp;quot; was not going to be easy. And that&amp;#x27;s why I decided to recruit some friends to help me out. Me, Dad and Mom First up: the hilarious, I can-always-count-on-him, friend of mine, Nyambi Nyambi (yes, that is his first and last name--and it&amp;#x27;s pronounced Knee-am-bee)--who plays &amp;quot;Samuel&amp;quot; from the diner--to try to convince my Dad. Nyambi&amp;#x27;s plea: &amp;quot;Come on Stuart! It&amp;#x27;ll be a great evening! Come on out to LA and join us!&amp;quot; Next up, Billy Gardell, who plays Mike to Melissa McCarthy&amp;#x27;s Molly. Billy remembered me from one of our previous interviews last year, and I just can&amp;#x27;t say enough good things about the guy. Billy&amp;#x27;s plea: &amp;quot;Stuart, listen to your daughter, those law cases can wait a few more days, so come and have a good time with us! Come see us!&amp;amp;#8221; Then, as if she was sent from the geographical heavens, I met Cleo King, who plays Carl&amp;#x27;s grandma, Nana--who as it turns out, is from St. Louis! Cleo&amp;#x27;s plea: &amp;quot;I love St. Louis! The more St. Louis people, the better!&amp;quot; For the record, I think Cleo really wants my Dad to come out so he can bring some Imo&amp;#x27;s pizza and Chinese food. (You see, as Cleo and I agreed on--St. Louis truly has the best Chinese food in the country). And finally, ATAS Hall of Fame honoree, Chuck Lorre (uber-producer/writer/creator of Two and 1/2 Men, The Big Bang Theory, and Mike &amp;amp; Molly). Chuck&amp;#x27;s plea: &amp;quot;At least if your Dad comes out, have him come to a taping of our show too! We tape on Wednesday nights, and we&amp;#x27;ll get you guys front row seats. I want you to contact my assistant if he can make it, and we&amp;#x27;ll take care of you guys.&amp;quot; Ok, so if THAT didn&amp;#x27;t do it, I didn&amp;#x27;t know what would. But just to be safe, I had Reno Wilson (who plays Mike&amp;#x27;s cop partner, Carl) make my Dad a video. Check it out: You better believe I sent that to my Dad! And after telling my Dad about everyone&amp;#x27;s pleas, my Dad finally said, &amp;quot;ok, ok, I&amp;#x27;ll go check, I&amp;#x27;ll go check!&amp;quot; For the record, these were quite enthusiastic, &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;ll go check&amp;quot;s! While my Dad started checking airfares, I made my way into the ballroom for the black-tie dinner. Look who I ran into! Mr. Big Bang--Jim Parsons! Or as I like to call him, &amp;quot;Man or a Muppet.&amp;quot; The evening was spectacular--Jon Cryer gave an Emmy-winning performance for his hosting duties alone, while Ashton Kutcher--who skipped the press line but still showed up to honor his boss, Mr. Lorre, was the highlight on everyone&amp;#x27;s radar. Still, nothing prepared me for what was about to happen next. I stepped out of the ballroom to call my Dad to see how airplane reservations were going. The answer: not very good. The airfare on just about every airline had jumped to $700 round-trip. As much as I hated to admit it, my Dad was right--that was insane. You could also make a case for it, but because we&amp;#x27;re a household of sensible people (&amp;quot;yes, Dad, 10% of every paycheck goes towards my retirement fund&amp;quot;), $700 was nuts. Until. . . . . . the door leading to the Beverly Hills Hotel ballroom slowly opened, and I looked up when I saw the bright lights shining from inside. As if sent by the TV Gods (or maybe just the need to go to the bathroom), up walked Billy Gardell. I sheepishly smiled, as if I shouldn&amp;#x27;t have snuck out to be talking on my cell phone, but before I had time to react, Billy approached me and whispered, &amp;quot;Is that your parents you&amp;#x27;re talking to?&amp;quot; And then this happened: Jessica: Yes, it is actually. Billy: And your Dad&amp;#x27;s name is Stuart, right? Jessica: Yes! Good memory! Billy immediately motioned to give him the phone. For the record, I&amp;#x27;m paraphrasing here because I obviously wasn&amp;#x27;t recording this moment: Billy: Stuart! I&amp;#x27;m standing here with your lovely daughter. She has interviewed me twice, and trust me when I say, take her advice and come fly out to LA next week. Dad: Ok, this voice sounds awfully familiar. Billy: It&amp;#x27;s Billy Gardell from Mike &amp;amp; Molly! Dad didn&amp;#x27;t say it, but he was officially freaking out. Secretly my Dad has always wanted to be either a baseball player or an actor/stand-up comedian. So in his mind, I&amp;#x27;m sure what happened next was that my Dad wanted whatever came out of his mouth to be the funniest thing ever. Billy: Hahahaha (My Dad clearly has to be loving this. He just made Billy Gardell laugh). Billy: Listen, Stuart, you come out here. Aside from Thursday night&amp;#x27;s event, we&amp;#x27;ll see you Wednesday night at a taping. I&amp;#x27;ll even give you a tour. It&amp;#x27;s the .50 cent tour, but it&amp;#x27;s a tour. Maybe even throw in coffee. We&amp;#x27;re very excited to meet you. Well, my Mom overheard that, and as far as she was concerned, my Dad was not going to be going to LA by himself. Didn&amp;#x27;t matter that she was only out here a month earlier to visit me--she couldn&amp;#x27;t NOT come back out for this. Also, she loves the frozen yogurt out here. Billy: Well, Stuart, I&amp;#x27;m going to hand the phone back to your daughter, but have a good night, and we look forward to seeing you next week. Jessica: Oh my god, Dad! Do you believe that?! You HAVE to come out now. Go use a free ticket, I don&amp;#x27;t care! You always say people would pay for these opportunities. Well, now I think you should listen to your own advice! Stuart: Ok, ok, your mother and I will go look and see if we have free tickets, and we&amp;#x27;ll be there. And that my friends, is what is going to happen this week. Turns out both Mom and Dad have free* tickets (American still can&amp;#x27;t help but charge $200 since they booked their *free tickets inside of three weeks), but it&amp;#x27;s a lot better than $700 a piece. No one is going bankrupt yet ;). Now, if Steve Levitan invites my parents to see Modern Family a few weeks later, we might have a problem. (A good problem though--I&amp;#x27;ll take it). In the meantime, my Dad--who is preparing for a huge court docket on Tuesday--is also practicing his shtick for when he meets the cast of his favorite sitcom. Do you remember in the first (and in my opinion, ONLY) Sex and the City movie, when Charlotte practiced the line she&amp;#x27;d say to Big if she ever ran into him? Well, let&amp;#x27;s just say my Dad already has his opening line planned out for when he meets everyone. He&amp;#x27;s that excited. And as his kid, I&amp;#x27;ve never been more excited for him. Check back with me later in the week for more updates on what happens when the Radloff&amp;#x27;s Take Hollywood, and whether Chuck Lorre will be developing his next hit show based on my family&amp;#x27;s antics. (Trust me, there&amp;#x27;s more material there than I think I should ever admit). Ok guys, tell me--if your parents could meet any cast of any show, which one would it be? And who else absolutely loves Mike &amp;amp; Molly like we do? More Celeb Encounters That I Keep Pinching Myself Over: *George Clooney Hugged &amp;amp; Kissed Me! (And I Have the Pics to Prove It!) *I Introduced Viola Davis to Astronaut Mark Kelly! *My Night at the UNICEF Gala (Including the Glee Star I Danced With!) Photos: Getty Images Photos: 2012 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. Photos: Everett Collection Photos: Univsion "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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