The move to Haven gave the show the opportunity to do what they have wanted to do for years even back in Studio 33...Shrink the audience size to reduce the cost for seat fillers.

I had heard they wanted to remove rows of seats after Barker retired. Remember that when Drew took over, they were allowing previous contestants to be on the show again as long as their previous appearance was at least 10 years prior. They certainly didn't do this out of the kindness of their heart. They did it because there was fear they would have issues filling audiences with a new host. Encouraging former contestants to audition again would also not require seat fillers

How many seats did Monty's LMAD have at the ABC Prospect studios?  That studio looked to be more on par with today's TPIR at Haven.

When I was at the show, there was a DVD lying around the office of a season 35 episode that had no sweetening, presumably pressed to see whether sweetening was necessary. Personally, I thought the audience levels sounded fine throughout the episode. I will admit, though, that the audience had tuckered out by the time the credits got rolling -- I could understand sweetening that.

It wasn't evident in that test episode, but there have been plenty of tapings where as soon as the final contestant was called to come on down, the audience went comparatively dead. I could imagine some days when sweetening would be desirable from act six onward.

Along those lines, my first thought was canned laughter. Certainly back when Bob was making the "37 hours" joke for the hundredth time.

Can confirm. I remember the first time I was a page standing at the base of the stairs and they played Range Game. Bob delivered his 37 hours line and I, knowing the beats of the show, dutifully laughed. I was the only person who did.

I owe the final ep of GO! a thank you.  First time I ever saw NBC camera operators get the credit they deserved.

Quote from: clemon79 on October 31, 2025, 03:20:26 PM

Quote from: aaron sica on October 30, 2025, 01:33:00 PM

Would you see George Wendt in a bean-eating movie?

If this is like "Ass" from Idiocracy, where it's just George sitting in a chair facing the camera head-on housing two or three cans of Heinz Beanz for 90 minutes, maybe a little small talk to break the fourth wall, I'd watch the hell out of that.

Make it a compilation of Norm sarcastically telling Sam/Coach/Woody how his day is going, and I'm right there with you...

"It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear!"

Would you see George Wendt in a bean-eating movie?

If this is like "Ass" from Idiocracy, where it's just George sitting in a chair facing the camera head-on housing two or three cans of Heinz Beanz for 90 minutes, maybe a little small talk to break the fourth wall, I'd watch the hell out of that.

/especially Act III when the Beanz start kicking in