This weekend is our final show on HLN. It's been a good run and as they say, "All good things must come to an end."

If you'll allow me just a brief moment of your time, I'd like to say thanks to some of the people who made "News To Me" possible:

You, the viewers. It was your show all along, so I hope you liked it.

The locations. We shot in just about every neighborhood in Atlanta. Thanks for the food, drink and fun stories.

The crew. Simply the best shooters, audio techs & PA’s in the business.

The HLN staff and executives. Thanks for everything. You allowed us to have fun and make good TV.

Interns. Hope you learned something and I need to be nice to you in case you are my boss in the future. Good luck.

Mike, Grayson, Aaron, Charles… great friends. Good luck, kick butt.

Teague. "Allright DH!" Great work, thanks for making me always look and sound good.

JB. Thanks for the chance.

-Eric

Howdy! Eric here, fresh from Vegas!

What a wild week it was for me! Let me first start off by saying, "Wow, where has the year gone already?" I am almost ready to turn the magic number of 38 years old in February. More on that later.

Anyway... back in November I was asked to be the HLN reporter for the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES. What an honor! However I was not 100% prepared for the experience at hand... until I got there.

The plane ride there got me started. I used to be afraid of flying, but through all my travels on small jets and big 'uns... [my fear of flying] has subsided for the most part. BUT, the "unexpected turbulence" I experienced on the jet from Atlanta to Las Vegas, got me a little off... (never been on a plane where people screamed and had to use the "magic bags" in the seat pockets - usually this happens on the plane ride HOME from Vegas). But we made it through.

Believe it or not this was my first time to Sin City... and for someone like me who doesn't gamble it was a shocker.

We arrived and immediately began our treasure hunt of the latest gee-whiz-wowzers-techno-gizmos. From the moment we landed to the time we took off again, we worked the floors of this 1.7 MILLION square foot trade show. I made friends, I made people mad - it's what I do. BUT I got the stories HLN wanted - what is hot, what is not. Thanks to Ashley Preskar, and Paul Chase for editing all the pieces, Dan Wright for everything and Ferre Dollar and Eric Yanak for making it all look and sound good... a great crew.

See below for the ERIC LANFORD "what's hot and what's not" list for CES:

HOT:
3-D TV: is a'comin' but you will have to wear those geeky glasses.
Touch Screens: EVERYTHING will be touchy feely soon... I mean everything.
Convergence: ONE device that does everything.
Really small computers: really small, but yet you can still type.
Remoteless TV's: Do it all with your hand, not remote.
Vegas: Need I say more?

NOT:
Flat TVs: They are getting much thinner...trust me...like paper thin.
WebTV: Didn't see much about this, is it still a viable thing?
Vegas: Man, everything costs...I mean everything...

I could go on and on, but they limit me on the blog.* In summary, I had a great time and it got me back to my roots of having fun with people and showcasing my personality (and yes, I do have one).

That's all for now... see you on the "tech-side!"
-Eric

"News To Me" will come to you from Las Vegas next weekend! Including much more from CES!

*Editor's Note: It's not that Eric is being "limited" from the blog, it's more like YOU (the reader) are being "protected" from Eric.

“There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.”
- O. Henry

Hi everybody, Eric here!

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, that O. Henry quote sums it up for me… we have a lot to be thankful for this year, and I wanted to take a minute to personally tell you and all the "News To Me" viewers thanks for making a guy’s dream come true by watching and supporting the show.

I want to list a few people and things I am specifically thankful for (in no order), and you feel free to join in with your comments at the end of this blog…

1. My friends
2. Soldiers serving and those who have served…take a moment and thank them this week.
3. My co-workers…yes, they need to be thanked, they try hard to make me look good.
4. J.B. – the man who made me…. thanks Josh.
5. Dana Carvey and Garth Brooks…. thanks.
6. Nicole Lapin, a talented person.
7. Mike, Aaron, Charles, Grayson, Corey.
8. Thanks Teague.
9. Thanks DH.
10. Our President, like him or not, a tough job.
11. Facebook, I recently discovered it, wow… we all have gotten older.
12. Trout, because I love to catch em…
13. Baldness being accepted.
14. R.E.M.
15. My friend, Dave Aguar… R.I.P. I miss you daily man… hope you are making God smile.
16. Being single.
17. Robert Redford, good advice, thanks.
18. The ability to walk, and run…
19. My health.
20. Wine.
21. My bike.
22. Humor, I guess I got this instead of looks… but man I am still thankful to be able to make people laugh.
23. Golf courses, because I love to play the game.
24. Non-profits, good work you are doing…
25. Al Gore, for the Internet - it keeps me out of the malls.
26. Believe it or not, the stock market, kept my wallet full this year, thanks…

