In the beginning there was Oprah, and all was ideal.

Oprah begat Dr. Phil, and all was ideal, at least until his ratings started to fall.

Then Dr. Oz appeared – 55 times on Oprah – and Oprah eventually begated Dr. Oz.

The Dr. Oz show started in September 2009 and is syndicated throughout the U.S.

After hours of providing material to Dr. Oz producers about supermarket food safety, I got the call – be in New York City, Studio 6A where Conan used to shoot, we want you on the show.

On Monday, Oct. 19, 2009, Amy, Sorenne and I (I don’t like to travel without my family, that aging thing) drove from the Little Apple of Manhattan (Kansas) to Kansas City and then flew to the Big Apple of Manhattan (New York).

We got picked up by a big car and stayed at a nice hotel in Gotham.

Cool.

The next morning, Amy, Sorenne and I ventured off to 30 Rock – Rockefeller Center – for the taping. My friend Roy Costa was also there, and they gave us a dressing room with muffins and water.

It soon became apparent that 10-month-old Sorenne was not going to be comfortable waiting around for the excess of television –lots of waiting around for a couple of minutes of screen time – so Amy and Sorenne went back to the hotel.

Roy got to share the stage with Dr. Oz because of his experience as an inspector and he did a great job bobbing and weaving, trying to keep the show on track. I got to be the expert in the audience with a couple of pithy statements.

Our supermarket food safety bit is competing with the National Sex Experiment — a 50-state, 90-day incentive challenging you to have the best sex of your life — and a bunch of D-list celebrities who need the help of Dr. Oz. It is scheduled to be broadcast Tuesday, Nov. 3.

And, as in TV, the show was done with us just like that. We walked around Times Square a bit, took in the sideshow, and then went home.