I can relate about Rachael Ray. I watched her show only once, and the reason I never turned it on again was the incessant ooohing and aaahing. It was ridiculous. All she had to do was mention extra-virgin olive oil, and the audience sounded positively orgasmic.

I was a studio audience member several times, but that was a long time ago, and things were different then. I think Maire Cate has been to some more recent shows; maybe she'll pop in here.

I was a member of a studio audience in 1979 for the Phil Donahue Show. Things may have changed since then (I'd be surprised if they didn't, LOL), but I don't remember being instructed to make any sounds at all. The only thing I recall was that we were reminded that at any time, a camera could be pointed in our direction, so we might want to be alert to that (don't pick your nose!). I don't remember a thing about the subject of the show at all. What I remember most was that his "new" bride, Marlo Thomas, came out and talked to the studio audience for a while before the show started.

Yes, and they didn't tell us what to do. I love the Thomas' and their humanitarian work.

My mother always loved The Price is Right, so we got to see it in person when visiting California about 12 years ago. The audience applause and oohs were completely natural on that show, with no signs or cues prompting us. I don't know if it's still the same today. As a child I was in the audience for Romper Room and Bozo the Clown and also went to see Jack LaLanne with my grandmother. All of the children in audiences for Romper Room and Bozo got nice little gifts, and we each got a skipping rope from Jack LaLanne's show.

Oops, I just looked it up and apparently Phil and Marlo weren't married until 1980. But I know for a fact that the taping was in 1979, so Marlo was his "intended" at the time, LOL.

I've been to see Jeopardy taping. Yes, they tell the audience when to be quiet, when to applaud, etc.

I was in the audience for a Bob Hope special. To fill the university basketball arena they invited all the alumni and we could bring guests. It was kind of boring. If you ever watched his specials, you might notice that it's a bit disjointed: he would do each joke more than once to get the right delivery and to account for any other issued that came up. For what became a 15-minut segment took a could of hours of taping, and halfway through people started wandering out, little by little.

I was in the studio audience for a radio show, Whaddaya Know, and that was a lot of fun. The host pointd out that you have to make noise, not just raise your hand etc to answer questions. It really moved along.

Yes, I was to a taping of David Letterman in NYC a few years ago. Before we were allowed to go in the studio and sit down, we were held in a foyer. The assistants (all young interns) told us we had to laugh at every joke, clap and cheer. They had us practice cheering. They said we had to laugh loudly and cheer wildly for the warm up comic so that David Letterman would know we were a good audience. If he felt (as he was listening backstage) that we weren't a good audience, then he wouldn't use his best jokes on us. It was all a bit crazy.

We were told not to chew gum, to take off hats ,and under no circumstances were we to turn on our cellphones or take a picture. They told us if they saw a camera or cellphone they would escort us out of the studio.

Then we went in for the taping. There were no empty seats, every seat had to be filled. I saw one intern walk through a row to get a guy to spit out gum into a bucket. Another intern sat in an empty seat, being sure to take off her jacket beforehand (the jacket had the David Letterman show logo on it).

The show was going great, we were behaving and clapping and cheering and laughing. Then David Letterman dropped a bomb - it was the show where he admitted that he was being blackmailed. Of course we the audience had been told to laugh and cheer, so that's what we did.

Afterwards, watching the entertainment shows about it, some reporters said that the audience seemed confused by Letterman's news. LOL, we weren't confused, we were just doing what we had been instructed to do!

Funny thing, after the show was taped (and it's taped in the afternoon and aired at night), my partner Joe got on Twitter and said we had been at a taping of Letterman. A person who ran a podcast in California emailed him and wanted to know if he would go on the podcast and talk about the show. Joe declined because we were on vacation and he didn't want to waste his time.

Well I'm popping in Susan!

I haven't gone in about 2 years but I've seen The View 3 or 4 times, Rachel Ray once, Live with Regis and Kelly twice and the David Letterman Show. I even saw the Mike Douglas show when it was in Philadelphia a really long time ago.

Many of the shows have an audience warm-up to get everyone in the mood. There are lights that remind you to applaud and some of shows have an assistant standing behind the camera man urging more applause by signaling with arms upraised. They also ask you to dress nicely and to wear bright solid colors that show up well on the camera.

Since I'm in NJ and can get into NY on fairly short notice there were times when I'd get an email the night before or even the morning of the show asking if I'd like to attend. When the weather is bad they often anticipate cancellations from the audience so they try to get a few more people to fill the seats. But even when you have a confirmed letter from the show with an exact date and time the letter also states that there's no guarantee that you will be seated.
So they advise you to arrive early and line up outside on the sidewalk. Sometimes they have last minute VIP's that they want to seat and if you're at the end of the line you'll get bumped.

Susan is right about Rachel Ray - the audience is almost embarrassingly responsive.

I think my DD signed me up for Martha Stewart and Dr. Oz and even though they've emailed me tickets offers I haven't attended. I'm afraid I couldn't sit still through the OzMan - he just not worth the effort to show up.

Oh - bpathome just reminded me. I have tickets to see the same radio show she mentioned "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" this July.

My daughter went to the Jay Leno show. They scanned the aidience and we saw her. She had a ball!!

We went to the than Regis and Kelly show and Martha Stewart show a few years back. The Martha Stewart show was handled very efficiently. We were brought into a room, given a bottle of water and then told by her warm-up guy, Joey how we were suppose to ooh, aah and clap. He stood in the audience and led every body in the oohs and aahs when the appropriate time came. I see he now works for Rachael Ray.

Was part of the studio audience once for Wheel of Fortune. Pat Sajack was funny. Vanna disappeared very quickly off the stage between every take. When they were done taping the show, we got to see them tape some promos. Both were funny and cute. I don't remember being given instructions as part of the audience.

I'd love to be part of the studio audience for either a Judge Judy or People's Court show someday.

I too would love to me in the studio audience. I'd really love to be there for Ellen, especially during the 12 days of Christmas!

I've been in the audience of Rachael Ray five times with the most recent being 6 weeks ago, and several other morning talk shows. They instruct the audience when to clap, clap louder, ewww, ahhhh, laugh, etc. There is a comedian that warms up the audience and he inform them of gestures that mean certain things and when the audience sees him making the gestures, they react accordingly. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that is interesting to watch when we are there.

Some of the shows can be a lot of fun when they have great guests on and/or when they give goodies. I've been in audiences where we got some really good stuff.

I would love to be in an audience for any Ellen show especially her "12 days..." also, but, that's clear across the country, where NY is only a 2 hour drive, so we get tickets usually for 2-3 shows a year.

I was in the audience for two "Oprah" shows about adoption issues. DH was a guest (adult adoptee and adoptive parent). It's interesting to see a normal-seeming woman 'amp up the star power' when the cameras light up. She liked my DH. He knows to play to the star, keeping his comments short and to the point.

I won a bet with DH about the TV audience for "Wheel of Fortune". The only live people are front and center; the rest are blurry 'images', fast-scanned by the camera.

I would love to be in Ellen's 12 days too! Except I've heard you have to pay taxes on everything before you can take it. I couldn't afford to pay all that, but would love all the gifts. Or the car from Oprah!

I was almost on Oprah. I went on the "debt diet" that she was talking about. I worked hard to pay off all my debt and wrote her a letter about it. A year later, someone from her staff contacted me. Sadly by then I was in the middle of a divorce and debt was piling up again so I declined being on the show.

Oprah does extensive background checks after she was burned by the author James Frey who wrote A Million Little Pieces, and it turned out to be lies. So I wasn't planning on telling any lies. I would have been a nervous wreck.