And last but not least:
27. My family. Thanksgiving has had some wonderful memories, but also some very weird, weird times in the Lanford household… mostly involving me and my brother and the law… (please don’t hold this against me, just keeping it real)… no need for details… suffice it to say that my poor parents… they did raise us right, we just put ourselves in some weird situations. This year… let’s hope no jail time for us… just good times and great company.

Now, you have a great one tomorrow and whatever you are thankful for, make it known.

Eric

Hi everybody! Eric here. I'll be straight with you, part of this weekend's show... it hurts to watch. What? You have no idea what I am talking about? Well, after you see my interview with Eddie Adcock you will get a better idea. Let me give you a "sum up":

Bluegrass Legend, Eddie Adcock was having tremors in his hands that made it very difficult to play his banjo, which he loves so much. Turns out he needed surgery to try and stop the tremors, brain surgery. In order for the surgeon to find the sweet spot in the brain, Eddie had to be awake during the surgery and actually play the axe. Now, I won't give away the whole story, but he lives... (not that it was a question in the first place). In fact you'll meet Eddie and the surgeon who performed this unusual procedure.

Not only is his operation amazing but, it was another surreal moment for me personally to speak to Eddie. I have been following him and his music for years (I am a country/bluegrass buff). Incredible story.

Which leads me to surgery in general. I have never had the pleasure of someone cutting on me, (knock on wood veneer) but my Brother recently did. They wheel him in, he's in there for 2 hours, then the doctor comes out and speaks with us. Now, I'm thinking it is going to be like the show "ER", but no. Nothing like it... the Doc is just like you and me. In fact, he tells me, "treat me like a normal person." For some dumb reason I was speaking to him like I was speaking at a drive thru window at taco bell... slow and enunciating way too much... weird.

Then he asks me what I do for a living. I tell him "TV..."

"What do you do there?"

"I host this show called 'News To Me'."

Of course as usual, I was second-guessed on my ugly mug actually being ON TV. Usually when I say I work on TV most people ask me to fix their snow on Ch. 9...(CABLE GUY!), but when he found out I was on TV, he was like super excited, and the conversation turned from my brother and his surgery... to my career.

Needless to say, my bro is alright. But again, I'm surprised at the power of the TV.

So between my brother's surgery and the doc who operated on Eddie Adcock, I spoke with 2 surgeons in one week, and I didn’t have to go under the drugs that make you sleepy... good deal! Can I hang with Dr. Sanjay Gupta now? Maybe?

Oh yeah, if my brother’s surgeon is reading this, No I don’t know Anderson Cooper.

See you on TV,
Eric

All of us who work on "News To Me" are pretty pumped about this weekend's show!  Producers Mike and Teague have been putting in serious hours creating what we think will be really compelling TV.  It's a story we have been "teasing" for over a month now and one that we have been working on for several months: The great Georgia Bigfoot Hoax.  No need to get into the background of the hoax here... we'll do that this weekend on "News To Me," but if you are a skeptic, suspicious, paranoid, wearing a tin-foil hat or someone who makes fun of those kind of people you will really dig the first two blocks of the show.

Interestingly enough, seems like the whole "News To Me" crew has memories associated with Sasquatch.  Do we believe?  Not necessarily, but buried deep in our grey matter we all have something that clicked when we started working on this story...

Eric Lanford:
In a previous life, as host of a different TV show, I actually went HUNTING for Bigfoot.

Coordinating Producer Michael Kane:
When I was an “Indian Guide” – that was a youth group in the ‘70s for losers who were too wimpy to make it as a Boy Scout – we went on a hike up to the top Atlanta’s Stone Mountain, the largest exposed slab of granite on Earth.

