Jump to content

Menu

Dumb question: Have you ever been in the audience of a TV show?


Recommended Posts

Like Oprah? Phil Donahue? A sitcom (taped before a live studio audience, of course)? ;-) Letterman? Leno??? If so, what was the show and when was it? High school? College? As an adult?? Were there any weird rules for clapping or making noise or laughing (like on demand??).

 

Just curious...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oprah and Leeza Gibbons.

 

The Oprah Show had Will Smith on for Men in Black. We had to wear these sunglasses they gave us. They actually showed me wearing them. UGH!

 

The Leeza Gibbons show was boring. The show was supposed to be about the most dangerous jobs. They had a taxi driver and stunt person on. We had to "play up" our reactions, like gasping...

 

Oprah was in 1997. I think I was pregnant with my first for Leeza.

Edited by Miss Peregrine
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've done a few. My absolute favorite was The Colbert Report, 'cause dh was the guest! :D

 

I did some extra work in college, and some of those jobs were getting paid (a pittance) to sit in the filmed part of the audience for shows. (They could control how we looked, what we wore, how we sat...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Letterman, about 10 years ago. The stage and the audience was much smaller than expected, there was an "applaud" sign that lit up for segment intros - like when he would be returning from a commercial break the sign would light up and everyone would applaud loudly.

 

We were told before hand that we should clap loudly and then stop when the light goes off - the lady explaining this to us also stood up waving her hands up in the air and then made the stop motions when we were to stop.

 

No applause or laugh signs during the show.

 

There was a warm-up comedian that was quite funny and D.L. came out himself and did a little act and asked questions of the audience.

 

It was FREEZING in the studio and we had to stand in line outside the theater for at least an hour or 2.

 

Are you going to a show?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, but I don't remember the name of the show, it was some type of chat show. It was in the UK, I'd just returned for a visit and my Mum had me tag along with her a group of her work colleagues.

There were signs and staff there to tell the audience when to clap, clap again for a retake, and cheer a bit during the key points of the show. During the individual 'chats' though the audience reacted without prompting. It resulted in one particular interviewee getting zero reaction, he was sooooo bizarre and when the show aired he had been cut completely out.

It was a fun experience but I don't know why anyone would want to be on tv. The retakes, the fakeness. ugh!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've done a few. My absolute favorite was The Colbert Report, 'cause dh was the guest! :D

 

I did some extra work in college, and some of those jobs were getting paid (a pittance) to sit in the filmed part of the audience for shows. (They could control how we looked, what we wore, how we sat...)

 

:eek: Wow that is interesting! I know TV is fake but I never imagined they put actors in the audience! I have noticed that Oprah's audience is always dressed well and everyone has nice hair and make up.

 

THAT IS GREAT that your dh was on Colbert! Is the segment online? Was he really nervous?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, but my dad worked as a broadcast engineer and I would go to work with him at least twice a year. I'd get to sit and watch them do the news. You do not applaud for newscasters. :D:lol:

 

 

(I know that is totally irrelevant to the conversation, but our internet has been off all day and I've missed y'all)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to an airing of America's Most Wanted and observed/ listened as tips were called in. It was a requirement for a grad school class I was taking. No one but the host and crew are there for filming and there are TONS of law enforcement people (at least way more than I was expecting) for the airing. I was fascinating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I'll brag one more time! Last year, in November, my daughter and her best friend were chosen to be finalists for America's funniest Home Videos. Both girls and we the parents were flown to California, and were in the audience for the taping of the show. They put the finalist families on the top row, so we weren't seen during the taping, and then moved us to the front after the voting was over. We were instructed when to clap and yell. And we had a great time - and won second place!!

 

There were a couple of funny things about the taping of the show. For one thing, they tape three different openings to use for reruns. And the voting you see when Tom B. tells the audience to "vote now" is fake!! They actually voted about 15 minutes before that!! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Howie Mandel!!:lol: I didn't even like him, but was visiting a friend in CA who got us tickets. We sat in the front row, and I was a nervous wreck. I kept saying "What if he makes eye contact with me?':tongue_smilie: Then, we both got on camera during a segment, and Jason Alexander was talking about when his wife travels she always carries the portable toilet paper covers because of sanitary reasons, and there's this big close up of me, nodding vigorously!!!:lol::lol: The best part was that when I got home, I was talking to a client of mine on the phone (I was a travel agent) and she had seen me!

