Beth Griffin will admit it: She really does think Tommy Lee is a fine-looking man. The long-time University of Nebraska-Lincoln secretary — she's served as executive assistant to the past seven chancellors — is caught on video describing the 1980's rocker as handsome during her first-ever appearance on network television.
Griffin has caught grief from co-workers bothered by her taste in men, and she can't even defend herself by telling them it was part of the script.
"No, that part was real," she says, laughing. "No one told me to say it."
Much of the action in "Tommy Lee Goes to College," the reality TV show set on the UNL campus and set to premiere on NBC Tuesday night, is far less spontaneous.
The show's producers often gave professors and students an idea of what they should say or how they should act before the cameras started to roll. Scenes were shot and re-shot to capture the perfect moment. And reality was suspended, allowing Lee to live in an off-campus apartment decorated to look like a dorm room, drive a borrowed car and even manipulate time.
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"When I watched the first two episodes, it came across as being a comedy that has only a slight connection with reality," says Tim Gay, a physics professor who plays one of Lee's instructors during the show. "Or it has no connection to reality at all."
The first episode begins with Lee visiting Chancellor Harvey Perlman's office after he arrives on campus. He is greeted by Griffin and then has a heart-to-heart chat with Perlman before kicking off his academic career.
Both Perlman and Griffin said producers gave them a general idea of what they should do, although they didn't follow a script. The students sitting in the chancellor's waiting room were placed there so the office wasn't empty. Griffin remembers greeting Lee four times before the producers got a take they liked.
"If you go back and read the stuff that was said by people in the know, they weren't using the term reality show," Perlman said. "They were calling it ‘unscripted television,' and it was unscripted. And then it was crafted for comedic effect."
The show also was crafted to save time. Several scenes, supposedly of Gay advising Lee as he fights his way through the college experience, were actually shot in the same afternoon. Lee has the same clothing on for all the advising sessions, even though the show portrays them as taking place on different days.
"I think I changed my tie," Gay says. "Just because I had a bunch of ties sitting on my wall . . . I said, ‘At least let me change the tie to make it look like a different day.'"
It was also crafted for convenience. Lee and roomie Matt Ellis lived in a downtown Lincoln apartment even though the show pretends they live inside UNL's Neihardt Residence Hall.
A small-print disclaimer at each episode's end tells viewers some shooting took place off campus.
The pretending doesn't do the university any harm. In fact, the tightly controlled story lines appear to steer away from ridiculing or demeaning UNL in any way, pleasing Perlman and professors involved in the show.
"They were very concerned about not disrupting my class at all," Bill McLaughlin, Tommy's chemistry instructor, says during the show.
McLaughlin said he received virtually no coaching from the producers. "If anything was disruptive I could pull the plug at any time."
The university is attempting to make the most out of Tommy's time in Lincoln. Last week, recruiters mailed out 25,000 postcards promoting the upcoming NBC series to high school juniors and seniors already interested in becoming Cornhuskers.
A university Web site (tl.unl.edu) dealing with Tommy's trip to Nebraska and selling UNL to students had gotten nearly 12,500 hits by Friday afternoon.
And publicity from media outlets as varied as People, Esquire and the New York Times are giving the university an unprecedented level of exposure as the series' first episode nears. Lee even walked onto Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" stage to the strains of "There Is No Place Like Nebraska" earlier this month.
"This makes the University of Nebraska a top-of-mind institution for the age group of students we're trying to recruit," Perlman said. "When students make a list of universities … there is a far better chance of the University of Nebraska appearing on that list."
"Tommy Lee Goes to College" will air for six weeks, guaranteeing the university a late summer's worth of network TV publicity.
Viewers will find that an original moment like Griffin's "handsome" comment occasionally peeks its way through the unreal reality TV humor.
"His hair was very neat and shiny," she said last week, trying to explain Lee's good looks. "A very handsome nose, very dark brown eyes. Yes, I thought he was quite handsome."
Reach Matthew Hansen at 473-7245 or mhansen@journalstar.com.
Want to be a critic?
Here's your chance. The Journal Star is searching for a pool of critics to shoot us their thoughts after each episode of "Tommy Lee Goes to College," which premieres at 8 p.m. Tuesday on NBC.
This is what we'll want after each episode: Short, sharp critiques e-mailed to us as soon as each show is over.
This is what we want now: Send an e-mail with basic bio information to City Editor Peter Salter at psalter@journalstar.com.
