It’s a fact of LA life that we get to see in our ordinary life extraordinary people, i.e. movie stars, doing ordinary things.
Like food shopping. I saw Linda Hunt of CSI LA in the produce department of Gelson’s Market. It must have been a long day on the set because she looked pissed.
And shoe shopping. I watched Debra Mazur try on shoes in a local department store. Her eyes really are that blue.
Or filming. Lots and lots of filming. Despite the City of LA quoting woeful numbers of film permits being pulled, a drive through LA on any day will reveal somewhere the ubiquitous trucks and vans and honey wagons and star trailers that signal some TV show or movie is being shot right there on the spot as you walk by. All in a day’s work.
As is the indoor filming of those extravaganza reality competitions that are, hopefully, the cash cow of many a network. All the razzmatazz you see in the studio audience when you’re watching shows like American Idol or The Voice or America’s Got Talent is the product the production team’s hard work.
I got to see this a couple of week’s ago, when I went to a taping of America’s Got Talent (AGT). This was not some blogger thing but the result of my nephew having auditioned. He didn’t make it, but his mother scored a couple of tickets to the second or third day of taping of the season starting this week.
This was the view from our seats. And we were in the second row of the first balcony. That big X marks the spot where the contestants do their acts. If you watch AGT, you know that the acts are maybe a third of program. The real show is Howard and Howie and Heidi and Mel B doing their schtick.
The gang of four was all there; we just couldn’t see them. Those glossy desks they sit at are some four feet this side of the stage. Hidden from our view. Totally. Also there and thus MIA was the comedian whose job it is to pump up the audience and make sure they shout and laugh and clap on cue. So two-thirds of the show was out of our sight.Totally.
It takes four hours to tape a 50 minute program. For most of that time, we sat in the dark in the balcony and listened and waited and clapped on cue and waited some more. This was not only hard work for the production crew, it was hard work for the audience as well. By the end of the four hours, I was, to put it mildly, annoyed. So much so that I refused to applaud on cue for the last hour. If I was part of the show–the razzmatazz, the hoopalah, the wild cheering that signals this is a terrific show–I should have been paid. Just like extras in film and TV are.
So if you watch AGT this week and the audience response is a little thin, don’t blame me. I was doing my bit for the unionization of audience members. Standing up for the little guy, like the good Progressive I am.
Oh yes, being on-set is soooo boring. I take my hat off to you for staying so long.
I used to work as a staff writer for the Latino version of Let’s make a deal, and I know exactly what you’re talking about… being an audience of a life show is hard work…
We get jaded, in L.A. People from all over the country are like, “You got to watch a taping of XYZ SHow?!?” like we got to go flying with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. IRL, there’s SO much waiting around and cheer here, clap here, that mostly, we’re like “Should’ve had a V-8!”
I do enjoy watching that show sometimes, appreciate that you took one for the team and saved me from ever thinking about going for a live taping.
I watch AGT. And I know what you mean about the taping part. And audience participation. And speaking of seeing celebrities, I had lunch at counter with Bonnie Franklin. Well, I was sitting at the same counter where she was sitting and for most of the lunch I thought she was a high school friend. It took me forever to realize she was on TV.
Haven’t seen AGT … not a Howard fan, not a Howie fan. But I do agree you should have been paid for your efforts … just like we bloggers should get paid for ours!