Something about Where The Bears Are

"Where The Bears Are" premiered in 2012 and lasted for 7 season, 7 holiday specials and one musical episode.

I was hoping to see you again sometime...

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Valentine's Day Special

Every season, the DVD has one special holiday episode that is not released on YouTube. This year, we shot the Valentine's Day Special on March 5 and 6, in a beautiful house in Los Angeles. These were our first days of filming Season 7, before moving to Palm Springs to shoot the season itself.

The special episode is usually a bit less stressful to shoot, everybody's coming back together and is getting reacquainted with how to do things. I was able to get a bit more creative with the behind-the-scenes pictures I took on these days.

As the drama between Wood, Reggie and George unfolds by (in) the pool, in another part of the house, another more serious drama takes place: Nelson and Todd sign their divorce papers.

OK, not really but seriously, this is bound to happen, right? 😉

This scene was shot on the same day as the pool fight scene, with the least people around since, for one, the bedroom was quite small, and two, it’s easier for the actors to be in that serious mood for the scene when there are no distractions around.

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Episode 12

Scenes for this episode were shot at the Palm Springs house on Tuesday March 13th, 7th day of shooting season 7, and 5th and final day at the house.

This episode includes an homage to the infamous lilypond catfight between Krystle and Alexis in the original “Dynasty” (scene which was remade in the first season of the recent reboot). Here we have Reggie and George fighting over “what happened last night…” 😂

And yes, this episode also includes, as its first scene, a shot-by-shot remake of “Where The Bears Are”s very first scene, back in Season 1, when Nelson wakes up to find Todd in his bed and, for whatever inexplicable reason, very much attracted to him. Except here, it’s between Wood and Reggie and… yew, gross!

I remember as we were setting the bedroom for the scene, I launched the first episode scene on my phone so that we could all watch it and shoot the new scene as close as possible to the original one, including leg positions.

Once again George Sebastian is wearing another one of his famous colorful outfits.

And once again, David Maddux composed a great Dynasty-inspired piece to score this scene, just like last year for George's scene during the trial.

We shot the bar scene at the Tool Shed on Tuesday March 20 (day 11) at night. This was the same day we shot the book-signing scenes from episode 3.

There were a lot of extras for this, some of our usual extras and some people who just happened to be at the bar that night and agreed to sign Ben Zook’s paperwork to appear on the show. 🙂

We started by filming Reggie’s attack outside the bar, in the back, then moved to the second half of the bar to shoot the big crowd scene. Then Joe, Jeffrey and myself (I don’t think there was audio involved) we went outside the bar, at the front entrance, to film the opening bar scene of two extras entering the bar. Finally we shot that heated argument between Nelson and Todd. I remember it was really an emotional scene and everybody in the bar was watching it with awe.

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Episode 11

The first scene of this episode was shot at the Platform studio on Sunday, March 18, our 9th day of filming Season 7.

One of this season’s mysteries is finally solved, when Captain Coley catches the pageant saboteur, Owen, in the act. And Reggie’s latest lie is also exposed.

As mentioned in a previous post, the bear contestants’ reactions were shot on a different day.

And yes, Daddy bear, played by Eddie Kreg Anderson, is definitely crazy.

In one of the final scenes of episode 10, Tristan introduces Nelson to the new pageant judges, which are unfortunately Cyril Bowers and Ralph Dodson. It was shot at the Platform studio on Sunday March 18th.

Even though it was Vincent Snyder’s first scene this season, this was his last day of filming so I got my picture with him. Vincent has been with the show as an actor since Season 3, season of the infamous “Pickax 5” movie, and a fellow producer on the show since Season 6, last year.

The scene where Bentley, the pageant’s choreographer, played superbly by Peter Paige, gives an uplifting and heartfelt speech to the contestants, was shot on Saturday, March 24th at The Platform studio. It was our 13th day of filming.

I remember after that scene, mostly everybody had left already, and Peter asked Joe to apologize to the guys for the way he had treated them in front of the camera. 😁 It may have been his last day of filming with us, so we took some extra pictures.📸 On that day, we shot also the pageant contestants reacting to the events of the following episode, 11, especially Mr. Texas’ reactions.

The episode 10 scene inside the house between Nelson and Todd, and the shot of Todd diving into the pool, were done on Tuesday March 13th, which was the last day we shot at the Palm Springs house, completing our first 5 days of filming in Palm Springs. The cast and crew would then go on a 2-day break until the following Friday, when we would start shooting in various locations around Palm Springs.

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Episode 10

The scenes around the Mr. Bear America 2018 pool photo-shoot gone wrong were shot at the Palm Springs house on Sunday March 11th, our 5th day of filming Season 7.

We started by filming the conversation between Tristan, the owner of the pageant, Bentley, the choreographer, and Owen, Reggie and Nelson.

