TV Show Profiles 'Ivory Tower'

The cast and crew of Harvard-Radcliffe Television's (HRTV) "Ivory Tower" got a visit from another television crew Tuesday. The soap opera based on College life will be featured in an upcoming episode of NBC's "Real Life."

Steve Longo, producer of "Real Life," said yesterday the interview with "Ivory Tower" is not yet slated to air but will likely run sometime in the next few weeks during a spot on the show called "Did You Know?"

"Real Life" airs at 10 a.m. in the Boston area on Channel 7, NBC.

Longo said that "Real Life," a life-style magazine which debuted in March, is targeted toward women. The "Did You Know?" segment on "Ivory Tower" is centered on the theme "Did you know that Harvard had a soap opera?"

HRTV Publicity Director Jared E. Bush '96-'97 said the camera crew spent the day with soap opera cast members, even securing permission to film in Harvard Yard, which is only rarely granted to outside film crews.

Bush said the "Real Life" crew seemed particularly interested in some of "Ivory Tower's" seamier scenes. "They wanted to know all about all of our sex and violence scenes, of which we do not have many," Bush said.

Bush said the cast reenacted several scenes for the benefit of the "Real Life" cameras and provided the show with several taped episodes.

"We recreated a scene that happened right after one of our episodes dealing with date rape," Bush said.

And HRTV staged a screening of Ivory Tower episodes in a packed Loker Commons for the benefit of the film crew.

Bush said he and his fellow staffers are delighted by the coverage and now have to wait and see what comes of their brush with fame.

"We're not sure what exactly they're going to use," Bush said. "It's all going to come down to how they slant it in the editing."

Whatever the outcome of the coverage, Bush said that Ivory Tower and all of HRTV's shows are doing better than ever.

"[First-year staff members] are really working hard," Bush said. "They've come up with two new shows and they've helped us a lot in the editing."