The Paley Center’s Out Of The Box Warner Bros. Television Exhibit! Props and Costumes From True Blood! Fringe! Smallville! Friends! Gilmore Girls! Supernatural! The Big Bang Theory! and More!
Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone! How did I celebrate? Well, I thought this would be the perfect time to check out the Television Out Of The Box Exhibit at the Paley Museum in Beverly Hills. I had plans for lunch this weekend with my friend Rene and I suggested we check out the prop and costume display. She was more than game and so off we went…
To Sharky’s. Listen it’s Cinco De Mayo and if you think I’m not going to eat salsa on this most holiest of days then you are deeply mistaken!
Then we headed over to the Paley Center. Now, the exhibit is a celebration of Warner Bros. television and has numerous props and costumes from past and current television series.
Also included in the exhibit is a “recreation” of the Friends set and a “recreation” of Monk’s Diner from Seinfeld.
Leading the way into the exhibit is a rainbow carpet leading to a television at the end of the hall. It was cute and quite creative.
Then I noticed a collection of signed mini posters. After lusting over them for a half second I realized that they were all from past years at Comic Con. I have some of these in my collection but I think they tried to pick one poster per series.
This exhibit is mainly costumes placed on mannequins. To be honest I was a little underwhelmed at first. There weren’t any “displays” per se, basically it was just costumes and a small amount of props lumped together.
The first set was current series.
Supernatural:
Vampire Diaries:
Fringe:
One of my favorite shows as a kid was the original “V.” My father and I used to watch it together when it was a collection of mini series and then a series. On display was a visitor head and a special effects shuttle.
There were a couple costumes from The Drew Carrey show including a large ornate dress. It would have been nice to see some stills from the episodes they were used in, but it was still fun to see.
I had to ask myself if a pair of jeans and a checkered shirt were truly museum worthy. But I understand why they were there because otherwise The Middle would not have been represented. Also show was the royal wedding plate from the show.
Past shows that had costumes on display were
Gilmore Girls:
Smallville:
One of the coolest aspects of the museum was they had some pieces from Friends. Including the leather pants Ross made famous, even though they were obscured by a large shirt that I don’t think went with the pants in the episode.
Still it was nice to see Phoebe’s guitar, the Smelly Cat Litter, and the Geller Bowl trophy.
The “recreation” of the Friends set was a little bit of a letdown. Even though we were assured that the couch was used in the series, I have my doubts.
The back of the couch is really high and would have obscured a lot of the action in the show if it was indeed the “Central Perk” couch.
I bet if Lindsay from I am not a stalker was here she would try and screen match every prop here! LOL…
Also the coffee table didn’t seem right. I was assured by the museum worker that these were the originals and there were four couches that were used. He said that this was a “traveling” couch used in long shots and such. I don’t really quite understand what a traveling couch would be, but whatever.
You could also take a picture behind the President’s podium from the West Wing. I just kept picturing Ms. Mary Louise Parker someone in the room… Ahhhhh…
The Monk’s Diner recreation was kind of fun. There was even a big salad! Although the salad was very much plastic.
There was a tiny section of props from True Blood which the museum worker referred to as “a cheesy vampire show.” Like I have never heard of True Blood. Dear God…
There was the head Maryann wore in season 2
Some True Blood and vials of “V” along with Talbot’s remains from Season 3
The creepy doll from season 4
Queen Sophie Ann’s cage and costume
The coolest True Blood prop was the couch from Bill Compton’s house complete with blood remnants. Nice!
The best display was from The Big Bang Theory! They had all the stars costumes
Mystic Warlords of Ka’a cards
The Lord of the Rings necklace
Bernadette’s engagement ring
The infamous roommate agreement (although the one I check on in the episode was bound and not in a binder like this one is.
And the Green Lantern limited lantern
There were also some Penny Blossom’s
The Shelbot (which I had to get a photo with)
Finally there were some classic television props and costumes including
Murphy Brown
China Beach
Alice
Wonder Woman
Dukes of Hazzard
Overall, even though the exhibit wasn’t the most expansive and didn’t even have anything from Veronica Mars I still had a very fun day hanging out with Rene. Plus anytime you can see props and costumes from shows you love up close is a good thing. Right?
You can go on the Paley Center’s website for more information on the exhibit. I was told it changes often so you never know what will actually be on display.
Tickets are $10.00 for each adult.
Until next time kids…
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