From days of prepping, scripting, and testing, RB’s 2015-2016 TV Arts Production class aired their first live talk show, Talknado, on Friday November 6. The annual show is going to be aired every Friday at 12:40 pm on the RBTV channel.

The idea for a live show came from the head of the TV department, Gary Prokes. Once the idea was pitched to the students ideas of guests, topics, and questions came flowing out. The excitement levels began to rise rapidly throughout the studio.

“Initially it’s my idea, but they come up with the content, the approach, and the look of the show,” said Prokes.

The guests that appear on the show range from RB teachers performing different talents, to animals from the Brookfield Zoo. Talknado exposes some of the most interesting parts of our community that may not be the most well-known.

On screen everything may look smooth but behind the scenes, it’s a race against the clock. With only one minute of commercials the production teams need to prepare the next guests by making sure their microphones are hooked up and working correctly. At times, it can get pretty chaotic behind the cameras.

“I’m learning how to be time efficient,” said senior head producer Anisa Selenica. “We learn from our mistakes. It’s not always like everything is perfect, but it’s starting to get there. Every little thing is starting to turn out fine.”

Ever since Selenica joined the TV Arts Production class she has fallen in love with it. She states that she loves managing the studio, learning new techniques about the TV production system, and just the atmosphere in general.

Throughout the course of the semester the students are not only learning basic production skills but how to work with each other and specialization skills.

“In order to produce a television show it takes a team and they are learning how to work in a team environment. They’re learning that every position is critical to the bottom line. They’re learning communication skills, writing skills, and they’re working with technology they’ll find in the workforce no matter where the end up someday,” said Prokes.

Since this is the first year the TV department has pulled off a live show there were several challenges.

One of the biggest challenges the crew discovered during the show is that you have to keep the audience involved. If they’re not involved the show gets boring.

“They need to be engaged throughout the whole show because if we lose that audience then it’s not really interesting anymore,” said Selenica. They try to change up the audiences every week by inviting different fifth period teachers to come.

Through all of the challenges the project is turning out to be a big success and bring lots of good memories.

Prokes and Selenica both really enjoy the fact that it is live, adding new anxiety and excitement levels to the class. These kinds of anxiety and excitement can’t be replaced in a typical classroom, and that is what makes this class so special.

“I think the level of excitement is a lot of fun for the students and myself,” said Prokes.

As for the future, the class aims to see improvement between the first show and the last show, as well as holding on to all of the memories Talknado has created for them.