"Aqua Kids" TV Show Taping at my Work

There's a nationally-syndicated kids' tv show about marine and aquatic science called "Aqua Kids". It seems to be a pretty good one that features some real scientists, aquarists, and conservationists. On Friday the hosts and crew were in Fort Pierce to film an episode at the Smithsonian Marine Station where I work, and the Smithsonian Marine Ecosystems Exhibit (a small aquarium and education center) across the street.

Earlier in the week my coworker Laura had told me they were coming and that I ought to look sharp and wear my Smithsonian-Logo shirt in case they wanted to film me working in the lab. I didn't take her warning as seriously as I should have, and I showed up at work unshaven and wearing my favorite "Alice in Chains" t-shirt. Whoops.

It was clear that they were really going to film me, though, so I scrambled to set up a fake seagrass-sorting workspace in the lab across the hall, which has more room and better lighting than the cluttered office where I actually work. Pretty soon I was mic'd-up in front of a tray of seagrass with all kinds of lights and cameras everywhere, and young, professional tv actors running around.



Molly, the main adult host of the show, and Jen, one of the kid hosts of the show, asked me a couple questions for the camera that I tried to answer in a brief, entertaining, kids-show kind of way. I was kind of nervous, partly because Molly was SUPER HOT with HYPNOTIZING EYES, but I think I faked pretty well that I was cool and collected.



After the interview the hosts left but the cameramen stayed for a while to get some close-up shots of the seagrass and stuff as I was picking through it. I don't know if any of the material in my segment was tv-worthy, or if my dumb-ass Alice in Chains t-shirt spoiled it all, but I guess we'll see in a while if it makes the cut.