TPIR Live on CBS. Would it be worth it?

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 01:27 AM\'] How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up?

Jonathan Allen [/quote]
 I would guess they wouldn't want to risk having any impov that fell flat on the show.  Also, the press attention associated with doing a live show.  They might have feared that ET would send over Pat O'Brien to cover the story and they wanted to avoid that possibility.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 02:27 AM\'] "ER" did a live season premiere in 1997 (actually, they did it twice for the East and West Coasts), as well as the TV movie "Fail Safe" in 2000. Ironically, both starred George Clooney!! [/quote]
 That's neither ironic nor even a coincidence.  Clooney pretty much spearheaded both efforts to go live.

Oh, and "The Drew Carey Show" also did a live episode sometime in 2001 or '02. How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up?

Jimmy nailed that one.  They typically did a couple hours of improv to come up with one half-hour show  A live show would suffer creatively compared to what they could normally air.  Also, there's the issue of the comics doing something -- accidentally or not -- that might be inappropriate.

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 07:37 AM\'] I would guess they wouldn't want to risk having any impov that fell flat on the show.  Also, the press attention associated with doing a live show.  They might have feared that ET would send over Pat O'Brien to cover the story and they wanted to avoid that possibility. [/quote]
 Hell, they had Richard Simmons and Lassie, would Pat O'Brien be that much of a sink?

Matt Ottinger

Also, there's the issue of the comics doing something -- accidentally or not -- that might be inappropriate.

Which seems to be the point of most of the shows, not that I'm complaining

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 01:35 PM\']Hell, they had Richard Simmons and Lassie, would Pat O'Brien be that much of a sink?
[/quote]
I hope they didn't give Lassie the host role in Party Quirks.

LASSIE:  Bark!  Bark!  Bark!

DREW:  That's right girl, Colin was a Britney Spears stalker!

[passwordplus]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 03:45 PM\'] [quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 01:29 PM\']I think the problem with a live TPiR is that the games would have to be selected to require the least effort in staging - and that would shift things more toward Double Prices and Coming or Going, rather than Plinko and Triple Play.  Combine that with the previously-stated point that TPiR looks pretty much live on a day-to-day basis, and you're pretty much back to "why bother?"[/quote]
I think CBS exec's wondered if the show could be done live and Barker said that the crew was so talented, it could be done. IIRC, that same day, something went wrong with That's too much. He said something like "And I told people we could do this show live". I'm just guessing it was a thought of trying something new.

They've already taken the show on the road and done numerous primetime specials. What's really left to do that hasn't been done?

Wonder who they would salute? Maybe, the crew. [/quote]
 Wasn't the "Bill Cullen" version of TPIR from the late '50s live? If so, then technically it has already been done.

It seems like it could not fit in one hour, maybe two. I can vision about 20 crew members trying to push the Plinko game out of the way, while 20 more are setting up the big wheel(not). It would be a major putt bain for them without a doubt.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 03:52 PM\'] It seems like it could not fit in one hour, maybe two. I can vision about 20 crew members trying to push the Plinko game out of the way, while 20 more are setting up the big wheel(not). It would be a major putt bain for them without a doubt. [/quote]
 It's probably doable, but just from my own experience--the taping I attended on June 15 (slated to air exactly one month from today) took about an hour and 15 minutes in real time to do (not spoiling anything here, just stating a fact--I will have a question for the TPiR vets here but AFTER the eppy airs).  I know that extra 15 minutes doesn't sound like much, but trying to trim those gaps out for a live airing could be a major headache, even as outstanding as the crew in 33 is.

I'll be sure to remind everyone as we get closer to the airdate (so that it's safe to hide the women and children from the TV screen ;-) ).

Doug -- and the countdown to 600 continues

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 02:27 AM\'] ... How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up? [/quote]
 Here's something you probably didn't know: for each taping, they play enough games for two or three episodes.  Then the [Variety]exex[/Variety] piece the shows together from the footage.

[MSTieScott]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 01:27 AM\']How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up?[/quote]
I always assumed it was because whenever "The Drew Carey Show" did a live episode (they did more than one), they had pretty much the entire cast of "Whose Line" on and kept interrupting the plot to do short improvised bits.


