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Author Topic: TPIR Pre-Dawn Lines @ TV City  (Read 5954 times)

TimK2003

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TPIR Pre-Dawn Lines @ TV City
« on: May 29, 2008, 08:55:49 PM »
Now that Drew has established himself on TPIR, and that he now has his daily legion of Drew-BiesŪ attending the show donning Drew shirts and the like, how are the current contestant lines shaping up compared to the lines seen in the last few years of the Barker regime?

I may be going out to LA on business in September, and wanted to find out how late you can still get there nowadays to still be assured a seat in the studio?

Mr. Armadillo

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TPIR Pre-Dawn Lines @ TV City
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2008, 10:49:42 AM »
As usual, the true answer is 'depends on the day', but I'd suspect you could show up surprisingly late, especially for the 4pm taping.  

Lemme check to see if there's any recent updates on the lines from g-r, but when I went to the MDS's last February...actually, that's a bad example.  Lines were way down, and one of the late tapings actually had seat fillers.  I was able to see both tapings on both Tuesday and Wednesday of that week...I believe I was #244 and #285 (or something like that), despite not actually being 'in line' for the 4pm taping until about 2:30pm.

EDIT:  Here's the most recent report on the lines, courtesy of Voltron291 from his trip 2.5 weeks ago:

Quote
we camped out since 10 the night before to secure priority numbers 1, 2, and 3 <...>  The next group arrived at midnight, and then Michael’s group and April’s group arrived around 2 AM.  Nobody else arrived until about 3 hours later

So yeah, the lines aren't exactly buzzing at this point.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2008, 10:55:45 AM by Mr. Armadillo »

cmjb13

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« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2008, 12:13:54 PM »
[quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'187074\' date=\'May 30 2008, 10:49 AM\']
Lines were way down, and one of the late tapings actually had seat fillers
[/quote]
This is nothing new. Since I don't work on the show, I don't know how attendance is going. But some things make me think they could be doing better.

-More usage of seat fillers (happened with Barker as well)

-Sites like hollywoodtickets.com and tvtix.com listing tickets available for almost every taping (I only saw this a few times with Barker and even then there was only availability for a few tape dates)

-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)

-Lifting the ban on contestants playing again (IMO, to encourage more people to come to fill the audience)

Again, just my opinion.
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Joe Mello

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TPIR Pre-Dawn Lines @ TV City
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2008, 12:42:04 PM »
[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:13 PM\']
-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)[/quote]
They plug it sometimes on the show.
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tpirfan28

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TPIR Pre-Dawn Lines @ TV City
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2008, 12:47:02 PM »
[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'187084\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:42 PM\']
[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:13 PM\']
-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)[/quote]
They plug it sometimes on the show.
[/quote]
800-852-8909.  Seems to be plugged every week or so, with the e-ticket plug used the rest of the time.

/miss 78-hundred, Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 9-double-oh-3-6
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clemon79

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« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2008, 01:12:28 PM »
[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 09:13 AM\']
This is nothing new. Since I don't work on the show, I don't know how attendance is going. But some things make me think they could be doing better.[/quote]
Why is it a problem that people can actually go to see the show without having to turn the whole thing into a religious pilgrimage?
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J.R.

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« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2008, 02:43:56 PM »
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187090\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:12 PM\']Why is it a problem that people can actually go to see the show without having to turn the whole thing into a religious pilgrimage?[/quote]
Or depriving yourself of a night's worth of sleep while hanging out in the heart of a downtown famous for its crime and air pollution.
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SRIV94

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« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2008, 03:39:45 PM »
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187090\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:12 PM\']
[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 09:13 AM\']
This is nothing new. Since I don't work on the show, I don't know how attendance is going. But some things make me think they could be doing better.[/quote]
Why is it a problem that people can actually go to see the show without having to turn the whole thing into a religious pilgrimage?
[/quote]
I don't know if I call it a problem, but I do wonder about whether the show continues to be viable (and this is not coming from a Barker worshipper).  Dwindling audience interest/attendance could be a sign that it isn't (even if many of us seem to like what Drew is doing).
Doug
----------------------------------------
"When you see the crawl at the end of the show you will see a group of talented people who will all be moving over to other shows...the cameramen aren't are on that list, but they're not talented people."  John Davidson, TIME MACHINE (4/26/85)

clemon79

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« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2008, 03:49:11 PM »
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187105\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:39 PM\']
I don't know if I call it a problem, but I do wonder about whether the show continues to be viable (and this is not coming from a Barker worshipper).  Dwindling audience interest/attendance could be a sign that it isn't (even if many of us seem to like what Drew is doing).
[/quote]
Dwindling attendance means not jack-shiat so long as the TV ratings hold steady. CBS needs whatever-the-capacity-of-the-studio-is (put your hand down, Gavazzi) for each show, and no more, to produce exactly the same show they have been producing for 30+ years. This is simply market-correction.
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SRIV94

