A View of "The View"

 

Have you watched the virtual TV version of “The View?” I was in the audience today from the comfort of my living room. It was started at 5:45 am when I logged into the TV virtual audience from my laptop. A comedian named Regina warmed up the audience from her parents’ NYC apartment. She gave us virtual audience tips on how to clap up high by the side of our cheeks so that it shows up on the TV screen. She seemed to know the cast of regular virtual audience members very well. They shared their week's highlights with each other during the pre-show warm-up. One of the audience members invited all of us to a Happy Hour at “The Owl’s Tale” this Friday in NYC. I don’t think I’ll make it from the other side of the country for that social event, but it sounds like fun!

Regina explained our role from the comfort of her parents’ study. She asked her parents to share how they met and they got shy. Regina had to keep leaving her computer to go next door to help her parents with their computer issues. Her parents had a cluttered background of assorted junk and liquor bottles in their den. As a new audience member, I was moved up to the top row of the virtual audience. The show sent me an email with wardrobe rules. We could not wear the color green, sparkly shirts, or any words on our shirts. Our personal background shots ranged from piles of laundry to dogs napping to an employee hiding in her office storeroom to be in the virtual audience.

"The View" started on time live and we were asked to sit up straight and wave on cue. Whoopi Goldberg and the cohosts showed up on a big screen with the audience above it. Whoopi interviewed Mary Trump about her new book. I enjoyed the commercials that featured us clapping before and after. The clapping segments were pre-recorded before the show began. Apparently, some audience members used to show political signs live during the show. I enjoyed the guests, the banter between the hosts, and the thrill of watching a live TV show. All of a sudden the fast-paced show was over. 

The audience was liberal, over age 40, and told personal pandemic stories during commercial breaks. The show seemed to be their highlight of the week. Some of them even had stories of being in the live audience shows in person and receiving gifts from some of the guests. The showtime schedule was eight minutes followed by three minutes of commercials. The audience spent the commercial time talking and discussing the interviews. 

        During a break, an audience member told us that the Lalplooza concert required vaccination cards as proof to attend in Chicago. However, many people just flashed fake vaccination cards to get into the mob scene. The audience talked during commercials about the size of outdoor weddings, sporting events, and Covid during the pandemic. One of the newbies asked if all the audience worked for “The View” because they knew each other so well. When the mattress commercial came on, the audience said they were are not buying the pillows! The audience said they never want to be 20 years old again because everything is better at their age, even during a pandemic. After the show, I received an email from Whoopi with a thank you video to the virtual audience. I am officially a new fan of the virtual version of “The View!”