Behind the Scenes
with
SCOTT SATIN

Ever wondered about being on the set of Mathnet? Associate Producer in L.A. Scott Satin sends you a VIP pass... because we got a chance to interview him.

Q: Tell us about your favorite episode(s).
Scott Satin: It's hard to pick out a favorite episode because I loved them all but if I had to pick one, I would say it was "The Case of the Missing Baseball." That show will always have a special place in my heart because it was the pilot episode. We made it and then waited a long time before we got our pick up to make the series. Plus it was very cool that we actually got to move a real house! That was how we picked the location. We had to find a place where homes were already being moved because there was no way we could have ever afforded to move one on our own. The new 105 freeway in LA was going in and all the homes in the way were going bye-bye so we decided to take advantage of that!

Q: Were there any things that the Children's Television Workshop wanted to do on Mathnet that didn't work out?
SS: We almost did an episode dealing with the LA Lakers. The owner of the Lakers, Jerry Buss, is a math genius and really loved our show. Not only was he going to let us use the Lakers and the Forum (their home court at the time), he was going to let us film at his house - the legendary PicFair. If the show hadn't moved to New York, we would have shot the episode. It was very disappointing. It would have been a great episode.

Q: What was the funniest thing that ever happened on the set?
SS: One of my funniest memories from the series was the episode where we put a guy in a gorilla suit on top of the world famous Hollywood sign. It was very hot outside and he told us he had to take off the suit every thirty minutes or he would pass out from the heat. It seemed like every time we got him up there, it was time to take him back down so he could get some air. We spent more time hoisting him up and down than we did shooting the actual scene!

I also remember that episode because of the teenager who was one of our guest stars. She was very sad one day and I asked her what was wrong. She wanted to retire from show business altogether. She said she was tired of the rejection and that it just wasn't worth it. I told her to hang in there and enjoy it while she can. It beats having a real job! A couple of years later, she got a gig as one of the lead voices on the Simpsons. Yeardley Smith has been there ever since and I'm sure she's quite happy she didn't give up on her career like she wanted to.

"We spent more time hoisting him up and down that we did shooting the actual scene!" Scott Satin (far left) helps the crew hoist up Dale Park (right) as Grunt the gorilla atop the real Hollywood Sign in "Problem of the Missing Monkey." Thanks Scott!

The interview continues...