Shows that went from film to tape and vice-versa

[anotherguyTN]

One thing that I used to not think about at the time but bugs me now is how some shows that were done before a live audience will stop everything for applause for a minute or more sometimes when one of the stars comes on stage. That just seems now like it's an interruption in the storyline that wastes several minutes in the show.

But then I've also noticed how some shows in the 60's like Andy Griffith and The Beverly Hillbillies will have what is obviously canned applause that seems out of place when some guest star comes on.

 

[azumanga]

The first few years of The Avengers (before Diana Rigg) were B&W straight to tape.

Some of those early episodes were shown live, and was never recorded, though a few live episodes survived as kinnies.

 

[ShawnHill1]

One thing that I used to not think about at the time but bugs me now is how some shows that were done before a live audience will stop everything for applause for a minute or more sometimes when one of the stars comes on stage. That just seems now like it's an interruption in the storyline that wastes several minutes in the show.

Married...with Children (in its later years especially) were notorious for this. David Garrison, and in one of his return appearances as Steve Rhoades, had to sit through a rather-lengthy applause and was seen on camera looking at his watch, looking kind of annoyed. Later episodes of Good Times usually had lengthy applauses for Jimmie Walker whenever he entered the scene, of course, not to mention the long applause that Esther Rolle received when she made return to the show in the first episode of season six...it lasted a maybe a good minute-plus.

 

[Stanislav]

One thing that I used to not think about at the time but bugs me now is how some shows that were done before a live audience will stop everything for applause for a minute or more sometimes when one of the stars comes on stage. That just seems now like it's an interruption in the storyline that wastes several minutes in the show.

Married...with Children (in its later years especially) were notorious for this. David Garrison, and in one of his return appearances as Steve Rhoades, had to sit through a rather-lengthy applause and was seen on camera looking at his watch, looking kind of annoyed. Later episodes of Good Times usually had lengthy applauses for Jimmie Walker whenever he entered the scene, of course, not to mention the long applause that Esther Rolle received when she made return to the show in the first episode of season six...it lasted a maybe a good minute-plus.

Many live audience sitcoms have had this schtick.....think of how The Fonz was always greeted with applause when he made his first appearance each episode of Happy Days. Or Kramer's entrances in earlier seasons of Seinfeld. (I believe Michael Richards eventually asked that the audience be instructed not to do that, as he felt it threw his timing off.) In MWC, not just applause frequently interrupted the show, but the "oohs" and catcalls and such at catty insults and other lines. You even hear Arsenio-like barking sometimes. It is annoying, and I often wonder how much of this sort of thing is spontaneous, and how much is orchestrated by coaching the audience -- methinks much more the latter.

It's a very American practice that you almost never encounter in U.K. sitcoms. Oh sure, the audience might burst into spontaneous applause whenever Mr. Humphries turned up in one of the outrageous costumes/disguises they gave him over the years in Are You Being Served?, but you generally don't hear applause for normal entrances of everyday characters. One exception was the quirky neighbor character Sonia on Fresh Fields, whose entrances ("It's only Sonia!") started to be anticipated and applauded, leading to much British hand-wringing over such creeping "Americanization" of their TV shows. <s>

 

[kirkiefan]

A lot of shows produce in England in the 1970s were noted for using both film (on location) and videotape (in the studio). This can be seen in such British shows as Doctor In The House,The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine and of course Monty Python's Flying Circus.

 

[wbhist]

A lot of shows produce in England in the 1970s were noted for using both film (on location) and videotape (in the studio). This can be seen in such British shows as Doctor In The House,The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine and of course Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Not to mention Doctor Who and The Benny Hill Show.

 

[onairb]

One thing that I used to not think about at the time but bugs me now is how some shows that were done before a live audience will stop everything for applause for a minute or more sometimes when one of the stars comes on stage. That just seems now like it's an interruption in the storyline that wastes several minutes in the show.

Married...with Children (in its later years especially) were notorious for this. David Garrison, and in one of his return appearances as Steve Rhoades, had to sit through a rather-lengthy applause and was seen on camera looking at his watch, looking kind of annoyed. Later episodes of Good Times usually had lengthy applauses for Jimmie Walker whenever he entered the scene, of course, not to mention the long applause that Esther Rolle received when she made return to the show in the first episode of season six...it lasted a maybe a good minute-plus.

Many live audience sitcoms have had this schtick.....think of how The Fonz was always greeted with applause when he made his first appearance each episode of Happy Days. Or Kramer's entrances in earlier seasons of Seinfeld. (I believe Michael Richards eventually asked that the audience be instructed not to do that, as he felt it threw his timing off.) In MWC, not just applause frequently interrupted the show, but the "oohs" and catcalls and such at catty insults and other lines. You even hear Arsenio-like barking sometimes. It is annoying, and I often wonder how much of this sort of thing is spontaneous, and how much is orchestrated by coaching the audience -- methinks much more the latter.