On the subject of a live TPiR... I don't doubt that the show could be staged to get all of the games and prizes in and out during the breaks (Plinko would have to be later, though, because they combine the first and second acts into one act in prime time). The trick is in the showcases, which are the things that always slow down the pace of the taping. Especially troublesome is the fact that if they're doing prime time, they like to get a big-ticket vehicle in each of the showcases, which makes staging incredibly difficult. They'd pretty much be stuck with offering one sportscar per showcase, because I can't see them risking a huge boat or motorhome not hitting its mark in time. Here's the only way I see it working:

Showcase one:
Two prizes consecutively behind door number one (either two trips, which are already loaded before the taping, or a trip and a prize (the prize can be loaded during the Showcase Showdown).
Followed by a vehicle behind door number three (also loaded during the Showcase Showdown).

Showcase two:
A prize on the turntable (loaded during the Showcase Showdown or commercial).
A "thin" prize that can be placed in front of the vehicle that's still sitting behind door number three (they do this all the time with entertainment centers and clocks and motorcyles and such).
A vehicle behind door number two (by this time, all props from previous acts have been cleared away, the final vehicle has been rolled in, and the cyc closed... hopefully).

This also makes things easy for the final act, because remember, either showcase has to be available to be displayed again depending on who wins. Or both showcases!

They'd also have to drop the guaranteed million-dollar spin unless they could clear enough space behind the turntable to move the big wheel back there during the showcases (they've done it before).

The only problem left would be getting the two cameras that shoot the showcases to hit all of their marks in time. Yep, only two cameras shoot all of the prizes in the showcases. At least in daytime. For primetime, does the jib replace a floor camera, or do they shoot with five cameras?


With a lot of planning, it could be done, but like everybody else has said, would it be worth the stress?


--
Scott Robinson

[cmjb13]

On the subject of a live TPiR... I don't doubt that the show could be staged to get all of the games and prizes in and out during the breaks (Plinko would have to be later, though, because they combine the first and second acts into one act in prime time).

The first & second act are done separately. Bob throws it to Rich after the 1st game, but at that point, a break is done to setup the next game. It's not as fluid as you see it on TV. You can see the edit if you look hard enough.

With a lot of planning, it could be done, but like everybody else has said, would it be worth the stress?

It's stressful enough with Primetime specials that are taped. I wouldn't want to be put through that. Remember that CBS is pushing for these specials, not Fremantle. The subject of another road show keeps coming up and I say the same thing. It's not worth it. They aren't going to get any extra ratings (slightly, if any). Difference there is they can get a lot of money from another venue for the show as opposed to CBS.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 06:28 PM\'][quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 02:27 AM\'] ... How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up? [/quote]
Here's something you probably didn't know: for each taping, they play enough games for two or three episodes.  Then the [Variety]exex[/Variety] piece the shows together from the footage.[/quote]
On the British version, the stuff that didn't make it into the regular eps were taken care of in an "outtakes" episode, of which there were one or two every season.  Those eps generally have Clive doing an opening sans audience explaining what you're about to see, a series of effects separating the games and credits played over freeze frames instead of the usual "read the credits in a style..."  One outtakes show had a series of bloopers, introed by Clive with a reference to "It'll Be Alright on the Night," the UK TV bloopers show (which has a reciprocal material agreement with Dick Clark's bloopers specials).

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 24 2004, 02:27 PM\'] On the British version, the stuff that didn't make it into the regular eps were taken care of in an "outtakes" episode, of which there were one or two every season.  Those eps generally have Clive doing an opening sans audience explaining what you're about to see, a series of effects separating the games and credits played over freeze frames instead of the usual "read the credits in a style..." [/quote]
 This was done...once, I think, on the US version. They did a "Best of WLIIA" which featured mostly not before seen clips from Drews version (the difference being that they had an audience for that one).

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Aug 24 2004, 02:22 PM\']

On the subject of a live TPiR... I don't doubt that the show could be staged to get all of the games and prizes in and out during the breaks (Plinko would have to be later, though, because they combine the first and second acts into one act in prime time).

The first & second act are done separately. [/quote]
 Not if the show's airing live, they're not.