Did anyone else feel like this was a weird episode as you were watching it? It was like the laugh track machine broke down that week and they had to rely on the studio audience to actually provide the laughter, and they didn't really laugh. There were humorous lines where you would expect laughter and it was silence. It seemed like the audience warmed up a little in the second half, but for the most part, this episode had a strange feel to it.

Well, during the first couple of seasons, Danny Arnold actually did rely on the unpredictable studio audience reaction before switching to a more controllable laugh track. This is probably one of the episodes where it shows the most.

Well, during the first couple of seasons, Danny Arnold actually did rely on the unpredictable studio audience reaction before switching to a more controllable laugh track. This is probably one of the episodes where it shows the most.
I read that the real reason that they started using a laugh track wasn't because of unpredictable audiences. It was because Danny Arnold was such a perfectionist that many times they wouldn't finish shooting until 4 or 5 in the morning. I think they only shot about 5 episodes in front on an audience

I read somewhere that the ABC censors did NOT want this episode to air. However, the ratings for this episode were high and convinced ABC to renew the series at the end of 13 weeks. How about that? :cool: