Monday, October 12, 2020

The Good Doctor, season 4, episode 4

The last scene Friday night found us on the 4th floor of the newly built parkade at the Bridge Studios. After being shut down for nearly 6 months, we are picking up speed, already filming the 4th episode of the Good Doctor.
 
Meanwhile, back in Summerland, junior found this really cool fossil close to his home.

Fast forward to junior moving back to Burnaby to start working on his show, Nancy Drew. First though, we had to celebrate his big 3-0h! birthday.
A great evening at Little Billy's steakhouse, topped off with the mandatory birthday cheesecake!
Ritsue is getting more and more Canadian every day!
My sister Judith reminded me to light an extra candle to honor the birthday of our brother Rick, who passed away last December.
Not much time off work these days, but Ritsue and I managed to get in a hike around Deer Lake in Burnaby.
Spotted a couple of turtles enjoying the sun.........
....back at home, it's not the size of your eggplant............
Meanwhile, at the Bridge Studios, preparations are happening for a scene involving the hospital emergency entrance. First episode of season 4 airs on November 2nd.
What can I say, the caterers spoil us every day.......
Meanwhile, outside our studios, the show Lost in Space has left some styrofoam rock lying around.
The place where I start my day 3 times a week......
Wow, things are sure diffrent at the airport these days. It was like a ghost town at domestic arrivals as I waited to pick-up a producer.
I think it will be awhile before people are comfortable flying again......
We spent one night filming at the Dr. Marcus Andrews home. We have used this house in Coquitlam a handful of times over the course of the four seasons.
As busy as it is, there is always time for a bloody Mary on the week-end!
My newest cast vehicle prop! Still cranks out "pop goes the weasel"! I got one for fellow cast driver Jim, and my transport captain, Ward. Reminds us how hard it can be sometimes to keep track of the cast.
A little downtime for Dr. Reznick, Dr. Park, and Dr. Lim
Well, that's some real driving prowess right there, driver! I forgot my coffee on the hood and drove 1/2 a block, including turning a corner, and voila!, still there!
My ballot for the U.S. election finally came in the mail!
Summer is over, the ducks and geese have taken over Kits pool.
It is still really quiet at the Sutton Place hotel. I was the only one waiting on a cast member. Many shows are starting up, but I wonder if it will ever be as busy as it once was.
A week and a half ago, we were all gathered between stage 4 and 9 for an announcement. Turns out we had been waiting all day to get covid test results back. The decision was made to shut down for the day. We did eventually get our results, and filming resumed the next day. Many shows around Vancouver were shut down even longer. Apparently the labs in Vancouver can't keep up with the amount of productions that are getting tested. 
I love this pic. While waiting to pick-up my cast, I went down to the water. It was such a hazy day, you can barely distinguish the ocean from the sky.
......and they're back! Now that we are back at the studio, the crows have returned each evening to check us out, before they settle for the night just east of here.
Lost in Space had been using these massive styrofoam blocks to create their space worlds.
Starting to take shape......
Too cool! On this Friday our fuel truck driver, John, was thrown into a cast driving role.
Meanwhile, back at home, Ritsue is still getting huge radishes from her mini garden. Still can't figure out how the white radishes got mixed into the same seed pack.
Sunday brunch. Ritsue nailed it once again!
That night we went to La Foret, a funky little cafe nestled in the burbs of South Burnaby. 
I had the bacon mushroom cream rigatoni, OMG, so tasty!
Down by the water waiting for a 5:30 a.m. cast pick-up. Not much to see out in Burrard Inlet this early.
The caterers have lost their minds again! Bacon wrapped chicken legs???? Really? 
Round and round, back down to Kitsilano again. This time a funky hazy view of downtown.
I'm trying to watch what I eat, the food is so abundant at set!
On this Friday, I had to take my cast vehicle out to Maple Ridge to get new brakes. I love the loaner creeper van they let me use.
I had a couple of hours to kill, and I came across this regional park.
So when in Rome, or in this case, Maple Ridge, hit the trails!
There was a small waterfall along the trail. (Not much water this time of year.)
On the way back to the studio, I stopped at Tim Horton's and treated myself to a coffee and a Canadian maple donut! I also treated myself to this mini Ovechkin hockey stick. You're never too old!
A rainy day at the Sutton Hotel. At least this time I had company from fellow cast drivers Jim and Eric.
On another brighter Hawaiian shirt Friday, the Good Doctor cast drivers took over the Sutton! Myself, Jim, Jaz, and John were all stylin'!
Which brings back full circle to the last scene of this blog, the parkade at the Bridge Studio.
Eye to eye with the sky-train.
Under the parkade, Lost in Space was storing one of their moon buggies.
Looking out of the parkade, reflecting on the long week. At least it wasn't a Fraturday.
A blast from the past. As I was digging through pictures this week, I found this shot of myself with a toque that is way too small for my noggin. The shot was taken on a cold, cold minus 20 celsius  night in Timmins, Ontario. Working for the 2010 Olympic torch relay certainly had it's fringe benefits.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Good Doctor Season 4 : Rolling!

........and we're back! Filming of season 4 of the Good Doctor has begun. (currently we are on day 8 of 18 days of filming for the first 2 episodes of the season.) It was selfie time with Dr. Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann), myself, fellow cast driver Jim, and the t.a.d. (training assistant director), Chloe.

 

The sun is about to rise on another of hopefully many seasons to come.

The B.C. health minister Bonnie Henry asks us to be kind, be calm, and be safe........

......and the Good Doctor has adopted those slogans. Thanks to the resident face mask model, Ritsue

........ahhhhh, back to my ole stompin' grounds, parked with my cast vehicle across from the Good Doctor circus. 

More familiar territory, Point Grey park. I haven't been out to this Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver in almost 6 months.

.....so nice to be hanging with the herons again. One of my favourite spots to wait for my cast pick-up.

.....Ritsue and I celebrated the  restart of the show and went out to our local Wings restaurant for the burger and beer special. It is a different vibe now that the capacity has been cut in half. 

....my random, dogwood fruit pic.......

....a different day and a different view of the Point Grey park beach.

.....meanwhile, back in Summerland, junior had a chance to meet up with his cousins Erin and Meagan, who were visiting from Vancouver.

.......and also for the first time in nearly 6 months, a cast pick-up at the Sutton Place hotel. (the purple gum?, well that's a long story for another time)

How about that? The St. Bonaventure Hospital east entrance looks an awful lot like the entrance to the Good Doctor production office........

....whether it is or isn't, I'm saying this ladybug landing on my finger is good luck.

.....and not so much good luck for the truck driver of another show filming at the Bridge Studios. That is going to be some job repairing the wall he backed into. Thankfully no-one was on the walking path underneath.

Day 2 of filming took us out on the road to a home in a Burnaby neigbourhood.

.....one of my errands this week was picking up an envelope from an accountant for the show. "It'll be behind the planter on the porch", they said. They didn't tell me I would have to run the gauntlet of roofing debris to get to it. 

.... the third day of hanging at Point Grey park waiting for cast that live in the area.

......haha, not sure how this pic got on here, but the new format of blogger has confused me enough and I can't figure out how to delete it.

..... day 3 of shooting, and it's my turn to take the film drives to the people that download all the footage and send to the editors in Los Angeles.

Booooooo! My first parking ticket of the season. (but I was just getting a coffee......) Kind of hard to fight with the picture evidence the city of Vancouver posts online.