Jennifer

It started as a gift for their daughter’s 9th birthday. Jennifer and Michael Reese wanted to surprise their gymnast-in-training with a trip to Westwood to see the UCLA women’s gymnastics team.

From that moment on, they became fans. They were captivated by the choreography on the floor and the balance on the beam, by the work each gymnast puts into their routine and by the thrills of the best show in Los Angeles.

Ten years later, while their daughter cheers from a distance at Oregon State, the couple remain loyal to the Bruins and are a staple of Section 103 at Pauley Pavilion as season-ticket holders. And their devotion isn’t grounded in Southern California. When the team travels for meets away from home, the Reeses often follow to cheer on the Bruins.

“They just welcomed us with open arms just as if we were a part of them just because we became so faithful and true fans,” Jennifer said. “They called us their super fans.”

Michael and Jennifer Reese, from Victorville, join parents and friends of the gymnastics team at a rally before the Bruins’ meet against Michigan at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 14.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

That sense of belonging has been their favorite part of supporting UCLA women’s gymnastics. The Bruin Bubble — an affectionate term for the close-knit, insulated community, culture and social scene among UCLA students, alumni and sports fans — added them to their email chains, inviting them to banquets and fundraisers.

“We just love it,” Jennifer said.

With every pike in midair, every perfect landing, every Yurchenko off the vault, the Reeses’ connection with each gymnast grows and their commitment to the team becomes deeper.

Watching it from the comfort of their Victorville home is an option, but the energy in Pauley is unmatched, Michael said.

“You have tons of people doing the same thing and being on the same accord for that one athlete,” he said. “Whether it’s Jordan [Chiles] or whether it’s freshman Ashlee Sullivan or whether it’s, back in the day, Kyla Ross, it’s just amazing to feel that thrill there.”

But if they must watch from their living room, they make sure to bring the same energy as if they were watching in person.

UCLA super fan Michael Reese gives high-fives to members of the Bruins gymnastics team at a send-off before a meet against Michigan at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 14.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

“We’re hopping and hollering in our living rooms,” Michael said, “but it’s nothing like being in person.”

Before every meet, the Bruins and their family members convene outside the arena a few hours early for a send-off. Think of it as a pep rally where family members hype the gymnasts. They cheer as the team makes its way to the arena.

“It lets us go into competition with a lot of energy,” coach Janelle McDonald said.

In 2018, during a meet in Michigan, their Bruins’ previous coach, Valorie Kondos Field, started chanting “We’re ready,” which Michael gravitated toward. As a former military man, he picked up the cadence of the cheer and started to hype the team with the chant. Now, anytime he’s available, he makes sure to be there and send off his favorite team.

Throughout the years, he’s added his own flavor to it by adding the acronym W.I.N. to the end of the rallying cry — Work, Intensity and Never quit.

“We just have fun with it, whatever pops at the time,” he said.

When the Bruin Bubble gets together to send off the team, whether it’s with the UCLA eight-clap, silly wigs or pom-poms, the energy passed sets the gymnasts up to be the best they can be, junior Katelyn Rosen said.

“Gymnastics is really hard to make it go perfect every single time,” she said. “So if you can kind of get similar pieces of each day to anchor to, to make you feel calm, to remind yourself that it’s still you, and you’re still in your own body, and you still have control over it, is something really helpful.”

Having familiar faces of friends and family in the crowd, even when they are competing away from Pauley Pavilion, means a lot to the gymnasts, McDonald said. Fans like Jennifer and “Big Mike,” as the team calls him, are part of the consistency they have throughout the season.

With the help of the Reeses, UCLA is breaking records. So far, the Bruins have been a part of four meets with record attendances in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington. Their Feb. 22 meet at Illinois had to be moved to State Farm Center to accommodate the larger crowd.

Bruins fans don’t see the travel as a sacrifice.

It’s “the thrill of your life,” Jennifer Reese said.

Jennifer Hudson raised more then a few eyebrows in 2022 when she was close to realizing her dream — becoming a daytime talk show host.

At the time, she had just become the youngest member of the small elite group of artists who are EGOT — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award — winners. She was also aware that the highly competitive daytime talk show arena had been a notorious minefield for several top stars, leading to quick failure.

But she was unfazed. Just days before the premiere of the “Jennifer Hudson Show,” she called it the perfect birthday present.

“This is going to be such a gift,” she said near the set of the show at Warner Bros., which produces the series. “If I were not working on my birthday, that is what I would be wishing for — performing on a stage or a platform … I love a challenge … It is a difficult arena. You will always see me try.”

The entertainer expressed even more excitement Thursday after her syndicated show was renewed for a fifth season, bringing some welcome sunlight to the afternoon landscape which has been shaken in the last several weeks by the upcoming departures of popular hosts Kelly Clarkson and Sherri Shepherd.

Hudson and Drew Barrymore, who has hosted her own eponymous show since 2020, are now the sole survivors in the celebrity-oriented afternoon talk genre. (The talk show hosted by Tamron Hall is more focused on topical issues and trends.)

Insiders say the continuing economic difficulties in Hollywood and the explosion of video podcasts hosted by stars such as Amy Poehler, Conan O’Brien, Dax Shepard and the “Smartless” trio consisting of actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes has substantially crippled the traditional daytime talk format.

Shock waves have resonated through the daytime TV industry since early February when Clarkson said she would be ending her Emmy-winning talk show at the conclusion of its current seventh season for personal reasons. Just hours later, producers of “Sherri” announced they were pulling the plug on that series, attributing the cancellation to “the evolving daytime television landscape.” Shepherd in recent days has said she was fighting to save the show.

Rumors about the future of Hudson’s show have been circulating since those announcements. Although some insiders considered Hudson an unlikely entrant in daytime, she has established herself as an engaging and warm host, connecting with her enthusiastic studio audience and highlighting the show with musical performances and duets with her guests.

The show has also aggressively employed social media to promote its “Spirit Tunnel,” where staff members lining a corridor greet celebrities with chants on their way to the stage. Producers say the ritual has surpassed 6 billion views.

“The Jennifer Hudson Show” replaced Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, which ended in 2022, had run for nearly 20 years and was produced by Warner Bros.

Experts say the current landscape is indicative of the cyclical nature of daytime talk, recalling the era of “trash talk” during the 1990s when afternoon talk shows such as “Sally,” “Jerry Springer” and others emphasized fierce confrontations and provocative, often sexually oriented topics.

“Daytime has always gone through these cycles, so this is nothing new,” said Rachel Schwartz, head of the Daytime Emmys and Children & Family Emmy. And video podcasts appear to be part of this latest cycle.

“Now audiences are proving that they are really hungry for podcasts, which is impacting the landscape of daytime TV,” she said. “The podcast can be narrowly focused on one celebrity. It’s like the listener is sitting down with a friend. And the guest can be more comfortable.”

Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, which explores the psychology of human interaction with media and technology, said that while daytime talk shows offer familiarity with the same host, tone and daily presence, podcasts give celebrities more control, intimacy and influence without the constraints and pressures of broadcast TV.

“Podcast hosts tend to be partners in conversation, not ‘hosts’ or moderators,” she said. “Talk shows are in the middle of the voyeurism spectrum — too curated by time, pacing and commercial interruptions to feel really intimate and too restrained to be thrilling.”

Rutledge added that maintaining TV studios, crews and accommodating large audiences is becoming increasingly costly for producers, who are looking more to other types of digital and social platforms that are more attractive to advertisers.