It's a very American practice that you almost never encounter in U.K. sitcoms. Oh sure, the audience might burst into spontaneous applause whenever Mr. Humphries turned up in one of the outrageous costumes/disguises they gave him over the years in Are You Being Served?, but you generally don't hear applause for normal entrances of everyday characters.

There were a few 'season opening' episodes in the later years of 'AYBS?' in which all the regulars were greeted by applause as they made their entrances-notably the 1977 episode, in which everyone 'returned from the holidays'-and James Hayter as Mr. Tebbs was introduced as the 'replacement' for the late Arthur Brough as Mr. Granger.

 

[Stanislav]

One thing that I used to not think about at the time but bugs me now is how some shows that were done before a live audience will stop everything for applause for a minute or more sometimes when one of the stars comes on stage. That just seems now like it's an interruption in the storyline that wastes several minutes in the show.

Married...with Children (in its later years especially) were notorious for this. David Garrison, and in one of his return appearances as Steve Rhoades, had to sit through a rather-lengthy applause and was seen on camera looking at his watch, looking kind of annoyed. Later episodes of Good Times usually had lengthy applauses for Jimmie Walker whenever he entered the scene, of course, not to mention the long applause that Esther Rolle received when she made return to the show in the first episode of season six...it lasted a maybe a good minute-plus.

Many live audience sitcoms have had this schtick.....think of how The Fonz was always greeted with applause when he made his first appearance each episode of Happy Days. Or Kramer's entrances in earlier seasons of Seinfeld. (I believe Michael Richards eventually asked that the audience be instructed not to do that, as he felt it threw his timing off.) In MWC, not just applause frequently interrupted the show, but the "oohs" and catcalls and such at catty insults and other lines. You even hear Arsenio-like barking sometimes. It is annoying, and I often wonder how much of this sort of thing is spontaneous, and how much is orchestrated by coaching the audience -- methinks much more the latter.

It's a very American practice that you almost never encounter in U.K. sitcoms. Oh sure, the audience might burst into spontaneous applause whenever Mr. Humphries turned up in one of the outrageous costumes/disguises they gave him over the years in Are You Being Served?, but you generally don't hear applause for normal entrances of everyday characters.

There were a few 'season opening' episodes in the later years of 'AYBS?' in which all the regulars were greeted by applause as they made their entrances-notably the 1977 episode, in which everyone 'returned from the holidays'-and James Hayter as Mr. Tebbs was introduced as the 'replacement' for the late Arthur Brough as Mr. Granger.

See, now even that I can justify -- especially with the short seasons they do in the U.K. (and sometimes even after delays of a year or more -- recall, for example, that the two series of Fawlty Towers were done 4 years apart), viewers sometimes have to wait quite some time for new episodes to be made. It's only natural that with a popular show like AYBS, the audience would be genuinely excited to see their favorite actors/characters back on the set, and respond with grateful applause as they appear. It's quite another thing with the U.S. shows in which a character is greeted by gratuitous applause in each and every episode.

 

[bpatrick]

One thing that I used to not think about at the time but bugs me now is how some shows that were done before a live audience will stop everything for applause for a minute or more sometimes when one of the stars comes on stage. That just seems now like it's an interruption in the storyline that wastes several minutes in the show.

Married...with Children (in its later years especially) were notorious for this. David Garrison, and in one of his return appearances as Steve Rhoades, had to sit through a rather-lengthy applause and was seen on camera looking at his watch, looking kind of annoyed. Later episodes of Good Times usually had lengthy applauses for Jimmie Walker whenever he entered the scene, of course, not to mention the long applause that Esther Rolle received when she made return to the show in the first episode of season six...it lasted a maybe a good minute-plus.

Many live audience sitcoms have had this schtick.....think of how The Fonz was always greeted with applause when he made his first appearance each episode of Happy Days. Or Kramer's entrances in earlier seasons of Seinfeld. (I believe Michael Richards eventually asked that the audience be instructed not to do that, as he felt it threw his timing off.) In MWC, not just applause frequently interrupted the show, but the "oohs" and catcalls and such at catty insults and other lines. You even hear Arsenio-like barking sometimes. It is annoying, and I often wonder how much of this sort of thing is spontaneous, and how much is orchestrated by coaching the audience -- methinks much more the latter.

