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Has anyone gone to a live taping?

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Has anyone gone to a live taping?

Old 01-16-02, 08:46 PM
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Has anyone gone to a live taping?

Has anyone here gone to a live taping of a tv show? I would really like to go see Friends next year since it is the last season. And while I am there go to a taping of Leno too.
Old 01-17-02, 07:37 AM
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Yeah, I went to a taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien on the last night of the old set. I got to sit front row, farthest seat to the right. Possibly the best seat in the house. I took this picture there of Conan with Kevin Smith.

Almost got caught, but it was worth it.
Old 01-17-02, 07:42 AM
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There's finally a last season of friends?

I went to a Leno taping a couple years ago. A friend and I took the NBC tour cause we were bored, and decided to try for the Leno show. They were all out of tickets, but we ended up getting in on a #5 and #6 stand-by. The guests sucked, but it was "neat." Plus, Jay wasn't driving one of his "old" cars that day, cause they show you in the tour where he parks , it was just a regular car that day. I think I got jipped.
Old 01-17-02, 08:06 AM
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Do you get to see any TV sets by taking the NBC tour?

And yes, next year is the last season of Friends. If you don't like it then don't watch it.
Old 01-17-02, 08:49 AM
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they show you the "behind the tv sets" stuff. when i went, they were filming shows, so it was closed to us. You get to see where they film Days of Our Lives, though. Its a good tour.

Okay, so I shouldnt have said finally, sorry. I don't watch Friends, but I dont not like it either. It's just its been on a long time. Thats what I meant and I didnt know it was a last season.
Old 01-17-02, 09:52 AM
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Nope tried to get tickets for Dave in 98, but we did get to meed Holyfield on his way in to the taping, he was a very nice guy.
Old 01-17-02, 10:46 AM
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back in high school we went to t.v. tapings for services/fund raising. most of them blew chunks b/c sometimes you would have to endure many takes of the same shot.

during a break for one taping, they had audience members come up to do funny/unique stunts. I wowed the crowed with 3-fingered, 1 arm push-ups

Best taping by far for me tho was a Fresh Prince of Bel Air taping. Some staffer there asked my buddy and I if we could give up our seats for Will Smith's grandmother. We did, and after the show they let him (buddy) and me to go back stage and met the Fresh Prince himself, Geoffrey (sp?), Hillary, and Uncle Phil (who, coincidentally, was the guest speaker at my college graduation).

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Old 01-17-02, 11:17 AM
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The tapings I went to have been:


"Cheers" - for the season premiere episode of the next-to-last season where Sam and Rebecca try to conceive a baby. I remember they passed out Tootsie Roll treats to keep our sugar-intake high. The taping lasted 3 hours. I also remember Ted Danson and Kirstie Alley "thumb-wrestling" between takes, and that the live band that played before the show was deafeningly-loud.


I guess the main thing I learned is that a 30 minute TV sitcom takes three hours to tape, barring set changes, bloopers, and re-takes.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien - Damn, it was easy to get tickets for this show...The NBC pages were virtually BEGGING people to come off the street and watch the show. This was in the show's early years, though.

I saw Chuck Norris and Kate Mullgrew.
Old 01-17-02, 11:38 AM
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I also went to a Leno taping a few years ago.

I was walking around near Mann's Chinese Theater and a guy with a clipboard is asking everyone around "Hey, you guys want free tickets to a Leno taping?" He looked a little desperate.

So my friends and I went and it was kind of fun. The guest was supposed to be Sharon Stone but she cancelled and we got Terry Bradshaw.
But the musical guest was John Hiatt, so that made up for it. After the taping I wandered down onto the stage (a no-no) and I got both Jay Leno's autograph and John Hiatt's. I'm a star jag.

It was worth it for the experience. I'd love to see Dave or Conan, though.
Old 01-17-02, 11:47 AM
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When David Letterman first started at NBC, I went to one of many "test" show rehearsals they held. There were no celebrity guests on and the highlight was he did a cooking demonstartion. I was not very impressed with him back then based on this one taping. These "test' shows were never meant to air and were held to give him a feel for the studio, the live audience, camera angles etc.

I did get to see him again at a taping of his show at Radio City Music Hall.

My scariest experience was at a taping of the John Davidson Show. I had tried to get in at the Price Is Right but there were too many people; so they shuffled the overflow to Davidson's taping.

