CBS Television City

Made $ 75 in less than an hour to listen to streaming music services and give my opinion about the effectiveness of the advertising.
Absolutely worth a stop by to see what program they are offering.

I went here with a friend. We were given $ 30 each to watch a show. It is the only time in Las Vegas you’ll ever get paid to watch a show. The only downer is you can only do it once (and get paid.) I think you can do it more than once, but they’ll only pay you once.

i had a good time not to mention it was my wedding day so it was pretty exciting to be in las vegas and check out something cool to do. the show we viewed wasnt that good and we only got coupons to use inside mgm (i read how others had recieved cash along with other trinkets) but overall it was okay.

The people that work in this area are pushy but friendly at the same time. They do give money if you qualify for focus group but sadly I did not qualify. I did participate in their screening for potential shows which was an interesting experience. I would probably do it again because I do watch a lot of their television shows and we get to see the show before it is release. I don’t see how their survey had anything to do with the show and I did not like how we had to review the ads compare to the television show we saw.

After I finished their 1 hour survey, I was given three «buy one, get one free» coupons. The employee behind the desk said that the survey was the «show» that I was supposed to get tickets to.
I guess other people have gotten compensated for the surveys they did. Responder beware.

We had a blast. They had us do a special research study for one of their clients and paid us $ 20 cash.
We reviewed an app that has yet to be released. It took about 55 mins total. Great way to take a break from all the craziness of Vegas.

This was a fun experience ! Made 100 $ for two hours! I got to watch a pilot show for AMC! Show was a bit long and boring but the discussion panel wasn’t! The day before I made 20 $ for one hour of reviewing a website! Total– 120 $ for three hours! They also give you cash! So you can go directly to the tables and spend spend spend!!!

Well this was fun!
We were given the voucher when we walked into the MGM Hotel, however we had no idea how far we’d have to walk. If you enter off the Strip, the answer is A LONG way. We were supposed to see an un-​aired pilot for a tv, however my friend hit the demographic for a marketing strategy so we got to be ushered into another room and seated while she watched and I kinda messed around on the net on my phone.
I can’t tell you what we watched, only that it amused me, But it was nice to have free water, a comfy seat and watch a tv show I’ve not seen.

If you are a television fan, do not miss a 1hr stop at CBS’s Television City. This free attraction gives you an opportunity to view an unaired pilot that CBS is testing out. I’ve done it twice and seen both a 20+ minute sitcom and a 40+ minute drama/​action/​suspense show.
While watching, you have a dial in which you continually turn so it registers between a 0 and 100 (0 = you hate the show, 100 you love it). Afterwards, you fill out a short survey on your thoughts about the show and your general television viewing habits.
Afterwards, you get several coupons for BOGO food in the MGM Grande (ice cream hot dogs, etc.). You also get a coupon for a small % off (I think it may have been 10% off) for the CSI Experience which is immediately next door.

If you want to do something for free and kill some time come here. I went there yesterday to check it out. This was interesting. You watch a TV pilot and rate it. Instead of gambling away my money LOL! It’s a total of an hour. The TV show was good. Afterwards, they give you coupons for your time after you complete the survey.

Let me preface this by stating that I hate TV. I’d rather waste my time on the internet (writing reviews on Unilocal?:p) than watch most of the junk on TV. That being said, I was the one who suggested coming here to my boyfriend who gave me that «I can’t tell if you’re serious or not» look that I am oh so familiar with. And with that look on his face, I dragged him to the lady giving out the tickets for CBS Television City. I think I was the first person that day who asked for a ticket without her offering. She looked that surprised.
Were I to base this review purely on the show we watched, this place would get 1 star. I did not like it at all. However, this review is on the over all experience, not the show, therefore it gets 5 stars.
The people running the survey were Very nice & helpful. They guide you into a room and explain how you’re supposed to take the survey & how you rate the show. You first start off by answering some demographics questions. You are then instructed on how to use the Neilsen Knob Box (my phrase, not theirs — though they are more than welcome to use it: D) in order to rate the show moment by moment. There’s a scale from 0 to 100 where 0 means you hate it and 100 means television-​induced orgasm. Yes, my meter reached 0 & sometimes even hit 100 (c’mon… it was Lilith from Cheers! Who doesn’t love Lilith???). It was interesting knowing you were part of the television research process.
Afterwards my boyfriend & I were approached to be a part of a focus group taking place the next day & offered $ 50 for our time. We agreed, but later they only picked my boyfriend because his opinion of the show was more in line with the general consensus — mine was… not.
The next day I accompanied him to his focus group fully expecting to waste an hour in the casino losing money, but nope! They had a different research activity that offered $ 20. Neat. I passed the screening & got paid $ 20 to answer questions after listening to music while playing w/​an iPad.
In the end, I was surprised that my boyfriend & I enjoyed CBS Television City as much as we did. The $ 70 we got sure didn’t hurt! I figured it would be one of those «one visit is enough» kind of places, but we agreed that when we go back to Vegas, we’ll make an effort to go back. If you’ve got some time to kill while on vacation in Vegas, this place is worth checking out.

