I had two immediate objections to going on a Warner Brothers Studio tour:

1. I typically dislike most tours; and
2. I really, really dislike commercial tours.

The flip side? I love movies enough to at least be curious about why the Warner Brothers VIP tour was so special.

At the end of my three plus hour tour, I walked away with a better understanding of how movie and television sets work, and a greater appreciation of how they put together blockbusters in such tiny areas of a back studio lot. I also marveled at the engineering and detail work that goes into every set. These people are masters at their craft, and the Warner Brothers VIP tour made me appreciate that.

Hooray for Hollywood.

Entrance to the emergency room doors on “ER” – with the “L” train tracks above. And those tracks look like steel, don’t they? Nope. Just painted wood.

Considered one of the greatest runs for Warner Brothers, the set of “Friends” is still intact, if not exact, on a corner of the furniture and supply rental space.

Need to rent some furniture for your movie? Warner Brothers rents by the week. There are floors and floors of crystal chandeliers, rugs, chairs and antiques. And isn’t that psychedelic 1960’s chair from an “Austin Powers” movie?

Not just “a” Gran Torino, but the Gran Torino from the Clint Eastwood flick.

At the end of the day, it’s cool to be on the back lot.

Shhhh. Filming in progress!