Gary, you seem like a great guy, so I feel it is important to be upfront with you about the new concept. I have to say that I enjoy the show, but not enough to pay $5 a month for it. Comparatively, I find this site much more valuable to me and it's only $25 a year (free if I want to). Even if your show and website had a higher production value, I'd be hard pressed to pay $5 a month for it.
I've always assumed that your studio was in your garage and your family was your crew. If that's not the case, then maybe it's something you should consider.
You can buy chroma-key paint, paper or fabric relatively cheaply. Compact flourescents work well for video stage lighting. Use a tripod, and eliminate the crew. For editing software, microsoft movie maker works pretty well, but I personally like Pinnacle Studio ($99) because it allows for Chroma-key and even layers of video. Lastly, you could look for different webhosting. Hostmonster allows huge data storage, email accounts, and media streaming for only $6 a month.
Sorry to be such a downer, but I'm afraid you may lose your entire audience by asking for a fee.