Then we moved to the pool photo-shoot scene itself, where I was actually playing the photographer, and really taking pictures. So these are not just #BehindTheScenes pictures, they are also #InTheScene pictures! 😄

What may not be obvious while watching the episode is that Hunter, Mr. Texas, shot his scene alone on the next day, and did not jump in the pool, just pretended to. @jacobsamplesonstage

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Episode 9: The scenes of this episode were filmed at the Palm Springs house on March 10th and on the 23rd at Rick's home, where we also shot the scene with Cyril and Donna for the tv insert of episode 2. In the last scene of this episode, the guys set up a plan in motion that will land them right in the middle of a bear pageant!

That scene starts with Wood back with the detectives after his "adventure" at the Zoo. When we shot that scene, we didn't know yet what animal would be involved. Initially it was supposed to be an alligator, but the available prop was not exactly what we wanted, then the guys were going to have a look at a gorilla suit, and they were also considering another thing, maybe snakes or spiders. So the scene that has dialog referring to the incident was shot three times with a different animal.

The book that Nelson reads in various scenes is not a prop, it's Rick Copp's latest mystery novel (as Lee Hollis): "Poppy Harmon Investigates". 😉

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Episode 8

After shooting inside QUADZ during the afternoon, we took a few hour break and came back later at night, on the parking lot, to shoot the final scenes with Reggie, Rami and a mysterious assailant, played by Charlie Harding.

I’m not the best photographer by far, just have a good camera that I keep on automatic setting most of the time, so a few times, it end up with shots that are badly lit, or more or less blurry. But sometimes I end up with pictures that are quite… artistic.

The bomb flashback during Episode 8, where we finally learn what is wrong with Todd and why his and Nelson’s marriage is going down the drain big time, was shot around the office of Jaremy Aiello who made a few props for the show this season, including this suitcase bomb. The timer is CGI but the little blinking light for the second device was real 🙂. You can check some of Jaremy’s work on his IG account, @aiellojaremy, including his award-winning work on The Walking Dead. And his office also included a very nice collection of LEGO sets.

For the explosion scene, Ian rolled into some nearby dirt, then Joe took great pleasure in throwing more dirt on him, and there was some fake blood added. What dedication!

I do remember that we were shooting just under an orange blossom tree. That morning, we had shot at Rick’s home and I had brought crepes which I had made myself, and I like to add orange blossom water to flavor them. I like it also in pancakes. And so, that was the smell we had while filming this scene.

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Episode 8

Monday March 26 was our 15th day of shooting season 7 and second-to-last day. We had already shot one crucial scene from the last episode earlier and we moved to the bar QUADZ, where we shot Reggie and Rami’s first scene.

It was nice having Serdar back this season and to be able to continue these two guys' storyline from last season.

As usual, before actually starting to shoot, the actors rehearse their scene(s), and cast and crew figure out how best to use the place to make the scene work, including having crew members trying very hard to pretend they enjoy their date with Reggie.

And kudos to @rickcoppwriter for his stellar acting in this scene where he has to pretend to be allergic to tequila... 😂🙄😉 We always make sure, even when people are tired after long shooting hours, to take the time to pose for some groups pictures, so that we have some good memories to share later, and to remind us what a good time we have filming this great show for the fans.

The Palm Springs Zoo scene of episode 7 was also shot at CCBC, along episode 6.

Obviously we couldn’t end the show without a “Jump The Shark” moment and this is it! If the show had any dignity left after 6 seasons, well you can see it flying away in Season 7, right here in episode 7! 😂

This scene went through several iterations, the initial idea was to have Wood wrestling with a crocodile. There is a scene in a later episode where this is discussed, which was actually shot before we knew what it would be, so we recorded several takes of the scene with the dialog referring to different events/animals.

In the end, they found a gorilla suit, worn perfectly by none other than Scott Beauchemin, who had such pleasure wearing this heavy hot suit on a day that was already very hot.

The scene was filmed under the watchful eye of Rick who was just eager to strike more lines from his script with his yellow highlighter pen. Anyway, the filming of that scene was hilarious to watch and, of course, totally inappropriate at times.

OK, so since there are 16 episodes this season, we are now starting the second half. The little commercial videos that were at the end of episodes in the first half are now playing before the episode. And now, it's to inform viewers that the Season 7 DVD is now available for preorder.

Where The Bears Are - Season 7 - Episode 7

The first part of this episode was shot at the Palm Springs House on Saturday March 10th, on our 4th day of filming.

We are finally getting our detectives back, minus Detective Martinez (he has one scene this season, but is in the Valentine’s Day special episode, found only on the Season 7 DVD). Adam Ridge is also back as Aussie detective Mickey Swift, who set up shop with Captain Coley at the end of Season 6.