It's a very American practice that you almost never encounter in U.K. sitcoms. Oh sure, the audience might burst into spontaneous applause whenever Mr. Humphries turned up in one of the outrageous costumes/disguises they gave him over the years in Are You Being Served?, but you generally don't hear applause for normal entrances of everyday characters. One exception was the quirky neighbor character Sonia on Fresh Fields, whose entrances ("It's only Sonia!") started to be anticipated and applauded, leading to much British hand-wringing over such creeping "Americanization" of their TV shows. <s>

Nothing new about it. Watch the Classic 39 "Honeymooners"; Gleason, Carney,
and Audrey Meadows are nearly always greeted with enthusiastic applause.

And re "The Odd Couple," I totally agree that the show seemed more energetic
when it started filming in front of a live audience, but I think that increasingly
Neil Simon saw the show as Garry Marshall's vision, not his, and tried to distance
himself from it.

 

[bpatrick]

From across the pond, the first 2 series (seasons) of the wonderful Lenny Henry sitcom Chef! were shot (very beautifully) on film, while the third series used tape.

If you've never viewed Chef!, seek it out if your PBS station carries it. Anyone who has worked in the kitchen of high-class restaurants will tell you that they have encountered chefs as arrogant and bombastic as Gareth Blackstock (Henry), though they probably weren't nearly as creative in the quality and variety of their insults and abuse. (Henry obviously had better writers...) <g>

Haven't seen it in a while, but a great show. Wish there had been more eps, but oh well.

Well, those short seasons are the British way. They do just 6-12 eps at a time instead of 22+, which means they spend more time and care on each episode and usually maintain the same writers all the way through. That accounts for both the quality and consistency/continuity of U.K. shows.

I have read that in Britain, producers and writers are told to come up with
as many episodes as they can without straining. Elsewhere, someone
mentioned that "The Prisoner" was short-lived, but Patrick McGoohan planned
for only seventeen episodes. The beauty of that, besides the high quality of
the shows, is that it's easier to project the budget, plus they don't have to
resort to the occasional "gimmick" so common on American shows that have
been on for years and are clearly on their last legs.

 

[Stanislav]

From across the pond, the first 2 series (seasons) of the wonderful Lenny Henry sitcom Chef! were shot (very beautifully) on film, while the third series used tape.

If you've never viewed Chef!, seek it out if your PBS station carries it. Anyone who has worked in the kitchen of high-class restaurants will tell you that they have encountered chefs as arrogant and bombastic as Gareth Blackstock (Henry), though they probably weren't nearly as creative in the quality and variety of their insults and abuse. (Henry obviously had better writers...) <g>

Haven't seen it in a while, but a great show. Wish there had been more eps, but oh well.

Well, those short seasons are the British way. They do just 6-12 eps at a time instead of 22+, which means they spend more time and care on each episode and usually maintain the same writers all the way through. That accounts for both the quality and consistency/continuity of U.K. shows.

I have read that in Britain, producers and writers are told to come up with
as many episodes as they can without straining. Elsewhere, someone
mentioned that "The Prisoner" was short-lived, but Patrick McGoohan planned
for only seventeen episodes. The beauty of that, besides the high quality of
the shows, is that it's easier to project the budget, plus they don't have to
resort to the occasional "gimmick" so common on American shows that have
been on for years and are clearly on their last legs.

Not to mention the time- and budget-saving "clip shows" that almost every sitcom eventually resorts to in order to pad out a season. {GROAN}

 

[onairb]

From across the pond, the first 2 series (seasons) of the wonderful Lenny Henry sitcom Chef! were shot (very beautifully) on film, while the third series used tape.

If you've never viewed Chef!, seek it out if your PBS station carries it. Anyone who has worked in the kitchen of high-class restaurants will tell you that they have encountered chefs as arrogant and bombastic as Gareth Blackstock (Henry), though they probably weren't nearly as creative in the quality and variety of their insults and abuse. (Henry obviously had better writers...) <g>

Haven't seen it in a while, but a great show. Wish there had been more eps, but oh well.

Well, those short seasons are the British way. They do just 6-12 eps at a time instead of 22+, which means they spend more time and care on each episode and usually maintain the same writers all the way through. That accounts for both the quality and consistency/continuity of U.K. shows.

I have read that in Britain, producers and writers are told to come up with
as many episodes as they can without straining. Elsewhere, someone
mentioned that "The Prisoner" was short-lived, but Patrick McGoohan planned
for only seventeen episodes. The beauty of that, besides the high quality of
the shows, is that it's easier to project the budget, plus they don't have to
resort to the occasional "gimmick" so common on American shows that have
been on for years and are clearly on their last legs.

