Page 15 of Child of Mine

“I always thought Doris was a wise woman.” She checks her watch. “I told James we’d meet them in reception about now, so let’s head down there.”

As we walk, she explains the funding situation for the show. The current political climate has meant tightened budgets across the board for public broadcasting, but Carol has doggedly pursued sponsorship from alternative sources and gotten grants to support theBoomreboot. “Or the Boomerang, as I like to call it. We’re calling the cast members that too, unofficially.”

“Nice.” I nod, relaxing further. “So right now, there’s funding for one season.”

“Exactly, but I’ll continue to solicit more. We’ve learned our lesson and no longer rely on a single source of support for any of our programs. But that’s not to say that the funding doesn’t come with strings attached.”

She’s explaining that the new sponsors all want more emphasis on math and science as I open the door to the reception area, but when the two men waiting there look up, what I see stops me in my tracks.

* * *

HENRY

June in Boston is nothing like June back home. In Raleigh, the cherry blossoms have come and gone already but here, they’ve barely started to bloom. I don’t blame them because I haven’t seen the sun since I got here, and the temperature has dipped down to the forties at night. Plus, the apartment I spent the long weekend getting settled into is overpriced and tiny.

But enough grumbling. I’m glad to finally be at the station, where I can focus on the reason why I’m here: working at a place that can give me opportunities I’d never have found back in Raleigh. And that’s one of the first things my direct supervisor, James Wheeler, asks me.

“I can’t imagine we were your only option. What made you choose Boston over New York or LA?”

“I get why you’d ask, but as I told Carol in my interview, I’m actually glad I had to leave New York before I got entrenched. The market’s bigger, but that comes with constraints. From my research, GBH has the best track record in the country right now in terms of creating smart, innovative shows that go on to syndicate successfully.”

“What about the Children’s Television Workshop?”

“If I were only interested in kids’ programming, CTW is where I’d want to be, sure.Sesame StreetandThe Electric Companyare the gold standard. But I have ideas for a general audience that I’d like to pitch after I prove myself onBoom.”

He nods slowly, and I’m a bit worried that I’ve jumped the gun. But then he smiles. “I look forward to seeing how you shake things up.”

Hand in the air, I qualify, “I have things to learn, and I can’t imagine a better place to do that. I mean,American Experienceis already winning awards, then you’ve gotFrontlineandNova, in addition to the lifestyle shows.”

James pauses in front of a door and peers in its narrow window. “Speaking of which, they’re cuttingThis Old Houseright now. Let’s take a peek.”

After a quick round of introductions, where I do my best to not fawn all over the man who created this show andThe French Chef, I have to hide my disappointment at the equipment laid out in the suite. It’s the same clunky CMX setup we had down in Raleigh. Sure, it allows you to do random-access editing, but the prep work takes forever.

Despite that disappointment, and despite the fact that I already miss my family and my friends at the old station, I know that my new colleagues will challenge and inspire me. And as director-producer, I’ll have the best of both worlds. I’ll get to have a say in the look and the pace and the content of the shows we create, like I would have if I’d been able to stay in New York. But my stint in Raleigh means that I have hard-won knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.

In my interview for the position, I was promised that we weren’t simply replicating the old formula, which is a good thing. I loved the oldBoomas a kid, but now it’ll have competition that moves faster and is more irreverent—not to mention the fact that there’s a lot more of it. I may not be the best at working with kids, but I am pretty darn good at making calls about what keeps eyeballs on the screen.

At least there are no clowns or cowboys at this station. From what I can tell. Bonus points for that.

“We’ve got a production meeting after lunch where you’ll get to meet the rest of the team, but I told Carol we’d meet her to interview a potential associate producer to replace the one we just lost to early maternity leave.” James breaks into my thoughts as we head down yet another long corridor. “Carol ran into an old cast member last weekend and thinks she might be a good candidate.”

“Someone who was on the show as a kid?”

“Yeah, she’s involved with the Shakespeare company in town or something.”

Probably not Izzy, then. No way she’d be here in Boston working for some local theater. Good thing because while I’d love to see her again, the nature of our one and only meeting would make it very awkward to try and work together.

James has steered us back to the reception area where oversized posters of the station’s successes decorate the walls.Masterpiece Theatre,Evening at Pops, Nova—every single show is the best of its kind. Scanning the images of fresh-faced kids from the originalBoom, my eyes immediately track to Izzy.

Staring at her photo, I wonder again what would’ve happened if my dad hadn’t died. Would we have been a couple? Would we still be? My imagination goes crazy, painting pictures of a glamorous life in New York together. Big-time TV producer married to big-time TV star. A fabulous penthouse apartment on the Upper West Side where drivers pick us up to ferry us to early calls, leaving our brilliant, adorable kids behind with a reliable nanny. Someone very Mary Poppins-like.

Just as I’m decorating the weekend house we keep up in the Berkshires, James’s voice echoes across the open room. “Ah, here they are. Carol, you remember Henry.”

“Of course,” says the woman who interviewed me for the job. As she steps forward, she gestures to another woman. “Bella York, meet another co-conspirator in bringingBoomback to the airwaves, Henry Smith.”

“Hal?”

“Izzy?”

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