Studio audience

A studio audience is an audience present for the filming of all or part of a television program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned laughter). Additionally, live studio audiences produce an energy from which the actors can feed off of, as well as push them to perform to the best of their abilities. Unlike relying on the ideal chuckles that a laugh track consistently provides, actors have to work for the laughs. A studio audience can also provide volunteers, a visual back-drop and discussion participants. On some game shows, contestants are taken from the studio audience, such as with The Price Is Right.

In some cases, a studio audience can be called upon to vote, to help a contestant(s) (such as with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) or pass judgment on a politician (such as with Question Time).

In the United States, tickets to be a part of a studio audience are usually given away for free as opposed to being paid admission. As an enticement to attend, one or more members of the audience may be selected to win a prize, which is usually provided by a manufacturer in exchange for an advertisement, usually at the end of the show.

For comedy television shows like All in the Family, Saturday Night Live and Happy Days (for indoor scenes), the use of a live studio audiences essentially turns them into de facto stage productions while shooting individual scenes, with minor problems like the audience applauding when favorite performers enter the stage. Shows like The Red Green Show, meanwhile, actually make the audience a part of the show - since that show is supposedly a television broadcast made from the (fictional) Possum Lodge, cast members react and speak directly to the audience as if they were talking to the viewers at home.

Brief history

In its earliest days, most television broadcasts stemmed from the world of New York theater. Performing in front of a crowd was something stage veterans knew how to do well. Starting in the 1940s, these plays were broadcast live. Thus, these plays were now directed towards both the live audience and those watching from home.

Premiering in 1951, I Love Lucy was the first television series to be filmed in front of an audience. This was made possible by the use of multiple cameras. This implementation allowed the show to benefit from the strengths of both stage plays (live audience) and film (camera angle options, point of view, etc.). This approach produced a marriage between cinema and theater; television and plays. Shows that subsequently adopted this concept include All in the Family, Cheers, The Jeffersons, Seinfield and Friends. More recent examples include The Big Bang Theory and 2 Broke Girls.

See also

• Laugh track