The trail to the top is pocked with large holes and craters. One of the older boys pulled me aside to warn me that some of those craters were actually Bigfoot tracks. I believed him, swallowed hard and soldiered up the mountain in a cold sweat. The mountain still haunts my dreams.

Producer/Editor Teague Kennedy:
Round about 1994 I was driving down a dirt road just after dark in search of a campsite in a woodsy area in central Florida. I had seen no people or cars since entering the forest perhaps 15 minutes earlier, when up in the distance I saw in my headlights what looked to be a naked man running through the woods. Needless to say we didn't pitch tent in the area. True story.

Associate Producer Charles Gilbert:
When I was 14, my friends and I thought we saw Bigfoot’s print in some dirt behind a house in our neighborhood. The footprint was huge. Then we looked closer. We noticed that it wasn’t Bigfoot’s print. It was mine. I am 6’ tall and I wear a size 15 shoe. Damn I felt dumb.

Corey the intern:
I got scared by watching "Harry and the Hendersons" when I was a little kid. Seriously, Bigfoot has never really interested me. I'm more fascinated by UFO pictures experts can't explain.

Associate Producer Grayson Thagard:
My Grandpa Red used to take me and my little brother out on his air boat into the Florida Everglades. "The glades" was a creepy place at dusk when the shadows got long, especially for a 7 year old. As we skimmed along the shallow water Grandpa saw something out of the corner of his eye and all of a sudden he shut down the giant fan pushing the air boat. In the absence of that roar we clearly heard what can only be described as a moan coming from the thick vegetation about 20 yards away. Grandpa told us in a whisper, that it was the sound of a Skunk ape, the "Bigfoot" of the swamp. It was a typical sweltering Florida July but I clearly remember hearing the sound again and suddenly being ice cold. That was my last trip to the Everglades.

Associate Producer Aaron Rustom:
When I was about 10 or 11, my best friend’s dad took us out to their cabin in East Texas so we could go fishing. As we got closer to the cabin, my friend’s dad started telling us about the “Alabama-Coushatta” tribe, who were native to the area, and the creature who lurked among them… a creature named "Sasquatch." He also told us we would be okay, if we kept "stink bait" in our pockets. Stink bait is used on trot-lines to catch catfish. And as the name implies, it stinks! It stinks so bad that even Bigfoot is repulsed by the odor. That whole weekend, every noise, every crackle, every time the trees blew, we rubbed more stink bait on us.

The funny thing is… there actually have been Bigfoot "sightings" in that area!

Ok, so those are OUR Bigfoot memories... do you have a bigfoot / ufo / ghost / unexplained mystery / story? Tell us! It IS Halloween after all!

In the meantime, sleep tight... we'll see you tomorrow at 9:30pm Eastern and Pacific on Headline News!

Hi everybody, Eric here.

First of all, if anyone knows where I can get some dang gas anywhere in the state of Georgia, please tell me. 5 gas stations and 3 fist fights later, I am still on “E.” What the heck is going on? It's like Armageddon here… weird. What’s weirder is that I was in Montana last week, a state that has like 50 people in the whole territory and there was gas everywhere! Gas for me. Gas for you. Here take some gas, it’s free… really take it… c’mon, stash some in your luggage… wow!

Why Montana? I was on vacation and it was great! Saw the great state of Montana in it’s entirety… fished the Blackfoot, Bighole, Rock Creek, & Bitterroot Rivers… had some great microbrews and ate some great bison steaks. Now that is living!

Now about this weeks show... I don’t really blog that often, for 2 reasons… one, Grayson is the blog king, and I can’t compete [Grayson's note: "Whatever."] and two, no one really cares what I have to say (if you do care tell me and I will send a personal blog to you and you only, my treat). I did want to blog today though because if you have ever seen the video called, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" (check out that link... it's an Eric recommendation) from the master man on the street interviewer Tom Green, you can understand why I am so happy that we got him on the show this weekend. He was very nice and happy to be on the show. I promise by the end of our interview, you will see what true innovation is… Tom Green makes things happen, takes chances… and I think that is really cool. I do hope you enjoy the piece.

Yes, Grayson was correct, I am trying to get you some more guests who have a UGC angle on the show…like Bear Grylls. Have you seen this guy? I was watching his show the other night and he killed a rattlesnake, cut its head off and ate the thing raw! Now why wouldn’t you want him on the show? Especially if you are trying to survive somewhere, you know like the Hamptons, or Martha’s Vineyard?

