Shot In Front of a Live Studio Audience

Well, it is what they call "Throwback Thursday."

Here's a vintage photo of the "I Love Lucy" studio audience.   They're the ones who invented the multi-camera process that sitcoms and viewers have thrived on for years.

Until recently.

It's been on my mind lately for a variety of reasons.   I just finished watching the first season of  Netflix' "Grace and Frankie" starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.   Over the thirteeen episodes, the show grew on me and I got some laughs.

And, when I was done, I realized that I will likely never watch an episode of it again.

I'm a huge fan of "The Middle," but I have never watched a single rerun.   The same with "Modern Family."   And "Sex In The City."

There's a pattern forming.

Ask me how many times I have watched multiple viewings of "Friends."  And "Seinfeld."   And "Cheers" and "Frasier" and "Dick Van Dyke."  I lost count how many times I have watched the entire series of "Everybody Loves Raymond."

And then there's "I Love Lucy," which I can virtually recite verbatim.

So what's the difference, folks?

Duh.

It's the live studio audience that makes repeated views easy to take.  The real, genuine laughter of people enhances a particular show and turns into a community event, no matter how many times you've watched Laura Petrie slide out of the closet on a pile of walnuts.  

If you look at the TV ratings of single-camera sitcom reruns to those shot in front of the giddy audience, you'll see that I am right.  The former does not score as well.   Heck, some of the Lucy escapades are over 60 years old and they are still making us laugh.  

A few years back, TV Land got into the act and started to produce new sitcoms that were proudly announced as being "shot in front of a live studio audience." Sadly, they got rid of most of them.  And I will counter that, ten years from now, folks will be laughing at "Hot in Cleveland" reruns while the likes of "Impastor" and "The Jim Gaffigan Show" gather dust on the tape shelves.

The genuine and organic laughter you hear also infuses energy into your life.   Of course, it also does the same when the show itself is being produced.  The actors feed off that give-and-take energy from those 200 spectators up on the bleachers.   I noticed that first hand when I got to hang around "Murphy Brown" for a while.

That show was indeed filmed in front of an audience.   But, there was one week where the special guest star had some sort of live audience phobia.  So they shot it scene by scene during the week to an empty house.   And you actually could see the difference in the performances of the regular cast.   They were just a little bit off.  

We don't get to experience the town hall of television comedy anymore.   It's all very different when you watch it and have to figure out all on your own when you're supposed to laugh.

Give me the live studio audience any day.   That would be my vote.   And, hopefully, I'll get to pull that lever some day.

Dinner last night:  Had a big lunch so just some Greek yogurt.