Last Comic Standing

Frank DiBugnara · June 7, 2006

As I was watching Last Comic Standing tonight (and the little voice inside kept asking: "Why does this look like a commercial or a movie and not like American Idol like it is supposed to?")

... I was wondering what HD system they use ...anyone know? The color correction on a lot of it looks great--much more elaborate than a lot of HD on TV.

Alessandro Machi · June 7, 2006

As I was watching Last Comic Standing tonight (and the little voice inside kept asking: "Why does this look like a commercial or a movie and not like American Idol like it is supposed to?")

... I was wondering what HD system they use ...anyone know? The color correction on a lot of it looks great--much more elaborate than a lot of HD on TV.

I consider it much more interesting than American Idol because it's all new content. I'd like to see how popular American Idol would be if the performers could only sing original material.

The Improv is not a big space, and worse yet, the "stage" for the Improv is the shallowest part of the venue, which runs more than twice as wide as it is deep. Without the depth you can only do so much.

The Alex Theatre is much bigger, but that wasn't until the 9:00 hour episode, so should we assume you meant the improv stage?

Frank DiBugnara · June 7, 2006

Well, I was referring strictly to the look of the show, not the content.

I think a lot of it actually looked great. It seems like there is a lot of reality and multi-camera TV that is shot on HD but they do not go through the trouble to color correct as it appears they did on a lot of LCS. The bumpers looked especially good. So did the small and large venue. Perhaps the camera pre-sets were better thought-out.

Psychologically, it is going to take some getting used to seeing a show like that in 24P. (That is where the 30i American Idol looks a lot more customary and natural). I still remember the conversations years ago after MTV was one of the first to broadcast the music awards in 24P. (Only to switch back to 30i in later years, I believe.)

Alessandro Machi · June 7, 2006

Well, I was referring strictly to the look of the show, not the content.

It's possible that the content of the show can affect how one perceives the show.

Perhaps the camera pre-sets were better thought-out.

A couple of years ago I got to shoot at the Improv. It was just before or after they had shot that years last comic standing. The lights had been pre-set by NBC and could not be moved (ouch!).

So I would venture to say that NBC spends several days (during the days when the Improv is closed to the public) tweaking the lights because they know whatever they set will still be set that way the next day.