My husband and I were in Vegas for a quick weekend trip. We were trying to find as many attractions that were cheap/​free this time, since we wanted to keep costs down. It was our first time staying at the MGM Grand hotel, and CBS Television City is in the building. It was our first stop after we checked in. Not only is it free, but we got paid to do it! $ 20 for each of us and a hand full of coupons for restaurants mostly. Can’t really argue with that!
We got there and were brought into a room with several computer screens. They told us that we would be seeing some clips and then would take a survey. We watched clips from «How I Met Your Mother», «The Daily Show», and «The Pioneer Woman». The first 2 shows are already ones that I enjoy, so getting paid to sit and watch them was great!
This will take up about an hour of your time, but I enjoyed myself, and the fact that you get free stuff at the end is great! Check it out if you have the time!

On our last afternoon in Vegas I suggested my friend and I head to MGM since we hadn’t been there yet, and because I’d heard about CBS Television City and figured it would be a fun way to kill an hour.
This is the place where you get to be on a panelist that decides the fate of upcoming tv pilots. We were told the entire experience would take about an hour, but if you finish the survey quickly it might take less time for you (I was done in about 45 minutes). Essentially you watch a tv pilot, and while you do you turn this dial in front. It goes from 0 (you hate it) to 100 (you love it), and after the show you answer some survey questions on a computer. When you’re done you’re give an envelope with some coupon vouchers, including one for $ 10 off the CBS Gift Store (with no minimum purchase, so it’s a good deal). If you’re getting tired of the casinos and want something else to do in Vegas check this place out.

I probably would’ve loved this if I could’ve gone, but my kids were 7 and 10 and the lowest rated show was 14+. The guy at the desk said he might have let my 10 year in b/​c she seemed ok (I assume by that he meant she would be able to sit quietly like an adult and not cause problems), but the 7 year old was definitely too young. Not that I would’ve wanted to let my 10 year old watch 14 year old + shows…
So disappointed, and most of all, that it was impossible to tell from the website or reviews whether there was an age limit, so we walked all the way down there only to be turned away. Our concierge even tried to find out for us and said «they don’t have an age limit listed», but she was wrong. SO this is to help all you Unilocaler parents out there.

All your life, you’ve had shows you loved canceled because some mystery idiot with a Nielsen box refused to watch.
Now… YOU have the power.
Swing by this place (near the MGM Grand pool entrance) and you’ll sit down to see a mystery show. As you watch, you turn a nob on a Nielsen controller. You’re just letting them know how much you like a given moment in a show. And if you hate it, you can drop the knob to zero… and even hit the «tune out» button.
Afterward, you fill out survey questions about the show.
It’s surprisingly fun.
When my girlfriend and I did it, we both HATED the host of the reality show we watched. As soon as we got out, I asked her what she thought and she started ripping the host apart. I had never been more attracted to her.
For your time, they give you an envelope of coupons, but I didn’t get the $ 20 bill some other Unilocalers got. Even without the incentives, it’s cool to have something free to do after you lose all your money in the casinos. And who knows… you might get to see the next great hit or the next spectacular flop before the rest of the country!
Note: They can’t tell you what show you’ll watch, but they will tell you what it’s rated.

‘Madam Secretary’
Did not know anything about this research television studio inside MGM Grand Casino. We were fascinated by the idea that we wll be participating in something where our opinion would count in what could drive the next TV show to be aired in the Fall season… not to mention all the freebie in coupons they gave after participating in the research.
We were given tickets as we walked out of CSI: The Experience. We used the tickets to register at the counter in front of the center and line up about 15 minutes before the scheduled time. Once we were inside we were instructed on how to use the test pads and monitors to register our opinions. We had a chance to watch, screen, review, and rate a drama pilot show commercial-​free! At the end of the 45 min preview we all had a chance to complete a 15-​min questionnaire all computer screen based. Everything was done through touch screen. The whole process was approx an hour. Had we stayed another day we were invited to join a panel to critique the show. Wow! cool! Unfortunately, though, we were not able to participate on that one. Half the fun is the anticipation, curious to see if the show will make it this Fall.
There are familiar faces on the drama pilot we saw. The show included Bebe Neuwirth as a co-​star («Frasier» and «Cheers»), Tea Leoni plays Madam Secretary (I remember her in «Tower Heist»), Tim Daly (from the sitcom «Wings»)… and I could’ve sworn the young, loyal assistant was played by Erich Bergen, he played Bob Gaudio in the musical «The Jersey Boys». Hope this show makes it! :)

The best free thing to do in Las Vegas. I had the time to do this on my last visit to Las Vegas, and I enjoyed it. So, I decided to do it this year. Lucky for me… they were paying guests to watch a show! Yay! I got $ 20 to watch a decent show (or at least, I thought so), and then I got asked to come back as part of a round table group to talk about the show. For that, I got $ 50! Woo! Hoo! $ 70 for two hours of my life, why not? I quite enjoyed the experience. I don’t know if they always pay their guests, but even if they don’t, it’s still a good, free experience where you can preview new television shows. I totally recommend it.

It’s free no sales and you get to watch tv. With an unending barrage of unwanted sales pitches everywhere you turn in some casinos this offer is refreshing because you don’t do anything but give your opinion. After you watch the show you take a survey that takes about ten minutes. They never ask for any of our personal contact information. The only personal info they ask for is your age, state and zip code, and nationality. If you are looking to fill sometime and want to sit down to rest your feet I definitely suggest doing this.

One year later and this free event is still just as much fun. In fact, I went twice this trip.
Sure, it is just giving your opinion on TV programming but, as you can see through my time spent on Unilocal,I love giving my opinion on things. I have seen television programs here before they actually air live, and that is always fun to tell people about.
This trip to TV City consisted of one show I truly disliked and the other one which was surprisingly interesting. Our proctor, Maurice, was kind, clear in his instructions, and seemed like a genuinely cool guy to talk with.
If you haven’t already made your way inside the MGM Grand for this event, it still comes highly recommended from me.
Bonus: air conditioning, free of charge!

We looked up free things to do in Vegas and this came up and boy, it was right up my ally. As soon as we found out about it, we knew we had to hunt this place down before we left. So glad we made the trek over! CBS Television City is located inside of the shops/​mall area of MGM Grand. It’s not really that hard to find, as we assumed that’s where it was, but the hotels are so massive that it’s easy to get lost.
The TV show we got to review was Episode 3 of The Carrie Diaries. For anyone that knows me, I have always been a huge Sex & the City fan and have been counting down the days until the premier of TCD. Once I saw Carrie’s signature blonde hair, I knew what show we were watching and was extra excited — my husband on the other hand, not as excited. While you watch, you’re supposed to rate everything you see. For example, I really enjoyed the New York parts with Carrie’s friend Larissa, so I would always move the dial up in the 70s-​100s. There were some cheesy jokes, so I would scroll it back down to the 20s-​30s. We noticed that the people in front of us didn’t use their scrolly buttons AT ALL, so I’m not sure if their surveys were going to be thrown out or not, but that’s the most important part! Make sure to do the scoring during the show and then you also have a survey after the show.
I felt I was pretty detailed in my follow-​up survey of the show. I told them what they could have made better, what was really good and what was only okay. Since I was in the «target» demographic — chicks 25 – 39 — I got asked if I wanted to come back the following day to discuss the show and make $ 50. That made me so excited! I’m so used to just losing tons of $$$ in Vegas, so I had to jump at the opportunity to make some cash.
I went back the next day and did the Focus Group. The only thing that kinda sucked about it was it ended up taking about an hour and a half, even though they promised it would only be an hour. Since the men weren’t allowed to participate, there were quite a few husbands and boyfriends that were told to come back in an hour standing there pacing and waiting. My husband was kinda miffed, but once I came out with a $ 50 bill, he shut up pretty quickly.
One more side note: don’t necessarily go if you’re hoping for some sort of awesome coupons. We went for the experience but were hoping for the $ 5 Starbucks coupon everyone was talking about. No such luck. The only coupon we got that we ended up using was a Buy One– Get One coupon for Nathans Hot Dogs. The other coupons were pretty useless to us.