I live in Northern Ireland where "Amen" was on TV for a limited time. On a trip to Los Angeles we visited Mann's Chinese Theatre and saw a booth offering free tickets for the same day filming of an episode.

I think the plot involved something wrong with the heating system of the church and at one point one of the characters (Rev of Deacon probably) fell through a hole in the lawn outside the church.

The whole experience was great fun, not least due to the warm up man who kept everyone entertained during the many breaks between re-takes. Does anyone know who the warm-up man was and if he went on to greater things?

There was great banter between a number of church groups who had come to the taping. By the time the show had been completed it was close to midnight and we hadn't booked into a hotel. But it was an experience not to be missed.

Unfortuately the show was dropped of our local TV so we never got to see the episode in question. Does anyone know which one it was? I think the date was 13 Oct 1988 so it must have been an episode great than 25 depending on how far in advance the taping was done.

I found the message board when searching for DVDs but it sadly appears that these are not available.

Hi, that's cool that you actually got to watch an episode being taped! It sounds like the episode you saw was The Minister's Wife. This is the one that Thelma tries to become like another minister's wife to impress Rueben. She takes over the planning of the Interfaith Dinner, which takes place on the lawn. The lawn is soaked by Deacon Frye's faulty plumming repairs to the church and most of the church members sink into the soil. Some other memorable scenes from this episode include Deacon Frye modeling a pink dress that Thelma is making herself and a pretty passionate kiss shared between Thelma and Rueben at the very end. This episode first aired in November 1988 in the US, so it sounds like the timeline is correct. Let me know if this sounds right. Thanks for sharing!

Yes sounds like that was the episode. The set was very well done as the audience had no idea that the lawn was going to give way. Although it wasn't quite as funny for the retake the warm up guy kept us all laughing!