I Went To My First TV Show Taping – Here’s What Surprised Me The Most

It had nothing to do with the show, the taping or the hosts, believe it or not.

It's an election year, so here they come - TV shows, news shows, politicians, celebrities, etc. They show up in Flint every couple of years now to check in on the water crisis. Yesterday, MSNBC brought All In with Chris Hayes to Factory Two yesterday. We asked for press passes, and the network was nice to enough to give them to us.

Michael Moore was the special guest, along with quite a few Flint residents, as well as a couple of Michigan's newest politicians.

Aside from it being scorching hot (too bad it wasn't filmed the day before when it was barely 55 degrees), it was well organized. The production staff was super nice, the audience was polite, and everything ran smoothly.

Except for one thing: cell phones. 

My god, it was ridiculous. When I go to movies nowadays, people are shameless. Not only are their phones ON and not silenced; people use them during the film.

They scroll. They text. The blue light shines on their face like the flash from an atomic bomb. And nobody says anything, because it's our new "normal."

BUT...DURING A TV SHOW TAPING?? SERIOUSLY?????

We were given permission to take pictures, tweet, Instagram, etc. The only rules were:

*no recording

*don't use phones during the segment tapings

*don't take pictures during segment tapings

Seemed pretty dummy-proof. I mean, who would actually USE their phone while they're being filmed in the audience of a TV show?

A lot of people, apparently.

Phones were ringing. Texts were chiming. People would pull their phones out to silence the incoming call...and then they'd sit there and scroll WHILE THE SHOW WAS TAPING. Disapproving spouses looked on with the "when are you gonna put that away" glare on their faces.

People took pictures during the segments, while the guests were talking, with the shutter sound effect turned on. Others would go live on Snapchat and Facebook during commercial breaks.

And I'm gonna burst a bubble here, so get ready for it - the majority of people who did this were older. Dare I say, senior citizens. People like my dad, who constantly chastise the "younger generations" for "being on their phones all the time," yet people like him are on his phone at the most inappropriate times.

I've said this before - it seems like the people who are most distracted when they're driving, that I notice, are older people who either have their phones up to their ears or who are clearly texting. Again, the very people who chastise the rest of us.

So I guess I'm the old curmudgeon, who's wagging my finger at the older curmudgeons who yell at the rest of us for being on our phones...while they're on their phones during a live TV show taping. That's fine. I'm over it, and I'm not afraid to say it.