Rink is unique backdrop for traveling CMT show

JEANNE REISEL / STAFF   
CMT Top Twenty Countdown host Lance Smith gets a stretching tip from figure skater Molly Quigley during a taping of the show at Southern Ice in Cool Springs.  

By MELONEE McKINNEY

Staff Writer

FRANKLIN — In keeping with the Olympic spirit, Country Music Television producer Robert Wimbish picked a fitting location to shoot this week's Top Twenty Countdown.

The show's host Lance Smith partnered with local skater Molly Quigley at Southern Ice Arena here and taped the entire two-hour show yesterday on the ice.

Wimbish has taped at other Williamson County locations such as the Viking Culinary Arts Center in The Factory at Franklin, and said he wanted to tape a show at Happy Tales Humane, also at The Factory, but the space was just too small for the camera and 10-person crew.

Show tapings have taken the crew as far away as Colorado and to random spots such as a Nashville chocolate factory and a local dog pound. When choosing locations, Wimbish wants something that not only gives Smith something to work with, but also is timely. He said an upcoming shoot will be at Tower Records in Nashville in conjunction with The Grammy Awards. And last week's show in Colorado was taped during the Country in the Rockies benefit.

''A location has to have enough elements and action for us to be able to do all 25 intros and outros,'' Wimbish said. ''It has to be aesthetically pleasing, depending on what we are shooting. Shooting on location gives us something different every week to show. There is more for Lance to do, and it just makes the show more exciting.''

Beyond that criteria, he is open to locations — as long as there is enough action. Events the show plans to utilize as backdrops in the future are the circus, spring break, a rodeo and the Country Music Marathon April 27 in Nashville.

Although the event or location does receive some publicity, the show refrains from mentioning actual locations by name to prevent conflicts with advertisers, Wimbish said. The locations do, however, get their name and Web site address, if they have one, in the show's closing credits.

''We shoot every week, 52 weeks a year,'' Wimbish said. ''So we are always open to location ideas. We don't pay people for the use of their space, but people seem to love having us here, and it gives them something to talk about.''

Wimbish said Southern Ice not only provided him with a perfect location, but the rink's manager Bill Fauver also provided him with the perfect co-host in Quigley.

''We came here and wanted to have a young skater who was pretty and talented, and Bill said, 'I've got the perfect person,''' Wimbish said. ''People always say that to us, but he was right. She is perfect for what we wanted for the show.''

For yesterday's shoot, Smith, who doesn't ice skate very often, had to practice to stay on his feet.

''I sent him down here the night before the taping so he could practice,'' Wimbish said.

Between takes Smith and Quigley, who actually got to show some of her skating skills during the taping, chatted about the Olympics. Smith was impressed with Quigley's ability as a skater and with her ease.

''I can hardly stand here, and she is flying all over the place like it's nothing,'' Smith said.

Country Music Television's Top Twenty Countdown airs here on CMT at 9 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. Saturdays, 9 p.m. Sundays and 5 p.m. Mondays.