Coming up: Wait to you see the interview we've already shot with these Bigfoot hoax guys… I can tell you they have something up their sleeve… look for them to come out with a special announcement soon! You heard it here first… I think they will end up somehow duping yours truly in some way… but that’s the risk when you do hard hitting interviews (tis, tis).

Thanks for watching and get ready to laugh this weekend…

Eric

Eric here! I want you to meet my new friend, his name is Mike-ro-phone. We're friends though so you can just call him "Mike." Actually, he doesn't care. That's what is so great about Mike... he just sits there and lets you talk to him all day long.

Ok, enough fun. I just wanted to show you how we record the show when I am on the road. It’s just what I do: share things with you my "News To Me" friends.

Not to toot our own horn... but as fun as the last few shows have been, the next few shows will be even more fun. Listen, I spoke with Daryl Hall (that guy from Hall and Oates) at his house, or should I say his compound. His cool new website is called Live From Daryl's House... where artists show up and play some great live jams. You also get to see the behind the scenes conversations that happen. You can be a voyeur...oooooohhhh.

Anyway... talking to Daryl was one of those surreal moments for me. See, unless they're sitting right next to me, I never see the people I interview face to face (minus Tom Green, but more on that in a moment) but after doing all the online research in order to interview Daryl Hall, it brought back those memories... you know like, what was I doing when a certain song was on the radio? Remember the song, "So Close?" I remember fighting with a high school girlfriend... getting into my Jeep, and blasting that song to cool down... weird huh? But it was a great interview, cant wait for you to see it... BTW, that "One on One" song by "H & O" is still the saddest damn song I have ever heard.

Now, the Tom Green interview... I have looked up to Tom for being the greatest man-on-the-street interviewer ever! We did our interview on a web cam.. so we were face to face... I was a coffee shop, he was in his home in the Hollywood Hills. That conversation will be on "News To Me" in a couple weeks. Wait to you see what he asks the girls sitting behind me... wow!

Anyway, I am off to Montana for some fly fishing, suds and fun. I'll be back in time for "News To Me" next weekend though, so we will see you when I get back...

Eric

Citizens Arrest! Citizens Arrest! I am a little upset… and I want to vent to you, the NTM viewers.

Recently, to add a little spice to the broadcast, we incorporated a new way to interview our wonderful guests on the programs. The OUTDOOR STUDIO... basically it is an old antique desk that we throw out in some outdoor environment and conduct interviews… whether it be on the Silver Comet Trail, a empty lot, a church parking lot, corner of a busy intersection, wherever we can be out there with you, the people who keep us in business. That's the desk in the picture above. Well, on Tuesday we had set up an interview with the REEL GEEZERS, two octogenarians in Hollywood who review movies (check out their YouTube Channel and then tune in for the interview in an upcoming "News To Me") it was a great interview, lots of surprises (including some good juicy Hollywood rumors revealed). Anywho, after the interview we rushed out of the 190 degree Georgia heat into Lostman's Creek, our production house, and went to grab some lunch leaving the desk behind outside. We were gone maybe a total of 20 minutes. When we came back, the desk was gone! Stolen! Our FREAKING interview desk has been kidnapped… what the hell? When the host of a nationally televised news program can’t leave an old 1950’s desk in the back lot of his production house unattended for 20 minutes... there is something wrong in America!

Now listen, it is a nice desk, in fact it is "News To Me" Producer Teague’s mom’s childhood desk… but it certainly isn’t Ethan Allen. You aren't going to throw it up on eBay and make a few G’s… So, if you see our desk at a Goodwill, or a pawn shop, please let us know… I miss the old girl… she sat well… this is the same desk where Redneck Mommy, Who are These Guys, and William Bernstein were made famous.

Thanks for keeping an eye open for it.

Also, big thanks to Robin Meade for coming by "The Creek," we appreciate it! We had a good time shooting a segment for her podcast "Robin Meade Expressed" (which you can download from the Morning Express showpage starting tomorrow). She is great to work with. I actually took her next door to meet our neighbors! "Cuts of Diamonds" beauty parlor on the left and Dr. Norris, DDS. on the right. Honestly, I think they would have rather had some "welcome neighbor" brownies than a TV crew in their lobbies but….