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TPIR Pre-Dawn Lines @ TV City
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2008, 03:55:23 PM »
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187107\' date=\'May 30 2008, 02:49 PM\']
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187105\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:39 PM\']
I don't know if I call it a problem, but I do wonder about whether the show continues to be viable (and this is not coming from a Barker worshipper).  Dwindling audience interest/attendance could be a sign that it isn't (even if many of us seem to like what Drew is doing).
[/quote]
Dwindling attendance means not jack-shiat so long as the TV ratings hold steady. CBS needs whatever-the-capacity-of-the-studio-is (put your hand down, Gavazzi) for each show, and no more, to produce exactly the same show they have been producing for 30+ years. This is simply market-correction.
[/quote]
I get that.  The bigger question is how much of a correlation there is between the ratings and less audience attendance.  Does the fact that attendance is dwindling in fact mean that the ratings are falling?
Doug
----------------------------------------
"When you see the crawl at the end of the show you will see a group of talented people who will all be moving over to other shows...the cameramen aren't are on that list, but they're not talented people."  John Davidson, TIME MACHINE (4/26/85)

Joe Mello

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« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2008, 04:17:32 PM »
My opinion is that the dwindling attendance is in part to three factors

1) It's not Barker
2) It's not Barker's last year
3) Drew's newness has worn off

A possible fourth could be the current tape schedule, but I don't know enough about it to venture a guess.
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clemon79

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« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2008, 05:25:38 PM »
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187110\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:55 PM\']
I get that.  The bigger question is how much of a correlation there is between the ratings and less audience attendance.  Does the fact that attendance is dwindling in fact mean that the ratings are falling?[/quote]
Don't we have access to the ratings to find out?

My point is that I don't see why there WOULD be a correlation, because the product that is being presented on-screen is exactly the same so long as they can get 300-or-whatever (I said DOWN, Gavazzi! :)) people to sit in the studio.
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Steve Gavazzi

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« Reply #12 on: May 30, 2008, 05:37:43 PM »
I don't know the studio capacity, believe it or not. :-)

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'187086\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:47 PM\'][quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'187084\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:42 PM\'][quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:13 PM\']-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)[/quote]They plug it sometimes on the show.[/quote]800-852-8909.  Seems to be plugged every week or so, with the e-ticket plug used the rest of the time.[/quote]
It's done on the second taping each Wednesday.

And yes, I realize how dorky it is that I know that.

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187107\' date=\'May 30 2008, 03:49 PM\']Dwindling attendance means not jack-shiat so long as the TV ratings hold steady.[/quote]
Yeah...but from what I understand, they aren't.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2008, 05:38:35 PM by Steve Gavazzi »

SRIV94

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« Reply #13 on: May 30, 2008, 05:38:49 PM »
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187118\' date=\'May 30 2008, 04:25 PM\']
Don't we have access to the ratings to find out?
[/quote]
Last I saw was a VARIETY article Chris Bogart linked to indicating that ratings were down 15% (a number CBS "could live with").
Doug
----------------------------------------
"When you see the crawl at the end of the show you will see a group of talented people who will all be moving over to other shows...the cameramen aren't are on that list, but they're not talented people."  John Davidson, TIME MACHINE (4/26/85)

tvwxman

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TPIR Pre-Dawn Lines @ TV City
« Reply #14 on: May 30, 2008, 06:03:11 PM »
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187121\' date=\'May 30 2008, 05:38 PM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187118\' date=\'May 30 2008, 04:25 PM\']
Don't we have access to the ratings to find out?
[/quote]
Last I saw was a VARIETY article Chris Bogart linked to indicating that ratings were down 15% (a number CBS "could live with").
[/quote]
They can live with it, because primetime ratings, in many cases, are down 25%.

That's a win in the TPIR book.
-------------

Matt

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