All seven of us sat together on the top row of the middle section. I was almost dead center on the stage. The location is great for an overall view of the set. But it's not the best place to hear what's going on. Every few rows, speakers are located underneath the chairs so that the audience can hear the actors. Unfortunately, the top row is above the last row of speakers. So there were times when I couldn't make out what the actors said. Plus right behind the back curtains is one of the technical booths. Sometimes I could hear the technicians better than the actors.

Since we were seated fairly early, I had plenty of time to look over the studio while the rest of the audience was seated. I had heard that the stage area was much smaller than appeared on television. But I wasn't prepared for just how much smaller it was in reality. I wish I could tell you that the playing area of the stage was X feet by Y feet. But I've never been very good at estimating dimensions. So you'll just have to trust me when I say, it's very small. The playing area isn't the only part of the studio that is distorted on TV. The area up where the actor's chairs are is much larger than it appears. On TV, it looks as if the chairs are near the edge of the riser, but they're set much farther back than they seem. There were times when three or four people could stand one in front of each other all of them in front of the chairs fixing mikes or make-up without any of them worried about falling off. The studio seems much longer from side to side on TV, as well. When the camera makes the long swoop across the audience at the beginning of the show or coming back from commercials, it seems as if the audience goes on forever. But the distance isn't really that far. Yet another distortion — the area between the stage and the audience where the four main cameras are seems much bigger on TV. Actually there is about enough room for one person to walk between the audience and the cameramen and probably not quite that much room between the front of the cameras and the lowest step at the bottom of the stage.

When everyone was finally seated and the crew was ready, Keith Richmond came out and introduced Dan Patterson who had a long spiel telling us what to expect, how we should react, plus some general all-purpose instructions. Then he introduced Drew. Drew came out and said he would answer some questions. Any question we liked except for ones about his health. Naturally, the very first question was "How are you feeling?" "Fine." That's the only answer Drew gave to the question, which was asked at all of the tapings. Another question was about whether or not there would ever be WLiiA videos and merchandise. Drew seemed to be a little surprised by the question as if the idea had never occurred to him. He asked Keith if WLiiA would ever come on DVD. (Drew has obviously switched to digital in his house.) The two of them hemmed and hawed a bit, then Drew announced that the producers felt that WLiiA was making enough money, and they didn't want any more. So they were letting the other shows make some money instead. The last question I remember was if WLiiA would have any more guest stars like Robin Williams. Drew said that Sid Caesar was coming to Sunday's taping to play Dubbing.

Then Drew introduced the cast. Greg was wearing a suit, naturally, plus the tinted glasses that he's been sporting lately. I don't remember what Wayne was wearing, but I do remember that the word "conservative" would be the wrong description. Colin was wearing a nice dress shirt and slacks. Then Drew introduced Ryan just as he did in Las Vegas and at every taping this weekend with the phrase, "And the greatest guy in the world, Ryan Stiles." I was shocked at Ryan's outfit. He wore a very casual pullover shirt with a zipper neckline. The shirt was orange plaid. I haven't seen Ryan wear anything so ugly on WLiiA since the early UK days. No, I take that back. I haven't seen Ryan wear anything so ugly. To be fair, others in the group didn't think the shirt was that ugly. But I still hate it. The four actors huddled on the stage for some final conferencing then they took their seats. And the taping began in earnest.

Drew's cast introductions on the broadcast are prerecorded. They played one of in the studio. As the recorded Drew is announcing Colin, the live Drew climbs the steps on the Drew aisle and settles himself for the onscreen part of "Come on down. Let's have some fun!" I thought it strange that Drew waits so long to get into position, but he did the exact same thing during all the intros they taped during the pickups at the end and at all the other tapings as well. After Drew was settled at the desk, he announced that "tonight's" episode would be a special Halloween theme. Then the games began.

© LKK