AND one more thing, thanks to Journey! We had a great time with them backstage. Hearing those songs took me back in time to my first proms and Homecoming. Funny story... the girl I asked to Homecoming actually said to me, “If (name withheld) doesn’t ask me to go with him, I will go with you." Well, he didn't ask so she went with me. Which was fine because she was BEAUTIFUL so I was more than cool with being her backup. Suck it (name withheld)! The hard part was letting my backup down easy. Sorry Sis.

Don’t Stop Believing!
Eric

You know, you never know how old you are until you hang around a bunch of happy, inspired, and motivated youths like I did recently. I emceed a dinner for an organization which I believe in wholeheartedly called the 21st Century Leaders. It’s basically a group that finds the best-of-the-best and the brightest High School kids and invites them to spend some time with companies to learn what goes on behind the corporate iron curtain. It’s like a big summer camp for the smart kids.

So, there I was sitting at a table amongst 12 High School kids who’s SAT scores looked more like Coordinating Producer Mike Kane’s golf score than actual real SAT numbers. I mean, when you are getting like 1400 on the SAT, you are smart, no doubt about it… but c’mon how are your social skills? (BTW, I got a 820 on the SAT. BTW #2, the kids who were sitting with me, had GREAT social skills.) I looked around the table and thought to myself, "you know Lanford…these kids are the future…they are the 'News To Me' audience… not only do they get the value of user-generated content, they put it to use every day of their lives… and not just looking for ways to increase their Grand Theft Auto scores. They put it to use to spread the word about causes they care about, products they've invented and ideas they've hatched that will make them millionaires!"

I can’t begin to tell you with all the bad press kids today get, how refreshing it was to sit around some kids who had goals that would make even Dr. Sanjay blush: doctors, lawyers, accountants… not ONE said, basketball star, music mogul or that smug remark all kids say today… President of the United States… these kids had real dreams… and I wish them all the best.

Oh, and please keep watching "News To Me" (some of them actually do watch).

BTW, if you were one of the lucky kids who got to take a picture with me... there was a long line… (yeah right)…. please let me know… I want a copy to see what I look like. See, I told you I was getting old.

And now for a little bit of nepotism keep reading »

One thing I really enjoy about being the host of "News To Me" is getting out in the public and speaking with you… sometimes we tell you who we are, and sometimes we don’t… what I mean is, sometimes we do these "man on the street" little teases with you, the public, for the show. It is YOUR show after all. We just, don't always say EXACTLY what show we are shooting right off the bat...

I have done this for 10 years (approaching strangers on the street with a microphone and a camera crew) and never once have I had an issue where someone was upset with me for approaching them... until recently. I will not mention the group involved, or even the town where the incident occurred for that matter, but you know who you are and where you were, so consider this a public apology to you. I pride myself on having fun with the audience, and my personal mantra is: never make fun of anyone. So there I said it… now let's move on.

If you ever see a bald man with a TV crew behind him, embrace us, we mean no harm, we want to talk with you to find out what you really think about things, what makes you happy, sad, and why you are wearing a neck brace?

And while I'm at it, let me go ahead and thank all the people who came up to me as I was filming with another crew for a totally different show (me producing this time, not hosting), who knew me from "News To Me!" It's cool hearing how much you really enjoy the show. Bill from Arkansas, thank you, and no I will not eat that hot dog on the ground… I am not Tom Green. Sara from Oklahoma, yes, I do know that Garth Brooks is from your state. I know this because I used to hang with him before he was really famous.

Also… does anyone ever tell you that you look like somebody else? I have that kind of face…. everyone thinks they know me or at least they think they know who they think I might be. So when people ask, "Do you know who you look like," and I say, "Who do YOU think I look like" here his how they reply (in no particular order):

Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman)

Lee Harvey Oswald??

Barney Fife (Don Knotts)

Dana Carvey

Some guy from the Honeymooners

And (waaaaaay too often), “my ex-boyfriend”

And to all those who did not know me… as Jon Lovitz once exclaimed on SNL… GET TO KNOW ME!

Who do you think I look like? Let me know in the comments... and don't forget to watch tomorrow!