I was wondering how much time one needs to do the whole Hollywood thing, you know see the stars home, studio tours, maybe go to a filming if there allowed, maybe a live game show...and any natural sites that are in the area...thanks

It sounds like Universal Studios is something that you'd be interested in, which is a whole day.

You can do a studio tour at the Warner Bros studio in nearby Burbank. This is a couple hours.

You can also do the Hollywood Sightseeing Tour, which may include stars homes, which is another few hours to whole day depending on the tour you take.

Game shows are usually filmed in the late morning/early afternoon, but plan on it taking up most of your day. Also, I'd recommend trying to get tickets before coming out, as some shows are very popular and hard to get tickets.

A natural site would be Griffith Park. You can go to the observatory, hike, see the Hollywood sign and even go horseback riding. Depending on what you want to do I'd give this another half day to full day.

Good response by HBNicole. I can add a few things.

Hollywood Walk of Fame (Stars in the Sidewalk). One hour.
Grauman's Chinese Theater (Footprints and handprints in Sidewalk). One hour.
Get your picture taken with the HOLLYWOOD sign in the background. One hour.
Concert in Hollywood Bowl. All evening.
La Brea Tar Pits. Natural and world famous. Two hours if you include the associated museum.
Hollywood Farmer's Market. Great place to get ethnic food. Two hours. Near the Tar Pits, so you can combine visits.

Just a comment. Universal Studios is a theme park that has many theme rides and a tram tour of their properties. The Warner Brothers tour is strictly a tour of their properties and is considered by some to be the best of the studio tours.

4 nights/ 5 days is a good time to spend in Los Angeles, unless you'd like to add a day trip up to Santa Barbara, or down to Laguna Beach. Are you planning on having a car, or just things you can do on public transport from hotel?

"La Brea Tar Pits. Natural and world famous."

And SMELLY!!!! Still like it, still visit it every few years or so after a visit to LACMA, but still smells!

No kids just a friend and myself and we will be having a rental car...I'd love to see them making a film...the tar pits sounds like a winner since so many of you recommend it and I happen to be in the asphalt biz...

I found Universal to be expensive and gimmicky; packaged for tourists and no actual film or tv activity to see.
I have not been to Warner Bros. but that sounds like abetter idea.
Have fun in LA!

Check www.tvtickets.com and www.tvtix.com to see what is taping while you are here. They are taping some sitcoms right now, not just game shows.

The city of Los Angeles is required to put out public notices when filming is done on location (in public areas). I think all cities are required to do this actually. If you do a little bit of Google searching I'm sure you can find these. Sometimes they'll tell you exactly what they're filming, other times they'll use a code name or they'll be working on a movie that you won't have heard of yet but could star some major Hollywood talent.