Me on TV!!

Someone mentioned that I hadn't posted a blog entry about being on TV. Mostly that's because I didn't think anyone actually read this thing. Shocker. I'll have to watch what I say from now on ;)

At any rate, due to a work connection (working for the CEO has occasional perks), I got to go to the April 30, 2007 live show/taping of ABC's Dancing With the Stars. It was a blast. I even got my face on tv, which is really super cool.

Someone sent me an email asking about a rumor that they'd heard the audience is just clapping for a blank stage, the whole show isn't really live. Below is my answer to their email:

I watched all the performances, and only a couple of times did they have us applaud for an empty stage, but that was in order to have some back-up to cut to in case something went wrong. I could see when there were red lights on the cameras pointed at the people, and they were definitely all live. And you can see the audience in the background while the dancers are dancing, so it's odd to say that we were watching an empty stage.

I think they may have re-taped a few of the host bits for the next broadcast because the audience was loud, but that's about the extent of it.

I can't vouch for the backstage interviews, since they're not interviewed in front of the audience (I don't recall any claiming to be in front of the audience, they always say they're going "backstage to get their scores"). However, they showed them on a split screen in the ballroom and they appeared to be reacting real-time to the judges scores, which are definitely live. So I would say that the backstage bits are live too.

The show is only performed once, so in California they're watching the taped version... but that's standard for any live show. American Idol, etc. all do the same thing.

Oh, and during the training sequences (those are obviously pre-taped) when you hear laughter, it's not canned, it's them showing the tape on screens to the audience. It was funny, the dancers are already out on stage while the snippet is showing, waiting for their dance to start. It's obvious that they'd never heard what their partner said in their interviews. Like when Joey was (kidding I'm sure) trash talking Ian and Apolo, his partner acted totally shocked that he'd said such a thing. It was cute.

Below is a picture a friend sent me that she took of her tv with her camera when I was on screen. I edited with Picasa a bit so it's easy to see me :) I haven't actually seen the whole show yet (got home too late on Monday, and had to watch my TiVo'd Heroes last night!), so if there's a better picture, I'll see if I can post that.