During the show, he went into the audience to sing a medley of songs and he wound up handing the microphone to a bunch of studio audience members to sing along. I was on camera the whole time and scared to death he was going to ask me to sing

Fortunately he went right into the aisle I was seating in and walked in front of me and handed it to the person sitting 2 seats away from me.

Whew !!
Old 01-17-02, 11:52 AM
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Originally posted by AJW

My scariest experience was at a taping of the John Davidson Show.
Hey! John is my cousin. Seriously. Oh wait, he is not a big celebrity is he? Never mind.

Anyone sure if Friends tapes in front of a live audience?
Old 01-17-02, 12:11 PM
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That is cool you got to see a Cheers taping.

I really want to go see Friends and Leno. Plus I wouldn't mind going to see a Conan taping in New York.

I've been reading up on it and basiclaly you just have to get there really , really early to get tickets. Or at least with Friends be lucky enough to score free tickets by phone or on the web.

Some sites I have been reading also said the same - about 3 to 5 hours for taping.

Too bad you can't bring in a camera . I mean I would just like to take a picture of the set. So, maybe there is a studio tour I can take to do that.
Old 01-17-02, 12:12 PM
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Originally posted by randyc


Anyone sure if Friends tapes in front of a live audience?
Yes, they still do.
Old 01-17-02, 12:17 PM
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I was in L.A. a fews years ago on business for 3 weeks. I was there with a bunch of people & one of the guys there went to high school with a chick who was now a PA on the TV show Boy Meets World. They had made plans to meet on the set, see a taping, meet the cast, etc. & me & another guy went along. I had never seen an episode of Boy Meets World & I understood why after going to the taping. The show was real lame but I must say that it was very interesting watching them film the episode in bits & pieces.

There was a comedian/host guy that would talk to the audience, make them laugh, etc. while the crew would set up between shots. After the filming, we got to stay after & eat sandwiches with the cast & crew but none were friendly.

Some people we were there with were pissed that we went without them so we had to get tickets to see another show to make people happy. The only thing we could get tickets to & fit in our schedule was a taping of Veronica's Closet. Once we drove all the way to the studio, the taping had been cancelled & we hung out at Studio City (I think that was what it was called)instead. We found out the next day that Kirstie Alley had pitched a fit & had refused to come to the taping which was why it was cancelled. I wish she had come b/c watching her freak out would have been a lot funnier than the actual show.

We found that just walking around Venice Beach, Hollywood, etc, there were lots of tickets being given out for free to many shows (although all the easy tickets to get were for sh*tty shows). Some other guys went to a taping of MTV's Loveline with Dr. Drew & that other guy. They said it was totally lame.
Old 01-17-02, 12:37 PM
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General question for those that have attended tapings of sitcoms.

Obviously the sitcom taping is not done continuously like one does a play. The audience may happen to be there, but I would think it's much more secondary. For the producer's convenience, I could see them taping parts out of sequence. For example, using a set that is shown in the beginning and end of the show all at once.

Plus, there are parts of the show taped outside. Parts taped in various sets. The taping of a show must take a lot of time also, with downtime between takes and such. Days and days for each show.

So if you get into a set taping, do you just see a snippet of the show? Some parts and then that is all?
Old 01-17-02, 01:08 PM
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brianluvdvd -

That is cool about the Boy Meets World taping, even though you thought it was pretty lame I am actually a big fan of the show. Probably because at the time it was airing, I was like 10. Tapanga .... Tapanga....

Veronica's Closet is one of my favorite shows. I am sure it would have been a lot of fun to see Kirstie having a fit hehehe.
Old 01-17-02, 01:13 PM
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Originally posted by randyc
So if you get into a set taping, do you just see a snippet of the show? Some parts and then that is all?
The way they did it whe I was there was they had already filmed many of the scenes for the sitcom on previous days. Some were location scenes & or different sets. Since those were already filmed (without an audience but with a laugh track), they would show us those scenes on a monitor (in the order they were supposed to be in) while setting up for the taping of the new scenes.

If I remember correctly, the episode we were at was a prom episode & we did not get to see the ending or a couple of other minor scenes that had yet to be taped. They told us we would have to watch the first-run episode for everthing. And now that I think about it, I never did try to see that episode on TV. Wonder if I could hear myself laughing (or groaning) out loud?
Old 01-17-02, 01:17 PM
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Saw Dave 3 times when he moved to CBS. It was pretty cool because it was before they completely redid the Ed Sullivan theatre and it was kind of retro. The shows were fun, though Paul's band plays too loud during the commercials.
Old 01-17-02, 01:38 PM
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Originally posted by Eternia
Tapanga .... Tapanga....

