The pandemic is forcing sitcoms to break from a tradition that started 69 years ago with I Love Lucy.
“I’ve never understood it.
It’s been happening as long as I can remember.”
“That’s the heartbreaker of the whole thing,” lamented Lorre.
“There’s not going to be any studio audiences for some time, I’m afraid.”
Blame the pandemic for that.
“Everything is aimed at maintaining a safe environment,” Lorre added.
“There is no fallback position.
It can’t be sort of safe.
It has to be safer than your house.”
“We never sweetened a show.
If anything we very often would take laughs out because we couldn’t hear the dialogue.
Adding a laugh to something that is not funny is self defeating.
It doesn’t make it funny.
It makes it annoying, if anything.”
“The whole cast came up to a whole new level because it was a live performance.
Most of what you see in the pilot is that performance.”
We don’t get that feedback, that experience!
But I’m sure we’re going to do our absolute best to manage."
“There are some plusses,” offers Sara Gilbert, a.k.a.
Darlene, of ABC’sThe Conners.
“Usually with a studio audience, we don’t want to burn them out.
So we only do two or three takes, maximum.
With a live show, you just don’t have that many chances.
So I do like having that now.
I have more time if I don’t like something.”
So a live audience can go both ways.
It can be a benefit to some people and a detriment to some people."
(During rehearsals, the crew routinely laugh hard and long to help keep the energy alive).
“I’ve been saying it’s going to feel like a Wednesday matinee,” jokes Ashford.
B Positivepremieres at 8:30 p.m. tonight on CBS.