Not to mention the time- and budget-saving "clip shows" that almost every sitcom eventually resorts to in order to pad out a season. {GROAN}

Even some of the 'Britcoms' of the '90s, such as Keeping Up Apperances, As Time Goes By, and even AYBS?(by then in its second incarnation as Grace and Favour in the UK, or Are You Being Served? Again!in the US) had 'clip shows' of a sort...though they were 'Pledge Break specials', done on the cheap, in conjunction with PBS stations that had been airing the reruns in this country for several years. Not sure if any of those specials actually aired in the UK(the 'AYBS' one contained jokes and references especially geared toward American viewers), though I think BBC did have retrospectives for As Time Goes By and KUA, which may or may not have been the same specials aired on PBS.(An actual 'reunion episode', not just a clip show, for As Time Goes By did air on BBC around 2000, and has been reshown regularly on PBS stations carrying that show ever since.)

 

[Ultimajock]

A lot of shows produce in England in the 1970s were noted for using both film (on location) and videotape (in the studio). This can be seen in such British shows as Doctor In The House,The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine and of course Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Not to mention Doctor Who and The Benny Hill Show.

...and Dave Allen at Large and Fawlty Towers...

 

[Ultimajock]

Elsewhere, someone
mentioned that "The Prisoner" was short-lived, but Patrick McGoohan planned
for only seventeen episodes.

...yes and no. McGoohan's original idea was actually to do only seven episodes; Lew Grade of ITC, who was executive producer of The Prisoner, initially demanded it be at least 26 episodes long so that he could sell it to CBS in the U.S. Eventually, McGoohan and Grade compromised and they did seventeen, of which McGoohan only considered the first six and the final ("Fall Out") to be the real series, and the rest only padding...

 

[anotherguyTN]

A lot of shows produce in England in the 1970s were noted for using both film (on location) and videotape (in the studio). This can be seen in such British shows as Doctor In The House,The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine and of course Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Not to mention Doctor Who and The Benny Hill Show.

...and Dave Allen at Large and Fawlty Towers...

The Red Green Show in Canada did this as well.

 

[azumanga]

A lot of shows produce in England in the 1970s were noted for using both film (on location) and videotape (in the studio). This can be seen in such British shows as Doctor In The House,The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine and of course Monty Python's Flying Circus.

The Red Green Show in Canada did this as well.

I thought all Red Green episodes were 100% videotape or digital, with the show processed to look like it was filmed?

 

[Stanislav]

A lot of shows produce in England in the 1970s were noted for using both film (on location) and videotape (in the studio). This can be seen in such British shows as Doctor In The House,The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine and of course Monty Python's Flying Circus.

The Red Green Show in Canada did this as well.

I thought all Red Green episodes were 100% videotape or digital, with the show processed to look like it was filmed?

That was my impression -- the studio and location scenes both have the same "film" look.

 

[anotherguyTN]

You may be correct in that the outdoor scenes on Red Green may have been taped but are processed to look filmed. But the indoor scenes do looked taped, at least on the episodes I've seen. I'm basing that on the episodes that are on my local PBS station that come from only 2 or 3 seasons that they keep repeating and run from between 1994 and 2001, and from my tapes and DVDs that I have. Some shows, especially the earlier ones, may have been filmed or have a filmed look.

This brings up another issue. I thought I had read where some shows were taped before an audience and then transferred to film. I think I remember reading this about Cheers, but there may be others. There are also shows that would be filmed but would occasionally have segments that were supposed to be from a live TV broadcast that looked taped. I can remember seeing this on Cheers and Seinfeld, but I don't know if they are still that way in reruns.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I just found this video on You tube that goes into the difference between film and tape on TV, and how they look on HDTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVpABCxiDaU&t=638s

 

[Route66Fan]

You may be correct in that the outdoor scenes on Red Green may have been taped but are processed to look filmed. But the indoor scenes do looked taped, at least on the episodes I've seen. I'm basing that on the episodes that are on my local PBS station that come from only 2 or 3 seasons that they keep repeating and run from between 1994 and 2001, and from my tapes and DVDs that I have. Some shows, especially the earlier ones, may have been filmed or have a filmed look.

This brings up another issue. I thought I had read where some shows were taped before an audience and then transferred to film. I think I remember reading this about Cheers, but there may be others. There are also shows that would be filmed but would occasionally have segments that were supposed to be from a live TV broadcast that looked taped. I can remember seeing this on Cheers and Seinfeld, but I don't know if they are still that way in reruns.

I've seen all 300 episodes of The Red Green Show, & from what I remember, the first 5, or so, seasons were videotaped & mostly unprocessed, with the exception of the "Adventures with Bill" skits (Which, from what I understand, were videotaped & then were heavily processed to look like film.). I think that they switched to a fully processed film look when the show moved to the CBC in 1997 (There were, at least, a couple of episodes made after 1997 that were, for some reason, mostly unprocessed.).