More and more television shows are suspending shooting with live studio audiences amid a growing fear over the novel coronavirus.
New York based shows The View, Live With Kelly and Ryan and Tamron Hall announced Wednesday that they would move forward in the coming weeks with new shows but without an audience.
‘Given the current developing situation in New York City, we have made the decision to suspend live audiences from attending our news broadcasts and talk shows,’ a WDT spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline.
Taking precautions: New York based shows The View, Live With Kelly and Ryan and Tamron Hall announced Wednesday that they would move forward in the coming weeks with new shows but without an audience
The absence of an audience will likely be felt more intensely on shows like Live with Kelly and Ryan as the hosts and the guests typically interact with the crowd.
In a social media video encouraging people to wash their hands, Live with Kelly and Ryan showed the empty seats usually filled with excited viewers.
Wendy Williams, who also shoots in Manhattan, announced on Tuesday that she was suspending her studio audience as well.
‘Wendy values her co-hosts and their daily participation, but in light of the current health climate, The Wendy Williams Show will not have a live studio audience until further notice,’ the show said in a statement.
‘Given the current developing situation in New York City, we have made the decision to suspend live audiences from attending our news broadcasts and talk shows,’ a WDT spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline (Pictured CDC illustration of novel coronavirus)
Empty: In a social media video encouraging people to wash their hands, Live with Kelly and Ryan showed the empty seats usually filled with excited viewers
‘We will continue to produce a daily live talk show and look forward to welcoming the studio audience back when the time is right.’
Rachael Ray is skipping having audiences for a week of upcoming shows at her NYC studio before a planned hiatus. There are currently nearly 200 confirmed cases of coronovirus in New York.
Warner Bros. is also taking measures to mitigate exposure to the outbreak but not going so far as to put a blanket ban on studio audiences at their Burbank, California location.
WB released a statement on Tuesday: ‘We are asking all guests to confirm that neither they nor any member of their household have traveled within the past three weeks to or through a location that has been deemed “Level 3” by the CDC (currently China, Italy, Iran and South Korea).’
Outbreak: As of this publication, there are approximately 200 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York
Making changes: The absence of an audience will likely be felt more intensely on shows like Live with Kelly and Ryan as the hosts and the guests typically interact with the crowd (Pictured Gwyneth Paltrow greeting the audience in January)
‘These new and temporary precautionary measures have been put in place out of an abundance of caution and out of concern for the health and safety of our guests and staff.’
Dr. Phil, which is filmed in Los Angeles at Paramount Studios, said it will forge forward without a studio audience on hand to tape 12 episodes over the next two weeks, with a target return date of March 23.
Rob Lowe’s game show Mental Samurai is making alternate plans after it was set up to air from Madrid, Spain, insiders told TMZ on Tuesday.
Travel and quarantines in the area brought about by the Coronavirus have forced the show to film from the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, but producers already bought a full set to use in Spain, the outlet reported. The show’s new season is slated to air on Fox next month.
Mitigating the spread: In the last two weeks, several shows have made the change to continue to produce new episodes but without an audience in both New York and California (L – Rachael Ray, R – Tamron Hall, both in NYC)
Elsewhere in TV, Disney+’s upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has halted production in Prague, Deadline reported Tuesday.
The show has been slated to shoot there this week, but the cast and crew were told to return to Atlanta, where the series has been shot extensively.
And from RuPaul’s Drag Race, the Los Angeles convention RuPaul’s DragCon, slated for May 1-3 was canceled Tuesday, according to organizers.
‘DragCon’s first priority is always the health and safety of everyone involved and we’ve been actively tracking the situation around the Coronavirus,’ DragCon said in a statement. ‘The situation in California (and the world) is rapidly changing, with new information coming out everyday. Unfortunately, there’s no way for anyone to know what the situation will be like in May.’
Tuesday: Wendy Williams, 55, announced she will indefinitely tape her show with no studio audience present amid the ongoing preventative measures against Coronavirus
Plans: The show issued a statement Tuesday detailing its upcoming schedule
The game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune announced their decision to go without a studio audience Monday. The stalwart television shows, which are produced by Sony, are due to film in mid-April in Culver City, California, insiders told The Hollywood Reporter.
The decision came as Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, 79, is fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which includes chemotherapy treatments.
CBS last week halted production on its long-running show The Amazing Race in response to growing concerns about the ailment.
Change of plans: The gameshows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune will not have studio audiences present for the immediate future as a precautionary measure to the Coronavirus prevention. Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, 79, is fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which includes chemotherapy treatments
Impacted: Rob Lowe’s game show Mental Samurai is making alternate plans after it was set up to air from Madrid, Spain and was forced to shoot in Burbank
Demographics indicate that audience members for the shows have an average age of more than 60 years old, a group the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says stands at an additional hazard of contracting the virus.
The CDC says that the Coronavirus can exacerbate conditions in pre-existing conditions of older adults and the spread is likely to get worse.
‘More cases of COVID-19 are likely to be identified in the United States in the coming days, including more instances of community spread,’ the CDC reports. ‘It’s likely that at some point, widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the United States will occur.’
The World Health Organization said that most people can recover from the illness in two weeks if it’s mild, while those who are impacted by a more severe strain can take between three and six weeks to heal.
Another time: RuPaul’s Los Angeles convention RuPaul’s DragCon, slated for May 1-3 was canceled Tuesday, according to organizers
