A few years ago, my wife and I were in LA and got to see the filming of the pilot for The War at Home. Even though we though the show sucked, she enjoyed the experience of sitting through the taping.
I have been looking through some of the schedules on the various websites and it doesn’t look like there are a ton of shows on right now. Dr. Phil, Price is Right, Ellen… Since we are heading out in April-ish, I was wondering if the selection of sitcoms is better around that time or worse?
April? I doubt any sitcoms would be filming then since the ‘season’ ends in May. Maybe you’d find something picked up for the summer. I imagine the big shows would be in the can long before April.
Most network sitcoms stop shooting at the end of April. The TV business has been changing rapidly over the past decade, so there are often shows starting and stopping at odd times.
Most sitcoms with a season debut date in late September will start shooting in late July or August. They need to have several shows in the can, so they are usually going full tilt in August, September, October.
You’d want to call around to get specific dates for specific shows. Keep in mind that a network may not be the producer of the shows it airs. For example, New Adventures of Old Christine is a Warner Bros show, though it airs on CBS. Old Christine shoots on the Warner lot in Burbank, as do Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men.
http://www.tvtickets.com/fmi/xsl/studios/recordlist.xsl