That is funny you mention her. One of my vivid memories was when her & the title character (was his name Corey?) were sitting on a bed doing a take for after the prom when they were going to get busy (if you know what I mean). The girl playing Tapanga flashed her panties to the audience half a dozen times when doing this take of her jumping on the bed. It made me wonder what all kinds of things audiences have seen by accident over the years. And luckily, she was not in her chunky stage at the time. I was standing right next to her after the show when we were eating & I must say that she was not that pretty in person.
Old 01-17-02, 01:44 PM
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Yep the title character is Cory (Ben Savage).

That is funny about Tapanga. I am sure people who go to a lot of tapings see lots of bloopers.

When you said about checking the episode to see if you can hear your laugh, that is exactly what I thought of doing if I go lol.

Yeah, Tapanga isn't the prettiest person on tv either, not bad though. I am sure makeup makes a lot of difference.
Old 01-17-02, 02:56 PM
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Originally posted by randyc

So if you get into a set taping, do you just see a snippet of the show? Some parts and then that is all?
For the Fresh Prince ep. I saw, it was pretty much taped in sequence except for one scene where they were driving in a car. that scene was shown on a monitor (pre-taped).

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Old 01-17-02, 03:17 PM
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I've seen:

Saturday Night Live
The Late Show With David Lettermen
& Designing Women
Old 01-17-02, 03:27 PM
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Back in the late 80s I went with a couple friends and saw a taping of "Kate & Allie" at the Ed Sullivan theater, where Letterman now tapes.

I was actually surprised because they did the show pretty much in one take per scene, in order. It actually took almost as long for Jane Curtin to record some anti-drug PSA that she kept botching as it did for the rest of the show.

Oh, and if anyone remembers the MTV game show, "Remote Control," I was bored one summer and went to about 20 tapings. With 4-5 shows per day...well, I was in the audience shots many hundreds of times that year. (The season with Alicia Coppola as hostess, after Kari Wuhrer left.)
Old 01-17-02, 09:33 PM
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Originally posted by randyc

So if you get into a set taping, do you just see a snippet of the show? Some parts and then that is all? [/B]

For the CHEERS episode "Baby Balk" that I attended,

1. The episode I saw, "Baby Balk," had a pre-credits thing that took place in Norm's car, driving Cliff home at night. They basically handled that by being in a fake car in the studio and having stage hands shine fake headlghts, passing by, in the rear window.

2. For the scenes taking place outside, they had them pre-taped and they showed them on the studio audience monitors. They recorded our laughter as we saw it being played back.

3. Here's a piece of CHEERS trivia. The back wall behind Norm (the one with all the pictures) was on wheels. The space behind that wall is used for scenes either in Sam's office, the pool room, or Rebecca's apartment (or Frasier's apartment). It's the same space used for all those interiors, they wheel them in whenever the scene calls for it. And that wall of pictures behind Norm is on wheels cause the size of the rooms needed in that spare stage space varies, according to size.

Most of the three hours used up was for setting up and taking down the different sets.

4. Sometimes, whenever our laughter wasn't strong enough for flat jokes, they coached us to "exaggerate" our reaction more, and reshot those particular jokes again.

5. We had to camp out all night for our tickets. I was 7th in line, and we could only get 2 tickets per person.

6. My friend and I actually attended the rehearsals for that particular CHEERS episode the day before, while on the Paramount lot tour. The only missing cast member was....Woody Harrelson, shooting White Men Can't Jump. They had a stage hand rehearse his lines with the actors.

7. The steps that lead down to the CHEERS front door (and also the stairs leading to Melville) led to nowhere, and cast members usually just waited at the top platform until their cue came up. I remember George Wendt looking bored before his cue called for him to walk down the steps and say: "Afternoon, everybody..."

Last edited by jeffkjoe; 01-17-02 at 09:38 PM.
Old 01-19-02, 12:17 PM
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I saw a live taping of The Bozo Show (the Chicago one) when I was a kid. My uncle knew someone who worked on the show, so he got my family tickets right in the front row for a taping on my sister's birthday. She almost got picked to play a game, but her number was off by one, I think.

I almost went to Tonight Show when I was in LA in the summer of 98. I wrote to NBC requesting 4 tickets for one day, and they sent me 2 tickets for a different day - a day we had tickets for the Dodgers-Astros game, so I didn't make it that time.

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