While living in Los Angeles, I was lucky enough to work as an audience member for many TV shows and award shows. It all started while working at the Disneyland Hotel. A group of friends wanted to see a TV show taping, so I drove up to Hollywood from Anaheim to get the free tickets. The only show I could get tickets for was a new show called Boy Meets World. The next night, we drove up and waited to get into the show, only to be turned away at the very last minute as they were full. The Page at the show felt sorry for us, and we were given a card to call the next time we wanted to see a show, and they would put us on a VIP list.

A few weeks later, my friends and I had the same days off, so I called, and we got into the next taping of Boy Meets World. While waiting to get in, I talked to the Page and told them we were all from Disneyland. He said we would love to have a group of you attend another taping, which stated my relationship with Audience Unlimited. We managed to get one group up for a taping, but getting enough people to head up to Hollywood was a big challenge.

A few years passed and I was now working at Universal Studios Hollywood and it just so happened the AU offices were located right there on the backlog. I made my way down and explained who I was and Scott Masterson said, oh yeah I remember you. He was the Page that I been talking with.

Having one of two days off from USH, I offered to work for them at least one night a week as a Page. That quickly grew to three days a week, which I loved.

My duties as a Page were to arrive at the various studios around town, get through security, and check in with the Head Page at my assigned show. Once the gates opened, we would sort the audience into different sections. Any group would line up here, general admission (free tickets) would be here, and any VIP from the show, studio, or our office would be in a separate area. Groups and VIPs would always load in first, and whatever seats were left were for general admission.

My favorite area to work was the general admission line, as these were primarily fans of the shows. I would share behind-the-scenes stories, and they loved it. It was also an opportunity for me to talk with people worldwide about my favorite subject, Hollywood.

As the seats filled, we would start counting how many seats were available, from low group counts to VIPs who did not show. Then we would count out our line of waiting fans and later walk the line, 17, 18, 19, etc. Once we hit the cutoff point, we would call around to the other shows filming on this day to see if they needed people. Often, they did, and we would send them right over to see a show taping. Sometimes, I would hear them saying this was their last vacation day or they traveled far to see the show. I would do everything to try and get these folks in, from adding a few chairs to allowing them to sit on the steps and even have them wait thirty minutes of so, we some VIPs would leave, I tried to make their dream a reality.

Sometimes, we had to just send the extra audience away, with no options, as the tickets were always given away in excess of the studio capacity to ensure a full house. Groups often did this as a fundraiser, and if we had a large number of general admission fans show up, we would ask if the group really wanted to see the show or was it just for the money, if they volunteered to leave, we would pay them and allow the fans to take the seats.

Some of the shows I worked on included:

Pearl

That 70’s Show

Will & Grace

Third Rock from the Sun

Malcolm and Eddie

Friends

It’s Like, You Know

Veronica’s Closet

Home Improvement

All that

Family Matters

The Drew Carey Show

Roseanne

Boy Meets World

Coach

News Radio

Martin

Everybody Loves Raymond

Carolyn in the City

Yes, dear

Grace Under Fire

Men behaving badly

The Preston Project

I often filled in as a Head Page on various lots and shows, but I did become the Head Page on two shows; the first was called Pearl (1996-1997). Its about a Mature widow Pearl Caraldo enrolls in college against her son’s wishes. She befriends a quirky group, constantly clashing with her snobbish philosophy professor. It starred Rhea Perlman, Carol Kane, Kevin Corrigan, Lucy Liu and Malcolm McDowell.

My two great friends were also Pages, and they worked with me on the show, which was a blast. Rhea’s husband at the time was Danny Devito, and he would often come over and hold court at the studio and chat with everyone as they entered. We had many great chats with him; he was just a regular guy supporting his wife’s new show.

My second Head Page assignment for That 70’s Show A series focused on a group of teenagers growing and learning everything they can about life. On countless adventures, they discover the truth about every aspect and reality of life and treat it carefully as they try to find the best outcomes for their futures. The show stars Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, Wilmer Valderrama, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, Tanya Roberts, and Don Stark.

When I was given this show, they told me it would be the first canceled that season. That 70’s Show would last eight seasons and two hundred episodes. I oversaw the first two seasons, starting in 1998, and 51 episodes.

The show seemed to have an instant following, as we never had an issue with giving it a packed audience, but once it was a hit, we had to turn many fans away at the door. Since I started with the show, I got to know the cast and the various executives who took great care of the Pages. Most nights, we had food delivered to us from the production and were allowed to visit craft services, where you could find cast and crew eating and talking.

During my time, guest stars included Marion Ross, Eve Plumb, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kathy Sagal, Amy Admas, Danny Bonaduce, Joan Hart, Gary Owens, Bob Eubanks, Lyle Waggoner, Paul Anka, Richard Kline, Tommy Chong, and Gloria Gayner.

One night, we had Gloria Gayner on our VIP list, and we sat her right up front so she could enjoy the show. After the first scene was filmed, the cameras had to reload, so our warm-up introduced Ms Gaynor to the audience, and she received a standing ovation from the audience, the crew, and all the actors. The entire production stopped as she graciously answered questions from the audience and cast, and at one point, someone asked her to sign, and she said maybe later. At the next break in filming, the entire production stopped as she sang “I Will Survive” without any backing. It was gorgeous, and everyone had goosebumps. She received another standing ovation.

After the show had wrapped for the night, with a huge smile on her face, she signed autographs for everyone and chatted with each audience member as they left the stage. She was the last guest to leave.

Weeks later, she would appear in Prom Date, episode 19. Gloria Gaynor guest stars as Mrs. Clark and sings “I Will Survive” for Fez.

It was indeed the best part-time job I ever had. I met people from all over the world, talked with super fans, and worked with great people whose only job was to deliver a great audience to each show each week. Years later, Cas and I had the pleasure of seeing The Big Bang Theory being taped, and I ran into friends who are still keeping Hollywood’s magic alive.