I’m not too worried about capacity. There will be an audience. This is guaranteed. We know from various accounts that filling seats has, at times, been a problem in the past at the BBS, so a decrease in capacity of some sort at the new studio wouldn’t come as a surprise. In fact, it might even be a good thing, as we will likely have a ‘normal’ audience again for Season 52 instead of pods if there is less room for seating. Even if audience capacity were to be reduced by as much as half, that’s still an improvement over pods and a concession I will gladly take at this point. They can make an audience of 150-200 look and sound as impressive as 300+, no doubt.
It’s all speculation at this point. I imagine it will be July or August before we see any photos, unless something is leaked before then. I have faith they won’t go ‘cheap’ with this transition and have a front audience row that literally sits flush with the stage floor — featuring a raised contestants row like some low-budget, over-seas clone of the show, but I am trying to keep an open mind that we’ll probably be getting a different look than we’ve been accustomed to the past 51 seasons. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as they don’t deviate too much from what we’re used to.
And on that point, don’t forget we have a giant screen in the back of the audience that has to be accounted for, too — and ideally, it needs to be at eye-level with the cameras on stage. I don’t foresee them ditching it, either — it’s become too much of a staple. Modifications of the studio of some sort are almost guaranteed to accommodate this show. And with as much guaranteed money as it brings in to CBS, I bet they’re willing to do pretty much whatever the production team asks to make it work the way it needs to, audience and all.
