Talknado

Riverside Brookfield

TV Show

Entry Description

Talknado was a 30-minute live midday show produced by our TV Arts Production class at Riverside Brookfield High School. The program aired every Friday and included a live studio audience. Each show was broken down into 5 segments and featured teachers, students, community members and local officials. Our entry is an excerpt from show 1, segment 1, which showcased a Brookfield Zoo keeper and a Great Horned Owl.

Judge 1

Positives: Excellent choice of guest (the human, that is). As a television producer for the last 9 years, I've booked hundreds of guests for talk shows and other formats. It's important to pre-interview anyone who will be on camera, even for small parts, to determine that they will be adequately articulate and informed. The hosts were very professional, articulate, and well-prepared. Production value was top-notch. The best crew is one that doesn't get noticed by the viewer, and the camera ops, audio, and control room people did an excellent job.

Improvements: The hosts appeared to be relying on prepared questions and were unwilling to break from the script. The best example of this is halfway through the segment, the owls opens his mouth and starts doing something very bizarre with his neck. As a viewer, I immediately stopped paying attention to the interview and thought "what the heck is that bird doing?". But the hosts ignored it and kept right on track with the interview they had planned. Good live TV, or even live-to-tape, is embracing the unpredictable. The owl doesn't speak English so you're not going to hurt his feelings. Think of what Conan or Kimmel or Ellen or even a local news anchor would have done - they would have dropped the script and called attention to the very weird behavior on display. When I was a writer for a live TV show, we had an hour of teleprompter ready every day. Stories, jokes, funny segments, interviews. But rarely were the scripts actually read all the way through. The hosts knew they were there as a safety net, but when something happened in the moment they went on the offensive and changed gears. And myself, the writer, and the other producers watching in the control room never got mad that something we prepared went unused. Live TV is much more fun and exciting when you don't know what is about to happen.

Judge 2

Positives: Beautiful set, great lighting, and terrific camera work. Audio was also excellent for both hosts and the guest. Good anticipation on the live switcher in catching the interesting behaviors of the owl. The guest from the zoo was extremely knowledgable, informative, and comfortable in front of the camera. The hosts were engaged, seemed to be listening well, and asked reasonable questions of the guest.

Improvements: A problem I have with this clip is that it is so centered on the guest that it's hard to evaluate the hosts. I do think you could configure the set such that both hosts aren't in constant profile. The guest was far more open to the camera. It might be good to include the opening credits of the show to see how it sets the tone. If there is in fact a studio audience, perhaps their reactions might be interesting in a spot or two.

Judge 3

Positives: Very nice show idea. Well produced. Nice camera and lighting for studio work. Good job. Hard to work with animals on set. Nice.

Improvements: Some shots of the guest could have been framed a bit better.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: