I have now officially been working in television for a month. This week, I started performing a sort of "case study" of one of the main problems with television nowadays. That problem? Audience casting.
For those of you who do not know, some shows will actually put notices on Craig's List and other services to get people to basically fill seats in their audience, while paying those people in cash once the show is over. Click this link ((CRAIGSLIST)) to see the ad.
HYPOTHESIS: In order for a television show to be successful, both the home audience and the studio audience have to WANT to watch the show, not be assigned to watch the show.
CASE 1 -- "THE PRICE IS RIGHT": For 34 years and counting, The Price is Right has consistently attracted a studio capacity audience. Why? The audience requested their tickets because they wanted to see the show, with the additional perk of perhaps being a contestant. I have observed the audiences for the 8 shows I have been an audience member and the 13 shows I have worked and have noticed this. Because the audience wants to be there, their reactions to Barker, Rich, the girls, the prizes, and the games are REAL. Even before the show, one can hear mutterings of "Look, that's the turntable," or "Wow, look at those doors," or even "I can't believe I'm in here."
CASE 2 -- "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON": Personally, I am a huge fan of Craig Ferguson. By being a CBS Television City employee, I was able to get VIP seats for two shows this past week. What did that mean? I was seated right up front with a great view of Craig's monologue and the desk and chair island during the guests and Craig's nightly "Voice Mail Check." However, the audiences for both shows were partially casted. What did this mean? Craig's jokes, the guests, and even the warmup act's jokes were falling dead to the water. The reactions from most of the audience (save for me and a few people who actually requested tickets) were forced. During the warmup, the comedian, Chunky B, uses what he calls "his Double L's." He forms an "L" with both hands to get the audience to laugh at his weak jokes. On Tuesday, he didn't throw up the Double L's a lot during the warmup, and the audience was on fire, even causing Craig to break up during his monologue. Because of this, the entire audience received VIP cards, which allow us to call back anytime and get VIP seating for a future show. Thursday's show was quite a different story. Chunky got tired of putting up the L's, and even went so far as to run out of material for the pre-show warmup. Because of so much of the audience assigned to be there, the reactions were not genuine, causing the show to be very weak.
CONCLUSION: If you're assigned to be there, you have to WANT to be there. You cannot look at a television show audience seat as a job. It has to be looked at as an experience. You're there to laugh, cheer, applaud, and do everything else that a good audience member does. Look at the daily audience of TPiR and use them as an example.
Questions, class?
