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Late Night & Daytime TV Shows In NYC Will Start Filming Without Audiences
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 12, 2020
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 12, 2020
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With concerns over the spread of coronavirus increasing, more and more organizations and productions are trying to forge on without audiences: the NCAA announced on Wednesday that the annual men's and women's March Madness basketball tournaments won't be played in front of fans because of coronavirus. The NBA was prepared to start playing games in empty arenas until the season was suspended. And a majority of daytime and late night TV programs will start recording their shows without studio audiences.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Last Week Tonight, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah have all announced they will tape upcoming episodes sans audiences for at least the next week or more. CBS, NBC and Comedy Central confirmed that Late Show, Late Night, Tonight Show and Daily Show will start doing so as of Monday, March 16th. HBO said it will start with Last Week Tonight's next new episode, on Sunday, and Full Frontal went without an audience starting this past Tuesday night. Bee put a video out about it below:
Comedy Central said in a statement, "This move is being made out of an abundance of caution and concern regarding the spread of the COVID-19 virus and per guidance from New York City officials to take appropriate actions." They added that there were no cause for concern for audience members attending the show this week: "Measures have been taken to protect everyone who enters and works in the office and studio with enhanced cleaning and sanitizing procedures."
NBC called it a "precautionary measure" in a statement: "Per guidance from New York City officials, the company is hoping to do its part to help to decrease the rate of transmission in our communities. Our shows will continue filming on their regular schedule, and currently, there will be no impact on air dates."
CBS said, "This move is being made out of an abundance of caution regarding the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the uncertainty of the situation for future weeks."
However, according to an internal memo sent to CBS employees on Wednesday, two CBS employees have tested positive for coronavirus, including one who works at the CBS Broadcast Center. They wrote, "All employees in both buildings will work remotely for the next two days while the buildings are cleaned and disinfected. In addition, we have identified employees who may have been in direct contact with the individuals in question, and they will self-quarantine and work remotely for the next 14 days."
Other shows—including Dr. Phil, The Wendy Williams Show and Los Angeles-based game shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!—will all follow suit as well. A few daytime shows, including talk shows Live With Kelly and Ryan and The View, got a jumpstart on the audience-less experience on Wednesday. If you want an idea of how weird that turned out to be, please watch the clip of Whoopi Goldberg ecstatically greeting no one below:
As you can imagine, all the late night shows tackled coronavirus during their broadcasts last night. Seth Meyers blamed Donald Trump for a slow reaction to the coronavirus crisis:
Stephen Colbert looked back fondly on a time not so long ago when he was “drunk on eggnog” and in love with Baby Yoda.
And Trevor Noah offered a counterintuitive approach to coronavirus:
Tagged
COVID-19
late show with stephen colbert
coronavirus
the daily show
trevor noah
jimmy fallon
the tonight show
late night with seth meyers
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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