Pete's Big TVs Project the Past at TV Land Awards

tvland7copy.jpg(New Castle, DE) Tune in to the TV Land Awards 2011 and you're bound to be entertained by the reunions of old TV friends. Characters Alex P. Keaton (Michel J. Fox), Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta), Bill Huxtable (BIll Cosby) and more all return with much of their sitcom families to be honored in the ninth annual awards. Taped April 10 at New York's Jacob Javits Center, the TV Land Awards 2011 air April 17 in a 90-minute telecast on its own network.

The TV Land Awards annually reunites some of pop culture's favorite TV friends and legends for an evening of reminiscing and recognition. This year's event brought in Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video to project visual highlights of careers and comedy sitcoms of the honorees.

Casts reunited from “Family Ties” (Fan Favorite Award), “Welcome Back Kotter” (35th Anniversary Award), “The Facts of Life” (Pop Culture Award) and “The Cosby Show” (Impact Award), while talk show host Regis Philbin (Legend Award) and Daryl Hall & John Oates (Music Icon Award) were honored for their place in cultural history. Presenters included Barbara Walters, Stevie Wonder, Paul Reiser, Valerie Bertinelli, Marlo Thomas, Ben Stiller, Jane Leeves, Jane Lynch and the cast of “The Real Housewives of New York.”

Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video was responsible for much of what made up the production: bringing the past back to life. The projection of classic sitcom footage and career highlights of the honorees served as the visual centerpiece of the night.

Production Designer Anne Brahic designed a set piece looking like a half moon. This 110-foot by 30-foot rear projected scenic piece made up the majority of the set. Behind it hid 12 projectors connected to 6 Catalyst media servers. Digital content included a city scape and the TV Land logo, along with other graphics used for musical numbers starting with the show opener, Liza Minnelli's rousing rendition of “New York New York.”

A Lighthouse R6 6 mm LED screen (measuring 14 feet by 19 feet) at center stage served as the main screen for displaying content of TV footage and other clips shown during cast/career highlights.

Scott Chmielewski programmed and operated the media servers, with Nicholas John as tech. The PBTV/PV team included Guy Benjamin with crew Matt Ellar, Brent Jones and Jody Lane as LED and projection techs.

Also on the creative team were LD Tom Kenny and artistic director Star Kahn.

"As a TV Land viewer,” says Benjamin, “it's fun to be involved working with a ceremony honoring some of America's favorite sitcom casts and TV legends."

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Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video provides LED video screens, projection and full video production for concert, entertainment and corporate events since 1987. For current news, photos and updates on projects in action, visit the company on Facebook at www.facebook.com/videoequipmentrental or call 1-800-999-0010.

photos by Matt Ellar