Regarding the episode of The Late Late Show that Craig Ferguson did without an audience: Around the Internet some are claiming that this was a money-saving ploy. This theory goes with the chilling revelation that Mr. Ferguson's show actually (gasp!) pays a reported $25 per person to get a studio audience into their studio. And so, some conclude, they were seeing if they could get by without that expense.
A couple of folks have written to ask me if this is all so. Well, some of it is. Many, perhaps most TV shows sometimes pay to fill their seats. This includes some programs you might not expect would have this problem (like The Price is Right) but they do, especially at times of the year that don't fit the loose category of Tourist Season. In such times, many a producer has been known to go to an audience service and pay for people. There are also shows that could get enough spectators if they just took anyone but they want a certain age group in their bleachers so they go to a head hunter and say, "Get us young, attractive people between the ages of 18 and 35."
There are many ways the services round up people. They go to various clubs and organizations and arrange field trips. They advertise. They have websites. Here's a link to one service that rounds up warm bodies to see Dr. Phil, The Big Bang Theory and The New Adventures of Old Christine, among others. Here's a link to one that's drumming up folks who want to see Craig Ferguson's show, as well as The Price is Right, Jeopardy!, The Tonight Show and Wheel of Fortune. (There are about a dozen websites that offer "priority seating" for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. I guess those shows pay real well for audience members.) That's just for Los Angeles. Here's a link to the site of a firm that rounds up audiences for shows done in New York, including Late Show with David Letterman, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show and Jerry Springer.
In some cases, these offerings are really only for emergency standby seats…like I know Colbert and The Daily Show have a long waitlist for tix from folks who write in directly. But it's not impossible that they might occasionally have a few seats open and when they do, this company might be able to put you in them. More likely, if you apply there to go to The Daily Show, they'll say, "We'll try and get you in but if by some chance we can't, we have this great other show you'll love…")
Sometimes, the services even pass along a portion of their compensation to the seat-fillers. I don't think they're doing it now but there used to be an outfit that would approach tourists visiting Farmers Market here in L.A., which is right next to CBS Television City. They'd offer free tickets to something taping next door and if necessary, they'd tell you that if you sat through The $100,000 Pyramid or Press Your Luck, you could make ten bucks. I once turned down $15 to sit through The Pat Sajak Show. It was paid in cash but of course, you didn't get it until after the taping. The guy offering it actually said to me, "We're not that stupid!"
So it's not a scandal that Craig Ferguson's show sometimes pays for some of its audience. But it's a small studio and they must get some people who just write in for tickets…so I doubt they're spending all that much on seat-filling. The show is a success with a studio audience there and it's ridiculous to think they'd muck with that success just to save such a minor amount. I think they did without an audience that night just because Craigy wanted to do a show without a studio audience.