 

Ah, the good old days. (10 years ago, before kids) Not really.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like Oprah? Phil Donahue? A sitcom (taped before a live studio audience, of course)? ;-) Letterman? Leno??? If so, what was the show and when was it? High school? College? As an adult?? Were there any weird rules for clapping or making noise or laughing (like on demand??).

 

Just curious...

 

No -- but I was *on* a TV show once, when I was in first grade. It was some kind of local thing -- I really can't remember anything about it except for --

 

They told us specifically "do *not* look over there!" at a camera or something that was behind us. So, of course, that's exactly what I did! So the first shot is everyone else facing forward like they were supposed to -- except for me, looking back over my shoulder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These weren't TV shows, exactly, but tapings of a couple of the shows they do on their cruise ships. They use the tapes for various things, including showing on the ship-board channels and other stuff.

 

My kids were "featured extras" in the audience for a taping of a cruiseline show about Cinderella (the name escapes me). The fun thing is that Disney used footage from that shoot on a Travel Channel documentary and as part of one of the extras on the Cinderella III DVD. So, every now and then, I catch a glimpse of one or both of them on TV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to a taping of Home Improvement many years ago. I was an adult and married. The company my dh was working for at the time had a block of tickets and everyone went together. They did have applause signs at times but all of the laughing was genuine.

 

I was also in the audience for The Home Show (I think that's what it was called--the one with Gary Collins and Sara Purcell in the early 90's). I had written in with a question for Susan Powter (anyone remember her?:lol:) and they called me to see if I would be a part of a segment with her. So, they had me stand up in the audience to ask her my question.

 

Both were fun experiences.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/91012/august-07-2007/ian-bogost

 

He *said* he wasn't that nervous (though he certainly was a little!)... *I* was flipping out. ;) But it was soooo cool!!!

 

I don't think dh has seen that episode, or he would have purchased the book. Tell your dh to give you a bit of a commission, because I have a Christmas gift idea, lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In college I went to a taping of Friends. The season had just started so I think I had only seen 2 episodes of it on TV and the episode we saw was aired 3 months later. The only wierd part of the show was that they had pretaped some parts and showed it to us on screens to record our reaction. The fun part was they did two endings and chose to ending based on our reaction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was in The Price is Right audience a couple of years ago (back when it was still Bob Barker as the host). They told us to clap a lot and yell out price suggestions as loudly as possible. It was really really loud in there :D We had a lot of fun and I'd love to go again sometime. The studio is much smaller than it looks on TV - it only holds about 250 people max. And the props are pretty cheap looking when you see them up close. It was interesting to see things from the other side of the camera.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dad worked for the local TV station, so every so often they'd have the staff kids in the audience for a special or something. I recall that being part of the office Christmas party, actually. LOL!! I don't think that was really a proper show, just clips they could play through the holidays during commercial breaks -- you know "Merry Christmas from Channel 8" with some kid sitting on Santa's lap, and Santa is the news anchor. Or we were the audience for that clip they had of the news-magazine host adding up the total price of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" presents.

 

And I know at some point, unrelated to all that, we went to a taping of a pilot episode of something that never reached the air. It was a little boring because they kept having to re-shoot scenes, and after about the eighth time through the continuity was completely gone and it didn't make sense anymore. But I dutifully clapped whenever the "applause" light went on! LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was the Richard Bey show, back in the early 90's. I was an intern and then a PA's assistant.

 

The only thing we really did with the audience was seat them in a way that may the audience look full. It was a live show that aired weekdays at 11am, so some days we had a good audience, and some days we didn't. We didn't have an "applause" sign or anythign, but the producers would sometimes get the audience amped up before hand, and then sort of jump around a on the sides to get people really clapping once in awhile, or get them to boo or whatever. It wasn't so much planing the audience reactions, as getting them to make them a little bigger or over the top so it would translate better onto tv.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was in The Price is Right audience a couple of years ago (back when it was still Bob Barker as the host). They told us to clap a lot and yell out price suggestions as loudly as possible. It was really really loud in there :D We had a lot of fun and I'd love to go again sometime. The studio is much smaller than it looks on TV - it only holds about 250 people max. And the props are pretty cheap looking when you see them up close. It was interesting to see things from the other side of the camera.

 

I was in the audience ( and got called down) on New Price is Right (Australian version- hosted by Larry Emdur in 1995).

Won a few prizes.

A week later, my sister was in audience and was called down, then about 6 months later my brother was in audience and was called down ( made it to the showcase playoff)

 

I have also been to many tapings of Rove ( Rove McManus) which were always fun

http://www.roveonline.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...